Quetzal Level Clearance, 100% Top Cut Conversion @ UK Nats

Not all secrets lie in vaults.. some are hidden in plain sight, just waiting for the curious to uncover them.

You get Quetzal Level Clearance when you realise that 0c: Break 1 barrier subroutine. Use this ability only once per turn. is often a hay-maker you just delivered back through to time to your opponent when they were deck-building. Even if you never fire the ID ability, you probably made your opponent's mulligans harder and forced them to make some awkward choices. You see..

People do be playing barriers..

And importantly, the barriers are typically the ones that say, "End the run". This deck (particularly in this form) is a meta call that you expect your opponents to not be going full Asset spam and that they are needing to protect important things behind ICE, even if that's just their centrals. If you run into Twelve Angry Men then you have my deepest sympathies, you have some game if you get early econ or some lucky accesses but it's gonna be a tough one.

Against all the other people playing somewhat fair (or even murder-y) Netrunner, well now, that's a good time!

If you'll indulge me a little bit, then take my metaphorical hand and lets smoosh the explosive entry of Criminal decks with the punk rock of Anarch and make something fire🔥🔥🔥

Based on a True Story

[Don't] stop me if you've heard something like this before, thanks @Fridan for showing me that this sort of gameplan was actually viable right now. OK, story time, feel free to skip if you hate whimsy:

Our plucky protagonist Quetzal is flush with 11 credits from making a recent Sure Gamble with an Axolotl pal and has a hot tip about an agenda in a Haas-Bioroid remote server. They only have 4 clicks to get it though, a Poison Vial in their pocket and their buddy Bankhar on comms..

Click one they know they need more help. They add Laamb to the group chat.

Click two, this run is gonna be lit. The team head out for Super Secure Remote 4.

Rototurret

Click!.. it's alright Bankhar is on it, business as usual, just some cosmetic damage. Nothing some Steelskin Scarring can't handle.

Tatu-Bola

Quetzal has done this before, smells like bait, Laamb goes to work, 2 credits well spent. Next!

Brân 1.0

It was bait! But is it more bait? Something is off, a giant wakes, but is quickly sent back to sleep by spending their 3rd click giving it the run-around and a drop from that Poison Vial

Gatekeeper

It was more bait!! These Corps are getting wise.. But Laamb and Quetzal combo their powers and, for just another 2 credits, smash their way in. "Banana who?" indeed.

Manegarm Skunkworks

A last minute setback, of course they relocated the Skunkworks here! But it's no problem, 5 credits of well placed bribes and they're into the heart of the facility.

Ikawah Project

2 credits, 1 click left, it was down to the wire, but they made it. Job well done. Crime achieved. Punk, rocked.

This is the sort of explosive turn you can do with this deck. Other times you get hit with net damage and it draws you the perfect solution (I'm so sorry), and sometimes you just make Deep Dive at home with Finality + The Twinning. It's always an adventure.

Alright I'll explain the deck now, promise!

Window "Pretty" Theory

Many corps are looking for a window in which to score Agendas. A turn or two where we're not able to break into the remote or pinch a card from HQ they're about to Fast Advance. The core idea of this deck is to make determining those windows difficult and to punish the standard response of sitting back and building up with some very fun cards.

The breaking toolbox:

• Quetzal - always there for us, always weighing on the corp's mind
• Botulus - classic Anarch breaking, strength is meaningless, but you get sad if they fire a Mavirus
• Poison Vial - pairs with the previous two to deal with ICE with lots of subroutines
• Laamb - turn anything into a barrier so with the ID you can break any 1 subroutine for 2 credits, don't underestimate the ability to break small barriers as well!
• Arruaceiras Crew + Devil Charm - smash the ICE you don't like, don't even need the charm sometimes
• Bankhar - the first ICE draws you cards and pays you money🔥

This suite gets you in, often with little notice. It can be incredibly satisfying to install Crew, install Devil Charm, then run something they thought was safe. That said, you can easily take this too far and not have the clicks on a crucial turn. It can be just as fun to put all the pieces on the board and play mind games around the fact that you can get into almost any server.

