Werewolf Padma [2-2-1, 8th at East US Nats 2024]

Tl;dr

One Lobi is correct.

I do not remember why I chose Padma.

Play Kit. She’s better.

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All of the runner decks right now I either don’t like or I knew I wouldn’t have the time to practice enough to bring to Nats. In the Waypoint league I had been playing some Werewolf Kit and felt like it was straightforward enough to play so long as I brought a list that wouldn’t immediately die to SDS. After some practice matches Lucas presented the idea of porting the deck into Padma and he sent me a list he and Dee had been brewing earlier in the format.

I truly do not remember why I decided to play Padma over Kit. When people at the tournament asked I told them that Infinite Cataloguer was really good, and that the extra influence helped to smooth out the econ. I do not think either of these are sufficient to explain the decision, but the moment where I Decided to switch no longer exists in my memory. You should play Kit. Did you know that Kit can charge an empty Lobi??

The only changes I made from Lucas’s brew were...

Card choice

-1 Stoneship Chartroom

Any time I used the emergency charge on Stoneship it felt like it was a situation that could have been avoided if I had just Played Better.

+1 Compile

Multiple Compile is Necessary (more on this below).

-1 DJ Fenris, +1 No Free Lunch

In my practice with this and related lists I found DJ Steve to be a trap. This rig can break almost anything but it only generates enough money for a finite number of runs, so you’re rarely able to trigger Steve “for value”. And even if you do, Steve is just making your Ashen Epilogue worse. So Steve is marginal unless you’re playing a game that’s going well into the second trip through the deck AND the corp still hasn’t protected HQ which like,... I’m not really worried about those games...

ANYWAY,... DJ Quetzal/Sable didn’t feel like they were worth the slot and influence so I made the cut. NotAgain suggested Bahia Bands and NFL for the leftover influence and I chose NFL since I had gone down to the one Stoneship. If I could go back then I’d play Bahia instead. (jk, if I could go back I would play Kit. And you should too.)

Tips for playing this deck

Don’t bother playing this deck. Play Kit instead.

If, for whatever reason, you Must play this specific shell in this specific ID then I guess I have some tips:

• Mulligan if you see a program.

• Mulligan for card draw.

• Seriously, this deck will run out of steam if you’re running too much. You don’t have to check every install in the remote.

• Charge Lobi; you don’t need to charge Cataloguer until it’s down to the last counter

  • (UNLESS you know that Index>>Breach>>Breach has to be your line for some reason and you’re out of Trick Shots and you can only afford to run R&D once.)

• I got some mileage out of the Run R&D>>Index>>Burner>>top agenda>>Breach line which was neat, I guess...

Most important is to take notes. I have never once remembered what I put back with Cataloguer, but it turns out that information is important?? Pen and Paper are OP.

-1 Lobisomem, +1 Compile

This is the change that I didn’t make, but should have.

In our group chat this has stopped being an argument and is now fully a meme. I feel strongly that 1 Lobi, 3 Compile is correct. I felt that way before the event and I feel it even more so now.

When it came time to pack for the trip I had low confidence in my read and Lucas was firm on 2:2 so I listened to him.

IF you are going to play this deck (you shouldn’t. You should play Kit instead.) then you are better off ignoring Lucas and playing 1:3 because he’s wrong and I’m right.

Sometimes you draw the Orca

This deck needs Lobi Orca out before it can start really chugging along. It is true that sometimes you draw your lone Lobi and then you can’t install it with Spark of Inspiration, but that’s what the Compiles are there for and having fewer Compiles makes it harder to mitigate the Orca draw.

Drawing Lobi is manageable

As above, but with the added note that using Rigging Up to install Lobi really isn’t that bad.

Second Lobi is (usually) a dead card

Since Padma can’t charge Lobi from zero counters there are some boardstates where you can get value from unexpectedly spending the last power counter and then installing the second Lobi. That is true.

But, as mentioned above with the Stoneship emergency charge: don’t put yourself in those situations. Use Trick Shot to charge Lobi, bounce off ice, and run the remote.

When you Spark both Lobi it is catastrophic

This only comes up in situations where the deck is configured Spark>>Spark>>Lobi>>Lobi which only happens about whocares% of the time. But, when it does happen your solves are:

• Draw the last Spark before you draw the Orca.

• Draw Orca then find Spark AND Compile (remember that in this hypothetical you have one fewer copies of Compile).

• Draw Orca and still have a Rigging Up so you can install Orca for 7

• Draw Orca and install for 10

In Kit you can only get got by sentries that are “protected” by other ice, but this rig really does need both breakers. Hitting Lobi first is less important than always hitting Lobi+Orca with your first two Sparks. (I beseech you. Do not play this deck. Kit is the ID you’re looking for.)

What if Lobi+Spark x2 are in the bottom half of your deck? (and other disastrous configurations)

Then you gotta get there. Idk what to tell you. Make sure you don’t lose your Ashen to damage.

You piloted 2 Lobi to a new personal best result so how can you say that it was wrong??

That isn’t how you evaluate decision-making.

The games

As Runner I went 2-1-1 in swiss and 0-1 in the cut. (I’ll probably add notes for each match later.)

Round 2: Tie vs Choux playing Circle Ob

Round 3: Win vs Eric playing Holo Asa

Round 6: Win vs Holly playing Punitive RH

Round 7: Loss vs Robert playing Punitive RH

Cut Round 1: Loss vs paillu playing Moon Pool Sports

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Thank you to Lucas for the deck and for all the work you put into the NJ meta.

Thank you to Kyle and Wyld for being my travel buddies.

Thank you to NotAgain for organizing the tournament (and for giving me my Corp deck).

Thank you to all my opponents for being patient, gracious, and generally rad.

Thank you to Niichan for chatting with me about my Lobi play in a casual Jnet match. Please forgive me for betraying Kit.