22 PLAYER INDY STORE CHAMPS 2ND PLACE MAXX DECK 02/07/15

travisrchance 2255

Let's start with the inspiration for this deck, as I quibbled, mused, and pontificated long and hard in the thread--see the 'inspired by' link on the bottom left.

Kudos to SlySquid for sharing it, as it is def a solid list. I ran a pretty close version in the event, only losing two games, and conceding in the finals after 5 rounds of Swiss and cut to Top 8--I was late to a prior obligation and had to get going pronto.

My edits were as follows: -3 Joshua B., -1 Amped Up, +2 Singularity, +1 Wanton Destruction, +1 D4v1d. These edits were instrumental in overcoming a few games that were close--particularly the Singularities and D4v1d. The last semi-final game I played was probably the best game of Netrunner I have ever played--a nail biter until the very end wherein I would have lost were it not Singularity. I played against a pretty diverse array of corps, wherein I smashed all but the 2 (one being the dreaded NEH PAD match wherein I made blunder into a Pop-Up that left me a credit shy of trashing a Crisium; the other being a Blue Sun match that came down to being 1 credit away from Singularity; both losses largely impacted by Crisium Grids turning off my Wantons and Siphons. More on the deck later.

NOW, you may have noticed that the list I am posting here is different not only from SlySquid's, but also the above revisions. Why? What I am sharing here is the leaner and meaner version after playing the deck religiously for the last two weeks. The Store Champs was a big eye opener for what I deemed issues in need of addressing. I am very confident in these changes and will explain below.

1.) Why 45 cards instead of 47: I did not play a single match where I didn't click to draw, play I've Had Worse to search for an answer, or had I've Had Worse trigger on Meat/Net Damage. I get the original premise of setting the deck up to have X draws, but this never was the case. With the deck's habit of getting front-loaded draws of programs, support cards, OR econ, I was consistently in a situation where digging deeper for the missing component was a necessity.

After 25+ games with this, I feel comfortable stating that dropping the 2 additional cards to get to the core action of the deck is the right play. Further, I had a handful of games wherein I Levy'd with a few cards left, as all my action was in the heap and there was drek left to draw. Sure, the averages are impacted minutely by 2 additional cards, but the fact remains: they are impacted.

2.) Why no Amped Up or Joshua B.: You can simply read my perpetual tirade against Joshua in the original thread. Simply put, I rarely encountered this oft implied scenario wherein the corp did not have the credits to trash Josh and it be more than a minor inconvenience resulting in me getting more than 1 additional action. Whereas some see this card as tempo gained, I see it as layaway on an action you spent to put in play. It should and will be trashed 9.99/10 by a corp player whose parents are not blood-related.

I, as a corp player, have never, once, in all my time playing this game, looked at Joshua and thought "man, I'm in trouble now." The popularity of this card speaks more so to the group-think and pipedream nature of this game, where someone states ideal scenarios as fact and leaves out critical info. 3 other locals played the original deck at our league over a week ago, 2 of which also went on to play it at this event. Both of these players found Joshua to be underwhelming, took it out, and said the deck performed better for it. I agree.

My issue with Amped Up is simply, you want to have a full hand when you play it, and you have a 20% chance of losing Wanton--which is what you want more often than not (I had this happen twice during league play). Sure, you can spend these actions otherwise in a number of ways, but, with the somewhat feast or famine nature of the econ, this comes with no guarantees and begins to border on the edge of a mere consolation: "Well I wanted to Wanton for 5, but I guess I will Day Job and draw a card instead." In order to properly set up this card and hedge your bets, you need a secondary, and sometimes tertiary, plan to optimally utilize the actions. (It is also worth mentioning, my meta is all about flatlining, so I prefer to tailor my decks accordingly.)

I did not play the one copy of this card a single time in the Store Champs, nor did I want it by way of Deja Vu. Wanton for 3 cards, which is what you will accomplish on average, is a more than awesome play 99% of the time. Stim Hack is just a better card here, esp. late game, with Knights, archive runs on things like Fetal and NAPD, and for muscling through to nuke a Crisium where possible. The ambush-style design of Stim Hack will just win you games outright.

3.) Why only 1 of each cutlery: Again, my experience with these differs from the OP. Yes, I have used them, but always in a situation where I felt like, "Well, I don't have anything better to do; guess I will kill this somewhat annoying ice to justify the inclusion of these cards."

