BrahmaNetRara v2.0

Image courtesy of Nisachar

(See changes at the bottom.)

Brahman brings so many possibilities. Firstly, it's a fantastic multisub breaker. Komainu costs 2-3 credits. Hive costs 3 credits. The "downside" is that you have to put a program on top of your stack after you use it.

But you can use that to your advantage! Cerberus "Lady" H1 and D4v1d get to reset their counters when you reinstall them. Cyber-Cypher, Femme Fatale and Atman can choose a new target. Even Paricia can reset it's recurring credits for another run if it really matters. (Run & trash, run & break with Brahman, re-draw, clickless install off of Hayley trigger, run & trash again.)

To pay for all those reinstallations you basically have two choices: London Library or Sahasrara. Going the London Library route would commit fully to Femme Fatale as the main breaker, and constrict your clicks for the running turn. Autoscripter can make up for that a bit, but then you're vulnerable to a single failed run (can't really recur hardware, and it's 3 influence per Autoscripter.)

I chose to go the other way, and run Sahasrara because I think it's more versatile. Of course, it requires a lot of memory, so I run 5x NetChip plus 1 Astrolabe for memory. They work extremely well with Brahman, SMC, and Magnum Opus. The nice thing is that it's really hard to get locked out of a server with the many permutations of breakers (plus e3 Feedback Implants for D4v1d), even when they stack the ice 4+ thick, which helps with R&D and remote locking.

In case you don't want to bounce a breaker, there's always SMC and Paricia to bounce, but with Sahasrara you really don't worry much about reinstall money.

The deck also runs Chameleon for super cheap breaking throughout the game. It's good for dealing with low strength sentries in particular. Throw it or another program on Personal Workshop and install it mid-run when you need it. Anything it and Brahman can't handle, D4v1d can. Especially with e3 Feedback Implants.

The hate:

Paricia: Asset spam has taken over the game. Wort case, it's an expendable zero-cost program you can use for Brahman. Best case, it's 2 recurring credits to keep the nightmare at bay.

Net Shield: With IG a substantial part of the meta (plus Bio-Ethics Association and Hostile Infrastructure popping up all over the place), I feel Net Shield is the natural counter - extending early game so you can dig for agendas, and protecting your grip. You're not going to win the asset war versus them, no matter how much hate you put in, but you can lengthen the amount of time you have to dig for agendas.

Film Critic: Helps vs all Jinteki, plus vs Midseason Replacements, NAPD, Explode-a-palooza, Argus Security, Haarpsichord, and even 15 Minutes. This makes sure that the agenda accesses you get are good for you, and in many matchups it will win the game for you practically single-handedly.

Clot: I think fast advance has always been Shaper's weakness. It's also very, very popular. What fun is never getting to use all these fancy breakers? #SlotTheClot. Clone Chip isn't dedicated to anything in particular, so feel free to burn them on Clot if you don't see another specific use. Test Run gives you more room for recursion, but isn't ideal to use on Clot.

Plascrete Carapace: Kill decks are real. This protects you from 2x Scorched Earth, aka Sea + Scorch + Scorch, or even just 1 while you dip below 4 cards in hand. It may only be 1x, but you can also fight the trace by winning the money war with Magnum Opus or stay out of reach by always ending your turn with 4+ cards in hand. Still, it's the number 1 enemy of all meat kill decks. Why not Sports Hopper? Because 3 is less than 4, and this deck already has enough trouble maintaining a normal hand size.

Note, because Elizabeth Mills is becoming popular: If your opponent plays Elizabeth Mills and rezzes her, immediately dump your stuff off of Personal Workshop. You DO in fact have a window to do that - the same window they used to rez her - because her ability requires a click to activate.

Changes

-1 e3 Feedback Implants, +1 HQ Interface (Pressure for HQ. HQI counts for Tech Writer and can be put on Workshop. With no Same Old Thing, Legwork isn't great, but feel free to swap them if you feel the need to save some cash.)

-2 Symmetrical Visage, +2 Professional Contacts (It's debatable which is better, but early on ProCon is much better. It gives the deck another great economy card it can draw early (in addition to Test Run/Opus/Tech Writer/Sahasrara.)

-3 LLDS Processor, +3 Technical Writer (Money is more important than a big Chameleon.)

-1 NetChip, -1 Chameleon, +1 Atman (Down to 46 cards.) (With LLDS gone, Chameleon is worse, and Atman is much better. It's basically Femme and e3 #2. I'm still debating whether or not to keep the 6th NetChip, and testing 5 for now.)

Thoughts

Honestly, the biggest thing holding me back with this deck is (still) myself. The problem is the sheer number of possibilities available in this deck, with the combination of Hayley triggers, Brahman bounces, Program spam, and variety of breakers. If you're faster at thinking through tactical play and better at keeping the corp on their heels, I would love to see you pilot this. As it stands, I am frankly an inept tester for this. But boy is it fun to play!

If you want to change the deck around, you could consider taking out the Net Shield, Film Critic, maybe a Paricia, and change them to whatever the meta requires. And yeah, it's 46 cards. I'm still testing what to cut, but with SMC + Test Run, it's not a big deal.