Stunt Pony 2.1 (1st, Undefeated Seattle Regionals)

forktines 476

So yeah... This deck is very very good it seems.

I've taken this deck (with some very minor changes) to two separate regional tournaments. The first was at my hometown of Portland, Oregon, where it went 8-0, and the second, of course, was in Seattle/Tacoma, where it went 7-0. So I guess in total this deck has a tournament record of 15 wins and zero losses.

I'm just going to briefly go over the mechanics of the combo. Most people seem to know it by now, but just for those of you who don't - You trash DDoS, run R&D with 2, or ideally 3, Mediums installed and a number of Clone Chips/False Echoes installed equal to the number of ICE over R&D minus one. Once you pass the first piece of ICE you trash a False Echo, which, because of DDoS they are unable to rez, forcing them to return it to HQ. You continue to do this until there is only one piece of unrezzed ICE over R&D. From that point, you are going to want to just hit R&D, use your Amped-Ups, access a bunch of cards and win the game.

That's how the deck was designed to function at least. At the Portland Regionals, I believe there were only two games in which I did not go from 0 to 7+ points in one turn. I never actually pulled off a one-turn-win at the Seattle tournament. This was partially because I wanted to prove the versatility of this deck, so that it is not just forever designated as some sort of jank-tier deck piloted by a madman, and also because the tournament at Seattle required me to play somewhat more fluidly.

These were very hard games, and while the mechanics of the combo are easy enough to grasp, there are still choices that you make throughout the game that are not so intuitive. I don't believe that I trashed a single False Echo in my final game against @pandapersona. Twice in the tournament, I decked myself and had to pop a 3 counter Trope to triple Blackmail R&D for the win. To make the cut against @hatsuyume, I had to run R&D with only two mediums and no Amped Ups knowing that I would get scorched to death the next turn if I didn't see 4 points.

In a normal game however, this deck does not require so many decisions. Most often you just sail right on through that R&D.

Now that I've proved the deck, I think I'll stop playing it for a while. I miss ICE. But if you're looking for a cool runner deck to bring to regionals or nationals or whatever, you should probably at least try this one out. It's pretty good. Let me know if you decide to try and pick this deck up, I can probably give you some pointers. Also let me know if you think it could be better. There are very few things that I enjoy doing more than talking about Netrunner, and this deck in particular.

Thanks to everyone running and running in the tournament. I had a great time.

P.S., Fire the ABT

7 comments
30 May 2016 crushedguava

after playing quite a bit of the keyhole/hyperdriver version out of kate/ct a while back i am very keen to try this deck. what is the primary function of sports hopper here?

30 May 2016 crushedguava

also what's your primary way out against rezzed ice on rnd from abt?

31 May 2016 forktines

@crushedguavaSports Hopper was an include for IG that wasn't there in the previous version. The idea is to use Sports Hopper directly before The Big Run, in doing so, you prepare yourself for hitting Snare!s and also make it less likely that an Amped Up will hit another Amped Up. It's also been good for just general drawing when you really need to pull off The Big Run on this turn or the next.

As for ABT, You can put a Knight on it, but you probably won't have enough credits to hit R&D as many times as you'd like to, but you still can get some pretty good sized Medium digs. Once ICE is rezzed on R&D, however, you should probably switch your focus to scoring off of remotes (and maybe even HQ) as much as possible.

31 May 2016 ChairmanMeow

I'd love to get The Turning Wheel in here but I can't imagine cutting any Clone Chips or False Echos.

Seems like a really fun deck!

31 May 2016 crushedguava

you could put a keyhole instead! @forktineswhat about the prevalence of Cyberdex Virus Suite? is that a problem at all?

6 Aug 2016 formerteen

does this deck just lose to executive boot camp? i was thinking about playing it in an upcoming tournament but I know there's at least one Gagarin deck playing EBC. is that just an auto loss?

6 Aug 2016 forktines

Hot Tub Time Machine playing EBC is a super bad matchup for this deck. I would hesitate to say that it's an autoloss, as you can get set up wild fast, variance gods permitting. If the person you're talking about isn't a Museum deck player, then you're odds are bit better... It still is rough, though...If it's really freaking you out, the Kate lists that are running this combo have a quicker setup and a somewhat better response to rezzed ICE (Atman, Escher).

Best of luck.