Builder of Snares (4th @ Dublin GNK)

"It's just like playing Jinteki."

I had absolutely no idea what Corp to play at our Q3-in-Q4 GNK this past weekend until I came across this in my binder and thought, "What can I get up to with this?" Obviously advance-able ICE is a must, but what good Advance-able ICE is out there? The answer is not a lot, however what this deck is really good at is flatlining and taxing the runner, akin to Jinteki.

Ideally, you'll be winning games by flatlining the Runner. This can either be through one of the three copies of Snare! that you're running, or the classic Weyland One-Two Knockout. You can also win simply by building up a big remote with Cayambe Grid, forcing the runner to spend 6 or more to access whatever is in your server. And that's after they've gotten through all of your ICE. An important note on timing: there is a window after the runner has paid for Cayambe Grid where you can use Border Control to end the run, effectively meaning that they'll have to pay somewhere in the region of 10 to actually get into your server, and that's not including the price of breaking all of your ICE.

I ended up taking this deck to a 3-1 finish which is 3 wins more than I expected to get. The deck is an absolute blast to play, and it feels very "classically Netrunner".

Round One vs Hayley

This was a rough game. I mulliganed into a hand that had no good economy and some meh ICE. Hayley was just able to get her loops and engines going and I just didn't have the time to play and advance my ICE. It was a pretty brutal game that ended fairly quickly.

Round Two vs Fisk

This was a pretty buckwild game. The Fisk player hit an early Snare which trashed their hand. I DRM'd for a City Works, and followed up with a Dedication Ceremony to make it an impossible steal. I had Punitive in hand as well, just in case they were brave enough to go for it. Eventually I got to 6 points but they were able to mill me down to 5 cards in RnD. Thankfully though they ran HQ and were met with double Snare. And in case they did manage to grab and agenda, I also had double Punitive in hand. Pretty wild game, but a very fun one.

Round Three vs Leela

We were a bit short on time for this one so I played a little bit faster and rushed out an early SSL Endorsement, which ended up panning out great because it gave me enough economy early on to power up my ICE. I punted the game though and could have gotten a flatline win very early on. The runner decided to run my remote with a single piece of ICE and a double advanced CWP. I had Punitive in hand and had I just let them take the CWP, I would have exactly enough to boost the Trace on Punitive to where they would be killed. Unfortunately I protected and scored the CWP and I ended up getting a time limit win instead.

Round Four vs Cabonessa Wu

This was a great game, and props to @DoubleK for this game. It was super tight, and very typical Netrunner. I managed to get a good start with some strong econ and the all important Cayambe Grid. I installed an early CWP behind two pieces of ICE and just slowly ticked it over, letting Cayambe beef up my remote. I managed to snag another CWP, and had the third one in hand, along with Punitive for an almost guaranteed win, but a good run on HQ meant they were able to steal my potentially game winning CWP. I had an SSL in hand and a remote with an advanced Border Control, a triple advanced Masvingo, and a triple advanced Mausolus, plus a Cayambe. I slammed the SSL into the remote and double advanced. This is where the interaction between Border Control and Cayambe saved me the game. It would have cost the runner 23 to successfully get into the server, as well as the 2 needed to run twice. Plus they needed to be able to install two Chameleons in order to get through the ICE as well. I had basically locked them out of the remote, and they needed to score an agenda from RnD to win. There were no agendas in the top 3 of RnD so I was able to win the next turn.

Overall, this is a sweet deck with a lot of good stuff going on. Only six agendas saved my ass quite a bit over the day. Even though they are three-pointers, I think the fact there's so few is a great protection for the deck. DRM is also absolutely sick. Cayambe Grid is so good in this deck, I'd honestly run 3. You want to see it as soon as possible because it makes the deck infinitely stronger. The downside is that you need a lot of economy to make this work. Three each of Hedge Fund, IPO, and NGO Front are essential. I'd also throw in 2x Kakugo. Not only is it just good in this deck, but if you can get an advancement token on it via a Cayambe, all of a sudden that card does two damage to the runner. It's awesome.

Changes I'd make:

-1 Breached Dome -1 Gene Splicer -1 Rashida -1 Snare -1 Scarcity -1 Masvingo

+2 Kakugo +1 Cayambe Grid +3 NGO Front

I've also considered cutting the Under the Bus for the third Preemptive Action but Film Critic is really good against this deck so I think you need at least one, even if it means you can't buy back your Snares and trashed Cayambes as frequently.

All in all, this deck is great, and it's going to get even better with the inclusion of Akhet and Argus Crackdown in Uprising.

Thanks again to Mark for organising Netrunner tournaments in Dublin, and thanks to all of the Dublin Netrunner players for being sound! It's a great community and a pretty diverse meta which is always awesome.