Kate Covert Ops

This deck has had great success in our current league although takes a bit of practice to adjust to. It runs extremely economically and it needs to! The key strategy is to draw heavy and establish R&D lock early creating a race to win situation.

The first 4-5 turns are important you need to draw at least once every turn and play a piece of Hardware or Program maximising Kate’s ability. Pro-Co is gold and don’t hesitate to first turn play it then use it to draw then play a 1-cost hardware for free then an SMC (my favourite opening).

It doesn’t hurt to check the first few pieces of ICE against FA decks which are the hardest matchup to force them to rez but don’t waste your resources on trashing unless it can’t be avoided. You need breakers super quick so draw more than usual to keep up.

Once you have an SMC out you can grab the appropriate breaker and this deck will reach a point where you can run for ‘free’ once every turn maybe twice. I often use Clone Chip on SMC to get the next breaker as needed.

Modded I usually save to play the R&D interfaces and only burn it to get out Dagger/Shiv/Plascrete when it seems necessary.

Drawbacks are lack of multi access on HQ. Making one solid run each turn which is usually R&D becomes much better with multi access. Then once you have established decent lock start sniping HQ or the remotes. Try and flush some agendas out.

Changes: • Against PE/RP decks I have been using Feedback Filter instead of the 3rd Lockpick with some success. Sometimes just preventing 1 net damage will keep you alive and of course being able to check traps and prevent brain Damage is a great backup ability. • I have considered trading Special Order for Parasite or HQ Interface it deserves further testing. • Using Shiv instead of Dagger is a personal choice they both have benefits and drawbacks. • Corroder seems better in most cases over Blackcat so far in testing although Corroder uses more ‘real’ money for larger barriers.

The fiscal nature of this style requires practice and being aware which pieces need to come out first. That may not appeal to all players but I’d love to hear back any feedback or modifications?