Andy Loves May

johno 593

Oracle May, oh my lord, Oracle May.

She is your BFF. Get her down immediately. With two of her, three Hostages, Andromeda. You should get her at the start or mulligan for her.

Also, when you sit across from someone in a tournament as Andy, they'll nod knowingly. Then, when you drop May first turn, their face and brain will melt. You've already won.

Once she's down, call event every turn. "Click One: Oracle May for an event". Just start saying this now. "Click One: Oracle May for an event". Every. Turn. "Click One: Oracle May for an event". Your opponent will beg you to stop. "Click One: Oracle May for an event". Did I stutter? Are you going to call every couple of turns? Every. GODDAMN. Turn.

These are the only times you shouldn't do it on the first click:

  • If you have a Special Order in hand, play it first, always. Your call which breakers you prioritise, judge based on your opponent, but get those filthy programs out of May's way.
  • If you have a spare Hostage in your hand, fetch Kati Jones. She's the second most important girl in your life.
  • The turn after your one-of Test Run, obviously remember to call program otherwise you will know true sadness. But when you remember, a shit-eating grin is mandatory.
  • Early Bird I guess.

Once you have your five-card rig down, it's blue events all the way down. Oh yes.

Some additional comments in no particular order:

  • Always Special Order straight away, but that one-of Test Run is gold. Keep it. Love it. Recursion is precious and it shouldn't be wasted on a stack dig. Save it for your heap.
  • There's also one-of Retrieval Run. It's best used for Garrote but if it's in your heap you can't really be fussy. If you're in a pinch, don't forget Planned Assault into Retrieval Run is a thing.
  • Levy AR Lab Access is not critical for this deck, but it's there as an emergency handbrake for when things look particularly grim. Don't be afraid to pull it.
  • Maths is hard! Fortunately for you, I picked all strength-2 breakers, all 1 to boost and 1 to break. You're welcome.
  • Don't be afraid to throw in the odd draw. You'll get a good card that the Corp won't see. This becomes more true once you're set up and redundant Special Orders etc are gumming up your hand.
  • Sometimes they're trying to blow up your house. Learn to play super carefully against these decks. It's not hard to become rich and stay rich, so play slow. There are no Plascrete Carapaces (May doesn't believe in them) and I've Had Worse is a filthy red card. Adapt your playstyle if you suspect Scorch or Punitive.

Obviously this deck is totally perfect, but if you wanted to make some tweaks, you could definitely mix up the event suite. There are too many good blue events for this amazing deck, but there are lots of pretty good ones that can switch for different metas.

One change you could make that I haven't: why stick to 45 cards? All the important parts have loads of tutoring. Why not play with a 60-card monster, that's all events?

Maybe you could change the ID. Andy is a good safety blanket for guaranteeing May at the start of the game, but there are some really good blue IDs. Maybe Gabey? Ken has a couple extra precious influence (can you say one-of I've Had Worse?).

Not baller enough? I like the cut of your jib. Let me tell you a secret. If you're feeling daring, you could drop one of your Oracle Mays, and go down to just one. This would also free up an influence. Can I interest you in these delicious stims?

3 comments
15 Apr 2015 Elstyr

Hey Johno,

I played a May deck for quite some time with Ken: netrunnerdb.com

Ken has the advantage of the 2 extra influence but his ability also really pays of when playing an event based deck. The comments on the deck were quite constructive, so do read them. Sadly, I feel that since Honor&Profit no new card helped this build much.

15 Apr 2015 rumirumirumirumi

Andy might be an interesting list for an Oracle May deck, since her big opening hand gives you a good chance of seeing her first turn. I found in my Ken May deck that 3 hostages and 1 may is good enough to mulligan for her in the opening had, so a second May probably isn't necessary.

I still think Ken would be better since for Oracle May you're giving up Desperado economy and Ken's influence is particularly potent in an all-events deck , but it's worth a shot.

15 Apr 2015 johno

I originally used Ken for this deck actually, probably thinking the same as you guys, but I really liked it after the switch to Andy. The jump start is just so good. You'll almost certainly have Oracle May (or Hostage) as well as at least one breaker (or Special Order). I think that the ID is largely fluid actually - there's no huge reliance on Andy - and Ken is a great alternative.