NEXX: Maximum Punk Rush

Sigh. Love these ideas, but this is the reason I struggle with it. First 4 test draws (even on 25 ice) only allowed the ability to fire fully once :(

I whipped up a spreadsheet and broke down the opening hand probability spread for this deck:

• 5 Ice: 2.8%
• 4 Ice: 15.9%
• 3 Ice: 33.3%
• 2 Ice: 31.8%
• 1 Ice: 13.9%
• 0 Ice: 2.2%

Interesting Figures:

• Chance of 3+ Ice in opening hand: 52%! I didn't realise it was this high until I ran the numbers.

• Chance of Starting with less than 2 Ice and then getting another hand of less than 2 Ice after Mulligan: 2.6%

Does that mean getting just one ice will lose you the game? I've won games with the original version of this deck (https://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/33541/next-rush-scoring-the-agenda-v1-1) where I've had to play from a starting hand of just one piece of Ice.

Just two ice is a great start with this deck as long as you also have Hedge Fund or Advanced Assembly Lines either in your starting hand or your first turn refill + mandatory draw.

I find NEXT Design decks take a bit of experience to pilot, but the learning curve is pretty straightforward. The three things you need to get right are placing the right ice in the right place, managing your econ and timing your agenda scores. All of this requires figuring out what kind of runner you are facing and what is in their toolbox. In my test run of this deck today I got 3/3 and two games ended with opponents saying they were surprised by the speed of this deck.

How is the econ in this deck? Compared to Foodcoats, you obviously have much less econ without sex bots or the ETF ability. Your ICE is cheap to rez, but I think rezzing a NEXT Gold would be a real struggle with no real econ other than Hedge Fund and Advanced Assembly Lines.

Are the Corporate Sales Team teams using Bifrost Array to recharge? Or are you using the Accelerated Beta Test to get a lot of ICE face-up for free?

I would just worry that with so little econ, your deck really needs to score that first agenda, which will be a struggle if you don't start with a Hedge Fund. How often do you click for credits?

4/5 dentists say this deck breaks runner teeth.

Damn this nice. Been enjoying the return to NEXT rushes even if I've yet to see one that works consistently, but this looks like it does it better than most.

Hate that Paper Wall though, roll on Vanilla

The NEXT Gold are pretty much just there for lucky ABTs and 'bluff' Ice if it is one of three in your opening hand. It's quite possible to swap one out for another Rototurret or ETR Ice depending on the meta. You can rez a Gold to kill some breakers or a Magnum but that's not going to happen often.

Bifrost is probably best for recharging the Sales Team but it really depends on what you have scored already and the board state in general. Against Blackmail or DDoS decks ABT becomes far more important.

I click for credits is pretty often with this deck. Even in a 'good' game you'll probably click 10+ times. The average game can end at around turn 12 with this deck. Corporate Sales Teams are absolutely amazing when scored and Hopper is not even close to matching it in economic power. The original version of this deck used 2x Gila Hands instead of Bifrost so that's another possibility for adding economy. I will say that getting two Bifrost with no other agendas at the start of the game is quite frustrating, whereas it would be a welcome sight if it were Gila Hands (still won that game after losing one Bifrost from a HQ access I think).

I'm going to record some game logs and get back to you with exact numbers on clicking for creds.

I think econ isn't as bad as it seems, because the money Ice helps you out and you don't need (or necessarily want) to rez all the Ice all the time. 7 is all you need in the late game to score the last Agenda.

I think @Zakalwe is right that this deck doesn't need a lot of credits to function, but anyone piloting it should try to be aware of the dependence on Agenda economy (either from ABT or the Sales team). That makes this deck a little unusual for HB. It will tend to run light on credits and depend on agendas and operation, not assets for economy.

I want to like this idea as it's always nice to play balls-deep rush, but this isn't working out for me. 0-3 in testing, then one more loss after some modifications. There just is no backup plan if the runner finds answers to your ICE early enough. Clicking for credits is the death of a rush a deck.

HB agendas are part of the problem - they don't really do that much to advance the game plan. If all I see early are Vitruvius and Bifrost, the game is pretty much lost because scoring the first agenda is too much of a tempo loss - ditto if ATB somehow misses (out of two fires all I got was a paper wall). In short, while you're almost guaranteed to score the first agenda, it doesn't give you enough. I had some bad luck with agenda draws in my tests to be sure, because every game was just Vitruvius everywhere. Dunno if Advanced Concept Hopper does enough, but it could be a replacement.

No Fast Track makes me feel a bit naked.

There is enough ICE to protect both R&D and the remote, but not enough money to rez them. If HQ also needs protection then econ is just stretched too thin.

Changes I made: -2 Biotic Labor -3 NEXT Gold -1 Rainbow -1 Executive Boot Camp

+3 Green Level Clearance +1 Paper Wall +1 Quandary +1 Rototurret +1 Ice Wall

Although going down to 22 ICE gives somewhat worse starting hands, I would consider taking out 3 pieces to put in Ash or something.

My personal rush choice is Jinteki Biotech and the deck I play has 11 econ operations. This has undoubtedly influenced the way I play rush. Finally, maybe I just had bad luck in testing. I'm still interested to see where this is headed.

I think @enk is right about Project Vitruvius, it doesn't provide the econ we need to get rolling. Another econ agenda would probably be a better fit. As @enk suggested, Advanced Concept Hopper is probably the best option. It is a little slower, but it will pay itself back.

I did a bit more testing and had three disappointing games:

Game 1: Opponent got Wyldcakes combo set up by turn 3

Result: Loss ( for 10 times)

Game 2: Blackmail lock-down on scoring remote.

