'Steelskin' Nasir v0.3

I've been following your work on Nasir since 'How to Explore the Net (and Get Paid For It) was published on Hidden Assets, and I've greatly enjoyed the journey the Explorer has taken me on.

I'm excited to try this list after a period of frustration with my own tinkering on the deck based on your article. I have a few questions about your thoughts on Nasir in general, and this deck in particular.

Would you consider Clot in this list? If so, where? The lack of HQ multiaccess I find typical of a lot of Nasir decks makes for a difficult NBN FA matchup in my experience - something that Clot may counteract. I think Nasir may have some difficulty keeping the credits on hand to pop a Clot from SMC or Clone Chip. A Magnum Opus on the board would help with that, but getting it out fast enough might be an issue in itself.

Speaking of Magnum Opus, is getting it out a priority? Does it get use in every matchup, or is it purely for the slower ones? Do you find the MU a problem, or does it only ever come out after Toolbox/Dyson comes off Personal Workshop?

What is the typical use case of Sure Gamble in this list? Early game to help establish resources/hardware or play breakers out-of-hand? Is it stronger mid-to-late to provide the burst that may be necessary to re-run a server with all rezzed ICE?

What is your gameplan against RP with this list (or any Workshop Nasir, in general)? I've found myself flip-flopping between spending time attempting to Imp Sundews and keep the corp poor, and focusing on keeping R&D runs cheap through Parasite/Femme/Toolbox, ignoring the scoring remote until something is advanced. On a related note, how does your early game go against an RP deck you know (or suspect) is running Grail?

What are your thoughts on Earthrise Hotel and Symmetrical Visage in this list, or in Nasir in general? I find the clickless draw of Earthrise is great for Nasir, who often wants to do 5-6 clicks worth of actions per turn, but the 4-credit install cost is often pretty steep. I haven't tried out Symmetrical Visage, but a 1-or-2-of might work well in Nasir?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, and thanks again for being the inspiration for my own Cyber Exploration.

Hey @RivenAhriman. Thanks for the kind words. He's still my favorite runner, with Reina a close second, and Exile third, so I'm never going to give up on him. :D As a note: I think Nasir is primed to make a comeback with all the glacier decks running around right now.

There are a couple of things that could work in Nasir, with regard to clot. First, it's necessary to consider what he needs to not auto-lose. Probably D4v1d, Imp, Femme, and Parasite. So I think those are probably not able to be cut in this particular list. Clot could fit into the IHW slot, and then you could add another Parasite or something else.

The I've Had Worses are good, but I have felt that playing Quality Time or Earthrise Hotel would be better for him. El-Ad's deck runs Earthrise. Earthrise keeps his game flowing much more smoothly, and the initial investment isn't too hard to recoup off ice. Clot is built for Nasir, in many ways, and I think a new Nasir deck, moving into the next metagame, needs to have it.

Magnum Opus isn't a huge priority if you've found Kati, but you want it most in the matchups where ice rez cost is low. I generally try to find it after I get my initial set up online (workshop, maybe a breaker, maybe a mem chip). Face check the first row of ice with a SMC out (if possible) and then consider finding your Magnum Opus (Test Run is usually for Magnum). As a general rule, you want it in every matchup, and should get it when you have down time. Doing so will greatly increase your chances of winning.

The Sure Gambles were ultimately a mistake (an experiment, I guess). I was chatting with another Nasir player who was using them, and I thought I'd give them another shot. To be honest, the initial chance of playing them is only good about 15% of the time, whereas finding a Armitage Codebusting (which is what they should be) is relevant 100% of the time. So, consider swapping those for Codebusting. The Gambles were meant to help give me a boost after running out of steam during the mid-game, but I never really wanted them. They can be nice to have, but Nasir doesn't really like Gamble, he does enough gambling when face-checking ice.

Gameplan against RP is to hardlock RND fast. RP loses most on RND digs. The problem with that is that you need Ghost Runners to be used strictly for psi games and paying for NAPD. I think you have to just give the corp cash in this matchup. That sounds poopy, but the problem is that you can't effectively deny them that cash. And, anyway, their ice gives you lots of money, so you're happy. Parasite the Pups, Femme the Komainu over RND (if they do that), and try to pay through the Tsurugis. You have to contest the scoring remote before they put an agenda in it. You ideally want to contest it when there's just a caprice so you can drain the corp's cash. Think of the remote as a feint for getting into RND. You run the remote to get cash so you can get back into RND. Other than that, if you suspect Grail, don't face-check until you have SMC on the table. Simply, you will lose the game. But that's the same for any Shaper, really.

Symmetrical Visage is awesome. It's one of my picks for best runner cards in The Valley. I haven't had time to experiment with Symmetrical Visage in Nasir, but I can see it being very strong instead of Earthrise. It's exactly the kind of card Nasir wants. Cheap, effective, click compression.

If I were to run a list right now, I'd consider looking back at El-Ad's Solidarity list, adding clot and Symmetrical Visage and seeing how that plays. I like this list, but it's not competitive anymore. With all the glacier running around, you definitely want to be playing Solidarity (or wyrm parasite recursion). :)

All the best,

Chris