Paige Me Red and Call Me Valencia - London Regional 2nd

imrahil 1269

My favourite first turn is Paige (firing her), SMC, credit, credit, allowing you to fetch Opus on their turn to fire Paige again. If you have the Wyldside to install turn 2 you are laughing else draw/Opus and start setting up.

You will find the blackmail threat slows the game down long enough for you to get into a really strong board state.

Against NBN my thinking was to run remotes (blackmail if there is ice) and Vamp to prevent the kill or fast advance. HB is actually a tough one, you have to run remotes due to the ABT threat as well as Eliza’s and Executive Boot Camp, beware of the kill threat and see how It goes. RP you out economy them with Opus and then Vamp when they try to score. Other Jinteki you Eater-Keyhole spam and finally Weyland you get Plascretes out and time the blackmail runs.

If I was to make any changes after its first real outing it would be to have a think about the parasites. They really didn't do enough work to justify 3 deck spaces and an MU slot,

On the day she went 8-1 (losing her very first game in swiss) played against 4 RP, 1 PE, 2 HB, 2 Weyland

A tournament report as well as an article about Valencia can be found on netrunners.co.uk.

[Edit: since breaker bay release I'm trying -2 knifed -1 plascrete -2 wanton +3 hacktivist meeting +1 corroder +1 D4v1d]

46 comments
20 Apr 2015 MikeJS

4 RP and no NBN... the fear of Clot is strong. Congrats on a great performance. I love this deck! It's the Val deck I never knew I wanted to build until now. The only Val I've played before is a complete jankfest. Will try this out soon :)

20 Apr 2015 CodeMarvelous

with no ability to turn wyldside off are you concerned about running out of cards against Jinteki?

20 Apr 2015 Dydra

Love the idea of Paige Piper .... really smart ... in a deck where you get your 1s of installed and you don't need the 2nd copy ... get rid of the rest, so you think out the deck ... in an already LARGE and SLOW deck :)

Pretty smart :) Only thing I'd recommend is to not trash your Adjusted chronotypes, because a random tag and trash on yours wouldn't make you happy finishing the game with 3 clicks :)

Also yeah , get 1 of chop-bot or something against Jinteki :)

20 Apr 2015 imrahil

I really dont like 1 of this one of that to protect against things - it has ruined too many Anarch decks. So if I loose a key piece after Paige I suck it and Deja Vu it back. And if play kill Jinteki (not too common) I try to win fast or I dont install Wyldside (I almost certainly never install Paige) and then even if I do deck myself I have a 7 card hand to take the game out of archives with.

20 Apr 2015 sruman

curious what the answer to crisium on R&D with decent is? Probably don't want to run it with crisium for 10+ credits (and above...). Parasite and wait it out? Go for a different plan of just vamping and threatening remotes?

20 Apr 2015 imrahil

Depends on board state really. If there is no ice rezzed it's worth a blackmail. Wait for the agendas to hit the hand and wanton. Drop the crypsis and suck it up.. against rp it often stalled and opus left me on 50+ credits so isn't a problem.. again - can't plug every hole in an anarch deck, but you can hope for a solution how ever expensive to everything.

20 Apr 2015 MTUCache

Crisium Grid is definitely the first thing you think of against the Eathole deck, but I think Valencia has better answers to that than most. The Blackmail/Crypsis can get through everything but a rezzed Swordsman (eventually).

I haven't run into much of the early FA Fast Track/Veterans Program yet, but I'm actually considering trying it now that BP/Blackmail is becoming a thing. Probably too much of a silver bullet to play consistently.

I have run into some serious problems with my Val deck with Executive Boot Camp. There's only so many times you can recycle your cutlery, and just one rezzed ice on a remote gives them an eternal scoring window (bad enough that I had considered putting FAO into a deck similar to this).

I would definitely keep at least one of the Parasites in though (and/or Corroder), since otherwise a Power Shutdown at 4 shuts down one of your critical pieces.

Nice to see somebody who made this work, as I wasn't able to. :p

21 Apr 2015 beyoken

Played against you in the final round of Swiss with RP. Turn 1 Wyldside + Chronotype gave such a fast setup; no glacier deck can compete with that sort of speed. Managed to use Executive Boot Camp to rez a remote Lotus Field, but the fear of Eater + Spooned deterred me from scoring in that remote (turns out you weren't running Spooned; that's the scare power of unconventional decks!) Endgame, the fear of Vamp and Crypsis staring at my Lotus Field meant checkmate for me. Strong deck, well played, and congrats once again!

