Drug Money (Cambridge Regionals Top 8)

Wall of text below. Feel free to ignore, but I had a great time at the tournament and wanted to write about it. In short: stealth is hella efficient, clot shuts down FA, this deck is good, Kit is a cool ID. The deck ended up going 5-2 in Swiss for a 6th place finish after Swiss, then 0-1 in elims to finish 7th overall.

The Deck

I’ve been playing Kit pretty much since I got the game, and Stealth Kit for about 90% of that time. I’m really happy with this deck and how it has been performing for me. Stealth Kit may not be top tier, but I think she’s a lot better than her relative popularity would indicate.

Most card choices should be self-explanatory. The deck runs a little light on econ (the econ package is actually quite strong when it all comes together early, but you can’t rely on that), and leans primarily on ProCon for card draw. Swapping the Diesels for econ (Daily Casts, Dirty Laundry, and a third Kati all seem like fine choices) seems like it would make sense, though I’ll probably keep the Diesels. You really don't need much money against anyone but meat damage decks.

The Akamatsu isn’t usually necessary, but in matches where you need it you’ll be glad to have it. I did not finding myself missing the third Lockpick, but I certainly wouldn’t drop any other stealth cred sources.

ProCon is an all-star in this deck. I would strongly discourage anyone considering swapping it for a Symmetrical Visage, unless they are finding room to add more power draw. Stealth decks are cheap, but they require a lot of moving parts. I regularly have 10-15 cards installed by the end of a game. That means you are drawing a lot, and getting paid to do so is invaluable. Average turns in the early- and mid-game frequently have me clicking ProCo at least twice, if not more.

Personal Workshop deserves a mention if for no other reason than I have yet to see other Stealth Kit decks run it. It has more obvious utility in Hayley probably, but it really shines here as well. The low econ is not as big a problem when you can shove programs on the workshop for a discount, which incidentally also makes it easier to just power draw with ProCo. There’s also the obvious synergy with Stimhack, and Clot sitting on a workshop with a single power counter is absolutely the best way to make FA decks sweat. When playing against FA, keep clot sitting there as long as possible. It’s often worth the risk of an astro sneaking through to keep the threat constant.

Utopia Shard has phenomenal utility. I am always happy to see it, and will generally install it at the first opportunity. I have never hard installed it.

The major dud of the day was Femme. I wanted it to deal with tollbooths, but using up a stimhack to install a single program just felt wrong. If I had the money to hard install femme, it meant I had a Kati out early and was most likely already in control of the match. If I didn’t have the money to hard install femme, then it just sat there. It ended up never getting installed. In future versions of the deck, I will take out Femme and another card (probably Scavenge) to make room for an Escher and… Hades Shard, maybe? Still thinking it over.

Switchblade is much better than Dagger in this deck. The light econ works specifically because you’re running the most efficient pumpable breakers out there. Dagger is a good card and saves on influence, and there are clearly good dagger-based decks out there. But you could not make that swap work in this deck without also making significant changes elsewhere.

Missing cards: the two big cards I really wish I had room for are Parasite and Deus X. The efficiency of the stealth package plus Lady means that parasite is rarely necessary, but there were definitely matchups where I missed it (RP and HB). Deus X because I still see spiky Jinteki with some frequency, and because it can be a substitute for stealth creds against some nasty sentries. I think you could swap legwork for parasite if you wanted, but then finding room for a third clone chip would be important.

Matchups

HB is a good matchup for this deck. Glacier decks pretty much need to lean on IT Department or Caprice Nisei to keep stealth out, so you can usually take a bit of time to setup. HB FA is a bit tougher, but as long as clot stays alive you're in it. Knowing when you can afford to leave a SanSan City Grid alive and when not is important.

Jinteki PE, you aren’t really teching against at all, so just play smart and win psi games.

Jinteki RP is a tough one. Early Kati and ProCon are extremely important. You can afford to leave sundews alive for a bit, but kill them when you can. MHC actually serves you well because you can ProCon up while looking for specific pieces, and not have to discard potential valuables.