Result: Loss ( for 17 times)

Game 3: Two NEXT Gold in opening hand - this has lead me to revise the Ice composition of this deck as my HQ subsequently being turned into grand central for the Siphon Train was entirely the fault problems with having too many overpriced sentries.

Result: Loss ( for 17 times)

The following changes were made to the deck:

-2 Bifrost Array, -1 Crisium Grid, -2 NEXT Gold, -1 Ichi 1.0 (sorry Ichi, I will always love you... as a friend)

+2 Gila Hands Arcology (back in business!), +1 Executive Boot Camp, +1 Archived Memories, +1 Green Level Clearance, +1 Robocop

Seven more test games conducted resulting in 5 wins, 1 loss & 1 opponent d/c.

Game 1: Laramy Fisk, I scored a 2nd turn Gila Hands. Despite eating a Siphon I was able to knock out the Corroder and a Pheromones with NEXT Gold. Since I could could punish the tag float I scored out instead.

Result: Victory (11 turns, $click for 0 times)

Game 2: Whizzard with Eater/Faust/Keyhole/Siphon. I managed to get Turing rezzed on R&D, HQ and scoring server. Both players at 6 Agenda pts each when opponent makes last HQ single access... and scores the only Agenda out of five cards. I was ready for a Biotic Victory on the next turn.

Result: Loss (19 turns, for 22 times)

Game 3: Sunny. Amazing start, triple ice install, 1st turn Green Level Clearance, chained two Advanced Assembly Lines to install an ice on scoring server and last install Agenda. Sunny eventually got set up but went broke checking a decoy in the scoring server so I installed an Agenda and scored out the turn after.

Result: Victory (11 turns, for 11 times)

Game 4: I accidentally saved over the contents of the file.

Result: Victory (opponent conceded)

Game 5: MaxX! fighting against NEXX's namesake! Opponent immediately installed DLR and Wireless Net Pavilion first turn followed by Hades Shard on the second turn so I knew I was on a time limit. Rushed agendas like crazy since I saw no breakers or runs. Turn 7 opponent bounces of Turing with Faust and Turn 8 I score up to 5 points (opponent had zero). Opponent resigned (knew I had at least one Jackson in hand thanks to EBC tutor).

Result: Victory (8 turns, for 3 times)

Game 6: Noise Hivemind deck. I score a 2nd turn Gila Hands. When I start seeing Incubators I start rushing like crazy. Turn 4 I score a Vitruvius with 1 agenda counter. Turn 10 I use the counter to pull another Vitruvius out of Archives and score it.

Result: Victory (10 turns, for 1 time)

Game 7: Nasir (I really like this identity even though it's so hard to play). Turn 1 EBC in scoring server behind Pop-up and Gold. Turn 2 rez Bronze on HQ. Opponent goes to trash the boot camp but hits Pop-up. Turn 3 rez Bronze on R&D. I am totally agenda flooded at this point (5 Agendas) so I the EBC for a Jackson. Opponent declines to run my 6pt Archives so I put a Gila Hands behind a Silver in a new remote to score next turn.

End my turn with 7, opponent has 1, Drug Dealer, Order of Sol, Paricia and SMC installed.

Result: Disconnect by opponent (4 turns, for 3 times)

Conclusions

1. These changes rock! Original version had 25 Ice with average cost of 3.04. New version has 23 Ice with average cost of 2.57. Based on the pain of ice flood in some of the first three tests, I think less really is more here.

2. Early Gila Hands results in almost no ing for . It's better to rush this than ABT.

3. EBC and Advanced Assembly Lines are rockstars.

4. ABT does not work on the principles of probability. It works on the principle of maximisation. Maximisation of human suffering to be specific. When you are winning it will give you a 5 deep scoring server or R&D with Turing, NEXT Gold and Mother Goddess on top (to maximise your opponent's suffering). When you have 3 agendas in hand and only 4 agendas left in a deck of 29 it will flip Sales Team, Jackson and Vitruvius to maximise your suffering. On a serious note, if the deck seems poor, it's usually because ABT just trashed all the econ. The trade off can be hard to assess, is saving 5 and a from installing and rezzing Wall of Static worth losing a Hedge Fund and a Biotic?

I want to run this deck at my game night this week. I don't own Bifrost Array or Executive Boot Camp. Can you make suggestions on what to replace EBC with? (I'm sure I can whip up a suitable replacement for Bifrost Array)

(I'm missing All That Remains, A Study in Static, The Source, Fear and Loathing and Democ/Dogma)

Cottonjaw:

I'm really excited to hear that you are taking this deck to your game night! Please write back to let us know how things go :-)

• In the current version of the deck Gila Hands Arcology from Creation and Control has replaced Bifrost Array.

• You can run 2 Crisium Grid (First Contact) to reduce vulnerability to Account Siphon/Vamp/Keyhole etc. If you are going to be vulnerable to Blackmail lock-down and DDoS then you might want to drop a Gold or Rainbow for a third Biotic Labor so you can score (more) agendas out of hand.

• If you don't want to use Crisium Grids then you could use the influence to swap 2 Wall of Static for 2 Eli 1.0. Then replace Boot Camp/Crisium with 2 Peak Efficiency for middle/late game money.

• Replacing Boot Camp/Crisium with 1 Biotic Labor and 1 Sweeps Week works too.

Please refer to the deck description for the current recommended changes to the deck.

Does Surat City Grid change anything about this deck, given how much money it can save on your cheap ice, especially when used with ABT ?

@JohnnyCache, I had the same idea as I walking the sidewalk today. Surating Next ice - could work no?