99 99: I took a 99 card deck to a GNK and won every game

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Sanjay 3561

Sometimes I publish a pile of trash that I happened to do well with, only to see other people pick it up and not do so well. Why? Mostly because I play piles of trash all the time so while I'm inevitably going to do better than average sometimes, there is no reason for lightning to strike twice with the same bad deck. When this happens I do feel a twinge of guilt for leading people down the wrong path.

This guilt, however, is not enough to prevent me from publishing this deck, which is, objectively, the biggest pile of trash I've ever made.

MaxX deck measuring contest

Besides the novelty, there are many reasons to build and play a 99 card MaxX deck:

  • Because the deck is inconsistent, every game you have to cobble together a different route to victory based on what cards the deck presents to you. This is, sincerely, exciting and challenging.
  • Decks that are trying to grind you out of cards are going to have a heck of a time doing it, because you have a lot of cards.
  • You absolutely do not need Levy AR Lab Access so just spend your influence on whatever and play that Paperclip.
  • If you are conflict-averse like me you like avoiding heated debates like "Which Anarch console is the best?" This deck takes the decision out of your hands. No console? Maw? Patchwork? Turntable? Let the deck decide.
  • If there are any suboptimal cards you love you can put them in the deck with a lot less guilt because it is unlikely you actually draw them. Like Maw for example.

Maw alt art

If you are building a 99 card MaxX deck, here are some important things to keep in mind:

  • You are more vulnerable to getting gear checked than most decks, so include more breakers than you think you need, and give extra attention to cards that help you deal with multiple ice types.
  • Econ can be a little unreliable, so include a lot of it. Also, ice destruction is great for you because why break an ice more than once when you can just break it once.
  • Don't stress too much. You can fret a lot about individual card choices but you probably aren't going to draw them anyway so just take it easy.
  • I'm not saying absolutely don't include cards that require you to shuffle your deck. You can shuffle this deck. In fact, the rules say you have to at the beginning of the game. But I really love Mike Sheehan and his champ card and I didn't include it because I didn't want to shuffle any more than I needed to.

You probably shouldn't cut District 99 because that card reminds you how many cards you can put in your deck.

District 99 alt art

GNK highlights:

  • I installed my one-of Maw in two different games and both times it was a big problem for the corp. What a great card.
  • I don't think I can actually beat The Outfit but our corp game took ten years because Leela kept selling my agendas to Data Dealer and I stole a cheeky Atlas for a timed win. Just one of the many impressive routes to victory for this versatile deck.
  • Incredibly, Builder of Nations actually ran me out of cards. You can see that game on on stream here, thanks to my good pal CodeMarvelous. You can also see me shuffling the deck, a feat in itself.

Thank you for your time and indulgence.

15 comments
27 Jan 2019 zmb

LOL this deck made me smile :D I have build my own Patchwork 99 MaxX, using 99 and Labor Rights a Clone Chip and Trope for recursion instead of Levy AR Lab Access. The tutoring of 99 is a nice catch in a deck where you would trash a ton of cards. Does Hippo RFG count as a trash? This deck made me want to do a Kabonesa Wu: Netspace Thrillseeker 99 cards deck for fun :)

27 Jan 2019 Sanjay

Thanks!

Hippo RFG doesn't count as a trash though you usually are building up District 99 tokens fast enough. Theoretically Street Peddler can sometimes even give you a 99 counter on your opponent's turn which is a neat tiny trick.

Wu might be a good second choice for a giant deck because of the tutoring, though I cannot stress enough how important MaxX's ability is to bring you from atrocious consistency to merely bad consistency. I'd be happy to be proven wrong and I would love to see a big Wu deck.

Wu does shuffle though so maybe it's not a great idea except online.

27 Jan 2019 lostgeek

Sudden realization: MaxX is a G-mod... DJ Fenris for the ultimate 99 Wu!

27 Jan 2019 CodeMarvelous

Deck of the week material. 99 upvotes please.

27 Jan 2019 saetzero

Deck of the week please

I hate you

See you next time

28 Jan 2019 CryOfFrustration

I once made an 88-card IG deck full of Ronins just so I could call it the Crazy 88 but I only played it online so you win :)

28 Jan 2019 demoy

It's going to be a fun time testing corp decks when everyone start playing this thing on Jnet.. thanks @Sanjay.

29 Jan 2019 Sanjay

I apologize, but I'm not sorry.

2 Feb 2019 Hieronymus

I play a 78 card MaxX deck and now I feel inadequate :(

3 Feb 2019 Sanjay

I think of all the decks I've won deck of the week with, this is the most competitive and well tuned.

4 Feb 2019 Ecchicon

I've been playing several decks with high card counts few a few months now. This was mostly because of how prevalent grindy Jinteki and Weyland decks have been in the new standard.

I have a MaxX deck that is similar to this one and (of course) it share most of the same good Anarch cards. The main differences is that I use a few more virus-related cards like acacia, gravedigger, and contaminate. Aciacia gives you great returns if you can play it at the right time and that it triggers District 99 from mill and when your opponent purges, but it's not the sort of card you might put in a smaller deck. Gravedigger is a very cool card that works well against a bunch of decks that turtle up and refuse to die. It is a very fun card to use with contaminate and when you pair both with District 99 you can force your opponent to act or die.

I play two versions of MaxX with high card counts. One is very similar to Sanjay's but it uses top hat and Insight rather than Maker's Eye.

5 Feb 2019 Sanjay

@Ecchicon I appreciate the comment! My first foray into the 99 99 "archetype" was a during a Cache Refresh tournament and because our card selection was a lot more limited I was on a lot more virus stuff. I would love to see your list if/when you happen to publish it!

7 Feb 2019 Cliquil

I was using a 90 card deck but had to increase it to 99 for the SC so as to not be 1 upped. I didn't do 100 though, I'm not petty.

:salute:

7 Feb 2019 wait what

@zmb, @Sanjay: vis Wu 99, I made an oversized Wu deck a while ago with the idea that you simply don't bother to draw unless you need damage fodder - either you thrillseek cards out, or you hope you get them in your opening hand. It uses Tropes to increase the effective number of SMCs in the deck, and then you build your favorite Shaper big rig.

The main problem with that approach these days is that, with MOpus rotated, you probably need to make some type of Au Revoir economic engine work, and it might not fit into the max number of SMCs and Leprechauns per deck and still leave room for your rig...

7 Feb 2019 rubyvr00m

I think you might really be onto something with increased decksize being an answer to the Levy vs Paperclip problem. You don't have to reset the deck if you just start with 2 decks!