Katepocolypse (2nd, Uncles Bellevue SC)

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Derived from
Dreams of Armageddon v0.3
Inspiration for
Kate Giveth, and Kate Taketh Away | 2nd place Dice Saloon SC
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podoboyz99 2370

Apocalypse

What an insane card. Possibly the most game changing card when it gets played. The ability to NOT just reset, but obliterate the corps rezzed ice, assets, and upgrades the corp has spent their precious money on. But most of ali, it creates a state where the corp has less cards in their deck, less money (because they spent it all on ice) and no advantage over the runner. We already know Apocolypse is good, we have seen it in numerous Apocalypse MaxX builds, but that deck was too fragile for me. So I wanted a deck that could Apocolypse constantly, and Apocalypse often. So I went with El-ad’s Apocalypse Kate.

I piloted Katepocalypse to 2nd Place at the Uncles Games Bellevue Store Championship on 2/27/16. I played alongside my Gagarin deck. I really wanted to play something fun, and both my decks fulfilled that role. I won't bore you with the concept of the original card choices, you can find that from El-ad on the Stimhack Forums. However, I will explain some of my card choices.

Utopia Shard: I was losing to NEH a lot in testing, due to the lack of HQ pressure. Kill isn't very good right now, so this was more for the accesses than the protection. This will get replaced with The Turning Wheel when it comes out, but it worked on the day.

Deus Ex: I only have to get in once to Apocalypse, so this makes sense in this deck, where it is expensive in the traditional Kate lists.

Chameleon: This pads the lack of a Mimic, even if it is more expensive, but a little more versatile.

Suggested Changes: I would love to fit a Panchatantra in, so I could use Sharpshooter or Deus Ex to get through any ice, but I don't know what to cut. A different way to go would be to cut the Day Jobs and Replace with Armitage Codebusting. That would free up influence for a Legwork, then you would replace Utopia Shard with Mimic.

The day of: I played 2 SYNC (both who were aware of Apocalypse), 1 ETF and 1 Gagarin (who were not aware of Apoc) in the swiss rounds. This deck went 4-0 in swiss, and with Gagarin going 2-2, I was able to snag the second seed going into the top 4. I then beat a flooded ETF in the first round of the cut without even Apocalypsing. My Gagarin managed to dismantle the Kit played by @pandapersona (list can be found here), Then I played @CJFM, in a intense game where he parked a Crisium behind a Tour Guide, and then recurred it until he had enough money to reliably score. Then my Gagarin wasn't able to beat it’s original creator, due to an expertly played Kate game by @CJFM.

Big thanks to everyone I played and putting up with my constant Apocolypsing. Thanks to Kody for organizing the event, and Uncles Games for hosting. Congratulations to @CJFM for creating the Gagarin deck, and taking the whole thing. But most of all, thanks to the Seattle meta, where there were 5 Gagarin players at this event and 0 NEH.

10 comments
29 Feb 2016 CJFM

Seattle meta is the best meta. :D

29 Feb 2016 dtelad11

That's it. I'm moving to Seattle. Where people will understand my obsession with Kate Apoc and Gagarin.

You guys are trailblazers! In a couple of months, when Gaga is super-popular, you could say that Seattle meta started it.

29 Feb 2016 podoboyz99

Hahahahahahahaha! I am now calling Gagarin "Gaga" from now on. Thanks @dtelad11

29 Feb 2016 Benjen

After playing exactly one game with this deck, I am a huge fan. I may have found my runner deck for the SC this weekend. When they help you draw into apocalypse by installing remotes? beautiful.

29 Feb 2016 podoboyz99

@Benjen I'm glad you're enjoying it! It can sometimes be a tough take to a tournament, especially if you expect RP. It can still win you some games, that's for sure. In the Swiss rounds, everyone watched me Apocolypse @CJFM three times as at the top table our game was the only one still going, so you can't really blame them for watching.

That said, the deck went 2-1 after everyone knew what was going on, only to lose to @CJFM in the finals. It's still potent even if the Apoc isn't a surprise, but the look on your opponents face when you play Apocolypse instead of Notoriety is amazing.

13 May 2016 jgoahl

I don't understand how you can get the 3 successful runs without the needed icebreakers out which it doesn't seem you will have since your memory is eaten by Hyperdriver. How many pieces of ice are you getting through on average to land the Apoc?

13 May 2016 dtelad11

While I did not play this specific build I have been playing Apocalypse Kate for a while now -- I don't know the average because I haven't been keeping statistics, but I usually go through between zero and five pieces of ice to get in. Rarely I need to break six or seven.

13 May 2016 jgoahl

Sure thats useful but HOW are you breaking that much ice with hyperdriver on the table amd being memory constrained?

13 May 2016 dtelad11

Highly depends on the matchup. Oftentimes you poke central in advance so you already have one or two breakers on the table. For example, versus NEH, with an SMC on the table I will often run a one-ice R&D or HQ. If they rez a Wraparound or Resistor I'll get an Inti. The rest comes from SMC (with Astrolabe you can have both SMC and Hyperdriver, or you install SMC with click 1 out of 7) and from Clone Chip.

The gist is that you're using "click compression" of sorts: you use earlier turns to set up. Your Hyperdriver turn has seven clicks but you also invested 3-5 clicks earlier in building a rig. Also there are some pieces of ice that you don't need to break. Anything that gives you tags, you can remove these with spare clicks. Anything that trashes programs at the bottom of a central, you can often run that last and just let it trash. Crick on Archives you can often ignore (just watch out for Crisium Grid or Hostile Infrastructure). Pup and Pop-up Window don't require breakers, etc.

5 Jun 2016 haerik

I went 4-1 with this exact deck at the Chicago Regional yesterday. My only loss was against butchershop. I was up 6-0, but died to traffic-scorch because I wasn't up enough on money to avoid midseasons. Unfortunately my 7-3 record wasn't enough to put me in the cut on SoS. I love playing the deck though!