Oracle Kate PsyCaffrey

This is the third version of my Oracle May / Motivation / Chakana deck, and as someone who's been playing it compusively on OCTGN for weeks, let me tell you: it's a beast once you get the hang of it.

Build Up, Run Poor

Daily Casts / Underworld Contact make for a solid clickless economy, usually netting 2-4 free credits a turn, plus the Oracle May draw means you're often at 6-8 credits (+2 recurring from The Toolbox) from 0 with three clicks left once you're set up. Coupled with lots of tools to get at least one of those engines up and running early, this deck can afford to run itself down to zero at the end of each turn once it's into phase 3.

Run Light, Break Shit

The obvious answer to that is 'Okay, but what about the early game? How do you deal with FA decks?' That is what Chakana and the Parasite / Datasucker combo was born to do. Use your sucker tokens, parasites and clone chips to expose the centrals to repeated hits, keeping the corp in phase 1 while you steadily clock Chakana tokens and Indexings, The Maker's Eyes and (at the very least) random accesses.

Here's a horrible secret: Chakana is far more terrifying than it is actually threatening. If you get one on the board when the corp is starting to set up an early scoring remote, they almost always immediately abandon all plans and start icing R&D. Take this opportunity to hit HQ a few times for sucker tokens / accesses, then switch back and forth as necessary. If you get Chakana running, take the inevitable virus clear as a sign to start hitting HQ, or to build up to hit the underprepared remote. Best case scenario, they try to soldier on despite Chakana and weigh down their entire

Specific Card Choices

The Toolbox: I know it's an unpopular choice, but it rolls three things this deck desperately needs together into two card slots: links, MU, and recurring credits. Modded is primarily there to help get The Toolbox out for 5c with Kate's ability, and even if you don't see them both together, you usually have plenty of cash in this deck to get it on the table.

ZU.13 Key Master: It's cheap, it's got good synergy with the links in the deck, and it's versatile. That said, it's also expensive to run, vulnerable to power shutdown and sketchy against high-strength code gates. Despite that, its cheapness is definitely worth it with the current prevalence of Inazuma-based kill decks, as you can SMC into it and break the subroutine allowing you to jack out for 7c (with Kate's ability) vs 9c for Gordian Blade. That's not much, but against a kill deck it's important.

Motivation / Oracle May: I really can't stress enough how good this draw engine is once it gets running. Costing only 1c & two clicks (3 with Hostage) to get going, you make your money back fast and it gets you through phase 2 quicker than most corps are expecting. Oracle May also has obvious synergy with Test Run, and since you want to play her as soon as you see her in most cases, this gets your rig running quick.

Clone Chip: Hail mary MVP for facechecking towards the end of phase 1. Honestly, I feel like any parasite deck ought to be running three of these by default, as installing parasites on the fly is incredibly useful and will save your skin multiple times. If I can get 2 datasuckers up quickly, I'll hit Archives 3 times (because it's so rare to see any meaty protection on there vs. Shaper) and then facecheck any ice on the table.

Indexing: We all know Indexing into Maker's Eye wins games, but even beyond that, it has great synergy with Chakana and the slowdown game generally. Be prepared to hide agendas two or three deep and then count the draws to know when they're on top or in HQ. Corps often assume that if you don't immediately hit R&D after Indexing that you saw nothing but ice and operations; make them pay for that by setting up to steal an NAPD in three turns rather than immediately.

Problems

• This deck requires you to be concentrating at all times. There are usually five or six different ways to approach any game state, and all of them require a bit of planning, maths and forethought. That's hella tiring, so taking this to a tournament might mean you're too knackered to play right by the end of the day.
• You can't wear tags. Like, at all. Be wary of Midseasons and other tricks.
• If they manage to trash Oracle May with net damage or something, you have to Levy to get her back. You can go on without her of course, but where's the fun in that? Better to install her ASAP when she hits your hand.
• Getting stuck on one server = death. You've got to be ready to stick and move at all times, keeping up steady pressure on remotes and centrals so they don't know what you're up to. The biggest cause of losses with this deck, in my experience, comes from trying too hard to load Chakana or check a particular remote rather than consider other options.

Anyway! The most important thing is this deck is incredibly fun to play and I honestly think learning its ins and outs has made me a much better player. Hope y'all dig it. :)