Robocop (undefeated in Swiss, Louisville regional)

Daine 3735

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"

This is the deck I brought to the Louisville regional expecting to get blown out. Instead, this deck went 5-0 in Swiss and carried me to the top 8. If you're a Johnny or a Timmy, or if you just want to troll Faust decks and blackmail spammers, this is the deck for you.

The central card in this deck is the bizarre Surat City Grid, a Weyland upgrade that allows you to rez any card at a 2 discount whenever you rez an asset or upgrade in the same server or when you rez an ICE protecting the server Surat is in. I abuse this card by combining it with the often-overlooked Brain-Taping Warehouse and a deck full of over-priced bioroids.

So here's how the deck works: start by defending your centrals with a single ICE or two, preferably with the "install, take 2 credits" cadence that works so well for EtF. Start building a remote and defend an economy asset if you can. Whenever you get a spare piece of ICE, throw it over your remote--ideally you'll want 3 pieces so you can use your Ash(es) on R&D with full knowledge that your remote is unassailable. As soon as you have a Surat City Grid in your scoring server and at least one Brain Taping Warehouse or Tech Startup you're ready to begin. Whenever you have the credits to pull off the combo, end your turn, rez your Surat City Grid, rez all of your Brain Taping Warehouse(s), rez any asset or upgrade in your scoring server (this can be one of your Brain Tapings if the runner is aggressively trashing your naked assets), and rez one of the ICE protecting your scoring server for a discount of 6, 10, or 14 depending on how many Warehouses you've amassed. After rezzing the first piece of ICE, repeat the process for each ICE in the server at the same discount. When all the ICE in that server has been rezzed, continue the combo by rezzing one ICE over R&D. If you're particularly ambitious and have an extra Surat City Grid, you can install it on R&D and rez it before your R&D ICE, allowing you to continue the chain on a third server.

This combo seems like it would be onerous or rare, but I found it was rather easy to pull off, both in testing and in almost all of my games. (One opponent saw the writing on the wall and trashed all the Brain-Taping Warehouses early. But the tempo loss he incurred helped him to lose the game.) Like all the best combos, it still helps you if you only have a few of the pieces. Brain-Taping Warehouse will save you a few credits as soon as it's on the table. And Surat City Grid can be used to rez ICE with a small discount if the runner attacks your scoring server before the combo is ready. If all else fails, spam your extra assets and upgrades wide, gaining a credit and taxing the runner's time and money to go after your remotes.

The highlight of my day with this deck was the game where I was allowed to have all 3 Brain-Taping Warehouse. (I was taxing the runner and he didn't want to lose what little money he had when he didn't see their function anyway.) I was down 6-0 when I rezzed the 3 Warehouses, the Surat City Grid in my scoring server, a Jackson Howard to start the combo, and then proceeded to rez 2 Janus 1.0 and a Heimdall 2.0 in my scoring server and my 3rd Janus over R&D. Despite his early lead, the runner got zero accesses on any server where there was an agenda for the rest of the game. Ash kept him out of R&D and I kept HQ empty.

I frequently rezzed Janus for 5, Heimdall 2.0 for 1, tons of free Heimdall 1.0s (Actually, I think Heimdall 1.0 is garbage ice at 8, though I'm happy enough with it when it's free.) Ichi, Viktor, and Eli really don't need the combo to be worthwhile and are your early game ICE, though it's still nice to get them for free too. The only change I'd make after the tournament is to trade the Aggressive Secretary (which only got rezzed to proc the Surat combo) for a second Tech Startup, which did a TON of work for me all day, finding me Warehouses the turn before the combo or Jackson Howard when I was flooded. The deck might also want an Interns or Archived Memories, but I felt like there was the perfect amount of ICE and just barely enough money to make the deck pop off, so I doubt I'll make that change.

