Viral Weaponization Ag (9 Circles of Hell)

Card Taxing Ag (9 Circles of Hell)

"The only thing certain in life is death and taxes."

This year I decided not to over invest in trying to place well in tournaments and instead simply focus on having fun leading up to the release of Elevation. As it turns out, fun to me is being the villain playing Ag and Control Lat! I stuck to the same 2 decks for the 3 regionals I planned to visit with little thought about changes, and ended up placing much better than I did last year, funnily enough!

Results:

4th @ Midland’s Regionals

12th @ North England’s Regionals

6th @ East Anglian Regionals

The idea of this deck was to leverage the power of my favorite sicko card - Viral Weaponization. It seeks to primarily challenge the runner not through credit costs, but through card costs. The tempo hit of scoring Viral Weaponization, something practically useless in a wholly kill based strategy always left me wondering for a home for it, and I believe this list has achieved it.

Ag has been the most solidly performing Jinteki deck through this whole meta, and a constant threat and powerhouse since Charlotte LaCosta emerged as its sponsor. I personally avoided it for so long because of what I might become, and now having tasted its toxicity from the Corp’s seat, nothing quite compares. This particular game plan even has serious game into Lat and the biggest rig known to standard, as unlike credits, even Lat has to discard down to hand size.

In order to maximise the torture my runner opponents had to endure, I collated some of the most cruel and callous cards available in standard. Playing this deck is extraordinary fun and jokes aside I hope my opponents had a good time too. There are 9 terrifying threats that demand respect, and navigating them is what I’ve come to consider as the 9 circles of AgInfusion Hell:

Circle 1: AgInfusion Ability

Merely sitting down opposite from Ag is dread-inducing for many players. Knowing that running at all is actually running against the worst rezzed ice, that every Central will be iced, often double iced, and that any attempt to contest the remote will often be a waste of time. There’s rarely something more daunting than a fully set up Ag flush with cash.

Circle 2: Saisentan

Every runner knows when playing against Jinteki that the threat of Saisentan is real. Even though they’re aware that 6 Net Damage could be behind every face check, there are still brave adventurers who really want the value from that early Bravado. Saisentan wins games by existing.

Circle 3: Cloud Eater

People laugh at the big snek, thinking of all the ways they can avoid its terrible sub routines. They don’t realise a snake is perfectly content to remain hidden and dormant when hunters with their Devil Crews or Entanglers come to play, happy to play its role as an Ag boop. But for those that encounter it on R&D with a fully set up rig and then realise how expensive it is to break, then walk away with 2 tags for their trouble, realise they never want to run that server again.

Circle 4: Data Loop

A Jinteki card at heart, Data Loop really enables this game plan in a way no other card does, despite its flaws. This can never flatline the runner, they can shuffle back cards they don’t need, they can set up tricks with Lago or Q-Loop, it’s often 1 credit to break or 1 botulus counter, but unless it’s hushed it is always 2 cards out of the hand. Having to run through this on the remote only to get booped into another one is 4 cards gone, running back makes 6... Taxes are too damn high!

Circle 5: Anemone

Carelessness is what this particular species feeds on. The perfect card to hide behind any Data Loop, repeated reckless runs can lead to free wins, and when it’s not enough it still act as a border control for Ag Boop. And although it was never the game plan, Runners tend to grind through their whole deck themselves these days, and Anemone can lock those games in as a W.

Circle 6: Viral Weaponization

Front and centre of any runner’s mind when this is scored is “Oh Shit... I wanted those cards!”. When this fires while the runner is setting up, this almost always translates to complete disruption - Criminals losing their one-of breakers, Anarchs losing Steelskins they planned to hold for key turns, Shapers losing their fast money and setup pieces. When this is followed by jamming another agenda on a LaCosta, the tempo window this creates is so great it’s almost always a win.

Circle 7: Daniela Jorge Inácio

Innocuous and underrated, security is her specialty, and when used right is invaluable. Protection in this deck comes from the runner’s hitpoints - in the remote she often makes steals impossible and when sat on centrals she encourages Runners to reconsider their life choices. She turns Virals into Fujiis and Fujiis into Obokatas, and protects herself while doing so.

Circle 8: Punitive Counterstrike

A timeless classic at this point, name a more iconic duo than Jinteki 5/3s with Punitive Counterstrike. This meta has seen Punitive Counterstrike do extraordinarily well, and in this deck fits perfectly as the final nail in the coffin. Despite its lack of optimisation with 4/2s (losing with this deck most often involves the Runner touching two 4/2s), there are still often windows for kills from a 4/2 steal, and even a cheeky 6 points in Archives early win.

Circle 9: Snare!

lol Snare! The cerebral overload at this point means people always forget about Snare! Who can blame them though. Still there’s nothing better than a runner seeing 3 from HQ to see: Punitive, Fujii, Snare!

This deck has been another Kamikami exclusive, and it has been an absolute delight to play. Many of these cards are rotating and this was my fond farewell to a handful of Netrunner’s most hated villains!

Shoutout to my fellow EA Sports - the best bunch of friends to shuffle cardboard with, and also to the UK’s Midlands Players, for being such fun competitors to match up against!

See you all in the New Dawn! KamiKami