Ghost in the Machine - 3rd - ANRPC HAC Kansas City Qualifier

Piloted Stealth Kit to 3rd at the ANRPC HAC Kansas City Qualifier along with HB EtF Glacier.

Huge shout out to Seamus's 4th place Kit from the UK Nationals, which was blueprint for my build. I feel the Stealth suite is well positioned for a Glacier meta which was what I was expecting.

I opted for 2 Cerberus "Lady" H1 over the Corroder. I know there isn't much support for Lady once she runs out of counters, but it was a non-issue all day. Barriers were often the first ice thus turned into a code gate, or were not rezzed at all. I saw a random Kit build that had 1 Knifed to alleviate the barrier issue. I also went down to 1 R&D Interface in favor of 2 The Maker's Eye. Kit is really strong once she gets a stealth credit and a Refractor and I felt I exerted greater pressure with The Maker's Eye rather than the interface. Interface is also really expensive to install and keep up the pressure. Kit runs very poor most of the time and Professional Contacts is absolutely the correct engine to use.

Last change was adding Film Critic. This is primarily for NAPD Contracts because spending 4 to steal is back breaking. Also The Future Perfect.

Other than that, its a solid deck. Never had a use for Clot all day and it would have been nicer as a Parasite.

Round 1 vs NEXT Design

He opens by icing up HQ, R&D, and a Remote. Turn 1 installs an Adonis in the remote. I open with a Sure Gamble, Proco, Refractor, and Lockpick. I start pressuring HQ and R&D to force him to rez ice. I see NEXT Silver and NEXT Gold, and Heimdall 1.0 on access. I switch to econ denial when possible and force him to low credits. I The Maker's Eye and steal 2 points from HQ. I manage to find a Utopia Fragment somewhere in my explorations. I Knifed a NEXT Silver on R&D and slam it hard. I find a Hades Fragment to win off of a single access R&D run.

Round 2 vs HB EtF

This round was against my travel buddy. I'm not looking forward to this match up but I open with a Proco, SMC, and Lockpick with a Makers Eye and Legwork ready to go. He scores out an early Vitrivius and begins to glacier up. I get my stealth credits and a Refractor up and Legwork, stealing 4 points. The following turn I The Maker's Eye to steal another 4 points for game. Our games have unfortunately ended like this many times in practice.

Round 3 vs Jinteki PE

He leaves HQ open and puts an ice on R&D and a remote. I get a Proco going and draw a Sure Gamble but also an Astrolabe. I start installing several key pieces that I don't want to lose to random net damage. He scores a House of Knives and I know I'm in for a rough game. I poke around HQ when I feel safe finding a Future Perfect and lose the psi game. He IAA a card and I run HQ again on my next turn and find TFP again and win the psi game this time, then draw up. He scores a TFP! I check a couple random remotes and find ... product placement?! I'm weirded out at this point. He Mushin no shins a card and hes on 4 points. I run the remote and find a Junebug and knife from HoK and get flatlined. Deus X was sorely missed.

Round 4 vs Jinteki Biotech

This time I'm ready and open with a Proco, Sure Gamble, Astrolabe, Kati and Refractor. I safely poke around HQ and find Ronin, Neural EMP, and Cerebral Cast. The Cerebral Cast leads me to think he has a Scorched Earth and I eventually find it. I promptly install plascrete. I'm fairly confident he is the Brewery and continue playing it safe. I get up to 2 points but he sneaks out an early False Lead, which I have to play around the entire game. I find a snare several times but am always in the clear. He gets 2 installed cards up to 4 advancement tokens and I boldly pick off a Ronin and a Philotic Entanglement. We're running out of time in the round and I keep poking around safely. I find the last snare in R&D and go to 2 cards in hand on 1st click. He forfeits False Lead leaving me with 1 action left. I'm dead to double Scorch, potential Ronin (if I don't draw), or a Biotic Labor, Ronin and Biotech Flip. I run on the 4 advanced card and find ... Cerebral Overwriter! and get overwritten.

Round 5 vs GRNDL

This is a GRNDL rush deck and but I open with a Dirty Laundry, Plascrete, Proco, Cloak and Clone Chip. I get Proco going and find Ghost Runner and Refractor. I take a turn getting set up and he gets rich off of a GRNDL Refinery. I start poking around the remote afterwards and steal an advanced agenda. I get into R&D and steal several Hostile Takerovers, which is good considering I also found a couple Archers. There is also a 3x advanced ice on R&D which eventually turns out to be Orion. I've found 2 Lockpicks at this point and walk right by it and The Maker's Eye. I quickly get up to 5 points and have seen 2 SEA Sources and 1 Scorched and install my Plascrete. I'm feeling safe, but also find a couple Snare!s but am in no danger of dying because of trusty Proco. He tries to advance an agenda again and I break in and steal a Posted Bounty. (Whew). I Makers Eye again and find a Project Atlas to close it out. We chatted afterwards and Kit is fairly hard counter to GRNDL rush when I can get by ice really easily.

Overall I got flatlined twice and a Deus X would have been handy at the end of the day. I may try cutting down to 2 Ghost Runner, going up to 2 Kati Jones and adding a Feedback Filter. It would be handy against net damage and random Cerebral Overwriters, but its really expensive to use in an already tight econ deck.