Decklist of the week
💅 Narcissism [7-2, 2nd @Megacity Denver & Megacity LA]
Identity
Description by the author: Thomas Haas 163
Hi there, I'm Winston (Thomas Haas), and this is the AU Co. build I've been tinkering with since early Elevation. It's a lot of fun to pilot, and with its incredibly tricky kill lines I was able to place 2nd at Megacity Denver (5/31) and 2nd at Megacity LA (7/12), only dropping games to Solemnstorm and Sokka.
I'll have a more personal writeup for my runner deck detailing this last year of Netrunner for me, but here I'll just be discussing the theory and tech behind this deck, highlighting the two key cards that differentiate this list from other eggs in the field.
STRATEGY - Paying the Mean 🤴🏻 Boy 🤴🏻 Tax 🤴🏻
Install Phat and/or Cohort (1) on top of Mahkota Langit Grid (2) behind Boto. Pinhole is usually the runner's solution to this problem, but Mahkota makes that move prohibitively expensive if it has to be done more than a couple times. Develop tempo with Cohort, create a threat with Phat, and play fluid Egg - recurring your threats until the runner has to take a break to recharge and then...
TACTICS - 💅 Touch-ups Math and Timing
I am surprised by how few of the popular AU Co. lists have made space for this unbelievably powerful piece of tech; it opens up proactive kill lines much earlier than EotL and is effective counter-play against the two primary pieces of runner defense. It is easily one of my favorite elevation cards and the signature card of this deck from its conception. All in one, it is:
Exactly What You Need
Touchups (if it hits 2) + Phat (fully charged) + any agenda that does damage = 6 cards worth of damage. The math is all situational, but deriving that solution is the entire goal of this deck.Exactly When You Need It
[Touchups -> Using Moonpool -> Score -> Damage] all happens in the same corp priority window. So if you are fast advancing the kill from your hand, the runner has a window to pop Stoneship after you install the agenda click 1, but once Touchups lands, the game is over.Mind Games
Stalling for a beat or two after the click 1 install (in order to kill the runner while they have a stoneship on board) is some of the most tense and exhilarating Netrunner I've played to date. It is also a powerful tool to be used against an opponent who knows about this timing window because every install now threatens the runner in a way that forces premature Stoneship activations. Now that's Netrunner.
In this replay of me vs Sokka on Sable at LA, I perform what is probably one of the coolest Netrunner micro-moves I've ever done. Immediately after installing the SHTR click 1, which is only lethal if he doesn't pop Stoneship, I shift all my servers to the left, implying I have another install for click 2 (before stalling a sec to give him a window to pop Stoneship.) Maybe that body language/signal didn't do anything at all in the grand scheme of things - but it's always fun putting on the act.
FURTHER ITERATION (copy) (copy)
- The earlier version of this deck was -2 Scatter Field, +1 Gaslight, +1 Touch-ups. But it's rare to be unable to find Touch-ups in time, so I went down to 1.
- The deck can feel a little clunky sometimes with so many 4/2's, and the newer agenda suites involving Hybrid Release feel very powerful. I'll be looking into that.
- I also haven't included Anoetic yet (1) because of slots (2) limit testing Mahkota. Figuring out the Anoetic/Mahkota balance requires further testing.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Acknowledgements is going to be a massive list so a few quick and generalized shout-outs here, saving the details for my runner list.
- Deepest gratitude for all the awesome TO's and the talented opponents I've sharpened this sword against - know that you're all a part of my core memories now <3.
- A special thanks to my teammates on Logic Bomb and the members of the Bay Area Netrunner community for putting up with my Egg spam. Extra special shoutout to pengguin who - driven by pure hatred and spite - was such a dedicated testing partner (victim..?)
- NSG. Transitioning to a small card pool meta is a very challenging design problem. Despite that, I've been enjoying Elevation a lot. Although to be fair, I took my Netrunner hiatus in 2016 when competitive top 8 would consistently have 6 IG's, 6 Whizzards, and two other players who placed 7th and 8th so maybe my old-head evaluation is not to be trusted.
[edit] Seeing as this is getting more visibility, I'm going to just be explicit about some awesome people
- Lukifer and the crew for running such a great tournament in Megacity Denver!
- My opponents in Megacity Denver who played absolutely baller netrunner (Solemn_storm <- you especially, Zhae, Ryanb, Limes, Neuralshock, FAC3L355, Spenser, Niel)
But also, in general, the entire Colorado community - it's already like a second home to me, and this only compounds on that. I'll definitely be seeing you all around.
StephenE for TO'ing Megacity LA! Absolute screamer of a tournament.
- Ben Kamm for running stream. Enkoder, Nykride, Hams, and Sindarin for commentary. (gj to nykride on keeping it only barely impartial)
- Sokka for providing some of the most challenging and satisfying games of netrunner I've ever played. Looking forward to our next match.
- Timmy Wong, pj20, tzeentchling, and Tak for play testing and jamming games in preparation.
- Dezigerator (this is the most important one) for helping me order an otherworldly mole wet burrito with cochinita pibil
REPLAYS
Denver - Swiss vs RyanB
Denver - Swiss vs Solemn_Storm
LA - R5 Swiss vs Sokka
LA - Top Cut vs Seb
LA - GF vs Sokka