If you haven't tried it yet, Janus is the perfect answer to Faust. I hard rezzed one against a Dumblefork early on a remote and it cost 5 cards and 2 to break. I then proceeded to Chronos Project behind the Janus a few turns later, destroying a Levy and two Parasites in a game I ultimately won because he ran out of steam. E3 makes this deck inordinately sad, but I actually still beat two decks I saw playing E3 because my ICE was still brutally taxing in both clicks and credits. Since most of your agendas can be never-advanced out and you have so many upgrades and assets, the runner rarely, if ever, tries to run your remote once you have a few free ICE rezzed. I only bothered having Ash in my scoring server if I wanted to try scoring a Food there.

Questions, comments, trolling, and mockery are welcome.

57 comments
11 Apr 2016 Scud

@Daine: You make me love Netrunner, sir.

11 Apr 2016 Hatter

I concur that this deck is brutal to run against. Those cheap Janus will ruin your day when aren't expecting them. Well done.

11 Apr 2016 MoonlitAllie

I've been looking for something ridiculous/good to take alongside my Professor deck to a GNK this week. Will have to test this out tomorrow.

11 Apr 2016 benticurus

This deck is beautiful. Thank you for this deck, sir.

11 Apr 2016 Simone Suka

How can this troll blackmail spammers?

11 Apr 2016 lolpaca

@Simone"Suka" Surat City Grid

11 Apr 2016 FBI.Net

Wotan could be nice

11 Apr 2016 sruman

Great innovation Daine, thanks for posting. How did you find the breaker bay grids? Given you cannot combine with them with Surat and only have 3 full-value targets, would you consider switching them out for 3 other economy cards (maybe 1 more assembly lines, 1 more adonis and something ..) ?

11 Apr 2016 Daine

@Scud praise about jank from you is high praise indeed. You're the godfather of decks that shouldn't work but are somehow impossible to play against.

@FBI.Net I honestly hadn't even considered Wotan. I'll try trading a Heimdall 2.0 for one. Thanks for the tip.

@sruman thanks for the praise. You're right that BBG is the closest thing to a nonbo this deck can have. They can't proc Surat and they're worthless without another money card. I have found, however, that they are so good combined with any of my other money cards that they always seem to pull their own weight. If all else fails, installing them in their own server helps frustrate the runner and helps me keep my jacksons and Brain Taping Warehouses alive. Once the runner makes a few worthless runs on blank servers they stop running them unless I score something naked from the table or if they have a desperado. BBG is also exceptional against siphon spam. Keeping an Adonis or an Advamced Assembly Line loaded on a BBG has won me a few games after a siphon. I just rez the asset for free at the beginning of my turn and then have the credits to score out from my remote. I could consider losing one for a third Advanced Assembly Line though.

11 Apr 2016 spags

Grid addict.

11/10

11 Apr 2016 spags

I agree with @FBI.Net: get a Wotan in here.

11 Apr 2016 dodgepong

I've been looking forward to using this combo ever since Surat City Grid was spoiled. Kudos on the success!

11 Apr 2016 Benjen

ok, i know this might be crazy, but with the amount of things you can rez, would Lakshmi Smartfabrics be worth playing around with?

Either way, this is a great deck and I'm so glad you did well with it.

11 Apr 2016 Reutan

Wow! I'm super impressed. This seems very similar to the Surat concept I released, but you went whole hog on the super-beefy ice. Is there any reason you skipped past say Vikram 1.0?

11 Apr 2016 Him

Hello. Really nice deck ! Congratulations. On question: Have you considered/ tested Ryon Knight to force a catch 22: run first click -> combo vs run Last click: brain ? Theoretical comment, as I did not test the deck

11 Apr 2016 dodgepong

You can combo before their first click after their turn starts. In fact, waiting to combo for a first-click run would lose value on the combo, because they have fewer unspent clicks.

12 Apr 2016 corcovado

I'm not seeing a way to rez the combo with the huge discounts while the runner has 4 unspent clicks. There is no paid window between the beginning of the runner's turn and his first click. Brain Taping has no effect before the runner's first click. But I do appreciate how this deck uses Surat to force the issue with BTW earlier in the runner's turn.

