I Prepaid For This Motherf***ing Event

akonnick 2081

I just finished testing with this MaxX deck through a few games and I've never seen anything like it - the aggression and early game pressure this deck offered was unlike anything I've played. Andromeda has her opening turn that sets up her econ for the game. My opening turn with MaxX on my very first game? Mill 2 (Femme Fatale being one of the cards milled), Click 1 Retrieval Run to install the Femme on the HQ Ice, Click 2 Account Siphon with the opponent at 9 credits after an opening turn Ice, Ice, Hedge Fund. My opponent had an ideal opening and in 2 clicks, I have HQ locked, a huge credit lead, a sentry breaker on board (without needing to Scavenge) and 4 cards in hand with more on the way.

I'm clearly early in testing this deck, but wanted to put it out there for those that are just picking up Order and Chaos and looking for a solid MaxX build. She instantly appealed to me the moment I saw her. The raw card advantage she provides is unlike anything I've seen. While this reference may be obscure to some, Magic: The Gathering has an old card called Bazaar of Baghdad, which is a land that taps and lets you draw 2 cards and discard 3. Seems innocent enough, but this card is so powerful when paired with cards that work from the graveyard that it is banned in nearly every format and is capable of winning games on the first turn with the right deck and draws. While I don't think that MaxX is broken on that level, her ID ability that you get for free every turn sounds awfully similar to Bazaar and was really powerful throughout the games.

Here are some thoughts on the cards based on my play so far. I welcome comments as I really want to refine this into a great deck, so please feel free to ask questions and scrutinize card choices.

Retrieval Run - As I described above, this enabled the broken first turn play. If the ideal 1st turn for Corp is Ice on HQ, Ice of R&D, Money Card, then you know Retrieval Run in opening hand and programs in the heap is a powerful combo. I think MaxX is THE ID that is the best with Retrieval Run to the point that it feels like an auto-include. I would even go so far to say it is an auto-include at 3 copies just to get in your opening hand. With a Femme, Morning Star or Keyhole in the heap, you can make a big play for 3 credits that will set you up for big opening turns.

Account Siphon - Since your breaker suite and parasite is so good at neutralizing any ice in the early game, having at least a chance of seeing this card seems too good not to play one copy. I may go up to 2, but honestly may keep as is given that I felt that I had a lot of access to my one copy with all the Deja Vus I drew. It absolutely broke my opponents because my accesses with Femme/Morning Star were so cheap.

Day Job/Lucky Find/Sure Gamble/Prepaid Voicepad - Given the number of events I wanted to play, this econ package seemed like a natural fit. I initially had Dirty Laundries for some of the Lucky Finds/Day Jobs. After I played the deck, I liked being able to take a turn off to play one of those more click intensive (but more credit lucrative) cards, let my hand refill with more options from MaxX's ability and get back into running next turn with a recharged credit pool. The tempo of this econ package felt good, so I'm sticking with this for now. Account Siphon provided its fair share of money as well, so I could see lowering the Lucky Find Count if you subbed in another copy of Account Siphon..

Scrubbed - If you play Morning Star and Femme, you have to be worried about higher strength ice like Archer and Heimdall. While Scrubbed isn't a perfect solution, I was worried I wouldn't have the memory to run Datasucker and I was worried about getting locked out of central servers with a virus clear. Scrubbed has a better chance of sticking around, lowers for 2 and pairs nicely with Parasite, I didn't need it in my games so far, but would like to test it out and see if it is good enough to keep (Note: after all the convincing comments, I will be changing this to 2 Datasuckers).

I've Had Worse - I floated tags in every one of my games and this card let me feel safe doing so in every game - even against my Scorch opponent. Between this card and Wanton Destruction, you have a lot of disruption at your disposal so I wasn't afraid of the corp getting the pieces needed to kill me. This is the card Anarchs have been waiting for. I was also just as happy to draw 3 for free with the Prepaid discount.

Eater/Keyhole/Wanton Destruction - This card package seems really strong. I never played Keyhole in any of the games as they were always in the heap and saw them late in the game, but Wanton Destruction lives up to the hype. Whether you play Amped Up before it or not, hitting 3 cards out of a perfectly sculpted hand is big and I got points into Archives every time I used it. With all the money in this deck, this card package seems to be a great primary win condition with the Morning Star and/or Femme providing support for the ice they handle. It is also a great alternate win condition if you can't get regular accesses if the corp gets a bunch of high strength ice up and the game goes longer - just money up and use Eater to Keyhole or Wanton Destruction your way in and hope to put points in Archives.

Parasite - I was debating whether to play the cutlery cards, but liked the versatility of Parasite and the fact that Deja Vu would get me two of them. I played against one deck with the Weyland constellation ice where this was bad, but was glad I had in the other games. Still on the fence but will continue testing - I may end up just cutting to 2 copies as I held 2 in hand during a couple matches waiting to use.

Singularity - This card seems massive against Personal Evolution as you can safely blow up a Mushin'ed face down card. Also, I thought it would work well with Eater to get an advanced agenda out of a remote server where you may not have the breakers to get a regular access (say a Lotus Field is protecting), but you can pay to get through with Eater and clear the agenda into Archives to steal it later. I played it once and feel it is worth a single slot in the deck.

