With thanks and love to Atien, harmonbee, OF15-15, Koga, and everyone involved in hosting and running EMEA 2024. It was an amazing event, and my favourite ever netrunner tournament.

Also thanks to EA Sports 🏅 for being just the best group of people to hang out and play netrunner with. I will hold that moment of team celebration in the hallway outside of the streaming room in my heart forever.

Results

5-3, and 4th out of 111 players at EMEA 2024.

With wins against Veronica on PD, Suipe on Holoman Asa, Goeshi on Rude Outfit and Sasha on Thule in Swiss, and JamesHarisson on Punitive Issuaq in the Top Cut.

Losses to Simili on Cryptocrash NEH in Swiss, and CobraBubbles on Punitive Azmari and RyanBantwins on MAD Ob in the Top Cut.

Endorsements

"Kikai is a very experienced player--I'm sure that he will quickly come around to realising that Tremolo is just a bad breaker." - CobraBubbles

"This Steve deck is a thing of beauty" - theo

"Arguably the last wholesome deck left in the cut" - Ollie

"Men will do anything to avoid playing Hoshiko" - not_yeti

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Premise

I fell out of love with Mining Accident Arissana at ACC, and then I struggled for a while to find a runner that I enjoyed. Hermes Lat was sort of boring (I'm not a fan of Turbine), and wasn't getting results. Esâ was difficult to play (and also wasn't getting results--although it seems that was very much a me problem). Ashnikko is fine (but Turbine). Re: WT Arissana, I'm old, and shuffling a 65 card World Tree deck makes my hands hurt.

I tried a few games of Koga's Zer0 Steve list, but I never drew Zer0 so it didn't really work. It did remind me, though, of the Bankhar Steve list that Bridgeman crafted way back at the release of Rw/oR, which turns Criminal into a hand management simulator that plays more like Fire is Coming!.

Why should I play this deck?

In theory, criminal is a great meta pick for dealing with the purple-pocalypse. But it's also a fundamentally flawed faction.

Koga recently put out a video with some great insights into what makes Criminal great, and what makes Criminal terrible. The summary is that Criminal cards are high impact, but also super situational. Draw them in the right order and you will have a good time. Draw them in the wrong order, and you will be left with a completetly unplayable hand.

This is the premise of why Tsakhia "Bankhar" Gantulga, Zer0 and Cybernetics are all good in Criminal. Because when we draw the wrong cards at the wrong time, we can just net damage them away for value.

Matchups

Good into PD, Asa and anything HB. If you can trash Tranquility Home Grid then these decks all fold to the slightest amount of economic pressure.

Okay into Weyland (but there are a few gotchas to watch out for). Very good into MAD combo Ob (as long as you understand how the combo works 🤦). Super fun into Facet Ob (again, you do need to understand how the Facet Ob deck plays).

Difficult into assets. Our engine is optimised to make one good run a turn. Asset decks challenge us to make multiple good runs in a turn. We can create an economic headlock, but it takes time, and there are lots of ways for the Corp to break out of it.

Very difficult into Jinteki. Partly because our breakers are fundamentally flawed against red ICE. Revolver is great at handling the odd high strength sentry, but terrible at handling low strength sentries (such as Saisentan). Also, the thought of having to install cybernetics against PE to break Tatu Bola is frankly terrifying.

How to Play

Mulligan

The bankhar Mulligan is more art than science.

We're primarily looking for any hand that can pressure HQ. This probably means a hand with 2 x econ events in it (gamble, laundry, career fair, maybe bravado) so that we have immediate access to Steve targets. This can also mean bankhar + strike fund, steelskin + some other HQ pressure (WAKE, PAN Weave, Diversion, Docklands).

Against anything that isn't Weyland, an early Revolver helps us to safely force ICE rezzes.

Paragon is a reasonable turn 1 install (especially with laundry). Zenit chip is another good card to see in our opener, because we can get value off of any central.

We're very happy to see earthrise or class act in our opening hand, so long as we also have the economy to support installing them (career fair, gamble, laundry).

Hand Management

Hand management is key. At the beginning of every turn we need to make a decision on which cards in our hand are valuable, and which are trash. First we install the cards that we have decided are valuable, then we throw the trash away to either Cybernetics or Bankhar. If we keep balancing this judgement correctly, and also pay attention to what our opponent is doing, then we should win. If we don't, then we will lose.

