Stealth Replicayley 1.0 (2nd Seed Tulsa Regional, 7th place)

dodgepong 1796

This deck went 4-1 in Swiss at the Tulsa Regional at the Team Covenant store, bringing me to 8-2 which was good enough for 2nd seed going into elimination in a field of 58 players, where it lost once. Here is the corp deck I played.

I was in a bit of a rut as a runner for a while in terms of learning how to deal with sentries, so I built a funny BABW rig destruction deck that would either win a lot, or teach me how to deal with sentries. I came to learn that Switchblade and Dagger were both masters of all sentries due to their ability to pump to absurd strength using stealth credits, so I was sold on stealth. However, my objection to stealth has always been that it is slow, takes a lot of time to set up, and requires immense deck space.

Then Hayley came out. Oh boy.

I immediately fell in love with the synergy between her ability and Replicator. She can install a hardware, fire replicator, and install the replicated hardware (and replicate again if she wants), which also thins the deck to improve card draw. She can turn 1 install Opus + SMC and click for 6. She can clone chip a program from the trash to install a program from hand mid-run, as if she had Savoir Faire. She is absolutely the queen of Shaper bullshit and I adore her.

This is a stealth deck whose aim is to get set up with stealth as fast as possible and then set up a huge R&D lock. 3 RDIs with Replicator and Modded can drop some serious surprise R&D digs that no one sees coming. Stealth is so credit-efficient that I can LOL all over big ICE, and Crescentus can keep those shut down hard. Clot does work as well -- it straight-up won me two games during the regional since the corps were forced to play slow, which gave me the time I needed to set up my rig and establish the R&D lock. I even got to Clot someone mid-advancement after they Biotic'd, which was left out in the open for me to steal, of course. Good times.

MU is tight -- getting Box-E or Akamatsu early is pretty key to hold Opus + SMC and whatever Cloaks/breakers show up in your hand. Since this is still a new deck even for me, I was still learning how to play it during the tournament, and my only Swiss loss was due to me underestimating the importance of having even one extra MU. I tossed my first Akamatsu since I was over hand size, and then couldn't install SMC, which inflicted a huge tempo hit. Long story short: value your MU cards very highly, especially early game.

I try to fire Hayley's ability close to every turn. Even then, she can still take 6-8 turns to get set up well enough to start putting run pressure on the corp, dependong on how the draw goes. Like with any Opus economy, getting it out early is paramount. After that, a standard early game turn is to draw 2, click Opus, and install 2 things. That's not super efficient, so I want to try to replace Quality Time with 2 Earthrise Hotels (perhaps also cutting a Modded, Lockpick, or Ghost Runner).

The funny thing about Opus econ in this deck is that it is more used to fund installation than it is for runs, which run mostly on stealth. Corroder still needs cash, but I have never really liked Lady due to it's lifespan...it might be worth considering, though. The other thing I've thought about is Inside Man, which could gain me a decent amount with all the hardware I'm installing. But a 3-install cost for Inside Man is hard to swallow, as well as the need to include 3 copies to make sure I get it early, so I'm not sure it's a great idea yet.

Regardless, the deck in this form played well enough to get me 2nd seed going into elim, so I was thrilled that such a new ID was able to perform so well. It lost to a really interesting Breaker Bay Grid ETF in elim, but I put up a really good fight and could have nearly won with a surprise R&D dig at the end of the game which got me to 6 points. That game also had my favorite Hayley play so far, which had me clone chipping Crescentus to install SMC from hand to fetch Dagger from my stack mid-run to break Architect. Shaper bullshit indeed.

Crescentus was an interesting suggestion from a friend, and while I never got to use it to shut down a big ICE, I think it might still merit a deck slot. If not, I would replace it with Utopia Shard, but I want to at least try it first.

I went back and forth between HQI and Legwork, but I love that HQI sticks around and triggers Hayley's ability, especially with Modded.

Meat damage plan is Opus + Box-E, net damage plan is Feedback Filter. I didn't have to deal with either of those all day, but at least I had a plan for them. Levy doesn't do me any good because I'm running so few events.

Some people have asked me, "Why not run this out of Kate?" In my opinion, Hayley is the new definitive stealth ID. Kate might get stealth running cheaper, but Hayley gets it running faster, which is what I'm more interested in. Plus, Kate's ability only gains you a credit per turn, while Hayley gains you a click, and with Opus, a click is worth 2 credits.

