Slap Kween Ari (UNDEFEATED AT NAARM CO BEST DECK?)

This deck fucking SLAPS.

Firstly, credit to SebK (https://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/54fff8f8-18c5-49d4-aed1-1764f4a2db14/no-gambo-5th-apac-2023). I took that and made some changes, which turned out VERY nicely. This deck feels like very old school Prepaid Kate in that you can burst up in econ quickly and pull out tricks that the Corp isn’t prepared for. The core engine is LilyPAD, Urban Art Vernissage and your trojans (mostly Kyuban). You get clickless, zero cost installs that draw you a card and give you money to install more things (that draw you cards, etc). This is pretty sick, and when the engine gets rolling it’s like Paladin Poemu on steroids. I had one game where I had two installed and was repeatedly bouncing Kyuban and Ika for 4 free credits a turn - it’s real good.

The key thing to remember is that this is actually an aggro deck. You want to be getting a lot of value single accesses to force the Corp to commit resources to centrals. A good early/mid game run will involve something like Laundry -> install a Kyuban or other trojan from hand (getting a LilyPAD and Testing trigger, and maybe using Urban Art to proc Twinning) -> get Kyuban value and a DreamNet draw. You also need to maintain a good remote threat, possibly by keeping SMC and Overclock ready to go in hand. Eventually you’ll go for a big Deep Dive with a mid run Pichação install to close out the game.

Defeated Asa, Big Deal Outfit and Sokka A Teia (twice) then conceded to Vale in the cut final so he could get the CBI invite.

Cards and changes

Daily Casts -> Environmental Testing: I switched this out the day before, after remembering that Testing exists. Turns out it’s absolutely nuts in this deck. You can reliably trigger it the same turn or the turn after you install it by exploiting instant speed zero cost installs. Led to an excellent “call an ambulance…but not for me!” moment against River where I started my turn on 1 Env Testing counter and 2 credits, then installed SMC, overclocked a remote (which turned out to be Anansi), installing Slap Vandal from hand, installing Ika from SMC (popping Testing) and sliding into the remote. Obviously if you manage to install it using Vermissage money it just feels absolutely bonkers.

Twinning: very very nice synergy with Urban Art and gives some much needed HQ pressure. This came in clutch against the Outfit.

Clot and Simulchips: honestly, no idea why it wasn’t in the deck to begin with. Clot threat does a lot of work in the current meta and you can feed your Kyubans to it pretty happily.

Bahia Bands: the intent here is that you can deal with an Oppo fork by being able to run the scoring server and still clear all the tags. Still has value in other matchups for draw and triggering your engine.

Slap Vandal: didn’t do much today but did well in my couple of practice games. Surprisingly good answer to Valentao.

Gachapon: had to cut a couple but I rate it. Nothing costs more than 1 to install on a hit and it gets you a LilyPAD trigger on Corp turn, as well as surprise Env Testing procs. I would love to have two…but I also love having two Fermenters because they give you a mountain of cash in slower matchups.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths: rushy decks, especially ones that rely on fast advancing out the last points. Sparrow Brawler feels surprisingly good since a lot of your great plays are instant speed and therefore you’re less vulnerable to click compression. You should probably also have decent game against glaciers, if people still want to play those in a meta where K2CP Turbine exists. You can sometimes turn Kyuban into Magnum Opus on unrezzed ice which is fairly disgusting. I think learning to recognise these kind of options and smashing them when you have the chance is a big window to improve play here.

Weaknesses: I haven’t really tried the asset matchup. You do have access to huge piles of money though so hopefully that edges it, and like with Sparrow Brawler you have good click efficiency. The strategy is probably to trash draw filter effects, hammer centrals and win on a Deep Dive.

You also don’t have Pinhole in this build so SkunkVoid Asa is scary. In that case it might be time to pivot to Deep Dive.

It’s very possible to get draws where you brick on the engine. This was my main concern with no Gamble and Env Testing - your engine is crazy but you’re also kind of all in on it. That said, I’ve comfortably won games with no Vernissage and a very late LilyPAD so maybe it’s ok?

Also this is very slotsm8 and very influencem8. I went to 46 to include the third SMC (which I think was the right call), not sure what to cut. I would love to try, in no particular order, Gamble, Pinhole, Ms Bones, Cleaver, K2CP Turbine, Conduit, Pelangi/Euler, Paricia, DZMZ, Cyberdelia, Aesops, Umbrella, Q-Loop(???)

Final thoughts

This deck is insanely satisfying to pilot and also feels genuinely extremely strong. I’m not sure if it’s necessarily the best deck compared to the sledgehammers of Hosh and Hermes Tao, but it’s extremely solid and a ton of fun.