Amped Up - I don't like this as more than a 1 of in this deck, but was glad I had it for sure. Comboing this and Wanton Destruction makes for a great turn and it seems worth a deck slot. I would hesitate to play multiple copies because you don't want to take too much brain damage given the poor synergy with I've Had Worse. You should be floating tags with this deck and the only way to protect against Scorch/Net Damage kills is to make sure you have a max hand size enough to make the draw 3 effect trigger by not dying first.

Morning Star - Isn't this really the reason you want to play Anarch :) Seriously, this breaks most of the popular barriers for ridiculously cheap. With Scrubbed, you even hit Heimdalls and unadvanced Hadrians or Curtain Walls that aren't placed out in front. With the synergy from Retrieval Run, this card seems too good not to try. Also, with Eater, you know can get into Archives to make the Retrieval Run successful.

Femme Fatale - as I mentioned in the description of my first turn with MaxX, Femme gets you a guaranteed cheap access on just about anything it targets. I am totally fine blind Femme'ing something as long as it allows me guaranteed access to Keyhole, Siphon or Wanton my way to victory. It also happens to be a great sentry breaker that may allow you to never even install Eater. Having played Kate with Femme for a year, everyone knows how good the card is. The only thing better than a Femme is a Femme that you pay 3 (or less with Prepaid discount) credits to Retrieval Run and install. This card is well worth the influence and with Datasucker/Scrubbed support, is extremely efficient.

Levy AR Lab Access - If you want to play this deck, you need this card - period. You won't use it every game, but when you use it you will be glad you have it. Aside from just keeping the good cards flowing, you need the protection against damage decks. Believe me, MaxX can burn through some cards without Weyland or Jinteki's help.

Grimoire - I build my memory needs with the long game rig in mind. My ideal rig if the game goes long enough is 6 memory and is as follows: Morning Star (2 mem), Keyhole (2 mem), Femme Fatale or Eater (1 mem) and Parasite or Eater (1 mem). Grimoire is the cheapest way to get this memory in faction and it charges up your parasites to make them faster. I don't really see anything else that makes sense in this slot at the moment.

Commonly Asked Questions:

Why not 47 cards? - I honestly don't think 47 is a great idea. Everyone is saying MaxX's ability allows you to play a higher card count and achieve similar consistency to other runners. You could make the same argument for Andromeda, but I don't see anyone trying to play more than 45 cards for her. You want MaxX and Andromeda because they give you better consistency than every other runner and watering down this built-in advantage doesn't feel correct. I drew extra cards on my turns and used Steelskin to dig, so it wasn't like I was just waiting to deck myself and needed the extra turns. You have Levy (and Deja Vus to get a milled Levy) for a reason, so don't be afraid to use it. I never came even close to decking myself and only used Levy once in any of my games, so I wouldn't go above 45 cards purely to avoid self milling. It's not like you lose the game for being unable to draw cards like the Corp anyways, so what do you have to lose?

How do you deal with Code Gates? - while the sample size of games is too small, the biggest ice I'm worried about is Lotus Field. For Quandary, Enigma, Viper. Tollboth, etc., I felt that a combination of Parasite and Femme could do the trick. Also, even if I see a Lotus Field, it is not that expensive to break with Eater and I can always get through for a Siphon/Wanton/Keyhole Run. Yog doesn't help with this, so I saw no reason to include that. If I am proven wrong, I'll just make room for a copy or two of Spooned.

54 comments
28 Jan 2015 SlySquid

Holy shit! This looks hella strong...

I love the Morning Star include, cause I'm having a hard time with Eli 1.0s...

If I could make a suggestion, I would say swap the Scrubbed for Datasucker and Parasite for Joshua B....

I just hated playing NEH and them having a fucking Pop-up Window as the outer ice and countering my Scrubbed...

But you'll find the right mix and when you do I feel bad for all your friends!!!! Lmao good on you

28 Jan 2015 akonnick

@SlySquid Thanks for checking out - I looked at your build and a couple others as well and really appreciated your deck breakdown (which made me want to write one as well). I'm willing to test with datasucker - I was really worried about memory locking, but it never happened once so you are probably onto something. I liked your Joshua B includes and and happy to give that a go.

I found that I always floated tags so was a little concerned that Joshua B would just be kind of a quick resource trade where I would install and they would trash because he is too powerful to leave around. I definitely don't care about the tags, but in your testing have you gotten a lot of extra clicks out of him? While I've never really played with the card before, he seems like a really powerful resource now that we have I've Seen Worse and can laugh off tags. Thanks again for the feedback - so happy (as I know you are) that the rise of the non-Noise anarchs has begun!

28 Jan 2015 evilgaz

Interesting idea - I've been wondering what people would do with Max.

I'm not sold on Scrubbed personally, so think that could make way for something else - Same Old Thing? You're going to have a metric funk-tonne of events in the bin and it'd be nice to be able to play one easily. Also, this gives you some protection of you mill your own LALA and need it back due to running low on cards (against net damage for example).

