Kit, Whale, Wolf (3-0-0 at NANPC SF, 8th overall)

zhansonic 29

This is my take on the Blue Milk / Grug / Kitshmael / 3 women archetype. I've thought a lot about this deck, and I'm proud to call this one mine.

Orca is my favorite animal. It watches over me (throwing itself in front of net damage and saving my life thanks to Aniccam the first time I played this deck), and I was overjoyed when getting into Netrunner to learn that Orca was a relevant card. I would still play decks with Orca even if it wasn't meta relevant.

Summary

This deck relies on Spark of Inspiration to cheaply install the incredibly efficient Lobisomem and Orca, your only two programs. Everything else is either draw or econ, with influence spent on tech cards. The deck runs fairly low to the ground with money, rarely going over 5-8 credits.

The more I play this deck, the more I realize it's a control deck. Try to find your Sparks as fast as you can, without drawing Lobi or Orca. Get into their remotes for cheap, use the rest of your creds to trash their house, and lay down a Deep Dive to close out the game.

Changes

-1 Build Script -> +1 DJ Fenris

-1 Mystic Maemi -> +1 Miss Bones

Mulligan

Mulligan for Spark, and mulligan away programs. A turn 1 or turn 2 Spark of Inspiration can set you up for the whole game and if you hit Lobi with it, no corp server is safe. Early Aniccam is also good to have, and of course a Sure Gamble turn 1 click 1 feels great.

Breaker suite

We're only running 1x Lobisomem because once you get the first one, you often really need to Spark your Orca, and having two Lobi is just...why. If it gets deleted or trashed by rigshooters or stealing SDS Drone Deployment, you better go get a Compile, find another Spark, and god help you. Regarding Compile, I think is 3x Compile a lot more versatile than any # of Retrieval Run to get breakers out of the heap, especially since Retrieval is most often a dead card.

Lobi counters with Kit are more plentiful than your credits. It really doesn't end up being an issue, ever.

Other ideas

The main competition for Compile is Test Run.

Rigging Up can reduce the cost of hard casting breakers drawn after Test Run, but you only need one, and running 3x takes up a lot of slots.

Test Run -> Rejig IMO is less versatile than Compile (which lets you get the icebreaker after the corp rezzes), and you need two cards for it, and probably 3x Rejig, which I don't think the deck has room for.

Not running K2CP Turbine (even though it would help tremendously with the econ vs large ICE) because you're pretty much screwed every time you Spark it. I think it would be great to include since there might not be enough money for late game situations. Even though Lobi and Orca are cheap enough to boost, breaking most mid-level sentries for 4 cred adds up -- Turbine and Orca are best friends. Also, Compile putting your breakers on the bottom of the deck has anti-synergy with Spark and Turbines because it makes you more likely to Spark into Turbines! It's another card that might be in the Rigging Up version of this deck that also includes Test Run.

Simulchip / Self-modifying Code to spend creds off Overclock / Trick Shot is a cool idea, but a little too wombo for my tastes.

Card notes

Build Script - I put this in because I wanted to see how it played and I was on the "3x Build Script makes the deck feel so clean", but Kit is really tight on influence and you need to spend it on tech cards that do stuff, instead of cards that are just slightly above average always. I only played this once, and it felt mediocre, even though it triggered Aniccam to make it basically Diesel + 1 cred. This should be a DJ Fenris where you get a Loup for the asset matchups (and maybe in general) or Steve Cambridge: Master Grifter, and maybe Quetzal if it's early and you hit Orca with your first Spark. Los, maybe, in very specific situations.

Burner - Great card. Spin Doctors can protect R&D if you put agendas on the top. Don't be afraid to just put 2 cards on the top. It slows down the corp a lot.

Compile - I prefer to keep breakers safe and sound at the bottom of my deck instead of stressfully at the top with Test Run, and I think using it like Inside Job makes it better than Test Run, even though Compile only gets you the program for the run (but after the corp rezzes, which is nice), not the turn. It can also get your two friends out of your heap if they get trashed for whatever reason.

