NBN: Rewriting Reality

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Devencire 146

Imagine if Reality Threedee read:

Asset: Illicit • Rez: 0 • Trash: 6 • Influence: 2

When you rez Reality Threedee, gain 1 and the Runner loses 1.

When your turn begins, gain 2.

You'd run that card, right? Well, this deck is about trying to make the above card a reality. And honestly, it doesn't really work, but it's been an interesting experiment in trace-based credit manipulation.

  • Broadcast Square makes this deck possible. Causing yourself to gain a bad publicity (e.g. by rezzing Reality Threedee) allows you to fire a trace on your terms. If the Runner has below 3 + (or 5 if your Making News 2 is available), you can dodge bad publicity for free.
  • Aryabhata Tech makes this deck nasty. Whenever you dodge bad publicity with the Broadcast Square, you also cause a 2 swing in your favour per rezzed Aryabhata Tech. It also makes your tracer ICE substantially more taxing. Giving yourself bad publicity in the ICE approach rez window - for instance, by rezzing Shinobi as well as two face-down Reality Threedees - can lead to a deadly trace chain reaction.
  • Restructured Datapool makes this deck downright unpleasant. If you somehow score a Datapool - or more likely borrow the effect of a stolen Datapool using Media Blitz - then you can fire a trace2 that, if successful, creates both a tag, and a swing from any rezzed Aryabhata Techs. This can quickly lead to a situation where the Runner has more tags than they can feasibly clear. Against 0 Runners it has the potential to bankrupt them for as long as you continue spending turns using the Datapool. This makes your Reality Threedees both exceedingly profitable and very difficult to trash.

Given the above pieces, the ICE setup intends to maximise the number of fired traces and unpleasant consequences while still having a sufficient quantity of End the run to build an ironclad scoring server (at least, as long as the Runner starts their turn at close to 0). Some of the ICE also gives you bad publicity, which can either be countered with Broadcast Square or can be burnt away by Elizabeth Mills (who herself can force a trace to fire while destroying Wyldside). 16 ICE allows for a single ICE on a a couple of key non-scoring remotes, ideally 1 Broadcast Square and/or 1 or more Aryabhata Techs.

Every piece of ICE has the Tracer subtype, so 3x Improved Tracers is included in the agenda suite to provide a potent defensive boost (and secondary Blitz target). The remainder of the agenda suite provide additional tag-based routes to victory (either Psycho-Beale or a death of a thousand cuts via Private Security Force).

Unfortunately, there are myriad problems with this deck. Whizzard or anyone with like-minded friends can affordably trash your key assets, runners with 2 or more make your Restructured Datapool and tracer ICE substantially less useful, and any Runner can counteract your Broadcast Square shenanigans if they can hold enough credits in reserve at all times. (Also, Pancha-bread decks can break the entire ICE suite with only Gingerbread!)

But it might all be worth it for the look on your opponent's face when you rez Reality Threedee while they are face-checking an about-to-be-rezzed Strength 5 Muckraker while you have 2 Aryabhata Techs just waiting to turn a profit via the Broadcast Square that your opponent had to pick up and look at when they accessed it and didn't trash it on sight. Maybe. Give it a shot?

8 comments
19 May 2016 Zakalwe

Flare and Checkpoint look really expensive for this deck to rez. TMI is surprisingly workable due to the :Making News 2. I think Caduceus is a real hero because you can almost always afford to rez it and it's hard to deal with if you manage to score an Improved Tracers.

I've tried similar Improved Tracers decks and while they are fun I feel they lack the raw power to compete with a lot of runner decks abusing Siphon, Blackmail, DDoS, AI Breakers and ICE destruction.

19 May 2016 Devencire

Checkpoint isn't very expensive in credits to rez for a massive code gate, but I admit that it is dubious given the 2 influence cost and that you only want to rez it with Broadcast Square already rezzed and be able to win that trace. Still, that is the central gimmick of the deck.

Flare is an attempt to trash the Runner's link hardware. Nobody expects it, so it's worked okay in testing sometimes. Without D4v1d prowling, Flare might have even been good. If we abandon that lofty hardware-destroying goal, perhaps it could be replaced with News Hound or a second Archangel. (If TMI benefited from Improved Tracers, it would definitely have stayed in; as it is, maybe it should be anyway because it's another way of guaranteeing that a trace fires, but... tracers!)

