The Latchkey Kid

Chimpster 484

Playing my event version of this deck on Wednesday at a casual tournament made it clear to me that sharpshooter doesn't cut it in the current meta, equally, i'm sick to death of not seeing planned attack early (or seeing it too late to matter) and half the time I would have preferred a decent event card instead. Same old thing has the same problem, 3 clicks is only worth it if you're siphoning and that is a huge investment in influence if you're going to be consistent with it (which planned attack doesn't help enough with). Indexing is a great card but it can get click intensive, especially if you use it with same old thing.

So, enter the program variant of CT, keyhole to replace indexing, Sneakdoor to replace legwork, parasite recursion to deal with low str ice and faerie recursion to blow through sentries cheap. Mimic is there to be an SMC option for breaking sentries on the fly if the Faerie may not be appropriate. Very important to have good sentry options in any situation.

Early doors MO is everything and this can lead to MU problems, MU is going to be the key problem with this deck currently I feel. That being said, it's important to clarify that you'll only be bringing out the relevant program each game, you're never going to have Sneakdoor and keyhole out at the same time for instance. If a program does have to leave to board, clone chips and scavenge can bring back key threats or breakers when they are needed again. Dino is there to hopefully alleviate the mem problem as well as boost up a breaker of my choice to deal with key taxing ice threats (eli, inazuma etc). Escher is there to also cause problems to taxing decks and add some much needed HQ pressure. At the right time it can be absolutely devastating.

So key points of discussion that I need to figure out.

First off, is dinosaurus the right choice? Would I be better off with mem chips or do I need to drop some programs instead? A 5 credit tempo hit is pretty massive and I've included 3x modded over dirty laundry to try and combat this which leads us too;

Is modded the right choice? Would I be better off with daily casts or dirty laundry? If I drop the modded, is there anything else you would be tempted to drop? I was looking to try and include an economy card which assisted with dino and magnum early doors and help if I draw up a program in hand. What do you think?

Finally, is Keyhole the right choice? Would you be tempted to use the influence elsewhere and go for indexing instead? What would you drop and what would you put in?

Answers on a postcard please folks

5 comments
28 Jun 2014 x3r0h0ur

I think to answer your last questions, they all are the right choice because you chose to use them. Modded is an amazing underrated card. It is a huge tempo saver, and great econ card, especially when you're running a rigbuilder type shaper. I normally don't like running parasite without datasucker so that inf seems odd to me. I would think +1 DS +1 atman would be a good add, you can mix breaker style with atman style and just play whatever comes up first. Even 1 atman and 1 DS is pretty strong for early aggression before transitioning into boostable breakers.

28 Jun 2014 Chimpster

Parasite is fantastic for popping off 0 str and low str, high subroutine ICE like Hive, Tsurgi and Kominau. I am tempted to find room for an Atman, could work well for saving memory late game as well if ICE is hovering around 4 str (which it definitely is atm it seems). Might be worth trying to find room for a sucker, will have to test it a little, worried it may compound the memory issue a little though.

29 Jun 2014 variablesquid

Can you elaborate on why you think Sharpshooter doesn't cut it anymore?

1 Jul 2014 Cerberus

Because of Jinteki seeing more play, therefore Komainu and Tsurugi etc being very common. Sharpshooter doesn't protect you from these and allow for safe face checking. Chimpster and I were having this conversation after he face checked 2 Komainu in our tournament match :)

2 Jul 2014 variablesquid

I see your point. I haven't really encountered too much Jinteki in my meta, so I'm still running sharpshooter and hadn't really given it much thought. If I was facing Jinteki instead of a lot of Weyland and HB, Deus X would definitely steal that deck slot.

Also, I love your inclusion of Modded. I'm a big fan of modded when you are running a lot of programs. Like Xero said, it's a good tempo card and a good economy card. Like Easy Marking for no click as long as you install something. To answer your questions more generally, try different combinations of cards and see which ones you like. See which ones mesh with your play style or deck thesis better, and go with those. I don't think there is a "right" card in general, but there is a card that is "right for you". You just have to play test a little and figure out what those cards are.