28 Jan 2015 akonnick

@evilgazi don't disagree. I didn't play scrubbed once and initially wanted data sucker instead as it pairs so well with all the other programs. I was worried about memory but it wasn't really a problem. I found that the déjà vus were enough to get back levy. I maybe would go one of same old thing to not dilute my early hand with recursion. I will mess around with that part of the deck and report back. Thanks for taking a look!

28 Jan 2015 faswich

So I have been testing out my own version, which is extremely shakey at the moment, considering I am running a bit above 45, and was hesitant to share before I had narrowed down the list. Random thoughts:

1 - Same Old Thing is a beast. It means all the events that get trashed to her ability are live. It also means if your single copy of Levy is trashed, which is likely due to her ability, or through random damage from the corp, you're still able to "reset".

2 - Clone Chip is additional heap recurrsion, that I relied on as I went classic datasucker + parasite instant kill, breaker light version, when retrieval run isn't cost effective. (I also went MemStrips + Overmind, so take that what you will). Note, this opens up the ability to run medium, nerve agent, and Demolition Run in an Anarch PPVP shell.

28 Jan 2015 dodgepong

Have you considered Spinal Modem instead of Grimoire? You don't need virus tokens anywhere (unless you opt for datasuckers), so maybe the extra econ would be helpful.

And it's MaxX so #YOLO brain damage

28 Jan 2015 dodgepong

Well, I guess Parasite, I forgot about that... Grimoire saves you a turn for each one.

28 Jan 2015 akonnick

@faswich questions for you since you have tested.

  1. Are you also running Deja Vus? If so, do you feel like you have too much recursion and too few "business" cards? With Prepaid, I think Deja Vu is strictly the best since for 1 click and 1 or 2 credits, you get any card back while Same Old Thing is more narrow and click intensive. Also, I'd rather run a full set of Retrieval Runs and skip the Clone Chips as once I did the Retrieval Runs, I never felt like I wanted to recur another program (while I haven't seen you list, I can understand if you want more Parasite recursion than I found that I did).
  2. I would play SOT over Clone Chip if I were to add only because the influence is so valuable (ie your Clone Chips would be another Lucky Find or Account Siphon).

  3. What percentage of the time are you using Levy? I'm definitely not ever cutting, but am just curious how much recursion is needed to protect it based on what others are seeing.

Feel free to let me know what you think and thank you for your comments.

28 Jan 2015 akonnick

@dodgepong I know this guy! I really worried about memory lock and parasite speed more than money (I found I always had plenty) so agree with your point on why I went Grimoire. With a rig of Femme (1), Morning Star (2), Eater or Parasite (1) and Keyhole (2), I feel like 6 memory is the sweet spot for my end game. If I add Datasucker as many have suggested, then that makes the memory (and Grimoire virus token) that much more essential I think.

28 Jan 2015 faswich

@akonnick

Running a full set of Deja Vu. It is actually why I leaned more towards packing a single copy of crypsis, medium, nerve agent, and datasuckers, as opposed to doing Eater + Keyhole. The point is to really mess with the ICE when possible, and multi access instead. Because of not running Keyhole, was also able to do the demo run + medium. I still would not take out the Same Old Things, It means any single utility event, like Levy or Singularity or x will be abusable if they get trashed due to MaxX's ability. I really took the approach of having it read as close to "draw three" as possible.

The clone chips are a weird addition on my part, I know, and it actually kind of ties into the next line. I have always used Levy once per game, as it is a much more "control" build as opposed to pressure build, less reliant on that early Morning Star or Femme in the heap for Retrieval Run. Then again, by loading up on both Inject and Ive Had Worse, along with her ability, half the time, I lean towards having two copies of Levy, just so the Same Olds can be more flexible, based on what has been trashed. The clone chips are really for "if you rez, I will parasite, if you don't I'll grab medium/nerve".

All this said, I haven't even cut the deck to below 50 cards, so everything I say is with many grains of salt. Hell, that is even after realising that I actually removed the single Overmind, as it was too cute, and was the first cut I made. Anyway, for full list, published it here (please note that it is far from perfect, as I want to cut at least 4 cards moving forward): netrunnerdb.com

28 Jan 2015 moistloaf

guess you're Femme'ing Lotus Field then? =/

28 Jan 2015 akonnick

@moistloafI agree it is the biggest weakness (I have a section at the bottom of my write-up that discusses). Between Femme and Eater, I'm not totally locked out of servers so I'm hesitant to play hate cards like Spooned for a single piece of ice. I will certainly have to see if it hurts my tempo significantly, but am not opposed to cutting something for a Spooned if that needs to happen. Knight would also work, but it doesn't really fit with what I'm trying to do as it is by nature a slower answer that I only really want for Lotus Field. Appreciate the comments and let me know if you have any other ideas of how to deal with Lotus Field without disrupting the deck/card count too much - I am certainly open to it.

28 Jan 2015 akonnick

@faswichthanks for posting - that definitely helped me see what you are aiming to do with your deck. I agree that if you want to go the Medium/Nerve agent route that you need Crypsis or something similar instead of Eater. Part of the reason I included multiple copies of the big breakers is that I wanted to ensure I could play Retrieval Run while Archives was open. With the amount of money in your deck (even more than mine), you could always just straight up pay to install since I'm guessing you'll be pretty rich with your average draw. I also agree that if you want to cut cards, the MemStrips would be the first thing to go as without Overmind, you don't look too starved for memory even with just Grimoire.