NBN kill decks are tricky. Money up aggressively, kill money assets if you comfortably can but don’t rush. Take time trying to score agendas, but check remotes aggressively. With an astro token or a SanSan City Grid on the table, Breaking News becomes a lot scarier. Even if they don't get the kill, killing off Kati can basically be the same thing.

Grail biotic NEH is a surprisingly good matchup. Grail forces runners to slow down, but Kit’s ability means you don’t need to worry about it until the server is two ice deep. Keep the clot threat alive (on the workshop is best), don’t let yourself get baited too early into installing it, and just go for R&D lock. This is one of the few match-ups where I probably wouldn’t install ProCon because of the tempo hit, unless my starting hand had both ProCon and Sure Gamble.

Trick of Light NEH is tougher, because trick of light doesn’t telegraph scores as obviously as biotic labor does. But, ToL decks need more time to set up. This gives you time to build a rig, install ProCo if it feels safe, and try to lock down R&D before they get a chance to score out.

Weyland glacier is, I think, an extremely favorable matchup. Their influence is usually too tight to make room for a Caprice Nisei, so they’re really just trying to out-money you. But, you're stealth and don't care about money. Set up, run once every turn or so, and then establish the unbreakable lock. And be careful of scorch, I guess. If you suspect a kill, lean on Kati, plascrete, and utopia shard.

Tournament Report

Apologies in advance to everyone whose name I forgot. You were all great people and I can picture you well, and I enjoyed our games!

Round 1: El-Ad, playing HB FA.

I travel 5 hours from New York, only to get paired against one of New York’s finest in Round 1. Bummer. El-Ad quickly has an architect and something else protecting R&D, a wide open HQ, and a 5+ ice deep scoring remote. He scores a couple agendas while I’m setting up, but then I get the remote fairly well locked and even it up. It’s a tight match, with me on 4 points and him on 5, when he manages to hide a Cyberdex Virus Suite where I can’t reach it for a turn. Next turn, he kills clot and scores out… a Chronos Project. Damn. From there it’s a cruise for him to victory. After the match, El-Ad helpfully and rightly points out that I was auto-piloting a bit. A valuable lesson, and it helped put my mind in the right place for the rest of the tournament. 0-1.

Round 2: ??, playing Core Weyland.

A 99 card Weyland deck. Wow. I have truly no idea what to expect. Damage, probably? But also Glacier things, and who knows what other tricks. Luckily I get my econ rolling and a rig out quick, and manage to lock down R&D and score out before I get punitived. Very memorable if for no other reason than shuffling and cutting the behemoth. 1-1

Round 3: Zebadiah, playing Cybernetics Division

He quickly protects R&D with two ice, before I get a chance to pull out my non-refractor breakers. HQ just has a wall of static though, so I’m getting in cheap. I see a cerebral overwriter in there and trash it. Next turn he mushins out a card. I’m thinking his influence is probably tight (probably divided between Jackson, Mushin, Snare, Neural, and the cortex lock on R&D) and I know I just killed an overwriter, so I figure it's probably an agenda. I draw to 6 just to be safe, and run it. Mandatory Upgrades. Phew! Meanwhile, my econ has completely failed me, but R&D has nothing but an Eli and the Cortex Lock. With full MU, I’m able to click through Eli and see the top card of R&D for free, then take a credit or card, should I need it. A couple turns later he sneaks out a defective brain chips, and then rezzes a Daily Business Show (I think?). Uh-oh. At this point it’s feeling a bit like a race, but I manage to snag another Mandatory Upgrades from HQ and win on accesses from R&D before he can force more difficult choices. 2-1.

Round 4: ??, playing Personal Evolution.

I was not expecting to see any spiky Jinteki here, and am deeply regretting not putting in a Deus X. Luckily a quick stealth rig makes R&D runs free, and I find an early Future Perfect. It takes an attempt or two, but I get the steal. He’s putting out remotes and I eat a psychic field or two to the face. My deck is starting to look a little thin, but I snag a few one pointers off of R&D, putting me at 5. He single advances a card and I figure I have to run. Cerebral Overwriter, of course. A turn or two later he IAA's a card, and I’m thinking, if it’s a cerebral overwriter or junebug I can survive, but if it’s a Ronin or Philotic Entanglement then I pretty much have to run it, or die. Feeling like I have no choice, I run it, and snag the game-winning Fetal AI. 3-1.