How do we know if a card is valuable or trash? If we're really not sure then it is probably trash. Don't worry about it. It probably won't get hit by the damage anyway, and we can always Steve it back later if it does.

Cybernetics

All 3 cybernetics need to be installed (eventually), but timing is important. Zenit can be installed whenever. WAKE and pan weave are only really worth installing if they are going to hit strike fund or steelskin, or if we have a way to breach HQ.

Strategy

Be aggressive. Force ICE rezzes on the remote, and use that economic hit to open up HQ. Then shutdown the ICE on HQ to keep HQ open for longer. If the corp overcommits on HQ defences, find sneakdoor.

Take singles off R&D with zenit, paragon, bravado or laundry. Use WAKE counters liberally (don't hoard them).

Card Choices

I tuned this deck to the nth degree in the weeks leading up to EMEA. I don't think I would change anything before taking it to another tournament. Although, if I was particularly scared of Azmari or some similar nonsense, then I might be convinced to swap the 3rd Earthrise for a 3rd Class Act.

Cuts and Changes to Bridgeman's original list

Saci was the most obvious cut from the original list. It creates memory issues, and we don't really need the money.

With Saci gone, Emergency Shutdown and Window of Opportunity both become negotiable slots. They are great into a heavy glacier meta, but less so into a mixed meta with rush and asset decks. We want to run HQ, so we keep some of the Shutdowns, but drop the Windows.

Zenit Chip JZ-2MJ tells us how to play the deck (by running centrals), and cybernetics in general are useful ways to trigger Steelskin Scarring and Strike Fund before we've found Bankhar. The core damage is (usually) irrelevant. We play with a small hand anyway in order to better manage our damage hits. Also I love Zenit chip. (This is the only Bridgeman approved change)

Ice Breakers

Don't feel too bad about throwing them away to net damage in the early game. It's usually better than installing them, and we might not even need them.

Shibboleth vs Cat's Cradle

Shibboleth is 1c cheaper to install, which is relevant because we are having to proactively manage our hand. However, we don't plan on really using our breakers until the late game, at which point Shibboleth's break numbers are just worse than Cat's Cradle.

There is also some reasonable Cat's Cradle + Emergency Shutdown synergy.

Revolver

Cheap to install. Can be recurred with Steve. Breaks Archer for 4 credits.

Can be a problem into Saisentan.

Tremolo?!?

"I call it Blue Cleaver" - Kikai, much to the chagrin of the rest of the EA Sports testing team

"Blue quickly became shorthand for worse" - Fridan

Tremolo is better than Curupira once we hit 2 x cybernetics installs, so the question is "how often are we using our fracter before installing our 2nd cybernetic?"

In testing I found that I was only ever using actual breakers in the late game (and sometimes not at all). At which point we start breaking most barriers for 0. Which is a heck of a thing.

Also, it breaks Bran for either 4 or 6 credits*, and, honestly, how else are we supposed to break Bran?

*T&C apply

IMPORTANT PSA

We are playing Tremolo because we are playing 3 x cybernetics. We are not playing 3 x cybernetics because we are playing Tremolo. This is important.

Console

Hermes is good, because it opens up Diversion of Funds lines. Paragon is good, because ideally we only want to run once per turn, and it helps to find Tsakhia "Bankhar" Gantulga. Pennyshaver is good, because it means we can check remotes if the Corp goes wide.

I decided to go with Paragon because we really only want to make one run a turn anyway, and the peek effect is super helpful for crafting our hand.

Tech Slots

Criminal has so many options that the big challenge of blue deck building is deciding which tech cards to play, and which not to play.

Docklands Pass (High Value with Sneakdoor)

Memory free multi access solution. Adds value to our (frequent) HQ runs. Ideal if we are playing Sneakdoor, less valuable if we are not.

Great card, but sometimes insufficient against decks like Sportsmetal, where we need to "burst access" (and see all cards in HQ at once) on key turns.

Perfectly fine as a 1x.

Emergency Shutdown (Essential)

2 x Emergency Shutdown is super effective against (almost) any deck, in any meta. You could make a reasonable argument for adding a 3rd, but it can be awkward to create a situation where a relevant ICE is rezzed, and still have the spare click after a HQ run to use it.

Miss Bones (Bit of a trap tbh)

Grug brained solution for asset spam. Also means that we can trash Tranq grid (and Crisium Grid).

I don't love it. It's too click intensive for us to to be proactively checking all remotes. Usually it's better to let assets get rezzed, then use real money to trash key pieces, and make judgement calls on econ assets. It's probably okay to let the Corp have some cash. We are going to Diversion of Funds anyway.