Let me know how it goes and I'll see if a Same Old Thing improves or hurts the consistency of the Events. Thanks again for posting!

28 Jan 2015 saltytacopanda

What do you think about your hardware? I figure MaxX needs to be played in a really fast tempo which doesn't allow for anything but getting credits and running. Hardware seem to slow her down.

28 Jan 2015 akonnick

@saltytacopanda While I never installed Grimoire when I played, I did get to the point in one game where I felt that I needed to take a turn off and build to get an Eater and a Parasite on the board. I hate having to juggle my rig to accommodate memory limits, so I try to just plan for the worst and build memory needs into the deck with the "what if the game goes longer" scenario in mind.

The Prepaid was really good, I only ever got to install one in any game, but I used it every single turn (which is always my criteria to play that card). If you throw one down turn one, use it every turn and the game goes 10-15 turns, that is an investment and minor tempo loss that I'm willing to handle. I had strong opening plays in every one of my games and never felt that the Prepaid install held me back from doing what I wanted to do.

I totally agree with your rationale though, and it is why I tried to keep this as hardware and resource light as I thought I could get away with. I do think that someone could cut the Prepaids for something else and have similar results, but I just opted for something I knew I'd get value from given the density of events. Thanks for the comments and checking out the deck!

29 Jan 2015 BreadRising

@saltytacopanda: I can confirm what akonnick said; the Pre-paids are a worthy investment considering how many events you'll be playing. Think of it this way; it's better to take a small step back from the aggression early on rather than not be able to do the things you want to do later because you lack the economy. Think of Pre-Paid as an econ card. It'll keep you going through the entire game, and the money it generates from the Sure Gambles, Day Jobs, and Lucky Finds is insane.

Also Grimoire is currently the cheapest in-faction 2 MU source for Anarch. Plus it has the benefit of boosting your Parasites and Datasuckers (I'd rather have Datasuckers than Scrubbed). It's hard to beat that. And with Keyhole and Morningstar sapping your MU, the last thing you want is to be constrained mid game. I do not think this deck could function without SOME kind of additional MU and Grimoire is clearly the best candidate for the job.

29 Jan 2015 coyotemoon722

MaxX, I served with Bazaar of Baghdad. I knew Bazaar of Baghdad. Bazaar of Baghdad was a friend of mine. MaxX, you're no Bazaar of Baghdad.

29 Jan 2015 Halarith

I mean, this is probably the closest thing you're going to get to Dredge in Netrunner, and it looks pretty freakin' sweet.

29 Jan 2015 akonnick

@BreadRising you said it better than i could. The money you generate with this Econ package is crazy. With 2 prepaid and a day job, I can generate 12 credits in 4 clicks. Absent a playset if sure gamble or lucky find (I've got those too), the only time I've seen a runner money up that hard in a turn is with magnum opus and Rachel Beckman, which costs 15 credits of Upfront investment. Instead or 4 for my 2 prepaids. Appreciate the comments and thanks for checking out!

29 Jan 2015 akonnick

@coyotemoon722im honestly just happy that someone got my Bazaar of Baghdad reference. While I agree she is no bazaar (not sure the gaming world needs another card of that power level), the feel of the deck is similar in that your deck is just feeding you powerful cards and resources faster than your opponent. Put a different way, I get to play an aggressive strategy with midrange power level cards. If I compare my deck to the Gabriel Santiago: Consummate Professionaldeck I play, gabe wants to be aggressive and throw down early aggressive breakers like faerie and corroders. That works great at first, but gets tougher to keep up the longer you go. If maxx uses retrieval run on turn 1 for a morning star, I get the same aggressive start, only i have a breaker that can handle the corps late game ice like wall of thorns, stacked Eli's, etc.

To your point, while this is no bazaar, corp decks just aren't built to keep up with the aggression this deck allows for. Thanks for the comment and I think i might watch some vintage Magic on YouTube to remind me how sweet the dredge deck was.

29 Jan 2015 akonnick

@Halariththanks for the comment and I honestly built the deck with the dredge deck in mind. When I made card choices and decide whether to mulligan, I ask myself one question: "if I have this card/hand in my opening 8 (grip or heap), and the corp doesn't have ice that can stop me, could I win the game before they can protect themselves?" With cards like account siphon, wanton destruction and keyhole, there is a very real chance that without the corp being able adequately defend r'd and HQ, you can hurt them so bad on early turns that they never recover. That happened in every one of my games (in some cases due to retrieval run for a big breaker) and the corp just never recovered.

While you have to hedge your bets and also play cards like déjà vu, economy, Grimoire, etc to keep you in a longer game, the consistency this deck has shown is much like andromeda where if you see 8 at the start, Ive always had a card or two that can punish early game corp weakness. Enjoy the deck and thanks for checking out!

29 Jan 2015 MTUCache

I like it. A much cleaner version of a similar deck I posted yesterday (which was growing out of control upwards of 60 cards).

