Free Running

Amakaze 444

Nasir! A brand new identity and one that requires a brand new approach...and best of all, the new approach is one that forces Corps to change up how they play, which is always good for Runners. The main idea of this deck is to freeload as much as possible. It has little in the way of economy...and it doesn't need it. I've played this deck several times (In proxy, as Upstalk isn't out yet) and driven the Corps absolutely insane each time.

Alright, so how does it work? It requires a different mindset of the runner. When you're out of credits...Run! You're making the corp pay for your rig, allowing you to build up AND keep up the pressure at the same time. Inside Man is your crucial card, with replicator as a close second. These two in combination form the economic engine of the deck. Early on, your goal is to install with all the credits you have (replicating out copies of hardware from your deck, thinning it down and making the 2 ofs more likely to appear when you need them). Against every corp but Jinteki, you don't even really need overmind on these runs and can focus on your hardware. The corp will either give you free accesses or they'll rez ice to bounce you, which is free credits to continue assembling your rig.

Early game you'll be tolerable, keeping pressure on the corporation and making them spend credits, as you should, but probably won't slide away with more than one agenda. This is exactly contrary to most runner decks these days, which do all the work early and then dig desperately for the final agenda to close.

Mid game, though, this deck shines and takes the momentum right out from the Corp's hands. With inside man and replicator, it is supremely easy to play out three R&D interfaces, allowing for very deep digs into the corp's deck. Cyberfeeders, too, hit the board all at once and provide a recurring three credits to get through ice even when you're broke. Omni-drive will provide another, and nets Overmind one more token so that it doesn't count its own memory when you install it. Overmind is ridiculously hard to stop with Nasir behind it. Almost all ice (with the exception of some HB) has less strength than rez cost. Your recurring credits will get you through the small stuff, the large stuff is just an invitation for Crescentus to derez (netting you the mass credits again), and Kati Jones will slowly build a Cache of credits for those occasions where the Corp has played a mega server and all the ice is rezzed, or when you need to install something that inside man can't handle (Xanadu, the toolbox, Femme, ect). When overmind runs low, test run, install another, or scavenge to refresh the counters and set off LLDS processor, to further insulate against big money spends.

Weaknesses? A few. For one thing, this deck hates being tagged early. Losing Inside Man slows the rig building, and the deck can't fully shine until things are built. Crash Space serves double duty here, helping to clear tags (Nasir often doesn't have a credit to his name, much less 2) and also protecting against meat damage from Weyland kill combos. Plascrete would be an influence saving change, but loses out on the benefit of tag dumping.

Second, Jinteki forces a changes of pace. You're going to be constantly replicating out of your deck, so it's going to get thin fast and there's no room for Levy AR, so far as I've found.This means the deck cannot afford to take net damage casually. Against Jinteki, slow down the early game and get overmind onto the field. Jinteki ice has low strength, so overmind can keep you safe from most of it. You can't stop a determined Jinteki from doing net damage, but if you keep it minimal you can mitigate the danger.

You also have two hated pieces of ice (Pop up window is an honorable mention as an annoyance, but overmind goes through it just fine). Wraparound only gives you two credits and can really strain your purse to break without a fracter. Swordsman can wear down your clone chips by killing off overmind every time you want to run. Femme is the answer to both (bypassing and just plain breaking, respectively).

Why the weird cards? I admit, I've got some cards in here that haven't been used in a while that might be head scratchers. Scrubber is rarely played even inside Anarch, but its necessary in this deck. Wiley corps will refuse to rez ice on remotes, letting you run into San Sans or Pad campaigns you can't afford to trash (since Nasir usually begins the run so poor). If you then take from Kati and run, they'll rez the ice, replacing your pool with the rez cost and (often enough) deny you again. Scrubber ensures that corp can't usually let you go through by putting most trash costs within your range at 1-2 credits in your pool, and also helps clear out R&D by paying trash costs, allowing deep pulls more frequently to hunt down agendas.

Crescentus is obvious for this deck. Use it as you pass through big ice and force them to give you a big check again the next time, or leave it face down. Don't forget you can clone chip it out unexpectedly and really ruin the corps day. LLDS processor boosts what you're already going to have to do, continually 'refreshing' overmind now comes with a 3 strength boost, more than enough to run over most of the ice out there and give you yet another 4 card R&D pull.

Some alternative combinations - Deep Red (+3 memory for Caissas, but still unused memory) instead of tool box gives a good reason to play Rooks instead of Xanadu. Clone chip can keep them on the board, but you'll run out of them fast with so many possible targets, but still an arrangement worth trying.

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