Criminals all by themselves

Criminal have everything a real runner needs!

• Run based economy : CHECK!
• Clicklessly install hardwares : CHECK!
• Break into centrals for free : CHECK!
• Protection from being killed by tags : CHECK!
• Best ressource for trashing anything on the board : CHECK!
• Ways to filter you deck instead of overdrawing : CHECK!
• Ways to make the corp poor : CHECK!
• Multiaccess that does not rely on operations : CHECK!

No need to spend influence anywhere. If you do not like some of the criminal cards, neutral provide plenty.

Game plan : Get RICH and force the corp to rez EVERYTHING.

Mulligan plan : Econ in hand at the start OR Diversion of Funds AND Boomerang.

With Cezve, Matryoshka is solid gold. Comes with strenght at 2, break subs for 1, and 2 MU, leaving the rest of the MU for Cezve. That is SIX CREDITS gained per turn to run centrals. And you can use those credits to put Boomerang on an ice, while getting a draw. Masterwork (v37) is truly underplayed.

Draw is usually the weakness of criminals, but with Earthrise Hotel, The Class Act, Concerto, Jailbreak and Masterwork (v37), you'll have plenty of draw power.

And to push it further, Steve Cambridge: Master Grifter is the only one that can do Diversion of Funds 5 times in a game. Watch the corp flounder.

And this deck is basically good stuff criminal. Nothing fancy. This could be imported in Los: Data Hijacker to get more economy (even without doing any derez), or Zahya Sadeghi: Versatile Smuggler to also get more economy (both would net you at least 12 over the course of the game). And there are more cards that are just awesome for anything (looking at you, Inside Job).

Criminal do thing just as well as shapers or anarchs. Currently, shapers are favored and people complain that criminals are not shaper, or that they are not as good. I completely disagree. Criminals are good. They were so good that they got less love in the last update, but they didn't lose any power. It is the others (especially shapers) that finally got to the level of criminals.

Also : Concerto is really good, you should play it more!

Cheers!