The best use I had was with a D4v1d to kill off a Curtain Wall. I also killed a Pop-up once, as the corp was credit starved and I didn't wanna give them the needed boost when Keyholing. Even then, the ice that was killed was immediately replaced.

In truth, I would gladly cut all of these entirely when something better comes along. They are not something you want in your opener 9/10, so increasing your deck size and quantity for the inclusion feels off to me. As it stands, I view the one off copies as another tool for the deck where needed. D4v1d serves a similar function, mostly there for Archers and Blue Sun shenanigans. Using an action and even a modicum of credits to break ice for this benefit on top of the cost of the event is just lackluster.

4.) Why no Box-E: I admit, I did play Box-E once in a Genomics match, as I saw Ronins when Keyholing, but filling my hand beyond the normal 5 cards never really mattered.

My thought here is that this influence can be used for Utopia Shard, which is like a third Wanton for two cards, just without the overt click loss. It sets up a Wanton for 5 cards hit, if desired, and most importantly, which is why Singularity is so clutch in this deck, it gives you yet another way to abuse Eater.

This comes down to preference, but this card, in tandem with Wanton is a nice disruption package that puts the corp on tough decisions. I prefer it over the 3rd Wanton, and think playing 3 Wanton and Utopia Shard is prob overkill.

4.) Why Armitage over Liberated Accounts: Lib Accounts being 6 credits is prohibitive, and often a huge tempo hit at certain stages in the game. As is, it plays like another Day Job with a higher barrier of entry. I would often be happy to see this in my opener, or on the back of a gratuitous Siphon loop, but, esp. in the games where my Siphons were made moot by Crisium, I would end up staring at this and wish it was any else. Clicking up to 6 often comes at the expense of aggression, which the deck wants to maintain. Armitage is just a quicker clip for a deck that wants to apply consistent pressure, even at a lower net gain from the far more expensive Lib Accounts. If you are not on top, trying to get this in play and active can take more than a turn, easily--esp. if you are tagged up.

Ever since making this change, I have been able to maintain pressure much more reasonably. And, ironically, when tagged up, I can play this as trash bait for the corp. Take 4-6 and then Keyhole is just stronger, positioning you even when entirely broke.

5.) Why a 3rd Keyhole: It's the ammo in your gun, and your clearest path to victory. You want it every game and you want it as soon as possible, so why would you not increase your odds. Also, you would rather be using Retrieval Run for Femme, not to cobble together Eater/Keyhole. You will win the majority of your games via this combo, so get up and running quicker. Sure, once you assemble the combo, this, and Eater, are dead draws, but this will rarely matter, as you should be shredding their deck like junk mail at that point. This is Netrunner; you should never have the assumption you will play every single card in your deck every game.

6.) Why Singularity: This is another Eater-abusing card that will save your skin. It is particularly awesome against Jinteki/trap shenanigans. I played Singularity almost every single game. It's just more reach for a deck that already is pedal to the floor.

That is pretty much the long and short of it. As mentioned above, I rarely encountered games where the corp just sat there cow-eyed with no credits whatsoever. We had a ton of Weyland at this event, so even aggressive Siphoning would often be a mere poke at their econ (serving more so as a boost for MaxX than a means of locking out the corp). I am sure some may think that I must be doing something wrong, but I would counter that assuming any deck can leave the corp entirely broke 100% of the time is hypothetical vacuum-logic.

This deck's greatest strength is to muscle through via Eater and hit with Siphon, Wanton, and Keyhole. The rest just facilitates this or covers edge cases. Stay the path and you should make fast confetti of the corp's plans--but beware of the dreaded Crisium Grid; I was more wrong than right: this thing can be a damn blowout.

I can't wait to see more new cards to flesh this deck out. True, the deck sort of plays itself, or, rather, it's obvious what means of attack the deck will take. Play skill and familiarity with this deck, and your opponent's, only elevate the lethality of the deck. I believe the revisions I have made to the original list reinforce these strengths, esp. in my meta of 20+ dudes. I would recommend playing both the original list from SlySquid, and this one, to see which better suits your play style.

Thanks for reading. OH, and here is the corp deck I played: http://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/15548/jerkteki-3-0-2nd-place-indy-22-person-store-champs-2-7-15

9 comments
12 Feb 2015 SlySquid

Looking slick man!!! Congrats on all your wins =)

12 Feb 2015 rumirumirumirumi

I really like this version of the MaxX deck.