21 Apr 2015 eulennatzer

Nice decklist.

I am really considering taking that one to the next Regionals. ;)

My own Valencia was Siphon, Planned Assault, no other BP stuff but Blackmail with Eater and Dataleak Reversal.

What bugs me is that this deck seems to be really relying on Paige, if you get her late your deck is full of useless copies of cards. :(

Would you consider to mulligan for Paige?

21 Apr 2015 imrahil

I would consider it but opus is so much more important. If I don't get paige early it's fine. Free wyldside draws make those extras less of a problem. You take a little while to draw all the things but with 3 of everything you fine.. if I didn't have paige I never waited for her. Didn't seem a huge problem. She was probably installed in 5 of 9 games (Including the loss).

21 Apr 2015 saltytacopanda

Why knifed over spooned?

21 Apr 2015 imrahil

curtain wall, eli, wraparound and it's cheaper.

22 Apr 2015 imrahil

@eulennatzer Also I wouldn't run the deck numbers too much differently if paige didn't exist.. As amazing as she is I would rather see the pieces I need so get set up and have dead draws. Than run 1 and 2 of everything and be piloting an inconsistent changing deck.. If you need to see a card you need to run 3 - paige or no paige.

22 Apr 2015 ANRguybrush

Very elegant build.

But why the plascretes? With Box-E, I'd go for I've had worse.

23 Apr 2015 AsteriskCGY

Plascrates mean you can trash the third after the second install, depending on the meat damage flying. IHW takes up hand size, and other events are in that place, even with Box-E's +2. Wyldside means anything not being played has to get tossed, so IHW will eventually be a dead draw.

23 Apr 2015 imrahil

If you read the article on netrunners.Co.uk I talk about having IHW in the deck.. against weyland I'm likely to deck myself with wyldside making IHW useless. I also rarely used it as an event due to wyldside.. Furthermore the big punitive kills are a problem..

I may drop them for other things but they helped big time in some match ups. Meat damage is pretty rife at the moment.

25 Apr 2015 RogueNite

I'm confused, why does this deck have Paige Piper but virtually no cards which are useful to have 2 of? Is Paige Piper just deck-thinning?

25 Apr 2015 imrahil

Why would Paige be good to get multiples? Fetching them from the heap?. Yes it's to thin the deck. Can cut 14 cards at its best. Speeding you up a lot, and finding the blackmails/vamps and any other pieces you are missing much faster.

25 Apr 2015 imrahil

Counters the down side of 50 card deck and then some

26 Apr 2015 voltorocks

Deck looks great - I really think paige was the card valencia needed to really click into place, and MO is a good way to go that I hadn't though of yet!

this is why i'm slotting in one liz mills into my boot-camp glacier deck...

27 Apr 2015 Shift

Just wondering if you ever considered runing Hades Shard?

28 Apr 2015 imrahil

I have run hades shard before in valencia and it clearly works (everyone running 3 jackson). But I tend to just use blackmail to get in.. Also 1 of - meh

28 Apr 2015 Vanadium

Can you please give me a general overview of how you play this deck? I'm a traditionalist and typically play shaper with money and breakers, but want to branch out and this one looks interesting to me. But with only Eater (and a single Crypsis), how do you get the win? If they drop a lot of ice on R&D, keyhole becomes way too cost prohibitive, right? And with only Eater, their remotes are safe unless you spend half a dozen clicks getting money and tokens for Crypsis (that is, IF you find your one-of crypsis).

I get the Paige Piper aspect of it - removing the dead draws from your deck. But I just don't get how to turn this deck into a win. Can you please advise a newbie?

28 Apr 2015 voltorocks

@Myth I can't speak for the OP, but here are a few pointers:

the deck has quite a bit of ICE destruction - 3x parasites, 3x deja vu, and 2 knifed means it can be very, very hard to keep a lot of rezzed ICE on RnD (to say nothing of leveraging vamp to keep any ICE installed unrezzed). The other thing to remember is that while keyhole spam is where the card shines best, even just a keyhole here or there can be devastating if they can't find Jackson in time.

w/r/t the remotes, blackmail is your way in. with 3 copies and 3 same old things, you should always have a blackmail ready to go if they try to make a play in a remote.

