He's So Dreamy

I don't know why I love Ken so much. It's probably the hair. He has really cool hair.

Super-heavy Criminal event-based decks are always so much fun; to the corp you're always representing ridiculous multi-access on central servers and you're making insane click-efficient plays out of nowhere. If ice isn't placed well you can develop an overwhelming econ or agenda-based lead, and if the servers are protected, some timely Inside Jobs will keep you on top. However, if you reach late-game, you flat-out lose to any deck that plans on winning Netrunner through scoring agendas in remote servers; even worse, you don't have the time to prep defense against Scorched or PE decks. Your breakers can't compete with their ices and Ashes/Caprices.

If I play Andy or Leela I can't stare at Ken's ID card during the corp's turn, so here's my current solution. Weirder card explanations below:

-Ken "Express" Tenma: So, in all seriousness, Ken can't apply pressure to the corp the way Leela does, and he can't play as explosively as Andy. What he can do is self-generate approx. 8-15 credits per game, and let you play 2 more influence. This lends itself well to an aggressive run-heavy playstyle full of face-checking and powerful plays when the corps well runs dry. Playing with Ken is living on the edge, and it's a lot of fun even if it's not particularly powerful compared to the alternatives.

-I've Had Worse: Ken has 17 influence! I can't imagine playing Ken without three of these, though the rest of the world seems to disagree. You never have to waste your precious time and money protecting yourself from damage, and no one ever seems to see this coming in a Criminal build. Moreover, IHW is never a dead draw, which is key in a deck as fragile as this.

-Indexing: This card is so good right now, and between Planned Assault and Same Old Thing I think it's worth playing over Maker's Eye #3. It's the 4th run event in the deck that generates you +1 credit upon playing, and you get to constantly threaten it after it's first usage with Same Old Thing. Just make sure they have no shuffle effects on-board before you play this the first time.

-Garrote: If you don't have to install this card, great. But against decks filled with Cadeuceus, Architect, and other sentries, it's nice to have a killer that doesn't require other cards to utilize effectively. Femme is even less cost-efficient, and the 2MU doesn't matter much in this list.

-Peacock: ...it's not that much worse than Zu...cost-wise it's surprisingly comparable, costing around the same to get through all decent code gates with the notable exceptions of Merlin and Yagura. If we're comparing this to Blue Dog, I'd rather be able to make more than four runs on a Code Gate remote in one game. Obviously the worst card in this list by a large margin, but I don't know what I could cut.

Most of the deck is pretty cookie-cutter. Desperado's an okay card, Ken finds spare change in his Laundry, I Prepaid for this Maxx reference, yada yada. We all want Ken to be amazing, this is my attempt. Please offer feedback and help me be good at Netrunner.