With Knight, D4vid, Keyhole, Eater, Femme, and no extra MU, how do you manage your memory over the course of the game? You said your path to victory is Eater+Keyhole, but that only leaves 1 MU to use on programs that I would think you'd want to keep around for the maximum utility. What do you keep installed, and when do you trash to make room?

12 Feb 2015 travisrchance

@rumirumirumirumi I have encountered MU issues once. A smart corp is going to shunt the Knight ASAP, esp. since it is one of the legitimate means to get into remotes, etc. Usually it's a similar situation with Femme--they kill off whatever it bypassing. The difference here being you actually want Femme for Swordsman--which I think is actually just a bad answer to this deck; at the worst, Swordsman is a minor inconvenience, as the deck plays far too much heap recursion to effectively shut you down with this card.

Knight is really there for early pressure like Siphon. I have played entire games where I never drop a single Knight. D4v1d is also a disposable card. So, in the end, your usually sitting on Keyhole and Eater, cycling in Femme, Knight, and/or D4v1d as needed. I do think the deck could support a single copy of something like Spinal Modem, as it would easily pay for itself and the whole trace drawback is avoidable--just don't play it against Blue Sun, NBN, or other matches that smell of trace effects.

After playing Exile for so long, having to sac programs isn't the end of the world to me. Your rig is Eater and Keyhole. The others are just there as needed. I can't imagine a game where I would want Eater and more than one of these other breakers with Keyhole out. Box-E certainly wasn't the answer.

12 Feb 2015 bcavalier

You and I made almost the same mods to Sly's deck. My deck is as follows:

+2 Amped Up (47 Card), though you're right when it comes to the always winding up drawing.

-3 Armitage Codebusting, +3 Liberated Account

-1 Stimhack, +1 Spooned (Lotus & Booth are heavy in my meta).

I found the same issues, D4v1d is what let me beat IT Department/Blue Sun and Singularity for when I couldn't Knight my way into a remote.

12 Feb 2015 Brototurret

I like this list quite a bit. It's really clever in it's card choices.

Dav1d is a card that I constantly consider adding to deal with Blue Sun Shenanigans , and ITD as well.

You're playing with a lower economic overhead than my deck is. I've always been interested to see what that would be like , but haven't actually tested it. Now I know that it's still pretty darn good , so I'll definitely have to test it out.

Good stuff man , good stuff.

14 Feb 2015 Lastmemori

I agree with your changes. Though I keep the josh B. The reason I like him is that every click is precious for the corp and the credits and click they waste trashing it can set them off balance with no real cost to you

14 Feb 2015 travisrchance

@Lastmemori But it does cost you.

1.) It costs you three slots in your deck. 2.) It costs you a credit. 3.) Once you are tagged up, they are, effectively, a zero sum draw.
4.) You lose tempo one turn to gain in on another, meaning that 9/10 this card reads: 1 Credit. The corp loses 1 click and 2 credits.' Sometimes you get back the click you put in.

There is a lot of idealistic waxing on how the corp is always seemingly poor when they trash this, but we aren't living in Genesis cycle any more. Corps have stable econ. You aren't always going to land Siphons. Spending 2 to zero sum you is a minor inconvenience, not a back-breaking power play from which the corp will never return.

Sorry... very passionate about how mediocre this card is.

18 Feb 2015 travisrchance

Played another 8 games with this at league last night. Having logged close to 50 games with this now, I have to say, I have used the cutlery a total of 5 times, one of which was to kill a Pop-up. Perhaps it is just my meta, but the only one I am digging on is Knifed as a tool against Eli (click through, if needed) and Blue Sun (to kill off Curtain Wall).

On the topic of barriers, the other thing I have noticed is Wraparound is one the worst cards to encounter for this deck. I LSK mentioned including a single Corroder, and I agree, this is a great tool in this match.

Still trying to solve what I deem as the real issue of the deck, which is the inconsistent econ. I def like Armitage in this quite a bit--it's just more reliably bursty than Liberated Accounts. Siphon is soooo important for this deck as an econ card. If Crisium shuts you out of HQ, you can be in some real trouble if you don't land the right draws or face big enough ice, which in turn means opening up scoring windows.

Other than this, I def think this deck is very good. The only other weakness I think is the deck is very linear in its approach. The corp knows Wanton, Siphon, and Keyhole are your high impact cards, so they can plan accordingly. The trick is to race them or beat through it. A decent player can do well with this, but a good player that knows how to play tactically will really excel with this beast.

23 Feb 2015 travisrchance

Here is my updated list with notes: netrunnerdb.com