Caduceus is fantastic; I've used a couple of Vipers here instead to save on influence (either taxes or gear-checks, and first subroutine isn't dead last click if you have an ATech), but it would be deeply sensible to drop the Checkpoint for another Caduceus, and there's even a solid argument for going to 3x Caduceus with further cuts.

I think an Improved Tracers deck can have an okay match-up against Siphon because you have enough ways to spend your own credits during a run and deny them the immediate economic advantage. But the Anarch toolkit (either in-faction or imported)? I have no answer to that, and that's why this deck is sadly a failed experiment. :(

19 May 2016 Devencire

Whoops, forgot to address the above comment: @Zakalwe

19 May 2016 unitled

So after a conversation on Netrunner Geeks about the Broadcast/Arbtech/Reality combo, I built a version of this deck with Museums and City Surveillance and some other horrible asset stuff (really, the credit goes to the chap who posted the comment, he sent me what he remembered of the random deck he saw online).

Man... it has made some people VERY miserable. I've won all 4 games with it, Psychoing out agendas for the win in every one, then a friend has won 2, including one concede. You can lock people out of remotes entirely when they're tagged with Hostile Infrastructure and DRT. ArbTech means they really can't afford to constantly run through Muckraker even when they're tagged (a potential 18 cred swing if you have 3 ArbTech out!).

With this list, I feel you're missing some easy choices. Troll, Data Raven, and Gutenburg all spring to mind as tracing ice that work really well with ArbTech. I think 3 Lizzie is maybe overkill with 3 Broadcast Square there too as well.

Mainly, don't give up, I think ArbTech is a GREAT card, and will soon become a must-trash for runners.

19 May 2016 Devencire

@unitled Cool! I'd love to see how you fit Hostile Infrastructure and Dedicated Response Team - I'd considered the latter but didn't think I could spare the influence and slots for enough of them (though going to 54 for Museum is a solution of sorts). If you ever post the decklist anywhere let me know :)

I agree that Troll, Data Raven and Gutenberg are all good pieces of ICE for this style of deck - picking an ICE suite is apparently not my strong suit (though I don't own Gutenberg, hence its omission). There's only 2 Mills in this list but that might be one too many; I toyed with Executive Boot Camp as a way of not needing to run so many of each asset in order to have decent odds of being able to use them (and for force-illicit-ice-rezzing shenanigans), but ultimately decided against them for some reason.

I definitely think Aryabhata Tech is a devastating card that will be a 3x in many Making News decks, but I'm not sure the slavish dedication of a deck like this to tracing is going to be the strongest use, as fun as it's been. Blitzed Datapools and a few of the best NBN tracer ICE are probably enough to get good use of ATech without forgoing other valuable non-tracer ICE. I guess we'll see where the meta goes!

19 May 2016 unitled

Re Lizzie Mills, in reflection I realised she's another trigger for the broadcast square and can remove bad Pub you've gained from a desperate rez early in the game. Plus of course there are a load of tasty targets for her!

I'm still working on the list, let me know if you work your version up any more too! Interested to see where it goes :)

31 May 2016 WaltDixie

My version of this works strongly on the RDP/tag route. I strongly recommend a second keegan here. Executive boot camp is useful to get a jackson or arya when it fails to show. I use Uroboros as alternative to caduceus - expensive but the trace is better which is crucial in this deck style.

I'm also not there yet. Muckraker is attacked by mimic unless you have improved tracers played. I use neither and have quantum predictive model instead.

31 May 2016 Devencire

@WaltDixie I agree that Executive Boot Camp fits well here, perhaps instead of a Mills or Broadcast Square. Another Keegan Lane is undoubtedly fantastic but I felt very tight for deck slots. Quantum Predictive Models are definitely a sensible alternative to Improved Tracers, though might detract from the comedy (and the Media Blitz targets). I'll give Uroboros a proper chance if I play this sort of deck again - I'd excluded it on cost grounds, but saving influence is good.

Muckraker is a bit terrible but the list of bad publicity tracer ICE is pretty short; it's a symptom of the desire to have everything be affected by Improved Tracers, which honestly isn't valuable enough. I could definitely see a saner ICE suite and the QPMs making for a better deck overall.

Since the release of The Liberated Mind I've been trying to find space in this deck for Exchange of Information (supported by a very different 1-pointers and 3-pointers agenda suite), but that might just be one too many tricks for a single corp deck!