Crypsis is really only to account for things like Executive Boot Camp or Eliza's Toybox that can rez ICE on the corp turn and make blackmail tough (and these types of assets should ofc be trashed-on-sight), or in the rare case that your blackmails get used up and you have to make do.

28 Apr 2015 imrahil

Like mentioned above crypsis is a troubleshooter when ice gets rezzed on a remote or bad pub is removed or crisium grid.

The trick is to never run archives or a remote unless blackmail (or after a vamp when they are on zero). Dejavu and same old thing are for more blackmail..

So attack r&d with keyhole and hq with wanton destruction. Or sit back and wait for them to try and score and then blackmail..

Another great strategy in some match ups (rp) is to just opus for days until you see your chance then vamp (breaks caprice in the remote as they have no money). This strategy also works against traps..

My only other advice is get opus out early as you are so poor without it.. Don't wait for paige if you don't see her early. Get wyldside down early as well (you'll draw into chronotype).

Also since breaker bay I'm trying out "hacktivist meeting" (space can be made from plascrete/knifed/parasite/wanton - as runs fine with 1 less of all the above).

28 Apr 2015 imrahil

@Myth. Like @voltorocks mentioned above crypsis is a troubleshooter when ice gets rezzed on a remote or bad pub is removed or crisium grid.

The trick is to never run archives or a remote unless blackmail (or after a vamp when they are on zero). Dejavu and same old thing are for more blackmail..

So attack r&d with keyhole and hq with wanton destruction. Or sit back and wait for them to try and score and then blackmail..

Another great strategy in some match ups (rp) is to just opus for days until you see your chance then vamp (breaks caprice in the remote as they have no money). This strategy also works against traps..

My only other advice is get opus out early as you are so poor without it.. Don't wait for paige if you don't see her early. Get wyldside down early as well (you'll draw into chronotype).

Also since breaker bay I'm trying out "hacktivist meeting" (space can be made from plascrete/knifed/parasite/wanton - as runs fine with 1 less of all the above).

28 Apr 2015 Vanadium

Thanks for the write-ups. I get the idea, I guess I just need to run it a few dozen times to know the right decisions to make.

Elizabeth Mills and Clone Retirement pretty much end this deck though, right? If they get rid of that Bad Pub, it's nearly a guaranteed loss?

28 Apr 2015 voltorocks

So, getting rid of the bad pub is rough, but not game over by any means. Crypsis is expensive, but many games you just need one winning run to archives.

Elizabeth Mills would be trouble if anyone ran her - good thing they don't. Definitely a high priority trash if you see her in a keyhole.

Clone Retirement actually isn't too bad, since where there's one, there tends to be more. dig it out, steal it, and get your groove back.

If you're somehow in a meta that's just full of these types of cards (classic 2-person meta issue) then just slot in an investigative journalism or two and you should be fine.

28 Apr 2015 cmcadvanced

So this really should be an eye opener to people; start playing Crisium Grid, and more assets. I've found that Valencia really enjoys using blackmail on just about any asset in a remote. Blacklist would be useful to tech against this, and it looks like a rezzed swordsman over hq would really be a hit against this particular deck, but I don't see a ton of Eater without Mimic, so whatever. This deck looks terrible to face if you don't have the right cards, and with all the types of runner decks out there, it's hard to have the right cards, but I would sincerely recommend everyone try to find room for their factions bp removal. Expose and elizabeth mills are probably the best, and @voltorocks is absolutely right about clone retirement, but you can't just assume that it's going to get stolen...even though that definitely is a thing :p. HB just needs to threaten abt with assets, cause rex is totally worthless. As a corp player, I want to punch you in the face for making this deck, as a netrunner player, I commend you.

28 Apr 2015 Wookiee

I absolutely adore the Paige + AC + Wyldside framework - I have 6 decks I'm working out using that so far. This just became number 7. Well done!

28 Apr 2015 spiralshadow

Would you ever think of running Investigative Journalism or (god forbid) even Frame Job as anti-Elizabeth Mills/Clone Retirement/Veterans Program tech? It seems like with how prevalent Valencia has become, anti-BP cards have become more common.