I love the Eater/Keyhole programs, but I had other ideas about the breakers. Whether you go Crypsis and pay during the runs, or Femme/Morningstar and pay for the install, I figured you would have enough econ not to really care. At some point it's more about the deck-space than the credits (same reasoning left out Parasite for me as well).

I was going for a lot more draw in my version as well, and then relying on multiple ARs for the recycle. Your version is more of a one-time-through-the-deck pace, which is fine, but makes me question having the 1-offs of Siphon/Amped/Singularity. Chances are you're going to have too many choices for your Deja's. Some Same Old Things may be necessary to dig these back out if you only want one of each.

Swapping out the Femmes for Anarch Ice and Luckys for Laundrys may not be quite as effective, but it lets you use your influence on Clone Chips and/or Inside Jobs, which would be a lot more effective than the Scrubs. (That was my take on it anyway.)

The one card that I think is a 100% auto-include in a trash deck is the Hades Shard. This install gets you that late Archive-scoop no matter how much ice they cover archives with.

Very nice list though... I've got a feeling there's going to be a lot of Chronos Projects, Hades Fragment and Archived Memories/Reclamation Orders in Corp decks this year.

29 Jan 2015 MTUCache

Oh, also... I assume you're going to change the deck name after you replace all the Prepaid VoicePADs and Grimoires with Comets, right? That console would save you a TON of clicks in this deck.

29 Jan 2015 akonnick

@MTUCache Thanks so much for the comments. I'll try to respond, but will bounce around your comments out of order.

I am a little jealous that I don't get to play Comet, but 2 of those is an Account Siphon and that card is too good to give up in this deck on top of it only providing 1 additional memory.

I agree with you completely that the Corps are probably going to start packing even more recursion/Archive protection on top of Jackson Howard, but at the same time I wonder how many cards a Corp deck can really devote to that without cutting other key cards like Ice, Econ and Fast Advance shenanigans. I played against a Jinteki PE deck the other night with Chronos Project and I think he nearly shed a tear when I Wantoned it from his hand the turn before he could install it.

I thought about Hades Shard, but ultimately just figured I could always just straight up pay for a Femme Fatale (kind of close to the cost of the Shard install) and make my final Archives run that way. If they get more than 1 ice rezzed on Archives that I can't Femme or Parasite quickly, then I haven't done my job of messing up the Corps other servers and deserve to lose.

I do think I'm going to switch the Scrubbed to Datasucker and just see how the memory goes.

It is interesting that I see a lot of people opting for Crypsis. I didn't think it was even playable in this kind of build because it combos so poorly with Wanton Destruction. Since you have to click to add counters to Crypsis, you are wasting clicks that would be spent on trashing additional cards from Wanton. Same rationale with spending clicks to move the Knight around. I'm curious to know how you like it, so please let me know as I see a lot of others adding one of those two breakers.

As far as the 1-ofs, the only card I really ever wanted more of was Account Siphon. My compromise was that I just maxed out and played 3 Wanton Destruction so I always had an HQ attack card in hand. My Deja Vus almost exclusively got Account Siphon, but I am pondering whether to add a 1-of Same Old Thing. Levy AR Lab Access costs influence, Singularity is too narrow in my mind to play multiples and Amped Up is dangerous in multiples because reducing you hand size takes away your Scorch protection from I've Had Worse.

Thanks again and here's to milling cards and wrecking Corps!

30 Jan 2015 umchoyka

Great deck for sure. I've copied this as the basis for my own Mother F***er MaxX deck. The main difference is I wanted to free up the influence you've sunk into Lucky Find in order to bring more tricks to the table. I replaced them with Queen's Gambits, because Anarch(!). With 6 influence I'm looking at adding some combination of Scavenge, Account Siphon, or shards maybe.

Also, it would be great to get inject in there somehow. I think Inject is another one of those super synergy cards with MaxX, it just feels right. I took Scrubbed out, so that helps.

30 Jan 2015 akonnick

@umchoykaThanks for checking it out and shoot me a link to your list when you are done. I think this is a powerful shell with a lot of different options and am really curious to see what people do with it. I was very hesitant to commit the influence to Lucky Find at first, but was ultimately convinced as I wanted to know that the econ cards I drew (knowing that many would go in the trash) would be unconditional and top tier. I am a fundamentals oriented player at heart, so that is why you see 3-of breakers and more money than I might need - I want to limit inconsistencies in any way possible.

Based on my testing, I think Account Siphon number 2 would be my highest priority target. I couldn't see enough of that card and my Déjà Vu always targeted it. Scavenge also seems good as it can retarget the Femme, which also eliminates the need to even run a Hades Shard in my mind.

I debated a 1-of Inject, but decided against it when I played the deck. You don't realize how many cards you are getting fed until you play it. Cards like Wanton Destruction take your entire turn, so you may have turns where you only play 1-2 cards per turn, which her ID gets you right back on your next turn. I never felt like with I've Had Worse I needed any more draw, but try it and let me know what you think.

Thanks again and let me know how your testing goes.

31 Jan 2015 hiimsmart

I can't wait to get Order and Chaos so I can test this mother****** out on some b!7¢4 @$$ corps!

