Doubledate on a bench (Bern Regionals, 4:1)

do u think a same old thing would be an improvement? what is your best/worst matchup? looks like it's easy to shut this deck down quickly (but i know thats my inexperience with it)

Same Old Thing doesn't really work with this deck since Oracle May is most certainly going to trash it.

The deck itself is really strong by its simplicity: it has simple breakers and ways to bring them easily back if trashed, tons of credits and the strongest events of the game. No difficult combos whre you need more than two cards and a lot of thoughts.

The only thing it can't do is accessing more than just the top card of RnD. A single Indexing would be awsome, but the other cards costing influence are more important.

I'd imagine the best way to counter FA decks, multi-access, would be the best addition. Unfortunately, there is none, as noted above. I think that an indexing or two would be a great add, but what to cut? Maybe the levy, but then you're weak to PE probably.

You're right about the Levy AR Lab Access: it won me my game against PE where I was down to 5 cards in my stack at mid-game. Maybe the future (especially the current operations) will bring some sort of solution.

Hoe about cutting test run for TMY and QT?

Test runs into Deja Vus and then 1x Maker's Eye?

Hey guys, thanks for the input. Those are viable and valid suggestions. Especially the Déjà Vu could be a solution. I didn't test it because I like the synergy between Test Run and Oracle May better: above saving my programs from my heap, it let's me tutor them and allows Oracle May to pay for them.

I tested The Maker's Eye + Quality Time, but wasn't sold on it. Both happen just once and are therefor not reliable enough in my opinion (even if I can tutor TME). And it could kill me against Jinteki PE.

The chance of seeing something interesting with only one TME is not high enough for me. But that is just how I like to build my decks personally.

Feel free to try these different possibilities out and report the results!

As x3r0h0ur said, the best solution for a multi-access on RnD is Indexing. Maybe it would be worth dropping one Test Run for it and compensating its loss with one or two Express Delivery. For now I'm ok without multi-accesses on RnD. But I will need to test more against FA...

Interesting deck. However, Power Shutdown is common in our meta so I would not feel comfortable with my rig having 1 and 2 credit main breakers left unprotected.

Power Shutdown is a powerfull card. But this deck should have enough answers against it with Test Run, Retrieval Run and Levy AR Lab Access. How would you protect your breakers? Some cheap harware?

I see that you really want to rely on Oracle May to get you Events so that's why you don't feel like getting any other stuff in there and as you mentioned this deck has served you well. Maybe that is a good meta call or maybe it simply requires a certain style of play that you have to make this deck work very well. Id be very interested to play against it to see how it works, but I would probably not try it myself as it does seem to have very different play style of my own :) good luck either way.

To answer your question - I would want to try and work in there some useful small hardware or program, but it might end up counter productive if you do want to jump on that Oracle May train.

Oracle May and 37 events are indeed what make this deck work so well. And it also makes playing it quite easy. The events you draw dictate what you do once your rig is build.

During my last games I have noticed that being right with my predictions so often really grinds on the nerves of my opponents. Some even stop looking what exact card I draw and just hope that I predicted wrong. This is a big distraction when they should focus on their game plan.

Have you considered -1 Theophilius Bagbiter, +1 Femme Fatale? There were a number of times I wanted to go Test Run -> Account Siphon when I was playing this deck. It doesn't reduce the number of events, which is nice.

Actually, this is something I'm testing right now.

Theophilius Bagbiter is a metacall: my meta loves Scorched Earth, Punitive Counterstrike, even with Custom Biotics: Engineered for Success for the whole "brain damage + meat damage" package goodness. And I don't like auto-loses (or at least hard uphill battles from the start of the game).

But even though, I don't install him that often.

So, like you suggested, I took one out and added a Femme Fatale. Especially because the combo Test Run -> do stuff -> trash Femme Fatale by voluntarily mis-guessing -> Retrieval Run makes me happy each time it happens. And Tollbooth. :)

But simply including the Femme Fatale wasn't enough. The 2 MU cost of Garrote and Femme Fatale's own cost of 2 credits to raise its strength made having both not effective. I had to make a choice every time: which program do I trash? And that choice can really decide a game. The program recurrence is not strong enough in order to quickly swap back if I chose wrong...

Damn 4 MU limit. I'm still used to have 5 MU because of playing Chaos Theory: Wünderkind for so long...

So I swapped Garrote for a copy of Ninja for those sentries with a strength of 4 or more.

That solution works quite nicely, until you hit an Archer, or any other sentry with a strength superior to 5.