29 Apr 2015 imrahil

Last night someone boot camped for lizzy mills turn 1. And we discussed adding a frame job.. but the game was very much on still. I would have win if I had the cryptis out to get into archives.. but that's just because people near me are so used to playing against val. Don't know if it is worth it for regional.

29 Apr 2015 imrahil

@cmcadvanced - also more assets just makes "hacktivist meeting" better which is in there now.. But yes, crisium is an issue (they almost always put it on r&d though because of keyhole (I agree hq is probably worse)

1 May 2015 kenobob

Nothing more satisfying than running an effective Vamp. One card I liked in this was Career Fair and Liberated over Opus. Opus is just so slow if you're paying for it, which you are in this deck.

1 May 2015 mjortman

Have you thought about adding Singularity? It can be a pretty great way to get in to a server with Eater and still trash everything. It also helps eliminate the possibility of advanced traps. I put 3 in, but I'm not sure if I'll change it. I swapped out the 3 Parasites for it.

Also, how often are you getting to use Vamp? I seem to have trouble getting enough money for it to be worthwhile. But I've only played a couple of games so far, too. Just curious how useful you've found it.

Thanks for the deck info. I think this is a really great idea, and agree with others that Paige Piper is just what Valencia needed; too bad it's (ironically) tougher to see due to her deck size. :)

3 May 2015 imrahil

@mjortman I would never drop even a single vamp. It often comes down to opus for 8 till the opportune moment.. problem with singularity is it allows them to rez ice and then you are screwed!

@kenobobme opus just is sustained long term economy. You need nothing else. And it's 1 turn to drop for 5 click for 6 credits. And then you are set for economy for the game.. There is no other economy package like it. More efficient than kati no card required. It essentially gives you a lucky find whenever you want. It is needed to vamp rp and weyland to compete with their money

3 May 2015 Radiea

How important is Box-E? Would other consoles work?

3 May 2015 Wookiee

While I do think Opus is a really nice Econ option, sounds like you're working for their sales force. ;).

Opus is a big tempo shift. If all you're doing is waiting for a time to pounce, as you are here, it's very effective.

But it's 5 credits to install, and requires Box-E for memory. So 1 click to install, 3 to make 1 credit. Then another 3 to make 6 more. So you've spent 7 clicks to make 7 credits. After that you're at 2:1 (Lucky Find is 3:1).

Kati+click for creds will get you a similar, but slower, return. But you can't burst her up in one turn. I think MO is a great engine here, but I think there might be other interesting choices too. All of the ones I can see, though, require some combos to get going, so MO is very likely the best bet here. Still, I'm gonna monkey around with it a bit.

4 May 2015 imrahil

@Radiea other consoles work. I started with vigil but I tend to deck myself even without the extra draw. Also allowed mu space to include parasite and if you get into trouble and need to drop crypsis you don't have to trash anything.... going for 2mu I think it's the best option. The hand size is super useful with all the events you want to hold and all the cards you'll be drawing..

4 May 2015 Wookiee

Given the number of people currently in love with Valley Grid, it's probably a good idea to include extra hand size when you can.

1 Jun 2015 Fomtilgi

What About +2 Brain Cage, -1 Carapace and -1 Parasite?

Since you said Parasite hasn't justified the MU and Deck Slot yet, maybe one less to allow more hand size (in order to protect against nuke and allow to have more things on hand since you draw so many cards already with Paige + AC + Wyldside combo)

2 Jul 2015 Windave

Hey! I love this deck, have you ever considered to use Turn Table?

3 Jul 2015 Windave

Quest Completed and a single Frame job can be great too!

31 Jul 2015 Haggis

How much work do Corroder and D4vid do for you?

12 Aug 2015 imrahil

Obviosly didn't do anough for me as I stopped playing this deck after the next regional. I think the main problem was people knew what I was doing early on, other people had picked it up and practised with it. The result was that it crisium/caprice went onto HQ early which is a problem... The other thing that happened is the fear of clot subsided a little bit and by the next regional the top 8 was dominated by NEH. With the meta speeding up this wasn't going to cut it at the sharp end of regionals/nationals any more. Played around with Whizzard for a bit and am currently back with good ol' Noise.

20 Oct 2015 Frogblast

Turing kills your deck