Haarpsichortoise Shell

thopol 49

This is another Haarpsichord theory-crafting session. It was actually where my mind went first when I heard about the ID.

The idea is that you install stuff every turn, sometimes advancing, sometimes not advancing. You have enough traps that hopefully the corp will decide to focus on centrals instead of your mess of servers and you can try to score out before they do. I think you're going to have to play around the way your opponent behaves when they see what you're doing, which sounds fun.

One note is that I used Encryption Protocol instead of Shipment from Kaguya when I first put this together and both definitely have their benefits. Also, as with my other janky Haarpsichord decks, this might be a lot better with just a little ICE.

7 comments
24 Apr 2015 zozo

You mentioned jank; one of the things that is so marvellous about Netrunner – and about this deck as a microcosm for the game at large – is how the boundaries of what's valid, realisable play continued to be pushed outward. Haarpsichord Studios's ability gives this kind of idea real potency. It may prove little more than jank... but I like to think there's some possibility here.

24 Apr 2015 lolpaca

The problem with any sort of iceless deck is that multi-access, and especially Keyhole, just pretty comprehensively wrecks it. They don't care about your traps when then can just run R&D and probably pull an agenda every turn.

Even if they're not keyholing, I think the best play for a runner is to just keep hammering R&D and ignoring your servers. Hitting the occasional Snare isn't really a cost when they don't need any of their breakers or economy.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for new approaches and I'd love this sort of thing to work, I just don't think iceless is viable (at least the moment). They'll nearly always win before you can score out.

24 Apr 2015 thopol

I guess to me jank can mean either bad or more fun than good. Whether this deck ends up being bad or good, it looks fun. I'm torn whether I should proxy this next time I sit down to play or keep working on my pet deck of late. This ID is fascinating to me right now.

In any case, I agree with you about that beautiful feature of Netrunner. Also, not only does what constitutes a viable deck continue to evolve, but archetypes that have been left behind continue to be viable.

24 Apr 2015 saltytacopanda

Not gonna work. Janky newbies-wrecking deck players never realise that one or two good Siphons/Vamp shuts off all their traps and the runner can go on a remote checking spree.

24 Apr 2015 Genevaman616

I love the idea of the deck in concept but, as a Reina Roja Account Siphon player, I can tell it's going to have more than a few rough match ups. Maybe not the strongest deck going but it sounds like a laugh to play.

24 Apr 2015 thopol

@lolpaca yeah, I definitely agree that even a handful of ICE would go a long way. I haven't tinkered with this one since you gave me that advice for the scorched version. That said, DBS, Jackson, and the Haarpsichord ability are able to prevent R&D lock and 8 of the agendas benefit you when they're accessed, so it's not quite as bad as it looks.

But yeah, Keyhole sure does crap on this.

24 Apr 2015 lolpaca

I'm not sure the agenda-traps do benefit you on access though, really. TGTBT gives them a tag (you don't have any tag punishment) Explode-a-palooza gives you money (you don't have anything worthwhile to spend it on) and Award Bait lets you advance things (they're ignoring your traps and if the runner's doing their job, you won't have any agendas on the table besides what you drew in your starting hand). And if Daily Business Show or Jackson Howard are breaking R&D lock, they'll just trash them with all the money they're saving by not installing breakers.

Please don't think I'm just dumping on this deck btw, I'm also fascinated by Haarpsichord and I want to find the best way to use this ability of theirs! Just not sure anyone's quite figured it out yet.