Crypsis instead of Ninja may be a solution for both more early game pressure and those strength 4+ sentries, but I'm not convinced that it is more effective...

Any smart suggestions? :)

Maybe you could run 2x Femme Fatale and no other Killer? I do that in my Milldromeda deck and it works well, even with much less recursion than this. I run a 1x Mimic to support it during set-up, but you have enough cheating (Test Run etc.) that you could probably do without.

How often do you use Retrieval Run? Do you often play it from hand or do you Planned Assault for it?

As for Theophilius Bagbiter, have you tried the "be rich" strategy of avoiding flatlines? This deck can generate an absurd amount of money (I've done things like use Oracle May -> Sure Gamble -> Easy Mark -> use Kati Jones for a 12-credit turn). Since taking a tag means you lose your Oracle and/or Theo and/or Kati, you have to pay whatever they put up when they SEA Source. That means you risk being too poor to make a play and keep your hand next turn. Jinteki erase-your-hand net damage also ruins you (Psychic Field, Komainu).

If you cut both Theos, you could go to 3x Femme or 2x Femme 1x Crypsis. Actually, given that all of your breakers are +1 to boost and +1 to break, have you considered going with some mix of Crypsis, Overmind and Femme and ditching Corroder and ZU.13 Key Master? You become more resilient to Power Shutdown, you can threaten Account Siphon much earlier because you don't need full rig and Overmind works really nicely with Test Run. Maybe something like this? Space is really tight:

• -2 Theophilius Bagbiter
• -1 Corroder
• -1 ZU.13 Key Master
• -1 Garrote
• -1 Hostage (You only have Oracle and Kati now)
• +1 Inti
• +1 Indexing
• +3 Femme Fatale
• +1 Crypsis

It has the same number of events and manages to squeeze in an Indexing. Maybe with 2 Femmes and an Overmind instead of 3 Femmes?

Maybe you could run 2x Femme Fatale and no other Killer? I do that in my Milldromeda deck and it works well, even with much less recursion than this. I run a 1x Mimic to support it during set-up, but you have enough cheating (Test Run etc.) that you could probably do without.

How often do you use Retrieval Run? Do you often play it from hand or do you Planned Assault for it?

As for Theophilius Bagbiter, have you tried the "be rich" strategy of avoiding flatlines? This deck can generate an absurd amount of money (I've done things like use Oracle May -> Sure Gamble -> Easy Mark -> use Kati Jones for a 12-credit turn). Since taking a tag means you lose your Oracle and/or Theo and/or Kati, you have to pay whatever they put up when they SEA Source. That means you risk being too poor to make a play and keep your hand next turn. Jinteki erase-your-hand net damage also ruins you (Psychic Field, Komainu).

If you cut both Theos, you could go to 3x Femme or 2x Femme 1x Crypsis. Actually, given that all of your breakers are +1 to boost and +1 to break, have you considered going with some mix of Crypsis, Overmind and Femme and ditching Corroder and ZU.13 Key Master? You become more resilient to Power Shutdown, you can threaten Account Siphon much earlier because you don't need full rig and Overmind works really nicely with Test Run. Maybe something like this? Space is really tight:

• -2 Theophilius Bagbiter
• -1 Corroder
• -1 ZU.13 Key Master
• -1 Garrote
• -1 Hostage (You only have Oracle and Kati now)
• +1 Inti
• +1 Indexing
• +3 Femme Fatale
• +1 Crypsis

It has the same number of events and manages to squeeze in an Indexing. Maybe with 2 Femmes and an Overmind instead of 3 Femmes?

Thanks for your input #endgame. I really appreciate it.

The following is based on my experience with the deck, which can be very different from others, depending on meta and style of play. :)

Retrieval Run is a cheap third Test Run. I use it if May trashes one of my programs or as a kind of Scavenge. It also means that Power Shutdown isn't as annoying as it could be.

Personally, I don't like the "be rich" strategy. For me, Netrunner is a game of balance. Being succesfull is more often than not keeping the right balance between spending and keeping credits. At least in my experience.

This deck can be very rich indeed, but the money income is based on burst economy and is therefore not reliable enough to be able to gain 12 credits in a turn and to keep them while running on the next. Early and mid-game, sure, but definitely not during the endgame where I have to break through 3-4 layers of ICE.

Sure, getting a tag means I'm going to lose my ressources. But I won't be dead and the game is still far from lost. If I'm a bit lucky at that point I can even reboot the deck with Levy AR Lab Access.

Komainu is indeed a card that can break this deck. If Bagbitter is installed. I don't always need him against Jinteki if I play careful enough.