One last thought is about the amount of stealth credits in the deck. This is my first stealth rig deck, so I decided to play it safe in terms of number of stealth credit cards/rig size. I rarely get the full stealth rig set up (3 Cloaks, 3 Lockpicks, 2 Silencers), and I seldom need it all to lay the pressure on, but there is enough stealth in the deck that I see the stealth credits soon enough to get set up acceptably quickly. Also, with this amount of stealth, I feel like the deck can scale with how glaciery the corp is playing -- if they have giant ICE, they are probably playing slow enough that I have time to get out more stealth to compensate. Once I play more with the deck, I think I'll get a better feel for how much stealth is correct.

Overall, the deck is incredibly fun to play. There is a lot of room for improvement, but I'm already extremely impressed with how she's turning out.

22 comments
4 May 2015 UminWolf

@dodgepong: I too absolutely adore her, she is wonderful!

I pretty much say this to anyone running Hayley + Replicator (I run it myself), have you considered Tyson Observatory? If you put in 3 Tyson, drop to just one Replicator, and 1 Box-E, then you have the same card slots, but you can search for any other hardware in your deck.

This is what I'm doing with that shell: netrunnerdb.com

4 May 2015 dodgepong

I have considered Tyson, and it was in an earlier version of the deck. I took it out because if you have 3 Tysons, they don't get rid of themselves. Replicator thins itself out, and if I'm replicating, I'm getting high-value draws anyway. I would prefer strong draw power over spending a lot of clicks and deck slots tutoring, which is why I'm trading the 1-of Quality Time for 2 Earthrises. It's not off the table, but I haven't convinced myself that it doesn't drop a big tempo hit on me. Might be worth experimenting with anyway, just to confirm.

4 May 2015 UminWolf

It definitely hurts the early tempo for sure. I find myself struggling to make the corp spend any 's during the first 4 - 5 turns, so I can totally respect that.

4 May 2015 Fruggles

"Crescentus was an interesting suggestion from a friend"

Ahem.

5 May 2015 Eldraian

Love the idea. Can't wait to try haley myself. I don't really see the point of Crescentus though. With Stealth breakers you don't really need to shut ICE down since you're breaking it for cheap anyway and you have MU issues already?

5 May 2015 NicoleyMoley

Great to see a Hayley deck performing well competitively! I'm trying out a resource economy stealth Hayley deck myself at the moment and am having good results, might try out Opus too!

5 May 2015 dodgepong

@Eldraian The idea is to use it as denial. Yes, you can run cheaply, but it's great if you can force the corp to have to spend another 8 on the Tollbooth or something like that. Like I said, it's an experiment, and could easily become a Utopia Shard.

@NicoleyMoley Thanks! I tried a resource-based economy before Opus and I liked the tempo of Opus a lot more. Definitely worth trying, and frees up a lot of deck space.

5 May 2015 Eldraian

@dodgepong I just think it's a little odd to spend influence and MU on the only piece of denial in the deck. Utopia Shard seems like the perfect replacement to me though, as it can serve as meat damage protection, too, which is something you might need even with Box-E, as it doesn't prevent double Scorched Earth. Just my 2 cents.

5 May 2015 dodgepong

@Eldraian Yeah, it's a totally valid point. I think Utopia Shard would be useful in more matchups, too.

5 May 2015 rahmal

I've been playing with it...and I made a few changes to suit my play style and local meta netrunnerdb.com

5 May 2015 dodgepong

Nice! BlacKat is something I want to try, though I also want to use Datasuckers with it to help with its stealth-hunger. As for Inside Man, I think it would do well, but it's hard for me to swallow the 3-cost install. Instead, I added 3x Earthrise, and use those extra clicks that I'm not drawing to press the Opus button. Earthrise really seems to mash the afterburners on this deck.

5 May 2015 dodgepong

After typing that out, I should clarify that the 3-install cost of Inside Man isn't my only objection (Earthrise is 4 to install, after all). The other objection is that it takes a lot of deck space and is best if you get it early, making the later ones dead draws. Having said that, I am definitely willing to try my current build with the 3x Earthrise traded for 3x Inside Man just to see how it goes.

