A little more siphon - (6th at DC Regional)

kevintame 569

I got a fever and the only prescription is more siphon!


This is the deck I took to the DC regionals at Island Games. I made the cut and placed 6th. This was some of the best Netrunner games I've had in a long time. Every game came down to small amounts of credits, clicks, agenda points and everyone of my opponents was world class!

This is a Siphon Whizz deck and the plan is simple. Siphon early and a lot. You want to keep them poor and you rich. Also, you want to win the current war and run powerful events like Wanton Destruction and Vamp to disrupt their game plan. Generally you close the game with Keyhole runs and a Mad Dash.


Key Card Choices

  • Account Siphon - You can go down to 2 to fit in Apocalypse but in my opinion 3 is just better as I like to see them in my opening hand.
  • Employee Strike helpful for the several match ups.
  • Rebirth - The main reason why I didn't add another employee strike is because of Caprice on HQ. Using Omar to run in and kill it then siphon is great. Against SYNC becoming Quetzal: Free Spirit is great to deal with IP Block and Resistor.
  • Obelus and Plascrete Carapace are for BOOM! decks. I face 3 on the day so having both is very helpful. Obelus is also very helpful for the IG match up that I faced.
  • Archives Interface is there to get rid of key cards that the corp needs to win. It might be better as another Obelus.
  • Hacktivist Meeting is one of the best currents against Moons decks.
  • 2 Paperclip I don't like losing my barriers to Skorpios decks.
  • Mad Dash closes the game.

Match Ups

  • Mooninites - Try and land Account Siphon early and don't let them get a lot of counters on Estelle Moon. It is better to face plant into a Fairchild 3.0 or Architect to get them to use a a low amount of counters instead of a lot. In testing, I found that if I let them get 7+ counters on the first moon it was very tough for me to win. If you can keep siphoning and trashing stuff you will be in good shape. I like to keep Hacktivist Meeting online as much as possible. Another good tactics is they will leave R&D open early so installing and using Keyhole is a way to punish them. This forces them to spread their limited ice thin to defend RD and makes landing Account Siphon easier. Many corps are slotting Crisium Grid and Caprice so I like to Rebirth into Omar to deal with them on HQ. However you need to be careful because losing the Whizz credits can be very painful so make sure to Rebirth wisely.
  • SYNC. BOOM! - There is a fine line to when you go tag me. I will go tag me if I have a few Account Siphon and or Déjà Vu and Same Old Thing. Also if I have Obelus or Plascrete Carapace out I will go tag me. They will most likely best defense your Obelus so just hold on to a Déjà Vu and bring it back. Rebirth into Omar Keung: Conspiracy Theorist to make breaking Resistor and IP Block easier. He is ok for a last ditch efforts into HQ to trash boom and get agendas.
  • AgInfusion - I haven't played against this a lot but all of my games have felt much like playing against RP. So I like to keep Employee Strike on the board and just keep siphoning them and do what my deck does. Also when I Keyhole I like to prioritize trashing ice, Jackson Howard, and Friends in High Places before agendas.
  • Blue Sun - This is a very hard match so you need to get them to rez ice and then drop an Employee Strike. The problem is by turn one they can usually get a oversight AI with a Current Wall or something and be on a ton of credits very quickly. I almost always mulligan for Employee Strike. The other problems is they can also rush our agenda and force you to keep up and go poor. It is fine to go tag me but you kind of need your Obelus or Plascrete Carapace as they are usually going to BOOM! you. During the tournament I survived 2 BOOM! back to back. It is almost always better to keep a few I've Had Worse in hand and only take two Plascrete Carapace counters when you are boomed. They will trash your hand and hit I've Had Worse and draw you some cards. Your next turn should just get back up to 5 cards to defend against another boom. Booming you twice is doable but three times or more becomes harder.
  • IG - Account Siphon early and use Keyhole to trash their stuff. Make sure you stay on trashing a few important assets with Employee Strike. Bio Ethics, Turtlebacks, and Hostile Infrastructure. I like to use Archives Interface to deal with shocks in bin and other key things. You are really favored in the match. Don't let the game go to long as running out of deck is a problem. Obelus helps with the Chariman Hero kill decks.
  • Skorprios - Get MKUltra out and Employee Strike and the game is much easier. If you steal an agenda play Employee Strike right away if it isn't in play to avoid Hunter Seeker.

Tournament Report

Swiss Rounds

  • Round 1 - Bye 2-0
  • Round 2 - Chris "tr33beard" DiGregorio on AgInfusion. I really didn't know how to play against this so I just siphoned and kept employee strike down. He used celebrity gift and I saw some Nisei MKII so I used Rebirth into omar and snipped one of them. I ended up closing the game by getting a global food and future perfect with keyhole. I then won the psi game for the win. Corp lose so I was 3-1
  • Round 3 - Ian Williams on Blue Sun. He took off fast and I was very worried. I was able to force him to rez ice and then I began to siphon where his ice was weak. I then played Employee strike to keep him down. We was able to recover and I was already tag me so I got out obelus and plascrete. He best defensed my obelus. Which I brought back with Deja Vu. He then proceded to Boom me two turns in a row and I survived them both. I eventually picked some off of HQ and RD. Corp win so I was 5-1
  • Round 4 - Josh "technoblivion" Venecia. He was on IG Moons and I landed siphons early and was able to contest remotes. He was very poor most of the game. I wasn't able to find enough agendas and he was able to recover. I eventually ran out of deck and he with some bio ethics and then I hit a Fetal AI on RD to bring me to 6 points but 0 card in hand. He credited up and killed me with Neural EMP. Corp wins 6-2
  • Round 5 - Dan "Code Marvelous" Spinosa on the same Blue Sun Deck as Ian. I mistakenly used Queen's Gambit on a Project Atlas and he was able to put 2 counters on it. At that point he was able to pull in the things he needed and scored out very fast. I didn't really have a chance to get going. He played really well and handed me solid lose. Corp wins 7-3 going into the cut.

The Cut

  • Runner vs Dane Meyer's Skorpios. Win. I found all my breakers early and also an account siphon and employee strike. I was able to land siphons and keep employee strike on the table. I was able to pick off agendas from HQ and RD and he wasn't able to get one from some keyhole runs.
  • Runner vs Lauren Williams's SYNC: Everything, Everywhere. Lose. This was a tough lose. I went tag me from turn one and kept her poor. I think I Siphoned 9 times. Most of the game I spent siphon spamming and digging for Obelus and Plascrete Carapace. Come to find out, I left my Plascrete Carapace in my deck box. So I would have been DQed anyways. I think I could have won otherwise.
  • Corp vs Alan Noonan's Lock Haley Deck. - I killed chameleon and rumor mill back to back turns with Ark Lockdown his back was against the wall even though he was on 5 points so he did a glory run before he used levy and snipped the one and final agenda off of HQ for the win. Lose.
2 comments
13 Jun 2017 BizTheDad

I've messed around with a similar Whizz/Siphon deck. However, mine contains some cutlery to deal with problem ICE -- Chiyashi, DNA Tracker, Fairchild 3.0, etc. Did you wish at that you would have had some ICE destruction during your games?

14 Jun 2017 kevintame

@BizTheDad yes my changes are drop 2 Queen's Gambit for Forked and Spooned. I didn't find them useful on the day.