Power Nexus Andy from @Zeromus

bubbathegoat 605

This deck took 1st place at Crossroads Games Store Championship in Standish, ME going 5-1 on the day. The one loss was to a Titan Atlas train that rushed like the wind, and I could not find Peregrine or Paperclip to get me in.

The premise of this deck is way too many people are relying on NBN tracer ICE and deserve to be punished for it. This deck sets up link to ignore traces from ICE, and even adds Power Tap to make money off of being traced. Making SYNC install a resistor over a rezzed resistor just so you can't double dip on Power Tap and Temüjin Contract when you run archive is a wonderful feeling, but only almost as satisfying as CtM declining to fire their ID ability. Finally, if you do take a tag, Citadel Sanctuary will clear it for you, and pay you for doing so.

So the NBN matchup is really easy. (Until someone gets smart and combos 24/7, Closed Accounts, and HHN, but who does that?).

Against more glaciery corps, this deck is somewhat similar to Nexus Kate, but with account siphon. Install breakers as you need them, and use Nexus to bypass scary ICE. Note that even losing the Security Nexus trace only gives you a tag (more econ) and ETR, which is a lot better than letting Archer or DNA tracker fire. If you are unsure of an unrezzed piece of ICE, try to have the nexus ready just in case you need to bypass it.

This deck is not perfect, in fact I've already made some changes from this build, but it was a lot of fun to play and I recommend it to anyone who wants to frustrate NBN players.

As mentioned in the title, I stole this idea from @Zeromus, who as we all know is a supreme deckbuilder. But I won an SC for the first time ever, so I wanted to post.

19 comments
15 Nov 2016 magikot

After watching you and Zeromus playing on Jnet, I was on a similar build at the same store champ but with a slightly different program spread.

2 medium, 2 mongoose, 1 saker, 1 Peregrine.

Unfortunately I didn't make the cut, going 4-4 for the day, with my loss being to the same Titan deck in round 1. My CtM deck just never came together for me that day.

This deck is amazing in the trace heavy meta we're in. It blanks so much of what NBN is able to do while being competitive against HB and Weyland. Haven't played against any Jinteki with it yet.

15 Nov 2016 sruman

Interesting deck thanks for posting. However, kill decks seems to be a major issue with consistency.

15 Nov 2016 sruman

Whoops, missed 2nd part of sanctuary, sorry.

15 Nov 2016 bubbathegoat

@srumanYou aren't the only one, I had a few corps try to kill me with meat damage at this event, only to learn that Citadel Sanctuary can be used to prevent meat damage. It is a really powerful card that I think many players overlooked.

@magikotI think 2x Mongoose is probably better than the Faerie + Golden killer suite. Freeing up a card slot is important, I am experimenting with 1 Mongoose and 1 Femme Fatale. I like the 2x Medium, but I really don't want to move away from Paperclip, it is just so efficient and really helps break Eli and Spiderweb cheap enough to keep early pressure going.

15 Nov 2016 magikot

@bubbathegoatI agree about the Paperclip. Saker is good against the Vanillas and Wraparounds that are everywhere, but Eli and Spiderweb are expensive and aren't exactly something you want to waste your Nexus trigger on. If the large, spiky barriers like Bulwark become more common I intend to swap over to Paperclip as well. Right now though, a double medium dig is a quick way to end the game.

16 Nov 2016 tzeentchling

I feel like there have to be better cards than Security Testing, especially without Desperado. Bank Job or Kati Jones would be my first looks. A single Bank Job gives you the money to install your Nexus, which is otherwise a pretty big hit. Kati might be good since you probably expect the game to go a decent amount of time.

I'd probably look into dual Mongoose or Mongoose/Femme instead of the Faeries and Golden. Agree that Paperclip is the correct call here.

16 Nov 2016 bubbathegoat

Yeah, I've already made changes to this list, but you are spot on.

Security Testing is only really 'ok' or 'fine' in this list as-is. It gets to be pretty good with John Masanori, but I agree that we want more out of those slots.

Similarly, Golden is a pretty good killer, but it is expensive to install. This list already has a lot of expensive stuff, so moving to a cheaper install for a killer is good. I also wasn't thrilled with the value I got from the 2x Faerie.

So what I've done is: -2 Faerie, -1 Golden, +1 Mongoose, +1 Femme -2 Security Testing, +2 Same Old Thing

When I first wrote that, I wrote +2 Account Siphon instead of Same Old Thing. You can guess what I use the SoT for.

Which left me with one slot. I don't have a way to clear currents, and ELP is a real problem for this list. So I added 1x Traffic Jam, which is a bad current, but it's 0 influence. With the SoT you have some options to clear currents.

The one loss I had with this deck was to a rush deck, so a current to slow down rush sounds at least okay in theory.

16 Nov 2016 Zo3 (TR1S)

@bubbathegoat I have also been testing this list - bloody hell it is amazing! Great job!

I am wondering whether or not The Turning Wheel might be a better option than Medium. Given that you have a bunch of ways to pressure HQ, it seems like building up power counters might be easier than medium ones and are also less susceptible to being purged by an ill-timed CVS. Plus you would save two influence.

16 Nov 2016 mawa

If we're looking for bad currents that are neutral, I think this is the perfect deck for the nichiest new card, Government Investigations. It's cheaper than Traffic Jam, and lets you beat Caprice Nisei much more often, which is the only solution Glacier has left against you. I'll be trying this one out for sure.