12 Apr 2016 dodgepong

There is a window. It's in the latest version of the FAQ. The version that comes up when you google "Netrunner FAQ" is out of date. Get the version from the FFG site.

12 Apr 2016 corcovado

Okay I see it now in the new FAQ. page 19, 1.3 (The Surat window)....I guess I thought it was too good to be true.

12 Apr 2016 emmejm

Having just played this on Jinteki I can attest to the power of this combo. It is insane! There aren't a lot of runners who could deal with this. Will definitely be doing my own testing with it

13 Apr 2016 corcovado

On Jinteki.net, Surat seems to work, but how do you get that new timing window so that you can credit for all 4 clicks?

13 Apr 2016 Him

By rezzing an asset or upgrade in thé server.. anytime

13 Apr 2016 MoonlitAllie

@corcovado you just have to let your opponent know you're going to use the window before they spend any clicks. I usually try to confirm this before passing the turn.

13 Apr 2016 Daine

@spags People still expect every HB list I make to include Heinlein Grids so this caught some Chicagoans a bit off guard.

@Benjen Lakshmi is a great card for the right deck. I don't think this is the deck for it though. Once you're set up it becomes a math problem you can always solve.

@Teveran Vikram is basically equivalent to Ichi 1.0. I usually go back and forth between those two. On Saturday I went with Ichi, though Vikram would have done work too.

@Him Ryon has never worked out for me and has never done that much damage when I've played against it. But he could proc your combo if you needed him to so there could be much worse includes if you wanted to test him out. Let me know if he wrecks face for you.

I've never played on Jinteki, but it's pretty easy to call your shot on your combo turn. Just don't end your turn until they agree that you're still working.

Thanks for all the support, everybody! And thanks for helping answer questions, @dodgepong and @HipsterWannabe

13 Apr 2016 jgoahl

Do you find that most runners leave the Brain-Taping Warehouses alone or do you find you need to protect them with an ice since they wont' be in your mega server

13 Apr 2016 NerdimusPrime

@jgoahl I've been wondering the same thing, but it really depends on the runner. I'd test the waters first with something you can afford to lose, and see if they take the bait, and how often.

14 Apr 2016 SHIEL

I wish there were room for Bioroid Efficiency Research in this. Also, was the Aggressive Secretary really that useless? I was thinking it might be worth trading it for a Cerebral Overwriter, because that'd be a nice thing to fake as a Food and impede Fausters, but...

14 Apr 2016 Aryn

So, dumb question since I'm forever fuzzy on the paid ability window element; do I presume that when the Runner's turn begins and their 4 clicks are there, that's when you start rezzing before they take that first click? Then presuming that and 3 Brain-Tapings, that makes a 12 credit discount, plus the extra 2 from Surat?

14 Apr 2016 Vikk

@Aryn You got it right, that's the window for maximum value

15 Apr 2016 CaKnuckleguy

Why Victor 2.0 and not Vikram 1.0?

15 Apr 2016 ila

This deck is incredible, Janus is my all time favorite card but it is so hard to use. I was just able to rez a Janus for 1 credit! I subbed the Eli's for Marcus and played with the agendas a bit so that I have room for a Caprice. Best scoring server so far: Wotan, Heimdall 2, Heimdall 1, with Caprice in the server. In another game I had Wotan, 2 Jani, and Heimdall 1. The third game I hit my all time best ABT: Wotan, Heimdall 1, Heimdall 2. The crazy thing is that it all sets up quickly and it's super taxing for the runner to take apart all of your pieces. Playing against it I have found that it is pretty weak to Atman/Sucker. All in all though I have to give this deck an A+!

15 Apr 2016 staglore

This deck is just sick! I'm going to have try this one out.

15 Apr 2016 skydivingninja

Someone alert the RLC guys. They love Brain Taping Warehouse. Super cool that you did so well with a cool card!