Deep Dive - This card is for spending a turn and some credits and getting an agenda, if it's awkward to get into the remote or asset spam is happening. I slotted it over Cataloguer because it's really hard to get a Cataloguer to stick when every corp runs 3x Spin Doctor. You basically have to play Cataloguer on the turn you use it, or the corp will deploy the rest of their Spin Doctors defensively and protect them. Having to run a facedown remote with two creds left over to potentially trash a Spin before doing your 2 Cataloguer clicks is kind of ass, and Deep Dive can capitalize on corps not icing HQ very much against Shaper.

Dirty Laundry - I think it's common enough to get value out of this, especially in asset spam. If you're having trouble with glacier, consider cutting for a Telework Contract or a Daily Casts.

Pinhole Threading - These are for trashing Manegarm Skunkworks and Anoetic Void and can also be used for taking a peek in the big remote before committing 6+ credits to a run in the late game and you can trash the Rashida or Spin if it isn't. I tried 1x, but I really wanted 2 in those test games when I ran 1.

Trick Shot - Great card, no notes. You use this as a source of money to get into a remote and/or trash stuff in the remote if R&D is lightly guarded.

Aniccam - Only 2 of these. It's a great card, but I think 2 is fine because the second one is dead in pretty much every situation. It also protects you from damage!

Prepaid VoicePAD and Mystic Maemi - nice to have, but these are mostly to cheapen your Compiles and Sure Gambles. Maemi was really useful to me online but I only played it once in person. I did not draw a PPVP in the tournament. The more I played this deck, the more I realized this was control, not aggro, and Maemi should be a second Miss Bones.

Dr. Nuka Vrolyck - Click her once, then if the corp has sentries, use Orca to break them and power her instead of Kit Code Gateification and Lobi. The extra credit (most of the time) it costs is well worth a free Diesel. If it doesn't look like the corp has a lot of sentries or you're in a tight spot and you need more gas, feel free to use her action twice.

Miss Bones - This card is critical in trashing the corp's house. I think 2x in this deck is needed. One is gas, and when the second comes down, it's a blowout. She makes it so you only have to spend your creds on events / powering your breakers.

Stoneship Chart Room - Stoneshit Fart Room...very mediocre. It protects you from damage, and that's it. Most of the time you're not facechecking dangerous ICE. Good to have in the Punitive matchup, but I would be happy cutting one for another econ card.

Trickster Taka - I also only played Taka once in the tournament, but quite a bit in testing. Taka is really good at powering your programs, which is the main money sink of the deck. We desperately need creds to power our breakers in mid-late game. We need to be able to blast through ICE consistently.

Not sure what the balance here is between Prepaid VoicePAD, Dirty Laundry, Daily Casts, Mystic Maemi, and Telework Contract. Telework Contract is really slow, but it only costs 1 cred, and you don't have to click it if you don't want to.

Notable exclusions

Ashen Epilogue - I tested a bunch of games with this and never played it. In theory it would be good, but there's really only a few dead cards in the deck: your second Aniccam, your Compiles after you have your breakers, and often Stoneships. It's mostly a panic button if we lose an important breaker and are out of Compiles or Sparks. I drew it in 5 or 6 games when testing and never played it. I think I'd always run another Miss Bones over this in this deck. I guess you can use Ashen as a reset button against grindy matchups, but as a 1x it's too inconsistent.

Overclock - you mean worse Trick Shot? I see it being good if you pushed this deck more towards event econ, with 3x Aniccam and 2x or even 3x PPVP.

Earthrise Hotel costs too freaking much. 4 cred in this deck is a huge cost, for draw that we already have a lot of? Feels terrible to play.

Other cards to consider

Light the Fire! - tech card just to crack Manegarm + Anoetic. Pinhole Threading is better and more versatile.

Liberated Account - great money card. The install cost is too high and this deck plays it pretty low to the ground with money, so Telework Contract is better most of the time. Influence is also really tight here. We can cut a Telework Contract or maybe a Daily Casts for one of these if you have the influence.

