Stable Staple Sable (21st @ EACC 6-1)

Intro

Inspired by many other decklists using the Deep Dive Sable combination, I built this variation and managed to pilot it to my highest ever placing in a major Netrunner event, winning 6 games in 7 rounds. My one loss was to PE where I ran far too aggressively while trying to find and trash Bladderwort and ending up with so few cards that I just lost the game from turn 3. That said, it's pretty normal for me to lose in turn 1 or 2 so I guess that's an improvement!

I will quickly say that almost all of my matches were against "go fast" HB decks. This might struggle against more ICE heavy decks and anything that involves tagging. The only other corp I faced was PE and you just have to play a bit more carefully and not be drawn into the mind games...

In general you'll want to try and be fairly aggressive and try to steal one or two agendas before the corp can react. Sable's ability gives you a few free clicks to do something else in the turn so if your mark is on an empty central and you can run it with a Dirty Laundry or Carpe Diem, you should do so. Especially if you have DreamNet and/or Paragon, just to get the insane value of a credit, a card filter, the effect and a free access. Plus one tick on your Deep Dive objectives list.

Card Choices

Deep Dive - The main win condition of the deck. You'll notice there's no backup plan (not that one) so you have to keep these safe and only use them if you have no other choice or you are fishing for the winning agenda. Don't forget that if you have both in hand and you whiffed the first one, just play the second to see a fresh batch (thankfully was not a problem in my matches). You can technically use Deep Dive with Diversion of Funds but you'll only be able to steal one agenda, and it will be devastating if you whiff that one. I wouldn't do it unless it's the only way to get into R&D/Archives otherwise.

Paragon - This just felt better than Pennyshaver to me. You do get less credits but you also get to see your deck much faster. I would not blindly run your mark just to get the trigger though. A run on archives (assuming it's not protected) is good enough. Pennyshaver is fine if you feel the meta is more tag oriented though as the credits will be more important but you may want some extra draw.

DreamNet - If you're making lots of runs, this is a lot of clicks saved not drawing manually. Plus, if you run your mark, you get to play/install your card with the extra click you just earned!

Simulchip - Probably the one card from this list that can be swapped out. You have very little protection against Rigshooter decks and with Endurance basically everywhere, there may come a time when this could become relevant. You do have Boomerang as the last ditch backup but I prefer the extra safety net, just in case.

Cat's Cradle - I actually hate it because it's so low strength but if you get it down early enough, it's an extra little tax for the corp and can be the difference between getting destroyed by a Gatekeeper or getting that free access. Combined with Cezve, it's fine. For remotes, you just want to use a Boomerang.

Replays

I have saved all of my replays here if you'd like to review them via Jnet: Replays

Highlights

R2 vs Ysengrin - Apparently I was the only other runner aside from the eventual winner TugtetguT to take down Ysengrin's corp.

R5 vs ReinaMorada - I felt bad. I just plucked the agendas off the top of R&D for pretty much the entire game. They got their own back in the corp game though.

R6 vs oneiromancer - Probably the most tense game I've played against PE in a long time. I was much more cautious in this game following my turn 3 self-destruction in R4.

Top Crim - Normally I'd be saying something like top Los: Data Hijacker or top Edward Kim: Humanity's Hammer but I actually was the top criminal deck. Sadly, my corp games didn't go quite as well, which is why I ended up lower :(

...and finally!

A final word to say thanks to NISEI and everyone who played in the event. It was great fun. Also thanks to you, the reader, for getting to the end of (I think) the longest post I've done for a published decklist!