31 Jan 2015 akonnick

Update from testing this evening: This deck punches Jinteki kill decks in the face. The games boiled down to spamming Keyhole 4 times a turn and then Femme'ing or Parasiting any R&D ice that got put down. Even after eating a Chronos Project that took a huge chunk of my econ cards, I trashed every remaining trap and agenda in the deck I think. If I were a Jinteki: Personal Evolution player, I would seriously reconsider playing my deck during Store Championships as I'm not sure how you win against Keyhole and Wanton Destruction with the typical PE ice suite. It isn't even competitive in my mind against a deck like this.

I had a closer match against my own Yellow Jackets 2.0 deck in which I was able to finally edge out a win by Siphoning and Keyholing the final points I needed into Archives, playing Amped Up, 2 Sure Gambles and beating a Viper trace to get 6 points for the win.

I'm really happy with the deck and the only changes considered after tonight's testing are maybe trading one copy of Morning Star for the third Keyhole given how crazy that card was. Stay tuned and will keep posting updates and results as I have more play time.

31 Jan 2015 akonnick

@hiimsmart You will not be disappointed - I assure you. Have fun with the deck and let me know how it goes!

31 Jan 2015 Myriad

Is it worth cutting a single lucky find to put in a planned assault? It would let you find and play your account siphon earlier... or let you play your singleton singularity/retrieval run or hit your wanton.

The PPVP econ alleviates the cost.

Just an option. I will probably try subbing in a singleton of it.

31 Jan 2015 akonnick

@Myriad I would try it out. The only thing that will be interesting is how quickly those events will end up in the heap, which could quickly make it a dead card if it is in the lower half of your deck. My experience with this deck is that you kind of hang on for the ride, see what the deck gives you and play the most painful option for the corp that you have available. I've got a couple of different cards in the rotation that I'm trying and that is a good one to look at. Let me know your thoughts as you test as well and thank you for the comment and suggestion!

1 Feb 2015 RedScharlach

@akonnick: Great writeup, and awesome deck! You've inspired me to make room for Parasites, a Siphon, a Lucky Find, and a Singularity in my own MaxX deck. (I'm still playing with 50 cards until I decide what to cut.)

I haven't been running the PPVPs, and I'm worried that they'd be dead if I don't get them down until late in the game. Have you had any problems with that? Do you have a sense of how often you use a PPVP in the average game? My approach is always that it has to be used at least 7 times to have the same return as Daily Casts (granted, DC can be trashed if you're floating tags).

1 Feb 2015 umchoyka

@akonnick: I had a few test games against Blue Sun: Powering the Future this afternoon and the deck went 0-4 (we swapped sides for game 4, just in case it was just me being terrible at the game). Surprisingly, Enigma was the biggest problem for the deck since with 2 strength, it could not be killed by parasite in one turn and the corp could save and replay it. I think Datasuckers are probably necessary, or a dedicated code gate breaker. Enigma over archives made me a sad panda, since all the lovely agenda points in there were inaccessible (femmes were not cooperating at the time). Also, Curtain Wall was a bad time as well.

Either way, the deck was still fun to play. I had swapped out Lucky Finds in favour of a second Account Siphon and a Scavenge (ideally for repositioning Femme). Econ was replaced by adding Queen's Gambits. Scavenge was never used though, so it's hard to say if this was a worthy switch. I also scrapped Scrubbed and added Injects, but I think that they will be better as Datasuckers as previously mentioned.

Hopefully I can get some additional plays in this week to figure these things out.

1 Feb 2015 akonnick

@RedScharlach Thanks for the comments. I agree that sometimes you just need to play with all the cards you're thinking about including until you get a sense of what to cut. As I mentioned in my writeup, I don't agree that a polished MaxX list should come in above 45 cards, it is important to feel good about the 45 you have.

I think the concept of dead cards has to change a little in MaxX decks. I have never been sad to be running PPVP, but there are many times where I will only see 1 early in the game and the rest will get trashed. This is no different for every other econ card in the deck (Sure Gamble/Day Job/Lucky Find) as MaxX is going to rip through your deck and trash lots of good cards. I think the key is that you want a good density of cards where you would be happy to see them early in the game knowing that you may only see 1 or 2 of them not end up in the trash. I would never Deja Vu to go get a PPVP or a Lucky Find for that matter. I think you build your MaxX deck to plan around her average draw knowing that, ideally, you want the programs to get trashed by her ability along with power events (Siphon, Wanton Destruction, Singularity) so you have access to them when you need them. The econ just needs to be sound enough to make sure that during an average game, you'll draw enough to keep you going. I had one game where I drew a PPVP turn one, but all my Sure Gambles and 2 of Lucky Finds and Day Jobs were trashed. My econ events didn't carry me as much as they usually do, but the PPVP along with the econ I did draw was enough to get me the win.

I hope that helps, but definitely let me know what you think as you play more of the deck and appreciate the comments!

