Throw Another Deer on the Barbie

Zarbba 111

Throw Another Deer on the Barbie!

I've never really published a deck before and I have no idea what I am doing with markdown but I actually think I have something here so here goes nothing... Over my long Netrunner career I don't think I've ever felt like I've made a deck that was truely good. This deck though... This might actually be good? Honestly I'm not sure but it's definitely cool. I haven't played a lot of games with this yet but it's been surprisingly versatile and has a lot of outs you wouldn't expect.

Origin Story:

I was screwing around trying to make Orca work and ended up including a Mind's Eye because that seems like a good thing to have in an Orca deck. My big dumb whale got trashed and I was in the this odd game state where I could use Padma to farm counters and try to still win on RnD even though I was locked out. I didn't end up winning that game but it gave me a golden idea. How could we capitalise on that game state? I started thinking about the old Geist and Hayley decks that used Gbahali and Kongamato to break ice and I realised that a lot of the tools in the current card pool lend themselves to that kind of shell. Then I decided to make my idea worse by putting it in a pet ID that only has 12 influence!

The Game Plan:

It's pretty simple.

  1. Get a Poison Vial (I often muligan for this if I don't have it) and something to break ice with such as a saltie or indigenous hunting implement.
  2. Hammer RnD until the corp makes it too hard to get in there.
  3. Do it again on HQ or Archives using Beatriz or Eru.
  4. When they make that too hard, just access RnD without running at all by using Mind's Eye.

We need to draw quite a lot and sometimes it's important to slow down in order to camp the remote a bit. There's a alot of flexibility in running no breakers though. Archer and Stavka aren't very scary. Even Ansell is pretty underwhelming. Defensive upgrades aren't great against us because we can almost always pivot to another central or just use Mind's Eye to avoid the effects.

Card Choices:

Nyashia - This is our backbone. We want to install at least one as fast as possible. It puts an impressive amount of pressure on RnD and synergises with all of our other tools for accessing RnD including Mind's Eye. You might be tempted to run Conduit instead but I am pretty convinced that would be a mistake. It doesn't work with Jailbreak, Eru, Beatriz or Mind's Eye. This card is also our only way to steal SDS Drone Deployment so keep that in mind if you're facing Weyland.

Fencer Fueono - This is actually pretty amazing. I had a spare influence and couldn't figure out where to spend it but friend Fueno lets us spend their credits more or less however we damn please. We can spend them on Akiko's psy game. We can steal stupid agendas. We can trash pesky Rashida Jaheems. We can even go diving. It's just... good. I tried a few other things but I don't think there's better value for 1 inf in the cardpool.

Stoneship Chart Room - So this seems like an obvious include but it's also incredibly versatile. As long as we get 1 counter on Mind's Eye we can use the power of maps to access RnD when ever we fancy. We can also navigate our way out of being murdered by Neurospike or other such rocky shoals. Most of the time though, we just find ourselves extra Nyashia counters.

Into the Depths - This card looks like economy but it's often a way to get Nyashia faster and pressure RnD harder

AirbladeX (JSRF Ed.) - This is probably a flex slot but I like it as an asnwer to things like Starlit Knight and Mestnichestvo

Closing Thoughts:

I'm bad at this. I don't often make good decks. Usually I copy something someone else did and make it worse. To that end I encourage others to try this deck and see if they can make it better. There are cards I want in here that I don't know how to get in. Psych Mike for example seems like a good thing to have. Also, I am pretty sure this deck is better with Padma as the ID (although a bit less agressive which doesn't suit my personal style).

7 comments
15 Dec 2023 AceEmpress

I was about to say "wait could this deck play The Back for longetivity if need be and then realised it's four influence so no even if the deck needs it (which I don't know if it does) that would not be a smart approach. This is a wild and extremely cool premise and I might very well give take it for a spin on jnet to see how it works!

15 Dec 2023 Zarbba

@AceEmpressInitially, Eru and Fencer were The Back but I found I almost never used it. I think if the meta is more glacier either that of DJ Steve might be correct but so far I haven't found I need it.

15 Dec 2023 Diogene

Very cool idea! Have you tried including Slap Vandal? It would seems that you have the MU for it.

Also, how central to the build is Eru Ayase-Pessoa? Did it do good for you?

Cheers!

15 Dec 2023 Zarbba

I haven't tried Slap Vandal. There's probably a build there but it might require a bit of reworking since the Vandal can't be easilly moved. Might need to include a UAV. I also think one of the strengths of the deck is to ignore program trashing to some extent but maybe overall it's better to just use Slap. Eru and Beatriz are both finishers. You want to see one or the other by the late game but you don't need them sooner. I wouldn't say Eru is vital but every game I played without her, I missed her.

15 Dec 2023 PiroARat

This deck is extremely cool, I’ve been trying to figure out Mind’s Eye for awhile now. Definitely gonna try this and a couple variations out on jinteki this weekend!

15 Dec 2023 Zarbba

@PiroARatthanks so much for your kind words. I really enjoy playing this deck and I hoped others would find it fun and cool too! I know there's a lot of space to iterate so I would be really excited to hear how your variations go.

25 Dec 2023 betterwound

@PiroARatgeometry dashI've never tried Slap Vandal. There's certainly a build there, but it might need some tweaking because the Vandal can't be easily moved.