Fenton News Network v1

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Fentonizer 336

Before we start, yes, I need to buy the expansion with Jackson Howard in, get off my back, Dad. I'd also love a second core for that extra AstroScript Pilot Program and another SanSan City Grid.

Plus, PLUS, NAPD Contract in place of Private Security Force, obviously. but I've spent a lot of money just to get this many cards, so things will have to wait for now. I'm doing the best with what I've got :|

Other than that, this is mix of never advance and tag storm archetypes that has been working pretty well for me, and I've lost to it a couple times when we pilot other people's decks for a bit of a change (which doesn't mean much, but I'm never sad to lose to my own deck).

Ideally, you can get some of the cheap and early game taxing ICE out early to build some economy. Wraparound is great, even greater if people prefer AI breakers.

I tend to enjoy putting Errand Boy on a central server early on, to bait the runner into making accessing runs, but letting me get some easy economy that I can use to rez some ETR ICE. Plus, with Midseason Replacements and the 2 from the Core NBN: Making News identity, losing an agenda is no big deal to me. The worst that can happen is that I lose an AstroScript Pilot Program, which is pretty annoying to be fair.

If tags happen, it's great, but the deck is strong enough without that aspect to win as well. Playing a never advance archetype lets me do weird stuff like install an agenda on one and do two other things, making the runner less likely to run the server, and then score it next turn. Getting this done early starts the mind games, and the next installed card really has to make the runner think about what it is. Even better if I can do this with Breaking News, giving me that last click to get a Big Brother out.

The Thomas Haas are in there purely to mix up these mind games. Install-advance-advance is a great bait for a taxing run that not only culminates in me getting me 3, but if they run through Tollbooth or Data Raven to get there, it creates an excellent scoring window while they recover economy and I can even get the holy grail and tag the runner on my turn removing a pesky Katy Jones et al, play Closed Accounts, playing a Big Brother, or Shoot the Moon for free ICE (not that any of it is particularly expensive). A good runner should be scarred of the beast that is Data Raven and spend money on the trace, which is just as good for me really.

I know what you're thinking.... where's Scorched Earth? I don't think it needs it. I think the 8 influence is better spent elsewhere and runners expect it so much, especially in this archetype, I can basically get all the benefit of the runner being scared of it, while having the 8 influence to build my economy with Adonis Campaign and Beanstalk Royalties.

This deck can win quickly, as well it should for an NBN build, but i believe it has the tools to survive mid and late game with a bit of careful play, asset mind-games and careful economy.

Anyway, thanks for reading all that, this is the first deck I'm happy to give a "Version 1" to, and I'm taking it to my first ever tournament on Saturday, so it'll either work well, or I will not win a single game and throw all my cards in the trash in a huff.

3 comments
30 Mar 2015 linuxmaier

I play a similar archetype and am always glad to see others giving it a go. NBN doesn't need Biotic Labor to work.

Since it looks like your deck has a lot dedicated to exploiting tags (does Big Brother work for you? I couldn't reliably get it to fire until the runner started to float tags and by that point they're eating Data Raven's tags to their heart's content) and are relying sort of heavily on Midseason Replacements for your tagging, I'd HIGHLY recommend you take a look at two of my favorite pieces of ICE: Pop-up Window and Viper.

Both of them are fiercely taxing for their price, which is exactly what a Midseason Replacements deck needs to stick the runner with more tags than they can hand. Pop-up Window is a 2 credit swing every time they hit it for the cost of 0; a ratio that can't be beat. Extra credits for you are just as good as less credits for them if you're running Midseason Replacements, and probably better as the extra credit could edge you into Hedge Fund range before you fire the Midseason Replacements. Viper is also super taxing for its price, and actually hurts the runner if they facecheck it. -1 click slows them down while you're building up speed and I find it really really helps get me into a good position. After they've found their breaker (which is often ZU.13 Key Master these days) it's more taxing than Eli 1.0 which was widely considered to be the best ICE in game until Cerberus "Lady" H1 came out. NBN: Making News protects Viper from falling down to runners who have +1 link and run on their last click.

In terms of changes to make that happen, I'd drop the Errand Boys and a Beanstalk Royalties for 3x Viper and add in 3x Pop-up to give you back the value the Errand Boy and Beanstalk Royalties were providing. Other targets to cut in order to make space would be Big Brother (unless it's really working for you) and Shoot the Moon (what are you generally rezzing with it? If it's just 1 Tollbooth, you'd be better to have some money around rather than Shoot the Moon because you're only saving a few credits in exchange for a very conditional card).

One final point about Scorched Earth: I get what you're saying and I didn't include it for a long time, but I think ultimately my deck got better for having it. I only run the 1 copy (I also run Archived Memories so that if necessary I can Scorch -> Archived -> Scorch, but also use Archived Memories for other things like bringing back a trashed SanSan City Grid or Psychographics) so I'm not all in, but you'll find that it just wins you games sometimes. Sometimes those are games you had under control but just won faster (always good in a tournament) and sometimes it's games you were on the ropes for and Scorch saved you (always good anytime) but 4 influence to gain a win condition that is in line with your normal strategy is a good trade.

If you're curious, the two decks I'm running right now along these lines are linked below.

netrunnerdb.com (uses Midseason) netrunnerdb.com (no Midseason, uses ChiLo)

30 Mar 2015 Fentonizer

I do get Big Brother to work from time to time. Especially if I Astroscript a Breaking News out of hand. I will concede though, that by the mid game, they are often trash fodder once the tag game is over, or the tags are already in the bag.

Yes, Shoot The Moon was always the card I was the least happy with. I very much mentally flipped a coin between this and Bernice Mai, for those 2 spaces in my deck and the more I think about it, the more I think STM is a mistake. That would also potentially make BB more viable in here as well; even a 3 or 4 token Psychographics with 0 spent for the tags seems like a great deal to me.

Pal, pal, pal, what I wouldn't give to find Cyber Exodus somewhere for a non-exorbitant price!! I was lucky enough to find What Lies Ahead in a bricks and Mortar store (I live in the UK), for the RRP, but no luck on Cyber Exodus yet. It's twice the RRP on Amazon :|

But when I get it, Pop-up Window and Viper are going to be no-brainers! And then influence saved on Errand Boy and dropping a few other things those cards do well certainly leaves me room for a Scorched Earth.

Thanks for your advice :)

30 Mar 2015 linuxmaier

@Fentonizer Shoot the Moon is a super cool card and I look at it from time to time to see if i can make it work, but expensive ice just isn't what NBN does right now. Bernice Mai seems like a neat never advance replacement.

That sucks about Cyber Exodus. That pack is nuts for pretty much everyone.