But 10 credits is 10 credits.

Fine as a 1x. 2x is a meta call.

Career Fair (?!?)

You would not think that this card would be good in a deck with only 5 full value resources. I certainly didn't. But I was having a lot of difficulty installing the first Earthrise and Class Act, so I tested it, and I was amazed at how consistent it was.

You will draw it early, you will use it to install Earthrise, you will run HQ, you will use Steve to pick Career Fair or Sure Gamble, the Corp will give you Career Fair, and you will use it to either install Class Act or another Earthrise (in a few turns time).

You will draw it late, and you will use Steve to recure Earthrise, and you will use it to install Earthrise.

And you will feel very good about it.

Boomerang (Bankhar #3)

Lets us use our Diversions when we can't find Bankhar. Against Anansi and Saisentan, gives us an extra use out of Revolver.

Be mindful when digging for Bankhar that Boomerang will shuffle the stack. This will undo all of the filtering work that The Class Act has been putting in to help us find our Bankhar.

Because Boomerang does not shuffle until after the run ends, one neat thing that we can do is Boomerang the ICE on HQ, and then run HQ and give the Corp the option to either give us the Boomerang back or some high value econ card (like gamble). This is sort of win/win, because it means that we can immediately attack HQ or the remote next turn, and we don't usually want to shuffle the boomerang into the stack anyway.

Other Cards I tested

Cupellation (Awkward but useful)

Our best "burst access" option (because it is installable).

In theory, can be used to pick key cards out of HQ. In practice, causes a memory issue and often doesn't get installed unless it's to deal with an installed card.

Can be used to dodge trash triggers (useful if we aren't playing No Free Lunch). Can be used for dodging persistent effects (useful if we aren't playing Pinhole Threading)

Feels okayish as a 1x. 2x feels like too many.

2 x Pinhole Threading (Nice to Have)

Means that we can contest key trashables out of the remote (Rashida, Holo Man, Working Prototype) before we've found Tsakhia "Bankhar" Gantulga.

Can be used to trash defensive upgrades on HQ.

Good against SkunkVoid in PD and Asa, but those matchups are already good for us. Potentially good against glacier AgInufsion (terms and conditions apply), but there isn't much of that around.

Overall, I felt Pinhole was nice to have, but not strictly necessary if we are playing Sneakdoor Beta.

No Free Lunch vs Bankroll

No Free Lunch means we can play more passively against asset spam kill lists like Thule and Reaper Function NEH, and also saves us against Venti Ob. In other matchups it smooths out our early econ, and gives us a quick and easy Steve target (like an event).

Bankroll means we can play actively against asset spam lists, checking remotes for agendas and cheap trashables.

Window of Opportunity (Not as good as Emergency Shutdown)

An inside job that works with Bankhar.

Usually gets hit by net damage, but once there are two in the heap we can recur one off a diversion run and use it to attack the remote. Once you realise this you also realise that Emergency Shutdown does almost the same thing (but better).

Significantly worse without Hermes.

Alarm Clock

There are a handful of situations where Alarm Clock is useful.

1. When HQ is lightly defended (such as against assets), and we use Alarm Clock for a clickless HQ run every turn.
2. When HQ is heavily defended, and we have run out of fuel for Bankhar.
3. When HQ is protected by a particularly annoying piece of ICE, such as Anansi or Funhouse.

It's tempting to use Alarm Clock to attack HQ in the early game, but this is a trap. We need those clicks to draw cards and set up our engine.

IMPORTANT - it's important to note that Alarm Clock and Bankhar (when targeting HQ) both trigger on the same ICE. We cannot use Alarm Clock to cheat our way past 2 x ICE on HQ. Just like we cannot use Inside Job to cheat our way into a double ICEd remote.

Sneakdoor vs Cezve

They are both doing the same thing (pressuring centrals) in different ways.

Cezve works better with our plan to make one run a turn, and synergises with Diversion of Funds and Pinhole Threading. Even without Sneakdoor, we still have archives pressure in Dirty Laundry (etc.)

Sneakdoor synergises better with WAKE Implant v2A-JRJ, PAN-Weave, Emergency Shutdown and our Steve ability. But it's expensive to install, and eats memory.

I decided to go with Sneakdoor Beta.

Meeting of Minds (is no hostage)

I tried meeting of minds as a 3rd Bankhar. It was terrible.