Picking a runner deck in the current meta was a bit of a struggle for me. I started off playing an incredibly fun Coalescence Padma list, but it was a no-go against MirrorMorph prison and just generally rough against a bunch of good corp decks. Classic Shaper problem of doing a lot of really cool skateboard tricks and using Muse to get back Coalescence to sell to Aesop’s Pawnshop, only to look up and realize your opponent is about to win the game.

Recognizing this as a problem and in the middle of MirrorMorph being everywhere on Jnet, I asked around for lists that were good into that prison list and got suggested an Alarm Clock Loup deck. While quite potent and fun the first time, I quickly stopped enjoying it once I realized it was also somewhat of a prison deck, aiming to trash every relevant card from HQ and then just bleed the corp dry.

I had Alarm Clock sleeved up when I went into Discord:

Veronica: Are there any good runner decks right now?

QTM's frogs: yes there is one and we just found it /j

Veronica: Or are corps just dominant? /hj

Veronica: IDK I'm stressing about what runner deck to play for CO and I'm wondering if I should just go with something that plays easily because runners are kind of frogged anyway.

At which point a very generous person in QTM suggested a Deep Dive Lat list by AlPi. I was immediately interested because I did quite well at EMEA last year with a Deep Dive Lat and really enjoyed the playstyle.

Looking at the deck ALPi made, I immediately made a couple of changes. I think that Trick Shot is one of the most powerful Shaper cards in RWR and well worth including, cutting the Propeller and a single copy of Overclock to make space. I started testing and immediately felt I had to bring this deck, as it is so much fun to pilot. It really strikes the balance between doing Shaper things and having cool skateboard tricks while still being very proactive, able to contest the corp and having a clear victory condition you’re working towards.

After a few days of testing I did end up making another change: ALPi’s list is on 3x Dr. Nuka Vrolyck, I felt this was a bit too much of a good thing as I often would draw a Nuka late in the game when I didn’t need more draw, or I would have a copy of Nuka stuck in my hand for several turns not doing anything because I hadn’t finished the old one yet.

Additionally, I had a slot left over in my MU. There’s a few cards I could’ve gone for, I didn’t have any spare influence so it had to be a shaper card, and while I did consider both Takobi (for dealing with Pharos) and Paricia (for asset spam), I figured more money was always nice and took a single copy of Kyuban.

I’m quite happy with how the deck performed overall. I did lose my only match at the CO with this list vs R+, but I don't think this deck is bad against in general. I think this deck is at least a solid contender in the meta right now, if perhaps not top billing, and I’ll happily keep tinkering with it.

One of the main elements I do want to test is removing the Swift. While it is a strong card, I’m also very fond of Aniccam in these event-heavy decks, and freeing up 4 influence is very tempting. Shaper has Pichação and there is always Wheels to make the Deep Dive turn happen, though obviously that brings with it certain restrictions.

Huge shout-out to cpt_nice for organizing the CO and to all my opponents for showing up, it was a fantastic time.

AlwaysBeRunning