Anything for a Buck - 28th, 5-3 Worlds 2015

This was my runner for the World's 2015 event. I ended up 28th with an 11-5 record, with this deck going 5-3. 3rd highest Crim, highest Gabe. I paired it with a Team Sponsorship Foodcoats deck.

I honestly think that an aggressive Gabe is well positioned in the meta at the moment. Punishes bad draws, keeps up with early gear check, easy econ, and can often keep up with Fastro. RP might be a problem, but I haven't had much practice against it and Noise pushes is out of the meta. On top of all that, this deck is fun. You hit hard, make a little cash, hit hard again. If you feel like Always Be Running is your motto, this is a deck for you.

Like most good Gabriel decks, this revolves around an AI breaker because it lets you land those early, impactful runs. Faust is a good card for a lot of reasons. I don't really need to go into it here, but needless to say it makes your credits less necessary for running and more available for setting up your rig/tearing down their board. You can trash assets without worry about wether or not doing so will keep you out for a few turns. Drug Dealer is what makes it viable in Criminal. Gabe works well with the combo because he already wants to be aggressive, and his ability helps you pay for the Dealers.

TIPS FOR PLAYING

I generally mulligan for Desperado, Faust, or econ+Drug Dealer. You want something that lets you get going right away. Security Testing isn't a hugely important part of the engine. It's mostly there for super asset-heavy decks and longer games against glacier. The biggest trap when playing this deck is when you play Drug Dealer. If you can't get any econ going, it can be really hard to even install a Desperado or Faust. Make sure you have/can count on some credits when you start your habit. And, with many Gabe decks, don't hit R&D too hard unless you're getting in for free or you have RDI installed. You want to be able to get in there when you've stretched them thin, and if you let them rez too much that will be a problem.

WINS ON THE DAY OF

Not going to go in to too many details here, because I tend to think more about losses anyways. I feel like I had a pretty decent slice of the field. I beat an NEH Butchershop by having an early Plascrete and being aggressive. A Spark was flooded. Two Foodcoats went down to my usual strategy of hurt their econ early, and then race them when that becomes too difficult. I honestly can't remember my other match. >.>

LOSSES

I lost once to an HBFA after stealing 4 agendas and sitting at 6 points. It was a super tight game, it's just hard to deal with HB ICE while keeping them poor enough to not score. It's a harder match-up than glacier because they can operate on less econ. Ichi 1.0 is a PITA.

One loss was to a Turtlebacks Sponsorship Fastro piloted by Jens Erickson. I don't have much experience against the deck, and didn't get lucky on the accesses. This was the first time I'd felt like a corp just went faster than me.

The last loss was to Josh Wilson in the 8th round. He was playing RP, which I've had decent luck against in the past with this style of deck, but he had a dream opening: Hedge Fund, Enigma and Crisium Grid on HQ. I may have made some mistakes, but I never really managed to get a foot in that game.

CHANGES TO CONSIDER

I used to run Levy AR Lab Access, but I rarely used it. It can be a consideration vs glacier if you get multiple Drug Dealers going, but I'd rather have the influence.

Yog.0 vs Cerberus "Rex" H2 vs ZU.13 Key Master is a toss up based on preference and influence. You need SOMETHING to deal with Turing. Zu is my least favorite because it doesn't do anything else for you. Yog.0 invalidates a lot of other ICE, but relies on suckers which can be stretched thin against HB. Rex is a nice middle ground.

I've seen 1x Kati Jones used for the Foodcoats match-up, I don't think it's a terrible idea.

I had Fisk Investment Seminar in there for a while. It was situationally great, and probably better in Gabe than Fisk, but slots became an issue.

The 5 slots used for Dirtly Laundry and Sure Gamble are all options for up to 3 Easy Mark. Dirty Laundry is great when SecTest is active, but against HB you often don't have a target in the mid game. Sure Gamble is the gold standard, but if you can a Drug Dealer or two going it can be hard to recover from going broke. Easy Mark would solve that. It'll be one of the next things I test.

Also seriously considering an e3 Feedback Implants for the HB match-up and its synergy with Faust. It would help a LOT with Ichi 1.0, the bane of my existence.

SPECIAL THANKS

Just wanted to shout out to the Sneakdoor guys who have been discussing something similar over here: http://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/27610/faust-parasite-gabe

The "What's up with Criminal?" thread on Stimhack.com has the original inspirations.

The Parasucker Gabe article from last year introduced me to this style of deck: http://stimhack.com/teaching-an-old-dog-new-tricks-a-modern-gabe-primer/

Draw cards. Run hard. Make money. Repeat.