Are you sure the card you want over Security Testing isn't Bank Job? It's similar, but faster and when you aren't getting those Desperado credits it doesn't feel as silly. How are you doing for money? No Underworld Contacts I see.

16 Nov 2016 bubbathegoat

@TR1S I've considered TTW in this list over Medium, but I haven't tried it yet. My worry is if I see TTW late, it's not always a big impact, whereas Medium is 0-100 R&D pressure very quickly. 2x TTW would be good, but I'm already feeling really tight on slots (I'd love to add a 3rd Earthrise, 3rd Career Fair, and slot in 2 currents). Freeing up 2 influence is definitely noting to sneeze at though, a real decoder would be nice, but I'm oddly not that sold on ZU.13 Key Master over Peregrine right now.

@RubbishyUsernamefirst, I love your username. I also love your 0-cost current suggestion. I think this it probably worth trying out, since both Caprice Nisei and Marcus Batty are both bad news for this list. So far, I've only been saved by not really seeing either of them. I'm certainly interested in trying them, since one of the cornerstones of this deck, Citadel Sanctuary, was quickly dismissed as bad/underpowered, so I am interested in trying other cards that may be readily dismissed.

17 Nov 2016 Circadia

Even without the rabbit holes and nexus, this deck is disgusting vs. NBN. After I got my accounts closed from Breaking News I ran archives with sectest. They rezzed a turnpike (taking them to 0), so the trace fired and I gained 2 from power taps and 2 from sectest. Ran into HQ to force a Resistor trace, gaining 2 more. Then ran HQ twice, installing a Paperclip from heap to break Resistor and get 8 more money from Temujin. Then sanctuary trace fires due to the turnpike tag and I get 2 more. So, in summary, in one turn I went from 0 to 10 credits and forced him to rez a turnpike; i.e. a 12 credit swing and 2 accesses on HQ against completely iced centrals with no breakers installed. What even.

18 Nov 2016 mawa

I suddenly remembered in a rather nasty encounter that the corp can just pour all their money into a Nexus trace when getting Account Siphoned. Same Old Thing is probably not the right call here.

22 Nov 2016 vor_lord

Have you tried -2 John Masanori, +1 Career Fair, +1 Earthrise Hotel? A failed nexus trace ends up being two tags with Masanori.

22 Nov 2016 bubbathegoat

Sometimes I take the tag from John Masanori on purpose to trigger the Power Taps at the end of my turn. The deck generates a lot of money, so I generally have enough of a credit lead on the corp to win the traces.

If I can't win a trace, then I generally won't initiate a trace.

In my newer versions of this list, I have:
-2 Security Testing
-2 Faerie
-1 Golden
+2 Same Old Thing
+1 Mongoose
+1 Femme
+1 Traffic Jam

Femme is often useful to bypass a large piece of ICE, particularly when the corp stacks multiple large ICE on the same server.

Mongoose is okay, typically Nexus is bypassing a Sentry anyways so it only rarely feels like it's holding me back.

Same Old Thing adds teeth to the Siphon spam. In some matchups, recurring Legwork or Traffic Jam is also important.

Traffic Jam is there to clear Scarcity of Resources (I'd really like 2 currents to do this). It also helps against rush decks, which can be difficult, and 24/7 kill decks that rely on scoring multiple Breaking News to enable their win condition.

25 Nov 2016 vor_lord

CTM's tears are surprisingly salty, yet I savor them. Thanks for the deck!

29 Nov 2016 Longi

@bubbathegoat: Hi, have you tested Underworld Contacts instead of Power Tap? I know the money from Power Tap is bigger in late game, but I sometimes struggle with credits at the beginning and it slows down my setup. So I thought to ask you before I test the UC.

29 Nov 2016 bubbathegoat

I would not cut the Power Taps, since those are a core part of the combo. A big part of what this deck does is negate all of the NBN ICE, and get paid money for having it rezzed.

Just this weekend, I had to face 2x Ichi 1.0 and a Fairchild 3.0 on a single server. This deck doesn't really like to break any of those ICE. Luckily, with Rabbit Hole and Power Tap installed, even Femme can break Ichi for a net of 3 credits. The net cost of running that gnarly 3-ICE server (once per turn) became 2c because of Power Tap.

If early money and setup is your concern, I would recommend slotting in The Supplier.

I know there is overlap between The Supplier and Career Fair, but I like playing the Career Fair + Temujin into Dirty Laundry combo too much to cut it. In fact, I think I'd rather double down on it.

As I mentioned above, I've made some changes from the posted list, to fit in with your needs, I'd recommend the following changes from the posted list:
-2 Security Testing
-2 Faerie
-1 Golden
+2 The Supplier
+1 Mongoose
+1 Femme Fatale
+1 Career Fair

This should let you set up faster and get your combo rolling. Once you have the combo down, you can fake a sec test run but deliberately failing a run with John Masanori to take a tag, and then clear it at the end of turn with Citadel Sanctuary + Power Tap.

I will continue to test this deck, and may bring it to another SC this weekend, if I do I will post an updated list with whatever my results are.

30 Nov 2016 Longi

@bubbathegoat: Thanks very much for the recommendations.

5 Dec 2016 bubbathegoat

The new version is published on it's own thread: netrunnerdb.com

I like the new name better.