The pressure toolkit:

• The Twinning - the cooker, in many matchups you want this running early if possible, makes every central run nerve wracking for the corp (save the counters for a good moment though since they take awhile to stack up)
• Divide and Conquer - the spice, surprise access 6 by pairing with The Twinning, being able to see cards via Archives is often a life-saver
• Chastushka - solid pressure, especially good against ICE-light decks, very fun to play the same turn as Divide and Conquer
• Finality - normally a finisher (or last ditch attempt to touch cards) but in some matchups can be an aggressive early play while R&D isn't well protected, stacks with The Twinning!!

Seasoned corps likely have the tools and patience to build up and try to lock us out. These tools are here to deal with that. They also work just as well to pile on pressure while we're ahead and to threaten to close out the game if we ever get half a chance.

Together these tools let us pressure our opponent to build a pretty scoring window then we can go in, carefully tap the hinges out, grab their Agenda, and put the window back where we found it (maybe minus a couple of locks). Surely we won't be back next turn??

The Gameplan

I love how expressive this deck can be, it's a symphony of what of you draw, your opponent's game plan, what threats/treats present themselves, and how aggro you're feeling at the time.

If you've played/played against Laamb - Begemot Esâ lists I think there's a lot of shared DNA, but where Esâ is typically always pushing, we have the option of fuelling up before delivering our big strikes since we can hit even many-ICEd servers.

Personally this is how I normally play:

• Hit some centrals early if possible, Quetzal often makes this possible
  • Grabbing a couple of early points is so helpful
  • Even if you don't find points you're likely costing the corp credits/clicks/mind-space
• Learn to love the cheeky single-access if you think the corp is unlikely to rez ICE or it's relatively cheap
• Trash the Rashida
• Trash the Thimblerig
• Always be asking "Where are the agendas?"
  • I'm still working on the best time to run HQ, I think anyone that can read when the Agendas are there will get even better mileage from this list than me
• Trash the remote with Arruaceiras Crew + Devil Charm so they can't force agendas through
  • Or if they've built up a scary remote just blow up a central server and keep hitting it
• Aggressively use Labor Rights to put back the most currently useful pieces
• Prep for a big push
  • Stack Chastushka and Divide and Conquer in hand, charge The Twinning!
• Always play to your outs
  • If you feel like your time is running out then deploy the push even if it's far from perfect
  • Sometimes just touching cards does the trick, sometimes they don't actually have it, suddenly accessing 4 cards from R&D tends to make the corp panic a little even if it doesn't win the game immediately

As always this should be modified by your matchup and how much you think you're in your opponent's head. Or sometimes you play a metamate's PE, pretty much only install Nuka and Fermenter, then get consistently lucky (I'm sorry): https://youtu.be/kSOLpO07J7s?t=16343

Mulligans

Econ is good, card draw is good, breaking into the first remote is probably on the ID. Highly recommend an early Fermenter, doubly so if you expect to need to trash stuff. An early Bankhar can be excellent or any other cheap breaking piece. Ideally you want to draw into the other bits later.

Self Defence

I was expecting people to try and kill me at this tournament (maybe I was scarred by last year) so we have 2x Stoneship on top of the standard Steelskin Scarring for avoiding imminent death, plus Hannah for tags. A Stoneship + the threat of Steelskin Scarring goes a long way against R+ Kill and similar decks since you force them to have an extended damage combo and commit to it. If they fire it off and it doesn't work then you'll be in a great position. Often this even means they clear the tags for you; it's all coming up Quetzal!

EAzmari can still get you with their Neurospikes and Grids, but fortunately they gotta make a window for that and that's something we love to see.

Deckbuilding Considerations

This deck has 25 unique cards. Some would say that makes it inconsistent.. I would say that makes it unpredictable. We're vibes based, power through diversity, stacking > consistency around here. We could run 3x Mystic Maemi, but sometimes you install that and Pre-paid VoicePAD then have a better time. We could run 3x Chastushka but isn't it more fun to play 2 and then Divide and Conquer to see what's left of their hand as well as more cards from R&D?