I though about going full AI breakers when first building this deck but then decided against it because I'm using Inside Job and Forged Activation Orders. But I guess its worth a try, especially if that means getting that Indexing!

You're welcome. I really enjoy talking about the offbeat decks. I see the point of Retrieval run, but you don't get a huge return on it (unless you hit Garrote), and you could find yourself locked out of archives if you're on a Fracter - Killer - Decoder rig. Might be worth swapping for a Deja Vu?

Even if you go AI, Inside Job is still a strong card. It only costs 1 for Ken, can save you quite a lot of money and possibly a Crypsis token as well. Also lets you grab things before breakers are on the table.

Did you ever try any builds with a 1-of Stimhack? I've often found that it can straight-up win games, and you have Planned Assault to pull it out (at cost, yes, but you're still getting +8 credits).

Retrieval Run is not in the deck for its return. It's a tutorable insurance against losing a program. If I'm locked out of archives, then I'm quite unlucky and need to wait for a Test Run or the Levy AR Lab Access. If there is ICE over archives I will always use the Forged Activation Orders on it. Being tutorable really is the big thing in favour of Retrieval Run in my opinion. The other cards surely are better, but the chance to have them when I need them is too low. I like reliability (yes, even in a card game) :)

I completely agree with you on Inside Job: it's not a reason for not taking AI breakers. It is always a strong card.

Stimhack is awsome with Ken! I really love it and I'm actually playing it in a Ken deck with Overmind, Savoir-faire and Theophilius Bagbiter (who makes Stimhack even better). Another "offbeat deck", but still being tested right now.

The Retrieval Run makes a lot of sense to me now, though I suspect going with an AI/Femme rig means you probably won't need it as much. I think Crypsis will be better AI than Overmind (even though Overmind rocks with Test Run): you'll want to be able to Test Run Femme to make plays. Overmind stretches that too thinly. With reduced pressure on Retrieval Run, maybe turn it into a Stimhack and run Corroder instead of Inti?

Well, even if I go with an AI + Femme rig, the retrieval run can still install a Femme I previously trashed by installing something else over her, allowing me to reposition her for 2 credits (4 if I need Planned Assault).

Don't you think that going AIs + Femme may be problematic in the late-game. Especially without having enough multi-accesses to be really dangerous from the start... Going this aggresive way would mean:

• -Bagbitter (he really can be quite a speedbump)
• -Corroder
• -ZU
• -Retrieval Run
• -Garrote
• -Levy AR Lab Access
• -Hostage
• +2 Indexing (or +Indexing +Makers Eye +Inti)
• +Test Run
• +3Femme
• +Crypsis

I will have to play around with these ideas a bit.

Have you tested any of these changes? I'd love to hear about your experiences.

This has all been theorycrafting unfortunately. I've been too busy to sit down and play for a couple of weeks now, and I won't get a chance for a couple of weeks more.

After some more games, the actual state is:

• -1 Planned Assault
• -1 Theophilius Bagbiter

• -1 Levy AR Lab Access

• +2 Express Delivery

• +1 Indexing

This offers more flexiblility thanks to the allround tutro Express Delivery and bit more control of the corps' game thanks to the copy of Indexing.

I'm getting back into Ken May decks, so I'll have to give this one a try. I've always felt comfortable adding non-event cards like SoT and PPVP by including x3 Express Delivery which lets me skim those cards out of the deck without using influence. Don't know if that would work for your deck here since Hostage is going to get you all of your extra cards anyway, but it might be a way to add in SoT or cheap hardware for Shutdown protection.

I've been able to fit 2 Makers Eye by going to 2 Deja Vu, 1 Levy, 1 Oracle May. That gives me an extra influence to upgrade Zu.13 to Gordian Blade, which I think is better for this deck (being more efficient after multiple runs). Test Run synergizes with Oracle May, but isn't great for cheap breakers like Corroder and Zu.13.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to trying it out.

Great to hear! Looking forward to your feedback.

I'm going to keep trying the your deck but so far I've had some good success with it. Test Run and Retrieval Run have been pretty sweet in this deck, esp. after my opponent trashes a program or two and basically think the deck is sunk. Popping a Test Run to close a scoring window has been a pretty clutch move which in many cases couldn't have been done with Deja Vu. Haven't really needed Kati Jones or Theophilius yet, even agaisnt Glacier or Thousand Cuts Jinteki though I can see their uses (and how they make Hostage useful after Oracle May is out). I'll keep at it, but at this point I've gone down to x1 Oracle May for the influence to upgrade to Gordian and I've liked that a bit better.