15 Apr 2016 Manu l Humain

Hi ! I'm new so it's just a question : did you consider to cut Breaker bay and Eve to ad 3 Hedge fund and maybe 1 or 2 Restructure and 1 or 2 Green level clearance to get money quicker ? Thanks.

15 Apr 2016 Manu l Humain

P.S. : Nice deck !

16 Apr 2016 Ber

Very cool deck! But it does seem to me that you could probably crank it up a notch by tweaking the ice.

For example, I don't see Ichi 1.0 or Viktor 2.0 as good early game cheap ice (5 rez is quite a bit after all,). Why not replace those with Viktor 1.0 (still 3 cards for Faust) and Vikram 1.0 (which the runner still needs to fear without any breakers installed, unlike Ichi 1.0). Also Ichi 2.0 seems like it could be decent in the mix of ice to rez in the combo (especially if you've swapped out the Ichi 1.0's).

16 Apr 2016 LeonardQuirm

Since no-one else has asked this, I'm going to have to: you have a deck with tons of Bioroids, focussed on rezzing for cheap. Could this actually be good as a Haas-Bioroid: Stronger Together deck?

17 Apr 2016 Daine

@jgoahl I generally leave my brain-takings unprotected except against whizzard.

@Rhaplanca1001 advancable traps are actually pretty bad in this deck, it seems. Though I added a psychic field for a tournament today and it was fun.

@Celebnar Viktor 2.0 and Vikram 1.0 are totally different functions. Vikram works ok in this deck (better early game than Ichi, worse late). Viktor is always taxing and is cheap to rez. It's you're early ice.

@Manu l Humain operation economy might work--and would be better against Whiz--but you're losing assets which can help you proc your combo. It might be worth testing though.

@Ber I played a Viktor 1.0 today and liked it well enough. It didn't tax much late, though, which was a problem.

@LeonardQuirm you're too poor without EtF. I've seen this deck in ST and it was, IMO, strictly worse. Then again, if you're going for jank, maybe just commit to it and go ST!

17 Apr 2016 Manu l Humain

Thanks for the answer, the idea is to get more flexible and get money quicker without waiting for BBG, so maybe - 3 Eve, - 3 BBG, + 1 Assembly Lines, + 1 Adonis, + 3 Hedge Fund, + 1 Restructure... I have another question with Assembly Lines please : if you rez it to proc the combo I think you rez it, make the combo and then discard it, put another asset rez it full price and make another combo (to rez an Ice in another server for example) you can not trash Assembly Lines "during" the combo. Am I right ? Thanks. To bad your deck became "deck of the week", I will not surprise my friends. ;)

17 Apr 2016 Manu l Humain

Assembly Lines seems very good in this deck because you can use it at the same right time for three effects : proc the combo, gain an extra credit by installing an asset, proc the combo again (?).

17 Apr 2016 piszczel

Looks like a fun deck. I just played against this with my Quetzal with e3 and cutlery and the matchup was brutally one sided against the corp - the only breaker I ever installed was a single d4v1d.

I always feel like 3+ card combos are terribly inconsistent.

Another concern is Leela. Have you played against her with this deck? Seems like it would be a very tough matchup since you have no early game ice outside of the Elis'.

I don't want to sound too negative, it looks like a really fun deck, but sadly one that could never get too popular since it seems it's main advantage is the element of surprise.

18 Apr 2016 quailman2101

I've been looking into Bioroid ice lately as an answer to Faust. And the Brain-taping/Surat city grid combo looks like the way to make this happen.

18 Apr 2016 quailman2101

Cutlery/E3 seems to be the only significant problem here. Maybe a Test Grounds to counter?

19 Apr 2016 CodeMarvelous

@Daine I would love to have you on the channel to talk about this deck.

20 Apr 2016 desp

So, on corp turn runner has 4 unspent clicks? I mean, do they suddenly "refresh" when runner's turn ends?

