Working for the corps is hard, and working for ALL the corps is even harder. That is what makes her a true professional, taking the jobs that nobody else wants and making it to payday regardless of the opposition. Sunny is one of those runners that you just want to make work right, but having a limited faction card pool just makes it harder than it should be. That being said, Sunny has a few tricks up her sleeves.

The primary core of the True Professional is the classic Data Leak Reversal in combination with extra clicks (real or virtual) and guaranteed methods to get tags.

Key Cards:

Data Leak Reversal: This ultimate is the core of the deck. With the deck running at typical power, you are milling three to five cards from the corp per turn.

Jak Sinclair: Jak is what I term a "virtual click" for this deck. He allows you to make a free run at the beginning of the turn. Unless you are aiming for some low hanging fruit, the goal of this run will be to hit a piece of ICE and intentionally fail to get through using Security Nexus or hit an ETR ICE with John Masanori in place. Either will allow you to get a tag and still have all of your clicks free.

Security Nexus: Sunny's Console, and in the right hands a right monster. The most common use for this is to actually guarantee a tag is given. The idea is to run a server with a piece of ICE that is rezzed, use the console, and fail the trace so that you immediately get booted and you get the tag. In the event you need to get into a server it is also a very efficient way to get past a nasty piece of ICE if you can trick the corp into not boosting the trace.

John Masanori: John is the other way to guarantee a tag. Hit a server, fail to get through, tag acquired. In the event you are successful you get cards as well. Win-Win.

Temple of the Liberated Mind and Emptied Mind: These two cards are used to get you extra sources of clicks. In the case of the Temple, prior to milling the corp it may be worth it to spend a turn or two dropping extra tokens onto it in prep for multiple turns of milling. If you end up failing to get a tag as well, or for whatever reason cannot afford to run it gives you a way to bank clicks. The Emptied Mind is an interesting way to get additional clicks as well. Provided that you are not in danger of getting hit with damage, dumping the hand into Faust or playing it all out and playing a game of pure mill can be very frustrating on the corp.

Typical Combo

The way it usually plays out is as follows. First, you need to have either two reoccurring credits coming your way per turn or your Crash Space needs to be in play. Then once you have Jak Sinclair, Data Leak Reversal, and Security Nexus/John Masanori in play you begin each turn spending the free run just to get a tag, then spend three clicks to mill three cards, then spend the last click to burn the tag. If you were table to get an Emptied Mind in play first you are milling four cards per turn. If you have a charged Temple of the Liberated Mind then you are milling five. If you are not able to get to Jak Sinclair in time, you can still mill but it gets a lot worse, so it is important to dig for all three pieces you need while building up the rest of your rig as you can in the process.

Weaknesses

The big problem with Sunny has been her speed of play. Her breakers are expensive to use and her economy is not the most robust. When you begin to mill the corp you need to make sure that you have sufficient money to drop the tag each turn or else. This means having a pile of cash, two sets of reoccurring credits, or a Crash Space.

Additionally, getting tagged on the corp's turn can completely ruin your day. When running against NBN or anyone you think will proactively tag you it needs to be a priority to get New Angeles City Hall into play. In these matches, money becomes even more of an issue. In these matches, make sure that you have sufficient money on hand to deal with incoming tags as needed.

If the mill scheme fails then you have to start running more standard runner strategies and at that point it can get dicey depending on who you are playing. Usually you will be able to bypass an ICE with the Security Nexus each turn or use Faust to get through one. and with 3+ subroutine ICE showing up more and more Sunny's breakers can truly shine. Play one GS Shrike M2 and watch somebody with a Tour Guide start to cry. If they stack up a multi-level scoring server though you will find you typically do not have the resources to wade through when you need.

Possible Changes

If making modifications, the first place I would look is to remove the New Angeles City Hall to free up two spaces. Kati Jones could probably be brought to two cards without causing many problems, and if you are confident in getting to John Masanori or the Security Nexus then you can eliminate the Tyson Observatory, though I have found that useful.

If your meta is heavy on the meat damage, then I would immediately consider putting in two copies of Plascrete Carapace. One possible change I have considered is wedging in two copies of Quality Time. In this instance I would probably remove one copy of the City Hall and the Observatory for two copies of Quality Time.

Conclusion

So there we have it. For me the deck has been doing surprisingly well lately, especially with NBN FA taking a serious hit. If any of you all try this out, let me know what you think. How did it work for you? Any changes you would make? I have a tendency to build decks that are twisty, annoying to play, or just suit my warped mind but hope those of you that try it out enjoy.

Thanks to Pinkwarrior for the Reverse Nexus deck which got me thinking down this direction. You can find it at https://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/34960/reverse-nexus

-DanielAKA