The RP Department

Publishing this because I really enjoy playing it! Comments appreciated :P

IT Department is a bonkers card, and I didn't know that until I tested it in RP on the release day of The Source. It helps against instant speed Parasite and Atman, the two strategies that hurt my deck the most. So, after quite a bit of testing, I came up with this build.

This build is different from the popular RP builds because:

-New Agenda suite!

-IT Department!

-Melange Mining Corp (although, I have been running this in RP since Worlds)

-Cerebral Static?

-Errand Boy and Grim.

So, let's start with the Agendas. Utopia Fragment is a card that a lot of us have been drooling over for a long time, so I thought I could fit it in my deck. However, in earlier builds, I was running 2 TFP and 1 Utopia. I think this is better. Everyone knows that RP suffers in the early game, so having 8 Agendas goes a long way in reducing early Agenda-flood. NAPD is likely going to be less everywhere when Valencia comes out. Cutting to 1 copy means I can not insta-lose against Bad Pub decks while also allowing me to run Grim. I was trying out that old suite of 3 Fetal, 3 NAPD, 3 TFP, but found that Nisei has stupid synergy with IT Department. If they break your 20-something strength Lotus Field the first time, they won't be able to again.

Okay, on to the real good stuff: IT Department. Me and my friends didn't want to post about it because we thought it was too good, and I might be running an RP/IT deck at Store Champs. However, I am starting to see some conversation about it in RP online now, so what's the harm. IT Department is really strong. I mean, its not Corporate Troubleshooter strong, its so much better. In a game where a friend could only trash an unloaded IT and a Caprice, she chose the IT. If this thing gets online early, I have literally reduced the number of successful runs to a grand total of one! Glacier doesn't mean a wall of ICE, anymore, but a single piece or two is good enough when their strengths are this bizarre. It only needs to be protected with a single ETR (two if you are against Criminals), and if you worry it will parish, just throw an upgrade under it. It gives you complete board control. It opens up HUGE scoring windows. It is by far the MVP of the deck. It does have a hard counter, though, and its a very popular card: D4V1D. That's why you are looking at a lot of multi-sub ICE. Ashigaru, for instance, replaces Wall of Thorns, and is much better against Lady.

I think a D4V1D-recursion/ Quetzal-E3 deck could be hard to beat. Also, I have found that Stealth Credits (sometimes being valued at 7 real credits!) can be an uphill battle. However, most games and match-ups don't have those ratios, and even then, timing is everything. Therefore, clicking on IT Department is usually better than any econ package the runner is packing. It outpaces Mopus economy, which values a click at 2 credits. Once you have 7-8 power counters, there is very little a Runner can do to win the game.

Everything else is really just minor adjustments, but I'll gloss over them. Melange Mining Corp is a card that I've been running since Worlds. It was inspired by the HB regional deck that was running it. Its a very strong econ card because it sits in your super-remote until you want to score. At that point, you will be relatively safe and rich to do so. It is also great against Siphon. If they can't get into that super server, you are bouncing right back up. It doesn't ALWAYS pull its weight, but I find that it does more for my play-style and in my meta than Mental Health Clinic.

Cerebral Static is a meta call. Where I am from, everyone plays Noise. I find that 3 Jackson Howards is not enough to stop the mill-pocalypse, and Noise-Cache decks don't really run Currents. If I see less Noise around (which isn't happening after Incubator, and right before O&C), then I'll happily swap it out. It will certainly help against Leela and Quetzal, so there is that, too!

Lastly. I'll briefly cover the ICE. Ashigaru is there for its Subs, and sheer stopping power. This decks sits on quite a bit of cash, and it was able to hard-rez Wall of Thorns without issue. Ashigaru is only a single credit more, but can carry 5 subroutines. I went with 2 Eli and 2 Markus because Markus is great on centrals, while Eli is great on remotes. I'm not crazy about positional ICE, but these guys are great for taxing. Markus is actually equally as good as Eli because it plugs up a Runner's ability to easily bounce off of HQ or R&D. Excalibur takes care of Archives, of course. Lotus Field is mostly just a strong card, but it also helps against my old primary lose-condition: Noise-Medium Dig. ETRs are important in any deck, and if this one is Parasite proof, I don't mind including it. Its strength 4 isn't a downside anymore because IT laughs at Atman. Tollbooth is just a classic tax, and Inazuma becomes a lot better when they can't parasite that card behind it. Finally, Errand Boy was included because it is just so omuch better than Pup in RP. Its really taxing, but most likely it'll just give me the credits to out-trace them for Ash, or the cards to power Ashigaru. Unless it is Parasited (because I am not ITing a Errand Boy), it does a lot for the deck. It is both Econ and card-draw, and the fact that it isn't strength 0 means that Switchblade needs to pump to hit it (which matters in my immediate scene). Grim is just super solid in any low-to-no NAPD deck, and it will always land with IT running.

And that covers everything, I think. Feel free to give it a spin, and let me know what you'd change. I'm always looking to improve my decks, so constructive criticism is welcomed.