Solidarity v0.6

Hey El-ad! Any updates on how it's playing or the changes you've made? Been following Solidarity since the beginning. :)

My main goal here is to assess whether this build is superior to a more standard PPVP Katman or Desperado Katman build: can Solidarity win games that Katman would lose, without losing too many games that Katman would win? Answering this question is non-trivial, since Katman has been around for quite a while. It had been tuned over many sets and events, and people (myself included) acquired a lot of experience with it. Additionally, a lot of games are needed before deciding whether one deck is superior to another, especially when they're so similar to each other in their general playstyle.

To answer your questions: the deck has played well over the handful of games I piloted it. The basic premise seems to "work": use Nasir for early-game econ (building your rig while preventing the Corp from advancing agendas), then switching to R&D dig mode with full rig and MO. Piloting it has two main challenges:

1) Deciding on the correct solution to any given ice is difficult. In an ideal world, every popular piece of ice has a silver bullet in this deck (Cyber-Cypher for Lotus FIeld, "Lady" for Eli, Mimic for Architect, and so on). However, some of them require a four to six credit initial investment which is not always available, so deciding on when and how to run is not easy.

2) Magnum Opus timing is crucial. You want to milk the Corp for creds as much as possible before pulling MO. Generally, if I get MO too early or too late, I lose. I think that is the greatest skill I need to develop in order to pilot this successfully.

When examining the "raw numbers", Nasir's ability often makes more money than Kate, especially versus popular builds such as RP Glacier or BS. However, there is a respectable number of games where my opponent plays little to no ice and I need to get and protect that MO fast. I will need to play the deck for a few more months (and in a couple of major events such as store tournaments) to decide whether the tradeoff is worth it.

Another question to consider is: is this style of Nasir better than an Atman-based Nasir, and why? Does one deck rely on SMCs/Clone Chips than the other? I've been playing this deck as well (one closer to v.5) and I've encountered the problems you describe. I've found Atman-Nasir more consistent, personally. Any experience with that version (and if so, any reservations)?

I could not find an Atman-Nasir version I liked. The trick with Solidarity is to break every new piece of ice and most of the times keep the change. I don't see how Atman-Nasir does it, especially considering that Atman is really expensive - getting up to seven creds (the magical str 4 Atman) with Nasir is challenging in my experience.

Relying on SMC is an issue with Katman as well - game is much easier if you draw that early SMC. Drawing the right tool from the toolbox does not get you very far.

With that said, entirely possible that Atman-Nasir is superior to this; in which case I tend to believe both decks are inferior to PPVP or Desperado Katman ...

Really solid ideas here El-Ad. No one has really "cracked the code" in an obvious way with Nasir yet; while Atman versions are plentiful, like you said, that is something Kate seems to flatout do better. I've also been experimenting with multiple single-copy breakers to break as efficiently as possible (D4v1D, Mimic, Lady) and really think you're on to something here. The deck seems fairly tuned and well-balanced, I'm on my way to my FLGS game night and want to give this a shot. One question: In your experiences, how has the deck played against tag punishment decks? I assume you scrap the PWs and go for Opus early, which might protect you against a Sea/Midseason, but tag hell MN decks running Manhunt, PsychoBeale... clearing tags is EXTREMELY taxing when you're running Opus. How do you approach this matchup? I see it being more relevant with OaC's impending release.

That is a great question, and I suspect a tag-focused deck is going to be one of Nasir's most difficult matchups since they can time their Midseason with a new ice rez (so even if you hoard money with MO, it's not going to help you). The only solution I have is to get a Plascrete so they cannot Scorched you. We'll have to see how popular that archetype becomes and which style people prefer. If Midseason/Shoot the Moon is everywhere, poor Nasir might not be up to par. If it's more about SE kills, then a Plascrete might be able to buy you enough time to score those seven points.

Next version - add 3x Ghost Runner for the price of Inti, a MemChip, and Overmind:

www.netrunnerdb.com

Feel free to continue the discussion there :-)