20 Apr 2016 lolpaca

No, the runner has no unspent clicks on the corp turn - you fire the Surat/Brain-taping combo by rezzing a card at the start of the runner turn.

20 Apr 2016 psi_lifeup

Have you thought about including Net Police?

20 Apr 2016 spore

Is it correct that you can trigger the Surat City Grid can trigger before the Runner uses Wyldside? Or is that window priority on Runner side?

21 Apr 2016 Trebor

I ran this deck twice last night and it was brutal. The fact that it cost more to install 2 Janus, a Wotan, a heimdal 2 and a Heimdal 1 on my scoring server than rez them is incredible. Even in the 2nd game, against someone who knew the contents of the deck and how to play it, the tempo loss in trashing the Brain Tapings as they come out slowed him down way too much and that didn't stop me getting to rez just using one and the surat at the start of his turn.

It seems that Leela and Cutlery are the main issues here but they aren't too prevalent in my meta so I'm going to play around with this for a while and tweak it a little to my playstyle. Fortunately my friends all run horrific Jinteki decks and so they won't hate me too much for pulling this out against them.

21 Apr 2016 spore

I had the most amazing Accelerated Beta Test with this deck when it fired into 2x Janus 1.0 and 1 Heimdall 1.0 :D

My opponent had the most depressing look in his face.

21 Apr 2016 lunchmoney

I played against this last night (vs @Trebor, I was his match 2). I knew exactly what was coming as I have read this page and we even discussed it! Yes, I trashed the Brain-Taping Warehouse when could, but one got through a turn and that was enough for a SERVER O' DOOOOOOOM (yes, it deserves the capitals) to appear. I couldn't get in :(

However I took revenge and melted his face with B*Stard IG Deck of Nastiness :)

Like most things in this game there are counters and our Runner meta will evolve to stop this monster. Then Corp meta will evolve again. I love this game for this (and many others) reason :)

22 Apr 2016 coyotemoon722

I saved like 50+ credits in a game with this deck, 3 Janus and a Wotan rezzed plus other robots. It doesn't get better than that.

22 Apr 2016 tbigfish

How do you survive aggressive decks? They seem to just rip this to shreds. You have no punishment for players that just run everywhere early.

22 Apr 2016 MystRChaos

You were mentioning that E3 was a major problem against this deck, but how about using Shattered Remains as a response to that? You're taking out the Aggressive Secretary anyway, so why not run a trap that hurts what could potentially hurt you?

28 Apr 2016 seeds34

Fun deck, I had a go with it last night in a game against my Girlfriend. She was playing Apex which is bit scary as a lot of the ICE is either ETF or Brain Damage subroutines both of which Apex can handle. I lost but would of won next turn if the winning agenda wasn't stolen from R&D in a hell merry run.

The best part of the game was at the end, my Girlfriends description of the deck. It’s not a fun janky deck; it’s more like a janky spade to the face. She now plans to hide some of the deck (wouldn't be the first time).

Great deck, the intimidation of sudden board state change is brilliant. Cheers for sharing.

9 May 2016 Herbman

This is just nasty. Love it.

18 May 2016 Umbreomancer

I decided to take this game to a local game store tournament and, even though agenda-flooding lost me 2 of the three games with it, the sight of a four-ice deep server of Heimdalls, Janus, and a Wotan (I replaced a third Janus with it because Wotan is my favorite HB ice of all time) just felt so amazing to have in place. I decided to switch out the Agressive Secretary for a Heinlein Grid because, even though I can't put it on my remote while Surat is in there, it's still good on one of the focused centrals when I've got a lot of ice around that too. The only other change I made was replacing the Viktors with Vikram 1.0. My problem with Viktor was that he's much easier to click through and Vikram, while one more credit to rez, does a lot more in terms of damage and his first sub is essentially an end-the-run for Faust or Eater. All in all, fantastic deck that I will be playing for a while.