Temujin Katman

CritHitd20 6395

Inspired from Xerohour's Tembokate and Circadia's Temujian Man. I feel that my list is more conservative, which is important for maintaining tempo in this punishing meta. Indexing over RDI was my main "innovation"; in addition to no upfront cost I'm convinced it's the best run event in the game and it allows you to dominate the game with perfect information.

This list took me to 18th at Worlds this year. Went 7-2, beating 3 CtM 2 ETF and 2 NEH Shutdowns, losing to one CtM and one Sync. This deck is so good in the current meta, assuming that you play correctly. The trick is very much learning what cards to contest in the CtM matchup; Bankers must be trashed, Sensie and SSCG can be left alone. Clot has to be on board as often as possible, and the Atmans have to be on intelligent numbers. If I were to make changes for the current meta based on my experiences today, it would be:

-1 Atman, -1 RDI +1 Cyber-Cypher, +1 Same Old Thing

But the current list is likely better for a more diverse meta. If you want to play Shaper and think Nexus Kate is awful like I do I'd encourage you to give this a try. I literally did not playtest this deck, built it the night before Worlds, and it still did that well.

15 comments
5 Nov 2016 k.art

What's your experience with the Hyperdrivers? Pretty bad drawing them late when you don't have the memory.

5 Nov 2016 x3r0h0ur

Dope. Cutting OotA definitely makes it more serious. Congrats! Since I didn't get to go to worlds this year, I'm living vicariously through you right now.

5 Nov 2016 CritHitd20

You clearly made another sick deck. I'm 3-0 now at taking creative people's decks and adding more Indexings to do well at tournaments.

Hyperdriver is there as a setup card. If I can't install it, it's because I have Atmans already installed, and then I don't care that it's dead because I'm probably winning. Using Hyperdriver for early 5 Temujin runs is awesome, but so is just having them serve as extra Diesels so you can money up and find whatever you need for your matchup (SMC for NEH, econ for CtM, etc.).

8 Nov 2016 Kasusfactus

I love this deck, been playing a version of this too. Just that i cut clot to play Employee strike (shut down Scarcity of Resources) and 1 more datasucker. Do you think that 1 datasucker is enough against glacier strategies? Do you find yourself wanting more?

8 Nov 2016 hlynurd

Was the other decklist of the week impeached?

8 Nov 2016 CritHitd20

Clot is the main benefit of being Shaper right now, since most degenerate decks revolve around Breaking News and forcing them to protect it is very important. Employee Strike is always great in Kate, but I never really wanted more Datasuckers. If you keep a server mostly clear with Parasite, the value of Temujin and Patron will keep your Sucker count high, and most glacier decks require only 1-2 installed Atman (right now ETFs ICE is usually just between 3 and 5).

At Worlds I just played the resources through Scarcity, or used Indexing to find points to shut it off. Turns out Temujin is broken at an install of 6 too. :)

8 Nov 2016 TonyStellato

With the new pack out, are you concerned about Best Defence? It can blow up your fracter, leaving Wraparound unaccounted for.

8 Nov 2016 CritHitd20

Not really. You can recur Inti with Clone Chip, and you have outs even if they hit it with Ark Lockdown. For instance, if you're playing against HB Atman at 5 is already a good choice, and against CtM 5 or 6 is also fine (depending on if they favor Tollbooth or Archangel). I used Atman at 7 in one game for both Wraparound and Little Engine. Datasucker helps keep you flexible against hate like Best Defense or Power Shutdown.

8 Nov 2016 TonyStellato

Right, Clone Chip. I haven't played shaper in a while. Carry on, nothing to see here. Just stealing this list...

9 Nov 2016 Boojum

I'm a bit surprised by the lone Artist Colony without any Fan Site. I assume you can look for Plascrete when the 24/7 hits or the Boom combo starts, but then I'd rather have a second Plascrete. What do you usually look for ? Is it worth sacking a real agenda ?

9 Nov 2016 CritHitd20

Artist Colony is a somewhat difficult card to evaluate, but in controlling Shaper decks it is excellent at allowing you to find what you need without over-devoting deck slots to cards. I dislike playing cards like Plascrete since their uses are so narrow, and weaken your deck's consistency against certain matchups, while Artist Colony is relevant in every matchup. A few of its more relevant uses that I had during the tournament:

-Finding a Temujin Contract before click 1 to generate +8 credits and get into a scoring server on click 4 from an empty hand -Forfeiting Global Food Initiative so that my opponent couldn't Exchange of Information it -Finding Clot/Clone Chip to prevent my opponent from scoring Breaking News once I knew they were on Boom-Shutdown combo.

Ultimately despite my praise it is the most replaceable card in the deck. It fits my playstyle well, but if you dislike it there are tons of options that are excellent.

25 Nov 2016 FightingWalloon

I'm a fairly new player. Can you talk about how and when you use the Atmans and what numbers you usually set them at?

26 Nov 2016 Moocow

Sorry, but how exactly is Sensie an OK card to leave alone?

26 Nov 2016 CritHitd20

It was what I did every game against CtM, and it's a very unconventional line of play, but everyone I played with agreed with me afterwards. For this deck it heavily increases R&D agenda density after you make them shuffle with Jackson. The long game favors you, and constantly trying to avoid HHN while trashing assets eventually makes you fall for the trap of spending too much money and getting tagged too many times in the scoring server. My one CtM loss of the weekend came from leaving Bankers alone for too long while never drawing economy, not the Sensies, and since then I've been more aggressive against them. Ultimately it could just be my playstyle but between Temujin and Clot CtM hasn't been a hard matchup.

26 Nov 2016 CritHitd20

There are some great Atman primers online but I don't know where they are. The first thing to install is usually Datasucker and to get a few counters on it so you don't have to be rigid on your Atman numbers. The most common and first Atman is usually 4, but each matchup wants a different setup, and discovering those is a lot of fun in itself. I find that Atmans on 2 4 and 6 is very safe if you don't know what to expect, and Parasite can eliminate anything lower if needed. You can also add a third SMC over the Artist Colony to speed your setup if you're uncomfortable with the time it takes to get your needed rig while keeping Clone Chips available.