chapter 13

When I play M:TG, I love transformational sideboards. For those of you who don't know what that is, it basically means that after the first game, you take a package of cards out, and replace them with another that will give the deck a completely different feel and play style. And that's what this deck aims to do. But because of the nature of Netrunner, you only get one game per match with any particular deck, I.E. you will only play the runner once in any given round, never twice. Because of this, I wanted to make a deck that could do exactly what a transformational sideboard does, only with 1 deck. How is that accomplished?

Well, the runner ability on the outset can be seen as a negative, further review and careful building can actually see you netting advantages during the game. As such, you want to have ways that you can spend your credits on the fly, such as with SMC, Personal Workshop, and Clone Chip. All of these let you get your credit pool down to zero before the actual encounter, so that you can gain whatever the corp spends to rez the ice.

What is the transformation all about? Well, early game is when the corp rezs early ice, such as Pop Up, quandry, Ice Wall, etc. This is when you should begin parasiting like a mad man. This will last a few turns, in those it is super important that you spend your credits that you gain down to the minimum number needed to fetch and play the parasite. The corp will then have a fearful few turns in which they don't really want to rez ICE, so this is the perfect time for you to start fetching datasuckers. You want to ideally have two out and a couple counters on each before you play your atman at 0-2 strength. This will be your little ice breaker, with Femme doing the work of the big ice. Unless the corp is making BUKU monies, they will not trash the expensive ICE they rezzed just to get rid of a femme counter. And if they do? Scavenge is a girl's best friend. This is your early tempo game, leading into playing your actual icebreakers later on, after most cards are rezzed. It is for this reason that you want to be as aggressive of a runner as possible, because you want to have the board state change as little as possible in the late game.

The choice to not include Sure Gambles was a tough one, but I didn't for a few different reasons. The first is because you are very rarely about 4 credits in the early game, when Sure gamble is at it's most effective. The second is because Modded advances our game plan further while being as efficient as possible, allowing for more clicks to run. I don't know if that's the best way to build this deck, and for all I know Sure Gambles could be good, but I have found that is not the case.

Djinn is also an interesting choice, but it's in there for a few reasons. 1. SMC loves to find djinn early. A perfect turn one sees you playing SMC, playing Personal Workshop, and then running a server with ice. Search up Djinn before encountering, and now you are at net creds. Use these to find your viruses and install them onto personal workshop, and now you are cookin with crack baby!

The deck may want to include some number of NACHs, as they well protect you early from getting your workshop destroyed. The reason I don't like that as much, is because early, you are often ending the turn with 0-1 credits, in which New Angeles is absolutely useless. But it's an interesting idea.

All in all, this deck is pretty need, and actually pretty difficult to play. I recommend trying it out!