That said, a lot of slots are dedicated to drawing cards so that we do consistently find something even if the exact thing varies:

• Diesel: for when we need a quick boost (thanks @holzpubbnsubbe for suggesting this over the 3rd Nuka, it was great)
• Dr Cardigan: bank 2x Diesel for later, great against PE and panic drawing back up when you over extend
• Moshing: a little variable, but great way to dig for something important while making money
  • Sometimes you mosh 2x Strike Fund and 1x Steelskin for 7 credits and 5 cards: moshing makes me feel good
• Raindrops Cut Stone: is excellent for early remote exploration or in combination with Bankhar to keep the pace of the game up
• Steelskin Scarring: best for combo-draw, but totally fine to play if you need the cards, especially if Pre-paid VoicePAD is turning it into Diesel
• Stoneship Chart Room also do just be bank-able draw sometimes

This may be too much draw, but I find it really helps the deck fly. It could maybe be trimmed a little for more exciting options. I'd actually consider most of this deck pretty flexible (if it's not a 3x) though the balance between pressure, breaking, and everything else feels right to me.

I think the first places to tinker would be:

• 1/3 out of the Diesel and Nuka
• Stoneship Chart Room
• Hannah
• The balance and diversity inside the pressure / breaking / econ / draw blocks

Things to consider:

• Eru: more excellent Archives pressure
  • Was in earlier iterations but Divide and Conquer has a higher ceiling and I found I wouldn't often be re-using Eru
• Cupellation: to deal with awkward assets/upgrades/combo-pieces and to access more cards
• Ashen Epilogue: if your games are going long, I personally found it a little too slow but in the right meta this would be excellent
• Boomerang: more recursive breaking is good
• More Pinhole Threading is rarely a bad call
• Miss Bones: assets do be making us sad and people do be installing assets
• Aumakua: excellent breaking option but I chose to go with upfront breaking potential over the longevity of the turtle
  • Relying slightly less on viruses was also on mind after playing a lot of Freedom
• DJ Fenris: Steve and Sable are good friends of ours though 3 credits can be a lot

Final Thoughts

I hope you've now got your Quetzal Level Clearance and if you do give the deck a go I hope you have as much fun playing it as I have.

I'm just so thrilled that this deck got to do the thing :D

Thanks <3

Thanks for reading and thanks to all the lovely people I've talked to over the last few months about this deck. Despite Quetzal widely being seen as a meme ID there were a lot of kind and encouraging words or sometimes just excitement that someone was actually playing them. Legitimately very heart-warming and a not insignificant reason I chose to bring this deck.

Massive credit to everyone on the organising side of this tournament, handling a last minute venue change with such incredible grace, empathy, and skill is awe-inspiring. Looking after everyone coming and running a such a smooth tournament is an incredible feat!

Everyone I knew / met / met for the first time irl at UK Nats, you were awesome. Even after incredibly tense games and/or on the tail end of 10 hours of Netrunner you were all so friendly and kind. @wowarlok particularly it was really nice to meet you and I'll treasure the Musa cards.

Thanks to all the lovely Sheffield meta people for making Netrunner a consistently good time and especially @LesserScarlet + @palmtree for helping make the weekend extra special.

Extra, extra special thanks to @mays.leyline for testing with me irl. Playing many games with you over the last few months has been an absolute blast. No way I'd have been able to get so lucky at this tournament without your help. I'm so sorry for making the IcyHot list in paper..

@holzpubbnsubbe & @TorpedoTyrus thanks so much for hanging out, testing, and slinging ideas around. Not only is it always a good time, but both this deck and my play would be significantly worse without it.

Netrunner truly has the best community <3

P.S. Everyone who cheered for DJ Quetzal in the final and then boo-ed it getting trashed so loud they heard it the other end of the venue, you're the real ones.