Blogger Iain (aka "Quit Your Bullshit, NBN")

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tiedyedvortex 4803

Recently, someone in my local meta was running a SYNC deck, a variation on "You can't score seven points". After losing a game where I lost despite accessing 10 points' worth of agendas, I decided enough was enough and built this to punish him for his hubris.

Film Critic is the heart and soul of this deck. In addition to the normal benefits (stealing The Future Perfects, avoiding Midseason Replacements, etc.) it has two very important functions.

First, it lets you have New Angeles City Hall up and running permanently. Being able to run through Data Raven and Gutenberg, virtual immunity to The All-Seeing I and Scorched Earth, and being able to Account Siphon multiple times in a turn are just a sampling of the benefits of this card.

Second, Film Critic makes Iain much more dangerous. Hosted agenda aren't techincally scored, meaning that you can be winning, but behind on points, earning your 2 credits a turn while threatening a win. Remember, Film Critic isn't unique: you can have three up at once, easily holding 5 or 6 points of agendas.

But you do still have to let the corp score at least once to activate your ID. That's where Gang Sign+HQ Interface comes in. If the corp has 2 agendas in hand (quite likely if you've flooded them with Fisk Investment Seminar), it becomes very difficult for the corp to score cleanly. Combine that with Logos, your ID ability, and Fan Sites, and you will feel pretty okay letting the corp score a small agenda.

Speaking of Fan Site--Data Dealer is good, guys. Being able to sell News Teams, Shi.Kyūs, 15 Minutes, or any spare 1-pointer gives you a massive economic advantage. Even if you only sell one Fan Site, you've still spent two cards and three clicks (install DD, install FS, sell FS) to gain 9. Pretty good for a worst-case scenario.

But you won't ever be flat broke with this deck. In addition your ID credits, the six Account Siphons in the deck (if we count SOT), Sure Gambles, and Data Dealer shenanigans, you also have Kati Jones and Bank Jobs. We're talking Scrooge McDuck here.

As such, the breaker suite is designed to capitalize on having ludicrous amounts of money. With a full rig and a full wallet, all servers are open to you. Trash every campaign (PADs, Sex bots, candy bars) on sight to cripple their long-term economy, and while you're at it kill Jackson Howard so they don't have a release valve for when you Fisk Investment Seminar them.

I'm happy to say that this deck soundly thrashed my buddy's SYNC build. It doesn't fare quite as well against Snare!s and Marcus Battys, though, given Criminal's complete lack of recursion.

Still, this is one of the best control builds I've ever played, and it acts as a pretty hard counter to a number of popular decks in the post-D&D meta.

15 comments
16 Nov 2015 FarCryFromHuman

Populist Rally will be fun with this I think.

16 Nov 2015 tiedyedvortex

Possibly. I wasn't really considering spoiled cards for this build. If I were, then you can bet I'd be running this as Andromeda/Iain with Rebirth, using the extra influence to squeeze in a couple Scrubber to punish asset builds and make the Rally less reliant on Data Dealer.

16 Nov 2015 tiedyedvortex

Possibly. I wasn't really considering spoiled cards for this build. If I were, then you can bet I'd be running this as Andromeda/Iain with Rebirth, using the extra influence to squeeze in a couple Scrubber to punish asset builds and make the Rally less reliant on Data Dealer.

16 Nov 2015 FarCryFromHuman

Andy/Iain Rebirth is truly wonderful, I can't wait to see it in action. Scrubber is a nice call; it's only going to get better in the coming cycle.

TL;DR: This archetype is positioned nicely for Mumbad.

17 Nov 2015 CodeMarvelous

@tiedyedvortex this is what I love about netrunner. The devs do a great job of bringing cards back to life. Fan site and News Team make data dealer well worth playing in an Iain deck.

17 Nov 2015 Diegofsv

This is awesome stuff. What a deck.

18 Nov 2015 AsteriskCGY

I've been meaning to stick in data dealer in all my decks because of that News Team

19 Nov 2015 tzeentchling

I feel like you could lose at least one Data Dealer for a Hostage. Gives you flexibility and can grab DD, Kati, or Film Critic if needed.

19 Nov 2015 tiedyedvortex

@tzeentchling That makes a lot of sense, actually. You don't need the Data Dealer until after they activate your Fan Sites. You can also fetch cards you need with Logos, but with only 1x you sometimes don't actually see the console until late in the game.

19 Nov 2015 tzeentchling

You might also consider swapping the Passport and Zu for a Peacock. Sounds strange, I know, but Iain will have the economy for it, and it does work against larger code gates. Can use Shrike instead of Garrotte then, which I think is a better breaker.

19 Nov 2015 tiedyedvortex

Oh man, Peacock? I hadn't even considered that one, what a blast from the past.

Peacock is slightly less efficient than ZU.13 Key Master, and Shrike is slightly less efficient than Garrote. So the change basically offsets itself, except that it also saves you an MU. With the extra MU from Logos, that would give you two spare MU, and one extra card slot from dropping Passport.

The thing is that I have no idea what to put in that spot, since we're out of influence. Sneakdoor Beta? Femme Fatale? Pheromones? Criminal just doesn't have many good utility programs in-faction.

19 Nov 2015 tiedyedvortex

Made a mistake. Zu is better than Peacock, and Garrote is better than Shrike, so switching from Garrote/Zu to Peacock/Shrike hurts you on both counts, nothing gets "offset". So unless there's something very useful to put in that extra MU slot, I think I'll stick with what I have.

19 Nov 2015 wily-odysseus

I played this a bit the other night and really enjoyed it! I found that the Bank Jobs were dead draws every time I hit a glacier, though, which was a lot that evening. Thoughts on alternative economy that's less dependent on the corp?

5 Feb 2016 PureFlight

OH MY GOD FILM CRITIC IS NOT UNIQUE

Not being facetious; I seriously thought it was. FC is awesome in Iain! :-)

5 Feb 2016 astrodog

I run a deck almost identical and I loved the idea of having 2 mongooses to counter their problem (old spy with two pets, so nice :p) also mongoose is super cool. i added 2 sneakdoor just to be sure i can access hands in case the corp is ready to score the last points and gang sign is not worth anymore. i opted for peacock too. not any major problems, except when i run into news hound, news hound and archer. two mongooses out is good if u don't use sneakdoor but 3 is impossible. but this is not rational : i just like the idea of these lovely creatures running around :) still efficient 80% of the time or so !