Hammer & Nails v2.0

lolpaca 1247

So, the idea for this is that with just a Grimoire and an Access to Globalsec, you can run a pretty scary rig of full breakers, 3 Datasuckers, a D4v1d and a Medium, and you can always drop down more Globalsecs if link is a problem.

Starting with a strong setup economy, you should be able to gradually switch over to sucker tokens as the game progresses. Net-Ready Eyes and Ice Carver help increase the efficiency of those low-base breakers, but the cheap fracter and decoder should get you into servers early too if you need to.

I still think Mimic might be better overall than GS Shrike M2, but at least with this breaker suite you're never locked out of servers on sucker tokens alone, and can still money your way through if you get purged mid-run. Also, Mimic would mean giving up 1 = running 1 less sucker in the full rig. Needs testing.

Comments and suggestions welcome!

12 comments
13 Jan 2016 lukifer

This deck is elegant in its simplicity. I'd probably find room for a Faust, which a great way to get value out of duplicates and close gaps in the rig. I'm also torn on Ice Carver: it's a great econ card, but putting Assassin, Turing and Tollbooth out of D4v1d range is sad-making. Looking forward to trying this out!

13 Jan 2016 lolpaca

Thanks! Yeah, I've thought it could be worth switching a Globalsec for a Faust... it is super useful when you need it.

Ice Carver should be played situationally: if you're seeing a lot of single-sub strength-5s, just install D4vid first, rinse its tokens, then install Ice Carver and start breaking the old-fashioned way. I do tend to find you have money coming out of your ears in this deck, so using Shrike and Zu.13 is rarely a problem.

13 Jan 2016 lolpaca

Also RE Assassin, don't forget you have a ton of link and a ton of money. It can be hard for the corp to get value out of tracers vs this deck :)

13 Jan 2016 tiedyedvortex

I really like the elegant math that 1 Access to Globalsec gives you 2 free MU (GS Shrike M2+ZU.13 Key Master). However, if this is the only benefit you're getting from having link, your second and third Access to Globalsecs are dead draws. That's still a pretty good deal, compared to spending influence on Akamatsu Mem Chip, but I would definitely suggest either dropping to two Access to Globalsec (or even one Access to Globalsec and one Dyson Mem Chip), or putting in cards that make strong use of link like Globalsec Security Clearance or Underworld Contact.

13 Jan 2016 lolpaca

I originally had Underworld Contact but found it too slow; you could be right though. I tend to find Liberated Account the most clunky econ card, so maybe that could be a decent swap.

In my games so far I've actually found the extra 3 surprisingly helpful against a number of ice - Data Raven, Caduceus and Viper, for instance. Sometimes you can use your mad link to tax the Corp.

It's a weird deck, I'm still getting used to playing it. Fun though :)

13 Jan 2016 lolpaca

After just barely losing to deck which managed to tax me dry with 6-sub NEXT Silvers, I'm also thinking of trading a Net-Ready Eyes for a couple of Parasites. I'm not actually finding the NREs as vital as I thought they would be so far.

13 Jan 2016 AsteriskCGY

Net Ready is really just a gap closer for the Anarch 3 str breakers to hit the many 4 str stuff out there easily. Mix this with sucker tokens and most things are breakable more reasonably With pumpable breakers money seems to be the bigger issue.

14 Jan 2016 WayneMcPain

I love love love what you are doing here. I've always been an Edward Kim fan and it's always baffled me that nobody builds around both his strengths. Link is more relevant than ever and I think what you have here is a rather elegant way of utilizing this mechanic. I toyed around with Security Nexus in both Reina and Kim, but it's just too expensive and influence heavy. The cloud breakers seem like a much better direction to take.

I've not really been a big fan of Liberated Account. Like you said, it's really clunky, even with Career Fair. You end up having one or the other in hand waiting for the second piece, or you take a huge tempo hit half the time. Armitage Codebusting isn't that much less efficient and is great for coming back from low credits. I'd say switch to that. If you do, you lose a big chunk of your Career Fair targets though.

Also, I really would like to see some HQ multi access in here. Having plenty of options for pressuring centrals is really key to Kim I think. I have been playing with two Neutralize All Threats and two Scrubber and I really like it. 3 influence is pretty hefty though.

I think Parasite is just too good to not include. I would probably pack more flexible econ and drop the Career Fairs for them. If you already have Pancakes, a singleton Faust could be really clutch here, but I tend to avoid Faust because I'm a snob. :P

Love this decklist! Keep the Kim dream alive!

14 Jan 2016 WayneMcPain

Sorry for double post, but now that I think about it, maybe Nerve Agent would be a good include? You've got plenty of Memory, synergy with Grimoire and forcing purges is usually a pretty good thing, especially since you can boost all your breakers with creds in a pinch. I like Nerve Agent in Kim because even with no tokens, you are bound to see 3 cards in two runs.if you hit anything but Ice on the first run.

14 Jan 2016 lolpaca

Hey, thanks! Glad you like the deck. I'm currently running -1 Net-Ready Eyes, -1 Liberated Account and +2 Parasite.

Urgh, those Liberated Account slots. I tried Underworld Contact briefly and I'm really torn on them. On the one hand, they give money all game long, they can be a fantastic investment and I've had a couple of games where I've drawn through my whole deck and just straight up run out of money (that was mainly due to having no Parasites, though).

On the other, they just feel too slow for this deck (4 turns before they're any better than clicking for a credit), plus they're annoying hand clog if you don't see an early Access to Globalsec. Liberated is at least useable whenever you can afford it, and it's a good mid-game boost which is when you tend to need it most. So far I think still think Liberated offers the most consistency, but by all means let me know how it goes if you give Armitage Codebusting a spin.

I would love to get some HQ multiaccess in there and I think that's what it's lacking most at the moment. Nerve Agent was my first thought, but I'm not sure what to cut for it - maybe an I've Had Worse, but I do like having all 3. Cutting the last Net-Ready Eyes for a HQ Interface is another possibility. Or I could just be one of the cool kids and run a 46-card deck.

Scrubbers would be great too.

24 Jan 2016 Lykosidae

Took this deck to a local Game Kit tournament with the 46 card version for Nerve Agent. Deck felt like it ran fairly smoothly, it's hard to go wrong with the Pancake Party chugging along.

Econ felt great, and was able to keep up pressure while building out my board state. Eddy definitely did work against Haarp kill, killed their econ and Scorched's and ran roughshod through R&D. Didn't play against Foodcoats, so it may have trouble keeping up there with all the assets.

Shrike ended up feeling like a supplemental breaker to D4v1d, oddly enough. The popular sentries there were Rototurret (parasited), Data Raven (ran through with link) and Assassin, which took the D4v1d.

Lack of recursion combined with only two of each breaker may be an issue. Ended up with both Zu's in the trash and digging hard for Parasite while my opponent scored a GFI behind a quandary. Might trade out an Ice Carver for Deja Vu.

24 Jan 2016 lolpaca

Hey, that's awesome to hear it performed pretty well in a tournament. I'll be taking a version of this to some upcoming store championships so I'm still tweaking away at it all the time.

I definitely hear ya about Shrike. Half the time I don't even bother installing it as it's such a tempo hit, which makes me wonder if it should even be in there. I dunno. 90% of the time I wish it was a Mimic, although it's hilarious with stuff like Komainu.

In the current version I've dropped Career Fair and Net-Ready Eyes, added 3 Parasites and I'm running Lucky Finds and Underworld Contacts. I'm finding that a bit smoother and more consistent econ-wise.