Round 5: Rob, playing Blue Sun.

Rob was one of the friendliest of the many super friendly people I met at the tournament, and was also running Kit. So, a stand-up guy in my book. Unfortunately for him, he mulligans from bad to worse, at one point having 13 points in HQ and all servers protected only by code gates. It’s a quick game, which is a shame. 4-1.

Round 6: Zach, playing Grail NEH

Another great and friendly guy I was really glad to meet and spend some time with. Earlier in the day we were chatting and he mentions how lucky he feels he’s been, with R&D being protected only by a pop-up window but his opponents somehow not managing to find 7 points in time. So I decide I better run R&D turn one, click one. Galahad plus Merlin, and there goes a scavenge and a Maker’s Eye. Luckily I’m able to get a rig out quick to establish R&D lock, and have a clot just sitting on the workshop. He tries to bait it by installing something over a SanSan. I’m thinking that, even if it’s an astro, the only way he scores it immediately is by using a shipment from Sansan. So, instead of paying off Clot, I use my utopia shard to kill half his hand, and hold off on clot to see if he'll advance click two. He looks a little bummed, and moneys up. I’m thinking it was must have been an Astro that he figured he couldn’t score without the shipment that I killed, and am feeling pretty good about myself! Turns out it was an NAPD. Wrong read, but still the right play. He's got Daily Business Shows out to break a total R&D lock, but I have the point lead and an RDI installed, and so am content to play the odds game (which is in my favor) rather than overextend myself. Barring the Project Beale he sneaks out naked, I’m able to steal everything off the top of R&D before he has a chance to see it. 5-1.

Round 7: Quinn, playing RP

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Quinn was a really friendly guy and it was a pleasure meeting him. I steal a quick Nisei off of R&D, and am feeling pretty good. He then installs something into a remote a turn or two after having celebrity gifted me a Caprice Nisei. I figure he’s setting up for the score, and so legwork into HQ with 6 credits, two stealth creds, and a self-modifying code on the table. Of course it’s a tollbooth, and I go broke installing refractor and getting in. What do I see? Caprice Nisei, Caprice Nisei, Caprice Nisei, with no money to trash any of them. A funny moment. Anyway, he gets his RP thing up and running before I am seeing enough stealth creds to lock him down, and he rushes to 5 points. I get greedy and load Kati instead of unloading her, hoping he doesn’t have the game winning agenda in hand. He does. IAA. Now I don't have time to take money off of Kati, because I have to make multiple runs to bait the Nisei token, kill his caprice, and get in. I quickly realize it’s not possible, and figure my only chance of winning is a miracle R&D run. I get in and see two cards. NAPD, Nisei. Suddenly I’m at 6 points with two clicks left. But I’m broke and it’s not enough when he has a Nisei token online. We both entered this round at 9-3, and happily for both of us we split, allowing us both to squeak into top 8. 5-2.

Elims, Round 2: James, playing Butcher Shop

I see Kati and astrolabe in my starting hand, and know from sitting next to him during round 1 of elim that he’s playing butcher shop. So, I feel obligated to keep even though the rest of my hand is mediocre. I’m moneying up Kati and feeling pretty good, but then I foolishly let a sansan city grid live. Now I’m scared of a breaking news score into killing Kati. I do some quick math, and figure I can safely legwork into HQ to try and snag the agendas that I’m sure are piling up there. On the bright side, I do steal his breaking news. It turns out I’m not good at math after a long day of netrunner. He midseasons me and kills Kati, and though he doesn’t have the kill in hand, he is able to take an insurmountable economic advantage. I manage to clear the tags in the next turn or two but it’s too late for my econ by then. Next time I steal an agenda, it’s midseason, scorch, scorch. 5-3.

Overall I was really happy with how this deck performed on the day. This was my first regional and I wasn’t sure if Kit would cut it, but the deck felt versatile and capable of pulling out wins against all types of corp decks.