Build Script - it's an event, so it triggers Aniccam, and it lightens the deck, but for 1 influence apiece? Very expensive to run more than one, and I don't think it does enough.

AirbladeX (JSRF Ed.) - Run this or Ashen Epilogue for the Jinteki grind matchups. You probably want to be using the Airblade's "when encountered" mode more since you'll be breaking ICE a good amount of the time. It protects you against Anemone via the net damage, but it doesn't protect from "on rez" effects. I don't think it does enough in this deck.

“Pretty” Mary da Silva - makes your Trick Shots better but I don't think she does enough otherwise. Not enough multiaccess in this deck, especially after cutting Cataloguer. Also, Beatriz Friere Gonzalez - excellent synergy with “Pretty” Mary da Silva to keep hammering R&D, get cards sent to R&D from Burner or Cataloguer.

Credit Kiting - if you've drawn your icebreakers, them's the breaks. Hard casting them isn't so bad if you're in this situation. If you have some of the necessary cards already, you can find a Compile, draw to 6 cards, discard your breaker, Compile it out of your heap, then Spark it. Either hard casting or the Compile Spark loop is a little worse than Kiting, but one Kiting for this specific scenario is not a good buy.

No Free Lunch - eh. For HB Distributed Tracing, but also for facechecking tagging sentries.

Gebrselassie is a cheaper, worse K2CP Turbine that you don't risk Spark-ing. I'm interested in this, especially with Deep Dive.

Buffer Drive is an interesting card. Great for Bladderwort and other stuff that hurts you a little over a long period of time, but I don't think it's worth the slot, especially since you can just break subroutines for super cheap or go trash the Bladderwort.

The Tournament

I had a great time! This was my first in-person tournament since I started Netrunner 2-3 months ago. Great meeting people in the scene. Thanks Kris for organizing such a smooth event.

pj20 on Asa Group: Security Through Vigilance FA: I was able to get inside your house most of the time and trash the things that meant the most to you. But a single R&D Brân nearly stopped me with how little money I had.

Kevin Maher on A Teia: IP Recovery. I think I would have had some serious trouble if you ever had the creds to rez the serious ICE in your two remotes. As it was, I think with most of your ICE committed to your remotes I was able to attack centrals without much trouble. Those Anemones hurt me real bad when you rezzed them, but they quickly became food for my Orca -> Dr. Nuka which drew me my second Deep Dive to close it out.

Alex S on NBN: Reality Plus. Really creative NBN deck, and probably the hardest match. I trashed a turn 1 Lobi and a nearly-full Daily Casts to get Degree Mill from R&D, and I lost my second Sparked Lobi to Amani Senai. It's a downright miracle you didn't have 7 points by the time I regained tempo and hard-cast the bounced Lobi from grip. Maybe it helped save me that I had zero installed cards for the first half of the game. Can't hurt me if I have nothing to trash :P

And thanks to Tom W, for testing and running and being such a good sport at our first in-person tournament.

I played a Jinteki: Restoring Humanity Regenesis Sisyphus deck for my corp. More details in that writeup.

3 comments
22 Jul 2024 pj20

great playing vs you and meeting you!

1 Aug 2024 cmur2

Thanks for the inspiring decklist, extensive writeup and your thoughts on card choices! Deep Dive is a cool idea for the deck! It got me thinking about what to do against HB on Ikawah Project: you can't steal it off Deep Dive unless you're DJ Sable... but maybe with Hannah "Wheels" Pilintra instead of a 2nd Miss Bones it works? What do you think?

1 Aug 2024 zhansonic

@cmur2 Yooo thanks for saying so :) I hadn’t even considered what to do if Deep Dive hits Ikawah. I think DJ Sable might not do enough for the board state unless you’re on game point with the Ikawah, but Hannah is a super strong card. I think slotting her instead of the second Miss Bones would work great, and Hannah would still help you against asset spam decks. Also avoids the awkward situation when you have two Miss Bones hanging out in your hand. Maybe Hannah + Miss Bones would be straight gas vs asset decks. Awesome idea!