1 Feb 2015 akonnick

@umchoyka Thank you for the testing feedback. I haven't played the Blue Sun matchup yet, so that is really helpful. I have since switched out the Scrubbed for Datasucker as I totally agree with you that there are some turns you just need to make some runs to build up counters and parasite something. If the Corp seals off Archives with an Enigma, my priority would be to install Eater to get through, build up datasucker tokens and then parasite and kill as you mentioned. If I look at the average Blue Sun ice suite, I would think that once you make the swap for Datasucker, Hive, Ice Wall, Enigma, Archer and Grim are good matchups for Maxx (Archer and Grim can be bounced to remove Femme, but that hurts them more than you). Curtain Wall is a problem for sure and I think I would definitely try to blow up an oversighted Curtain Wall with Eater to deny the Corp the money to permanently rez it. My strategy against these new bigger ice Weyland decks has been play even more aggressively against them and prioritize Account Siphon so they never get to pay for the big ice. If it is something you think continues to be a problem match, maybe a swap for a single Parasite to a forked/spooned makes sense, so keep me posted. Thanks again and here's to punching some Blue Sun in the face!

1 Feb 2015 akonnick

Update: After additional testing and trading comments with others, I'm making the following changes to the list above (I'll post a v2 at some point but only after further testing): -2 Scrubbed, -1 Morning Star, -1 Parasite. I have now tested with scrubbed and data sucker and never used them once despite consistently winning. Big ice decks are the only thing that hurts that plan (as many of you have also noted in the comments), so I'm adding one of each of the cutlery cards (forked, knifed, and spooned). I think data sucker and scrubbed are too situational and frankly just slower than the cutlery cards and this change has the added benefit I think of solving the lotus field problem in addition to the big ice weyland decks now emerging. The reduction of morning star and parasite to 2 copies reflects the fact that I haven't needed them in every single game, which is my usual criteria for playing a card at 3 copies. The last card slot is going to be the third copy of keyhole. The card is just so good that I want every chance to see it early. Let me know what you think of the changes and if you have other suggestions.

Thanks again for all the feedback - you guys have been awesome in helping to test this deck at a level where I could have never done so alone.

1 Feb 2015 dumdrak

have you tried Day Job in place of Lucky Find? stimhack.com says its a little worse in draw and a little better in credits and you don't use influence.

What do you think about it?

1 Feb 2015 akonnick

@dumdrak Why not play both :) That article was part of the draw to this econ package. I knew I wanted to play a bunch of powerful events and Keyhole, so I picked the most click-efficient economy to support it. Sure Gamble and Lucky Find are there for the turns where you want to do other stuff. Day Job is there for when you need to take a turn off to recharge and let MaxX's ability draw you more options. Prepaid Voicepads provide the long term benefit of making your econ cards (and 2/3rds of the cards in your deck) that much more efficient. Pair this with Account Siphon recursion potential and you have a huge potential to generate a lot of credits in very few clicks over the course of the game.

While you could certainly free up influence by cutting Lucky Finds, the deck is so focused around using the powerful cards you already have like Account Siphon, Keyhole, Wanton Destruction and Singularity and an efficient breaker/ice destruction suite, that I found it worth the influence to have a top tier economy to support the other cards. Hope that helps and thanks for your comment!

2 Feb 2015 asriel

How do you deal with Closed Accounts? That seems like it would be the bane of Cutlery decks that don't care about floating tags.

2 Feb 2015 akonnick

@asriel Great question as my Corp deck runs 2 of them and Closed Accounts is one of my favorite cards and pretty popular in my local meta. Few different thoughts:

  1. If I saw an NBN ID across the table that was not NEH, I automatically assume closed accounts is in the deck (at least I know I would put it in the deck). There is only one card in the deck that actually actively gives you tags and that is Account Siphon. If you are worried about it, you can always clear tags. I had a suggestion to play Joshua B., but that is part of the reason I didn't love the card is that the only way you get any benefit is by actively piling on tags. You actually have more control of when you go "Tag Me" than most other Criminal (and I suspect most Anarchs going forward as well).

  2. The amount of disruption you have in Keyhole and Wanton Destruction is significant. If you have already taken a bunch of tags, you could always prioritize trashing Closed Accounts if you see it during a Keyhole run.

  3. Even if the Corp lands the Closed Accounts (maybe they are playing a Midseason Replacements decks and have lots of cards that make some number of tags unavoidable), the Prepaid economy is resilient. If you have 2 Prepaid VoicePAD out and a Day Job in hand, you can spend 1 turn and you are back to 10 credits. I can't think of another faction or deck that can get back in the game that fast unless you had a loaded Kati Jones or a Magnum Opus on board, both of which require a more significant upfront investment in credits, memory and clicks.

All in all, Closed Accounts is not a terrible card aside from it being annoying and possibly creating a scoring window for the Corp.

Appreciate the comment and hope that helps.

2 Feb 2015 asriel

@akonnickGreat point on Joshua B. - I am working on a similar list that includes him, but I may take it out for your reason (and it's sort of anti-synergistic in general with Account Siphon). Thanks for your reply!

2 Feb 2015 akonnick

@asriel Agreed - Account Siphon is awesome in this deck and you don't want to make it a liability in my mind by having two tags drag down a bunch of other cards in your deck. That is why you see absolutely no resources in the list. I think you could easily add some number of Same Old Thing if you wanted because it doesn't need to stay on the board long enough to get trashed, but I otherwise advise against resources as you have no way to recur them and they can get trashed. Feel free to shoot me your list when you finish - I love getting ideas from what others are building/testing.