5 May 2015 rahmal

yeah Earthrise is a favor of the week, but i think shapers are the best at draw of the factions with the famous Diesel. Replicator should also be seen a draw mechanic as well in this deck. Think of inside man as a free Magnum Opus click for hardware. Which mean that you can thin your deck faster of all the cheap hardware with one Replicator and one Inside Man.

5 May 2015 rahmal

Another thought is to think of inside man as the pre-paid of hardware. lulz

6 May 2015 Brendan2026

Try 1 Leprechaun instead of at least 1 mem chip. It's a great card for Hayley and Opus.

6 May 2015 poorhaus

Nice to see dagger doing work finally. I think you've picked the exact right breaker suite.

Datasucker makes stealth sing though. Would seriously consider that in place of Crescentus, maybe 2x. Replace a silencer perhaps.

Let me recommend Earthrise + Diesel as a great draw suite. I'd cut some of your moddeds for draw and econ (maybe Daily Casts). You've got lots of cheap hardware you want to install early with draw and then econ will help you afford your Interfaces etc when you need them.

Congrats on your top 8 finish!

6 May 2015 xarlstaunzund

You might consider a way to fit Personal Workshop in somehow. This could help get your rig up quicker by really maximizing Hayley's ability, as it triggers on each turn, not just your own.

6 May 2015 dodgepong

@Brendan2026 This deck wants to install hardware with Replicator, so I think sticking with hardware memchips is the best option. Leprechaun is an interesting thought though.

@poorhaus Datasucker is awesome indeed, and is another contender for that deck slot. I am playing 2 of them in my BlacKat build of this deck. Datasucker makes Blackat sing.

Earthrise is also great, and they are already in my next build. Diesel with Earthrise might be a bit too much draw (with Replicator both drawing and improving card draw already) but I think including at least one of those options is a good idea.

As for the Moddeds, I actually thing the top contendors to replace them are Inside Man. I know I was talking about it earlier and was unsure above, but I think it's a real possibility, especially if I go back to Astrolabe for the console (freeing up influence for Datasucker?). Daily Casts is a decent option as well, being a solid net 5 credits and never a dead draw. Maybe Daily Casts is a better option than both Modded and Inside Man...Lots of testing to do!

@xarlstaunzund Personal Workshop is something I considered at one point, and I love its drip econ. The reason I ultimately decided against it is because with so many 1-cost hardware/programs, I might be forced to install something when i don't want to, burning Hayley's ability. Also, with Hayley's ability I would only be getting half-as much value out of PW since I have to install from hand at full price. I think there's a PW Hayley deck out there, but I don't think it's this one.

6 May 2015 voltorocks

Love the deck, great write up! Probably the first real Hayley deck I've seen that I didn't end up just thinking "man, this'd just be better as PP kate..."

I wanted to post my support for the idea of Utopia Shard as meat damage protection (probably in exchange for the Crescentus?). Box-E as meat damage protection... well, it just isn't. even with butcher shop and IHW floating around out there, 2x scorch is still the gold standard for meat flatlines, and box-e just doesn't cut it on that front.

As an added bonus, Utopia Shard is ridiculous in just about every matchup, threatening to turn off a wide variety of different combos, as well as simply being an on-demand legwork when you need on (it's honestly a bit depressing how many close games I've tipped my way just by popping utopia for the 2 free accesses right before the corp wins)

6 May 2015 dodgepong

@voltorocks The meat damage protection is really more Opus than Box-E. Box-E at least prevents Scorch/Traffic, but in general I'm expecting to try to out-money Butcher Shop with Opus and play patiently.

Having said that, Utopia is definitely a top contender for replacing the Crescentus (the other being Datasucker). If I go with Utopia, I might even switch to Astrolabe over Box-E since the extra MU slot isn't as valuable, and then use the extra 2 influence on something fun.

11 May 2015 Fl3xbyts

This deck has no protection from Scorched Earth/Meat damage, right?

11 May 2015 dodgepong

Well, as I just said, the scorch protection is mostly Opus to prevent them from being able to SEA Source or Midseasons, as well as Box-E preventing Scorch/Traffic from killing (though Scorch/Scorch will still kill). Adding Utopia instead of Crescentus is a reasonable trade.