Kitsunichord, or Take The Bait

Stranger Danger 284

Note - PADs are Early Premiers.

This is the current iteration of my attempt a new style of NBN, and I am in love with it. There are several win conditions contained within this deck, and none of them involve flatlining or using SanSan.

ICE Lots of ice. You're probably thinking, this guy is dumb for putting so much ice in an NBN deck. All the ice is cheap, there is plenty of end the run gearcheck, and the ice in this deck sets up for winning combos. Hang on to an Award Bait in hand and Mushin a Beale, putting a Kitsune over it for your 3rd click. Did the runner take the bait? Yes? Rez Kitsune and give them the Award Bait, advancing Beale safely 2 more times. If you already have an Astro scored or an Early Premier on the table, that's game. Next turn, advance Beale 3 more times, plus Astro token/Early Premier. 5 points. GG. If the runner didn't go for the bait, go right ahead and easily score a 3-4 point Beale anyway.

AGENDAS Several ways to win by exploiting Haarpsichord's powerful ability. I find that installing 3 agendas on the table in one turn, with Early Premier/Matrix Analyzer doing some work, makes for a terrible turn for the runner. Barring a surprise Imp install, getting the runner to steal one of the agendas can easily help you score the other 2 on your turn. I'll trade a 1 point Award Bait for 2 Astros every time. Also, holding on to a couple of agendas in hand is rarely a bad idea.

This style of NBN is an aggressive board state builder, and is difficult to play around as a runner. There are plenty of runner builds than can tear it apart, but there are also plenty that will have no chance.

17 comments
8 Aug 2015 whirrun

Love your deck, seems encouragingly similar to my build with Kitsune. I am also enjoying it a lot. I'm a little intrigued by the quicksands in and excalibur, how are you finding them? Also is Crick worth it over a third Kitsune + Ice Wall? (Maybe a rogue rototurret?). I've found kitsune to be pretty insane.

Also do look at anonymous tip for getting you're agendas + peices faster, it's been really good for my version.

9 Aug 2015 moistloaf

I like the mind games possible with this build. Mushin a card and then install another. Even if they're both agendas, the Runner has to ask: Which Agenda did she Mushin? Is it a beale for possible extra points, or an Astro. Is the unadvanced an Award Bait? Definitely looks fun to play. Jintek level mind games out of NBN

9 Aug 2015 SlayerCNV

a pair of aggressive secretary on mushin could help a lot, imho.

9 Aug 2015 SlayerCNV

and you can score 2 astro in a turn with mushin, anyway :D

9 Aug 2015 skydivingninja

I don't often straight net deck things. But I am straight net decking this (except maaaaaybe the Matrix Analyzers). Love the concept and it just sounds like a blast to play!

9 Aug 2015 whirrun

I'd keep the analysers, they're really strong if they decide to avoid your mushined server, basically one advancement from either them or a premier is worth an extra point on your beales + potential combo value with astro.

9 Aug 2015 Sojourne

Have to see how this kind of decks perform in a meta where Film Critic will probably be the new hotness for awhile too.

9 Aug 2015 lolpaca

Amazing use of Kitsune, hats off :) Have to wonder, why the Ice Walls instead of a third one?

9 Aug 2015 Stranger Danger

Kitsune works great, but isn't always necessary. Ice Walls are there in case the runner hits an Award Bait without anything else to advance. Crick is in the deck to combat aggressive Noise and Keyhole type decks. I haven't played this against Film Critic yet, which could arguably be the best answer to this setup. Every build has its bad matchups. If it becomes a thing, I'll switch out a Quicksand for a Snatch and Grab. Thanks for all the positive feedback, everyone!

10 Aug 2015 Mungo

Played against this deck with several different runners and it's a legit threat every time. Whether you're fast advancing the normal NBN way or baiting someone into stupid runs, it can really frustrate you as a runner.

10 Aug 2015 skydivingninja

Played this over the weekend and lost every game except one where I managed to get an Astrochain going. I love the way this deck (and NBN in general now) is using agendas to really punish the runner, but I can't seem to get a really good setup going. Honestly, I never felt I was flooded ENOUGH. Which is probably the only time I'll ever say that in Netrunner. XD

It's definitely a cool idea, I'm probably just bad at piloting it.

10 Aug 2015 Vapo

Forget Film Critic, how on earth does this deck handle Faust Noise? 2 cards and he's skipped Kitsune, try to put 2 agendas out and the 2nd will just get Imp'd and all your ice is extremely weak and single sub Faust food. He's one of the top 2 runners right now and I can't see any real lines for beating him.

12 Aug 2015 153351

@Vapothe ID alone is a pretty strong counter to Noise. His endgame Archives run just got a lot more difficult. Stack the right ice over there (Crick or even Wraparound) and having to hit Archives more than once gives the Corp more time to Jackson and Astro-train. I've seen Faust give up on a server with an advanced Ice Wall, thanks to Matrix.

21 Aug 2015 ice-squid

Looks really interesting... but I'm confused - the notes mention Early Premiere but it's not in the list?

21 Aug 2015 ice-squid

Ah, PAD Campaign is meant to be Early Premiere / got it. Looking forward to trying this out.

11 Sep 2015 jaydoggy

So I played a variant of this deck and got repeatedly crushed vs Leela, I'm curious what techniques can make Haarp better in this matchup? The only thing I've come up with is splashing a lot more traps (which pushes it closer to Jinteki shell game than this cool new agenda-based shell game) which drastically change the nature of this deck vs every other perfectly good matchup.

3 Mar 2016 Casspian

@jaydoggy What you said. I too have used this deck against Leela (piloted by a store champ) and got absolutely devastated, so naturally I needed to make this my first post on the site. I tried leading off with AstroScript Pilot Program, Award Bait and Explode-a-palooza, and the runner actually hit the Award Bait. My elation at getting the 2 adv. tokens was immediately extinguished as I realised the runner was just going to send back whatever got advanced. Without being able to use the standard pilot model for this, I was pretty cagey about playing stuff and the runner slowly picked me apart. Not the most fun experience. I realise that not every deck is going to be strong against every opposing deck, but this match up seems particularly lopsided. But still, @Stranger Danger appreciate your work anyway.