2 Feb 2015 Skeletons

Fantastic deck!

And you make a great point on Day Job being the recovery for Closed Accounts, I'd not considered it in that context before so thank you.

Have you tried Hemorrhage alongside Wanton Destruction?

2 Feb 2015 akonnick

@Skeletons I like the way you think. I actually think Hemorrhage is a better fit in this shell than Scrubbed or Datasucker now that you mention it. I think if you wanted to add any programs (which you would have to be conscious about give that I don't think you want to add more memory), then I think strong virus cards that trigger off successful runs are the way to go as they pair well with Grimoire and can be retrieved from the bin along with a Parasite if you use Déjà Vu. I think you'd have to think about what you cut (I think the cutlery cards could be trimmed as well as the third Keyhole, but that's what I'm currently trying), but that one is worth trying out. Thanks for the comment!

2 Feb 2015 soultsunami

How would you feel about Hemorrhage? It adds up with all the runs, and is just more HQ trashing. You can wanton, siphon, keyhole, etc. then turn around and hemorrhage MORE cards. It's ridiculous.

2 Feb 2015 Abstract

Have you had problems with Crisium Grid? It negates a lot of the card effects, and using eater means you don't access it to trash. I'm running something similar to this, and they're not impossible to trash, but they slow things down a lot.

3 Feb 2015 akonnick

@soultsunami I like it. I think you can even reliably see it by just including 1 copy as you can use Deja Vu to get a Hemorrhage and a Parasite back in your hand. After playing with Datasucker, I would rather be rewarded for a successful run by getting to trash more cards than just making runs cheaper or getting to Parasite a little faster since the deck prints money and you have Femme and Morning Star to hit higher strength ice. Feel free to give it a go and I"ll do the same. Let me know how it goes and thanks for the comment!

3 Feb 2015 akonnick

@Abstract I agree that Crisium Grid and Caprice Nisei seem like the best ways to fight the new Eater decks. I haven't had much chance to test against Crisium, but cards like that are the reason I wanted to include Femme, Morning Star and Parasite. With these options, you don't always have to install Eater if the corp tries to load up on one server and can instead punch a hole in another server, getting you a clear run to the Crisium Grid without needing Eater. I still think it is a good card in the matchup, but I've tried to pack enough ice destruction/cards that make ice irrelevant to deal with it. Let me know if you have any ideas of how best to deal with as I admittedly don't have any testing against it at this point. Thanks again for your comment!

3 Feb 2015 Abstract

@akonnick I actually got a chance tonight, and I think the answer is to just keep constant pressure up. When the corp finally got a Crisium Grid on R&D, they had one piece of ice protecting it and it was easy enough to just Femme through and trash it. I also had access to Account Siphon and could have drained them to almost nothing, preventing a rez.

Side note: I went through pretty much the entire deck once and finally saw an Eater at the bottom, and managed to pull a win off. MaxX can recover at a crazy fast speed.

4 Feb 2015 akonnick

@Abstract really helpful - thanks for the comment/insight. Your point is dead on about having multiple ways to try and deal with the upgrade problems. I've had a few games where servers get multiple ice on servers, but rarely where the corp could pay to rez and defend them all. MaxX definitely shows you all the cards, so if you play enough redundancy in your deck, she will find you what you need to go to work. Thanks again and keeping trashing those Crisium Grids!

5 Feb 2015 asriel

@akonnick First draft with a few comments here: netrunnerdb.com

5 Feb 2015 DarkLanternZBT

Played a version of this at a store tourney, and someone asked me what it was like piloting.

"Like riding sidecar to Crazy."

I used Amped Up in two games to wipe someone's hand. Outside the tourney I used and Keyhole to go from 0-7 agenda points on an exposed R&D. I put Chronos into my Weyland deck specifically because of this insanity.

6 Feb 2015 akonnick

@DarkLanternZBT That is a pretty solid analogy - I may borrow that. Glad you got to experience the thrills that this deck and some of the new Anarch tools can provide - it is truly a sight to behold when it comes together. Definitely let me know if you have any feedback or card changes/suggestions. I have the latest version pretty well nailed down (changes noted in the comments), but have 1 card slot I'm debating and soliciting ideas on. Thanks for the comment and enjoy the ride!

6 Feb 2015 akonnick

@asriel Thanks for the link - you clearly have a deep hatred for HQ based on the bounty of HQ hate cards in your list :) As your name implies, cutting Levy is a balls to the wall choice indeed; however, Siphon is the card you want for sure if you are going to chance it (3rd Femme is also solid). I haven't played a lot with Quest Completed, so you'll have to let me know how you like it. Without the Levy AR Lab Access, I actually think 3 Amped Up makes sense as you need to win quickly. I would consider cutting back on the Vamp for more money (maybe Dirty Laundry or Queen's Gambit) since you are going to be dumping economy cards in the trash and won't get a 2nd trip through your deck to replay them, so you need to make sure what you draw can sustain the aggression. I am debating playing one copy of Vamp so let me know what you think. Enjoy living on the edge with your deck and punishing corps in record time and appreciate the comment!