The Cooler, Better Jack Bros (Long Writeup sry)

WARNING: this is going to be very long sorry, I want to do a full exhaustive write-up for this to organize my own thoughts, and I've very proud of this deck okay thank you!!!! I ran this (except for Lat :() at Cascadia, you can see them here (except for Lat :() : Gallery

I love card games. I’ve played some sort of CCG, TCG, LCG, etc since I was a wee baby. Pulled in by the flashy block frames of the Star Wars CCG back in the 90s, I was a goner the second I opened my first booster, Eventually I transitioned to the OG Netrunner and M:tG as and a million other games, but to shorten my rambling, I love card games. I love novel card interactions, playing off-meta in a competitive environment, and the creative freedom that deckbuilding gives within a set of rules constraints. I especially love a print and play card game that allows you to make your own tournament legal proxies.

I love Netrunner. I also like the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, especially the blatant Pokemon ripoff subseries Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children , which got an English fan translation a few years ago. They also made an anime?

Months ago, I was playing Baa Ram Wu’s awesome Run D.M.C. list a few times on jinteki, and was really taken by the novelty of it- Divide and Conquer closed out it’s fair share of games, but I the list struggled a lot if an early Hermes wasn’t found. At the same time, I was fiddling around with a version of Zaarba’s Throw Another Deer on the Barbie (which also rules), and does similar digs into R&D but also had trouble finding agendas consistently and getting locked out of R&D- Mind’s Eye was spicy but required too much investment to be consistent, and there were too many times where I would just be locked out of the game by an iced R&D.

So I just mashed the two together. The low-draw of Criminal could be easily fixed with the frankly crazy amount of quality draw available to Shaper, and instead of tucking my multiaccess onto ID abilities that don’t always fire I just moved it to Shaper darling Trick Shot. The end result is a deck that runs lean, mean, cheap, and extremely fast: most games are over by around turn 7- run early, run often, run risky. This deck is relatively easy to pilot I'd say; alot of the skill lies in knowing what subs you can eat on ice & when to pump your breaks. This deck plays very similar to extremely old Geist lists, my very favorite Runner ID. Those decks went very, very fast. This deck also goes very, very fast.

This deck is a blast to play- strength on ice rarely matters (if at all), and due to the universal nature of the breaker suite no server can keep you out. The goal is to keep your clicks as efficient as possible- aside from raw installing, nearly every non-breaker card generates an extra click of value on use (multiaccess counts as a click I decided), with the end goal being to out-value Corps before they can get established. Unless it's a Wage Workers or some other exposed fast advance, don't bother poking assets; you're pulling agendas from R&D, and sometimes HQ with a Jailbreak. Don't be afraid to run poor, either. There's a lot of subs you can eat and come out the other side, and your econ is meant to rebound you from 0- besides, no one expects a run at 1 credit. It's important to hold your breakers in hand to not telegraph a blowout turn, until the turn you plan to use them, but if your virtual buddies start clogging your hand then fire away. Onto the card choices:

Lat: Ethical Freelancer: SO I originally ran this deck at Cascadia with Tāo Salonga, with the idea being he could shift problematic ice off of R&D, things like Hammer or Logjam can be problematic to eat subs on, but in practice I found myself clicking for cards too often. Lat gives clickless draw, what's not to love?

Pantograph: The only console that makes sense that isn't Hermes. Every agenda scored or stolen is 2 clicks of value, or even more if you install a Stoneship. Most Corps will think you can only run R&D once a turn. They are wrong. Pantograph rebuilds your breakers for no clicks, and can very quickly win you the game on a last click run when you're multiaccess is online.

Creative Commission, Sure Gamble, Telework Contract: Standard econ package. Creative Commission is the gold standard, you pretty much always want to use your last click to play one out of your hand. Sure Gamble is definitely the worst card here, don't be afraid to cycle it away by overdrawing and using Lat ability. Similarily, Telework Contract shouldn't be installed unless it's the first 1-2 turns, or off a Pantograph trigger.

Build Script, Diesel, VRcation, Stoneship Chart Room: Free draw. You want to replenish your breakers and multiaccess as you play it, and VRcation is actually a powerhouse; Dr. Nuka Vrolyck is way, way, too slow, and you want the cards the turn you use the clicks. Build Script is pure deck grease that bounces you back from 0- I've tried Bahia Bands as a one of but I wasn't always happy to see it: but you're -always- happy to see a Build Script.

Jailbreak, Trick Shot, "Pretty" Mary da Silva", Nyashia: Pretty Mary is the crux of your multiaccess, where every other piece enables her, but you don't have to rely on her to win. Trick Shot is still a dynamo here, letting you trash through R&D if you don't hit any agendas, and then poke any problematic remote as usual. Alot of the time, you can set up a subsequent click run on R&D with Trick Shot, especially if you're getting Pantograph triggers. Jailbreak is an important addition here; it's kind of my pet card, so it's hard for me to see it as anything other than pure value.... These slots could possibly be 2x Burners, but Burner often requires a follow up run on R&D, which can be awkward sometimes. Like I said earlier, the Corp's hand will inevitably flood with agendas, as they can't easily keep them safe in R&D or the board, and Jailbreak effectively lets you access half their hand, -and- replaces itself.

Gbahali, Kongamato, Poison Vial Slap Vandal, Boomerang: Welcome to single use heaven. Why worry about strength? 95% of ice you will see has 3 maximum subs, and maybe 25% of those will have more than one sub to care about. Your single use breakers are not created equal; Slap Vandal always breaks the worst, and Gbahali will almost always break an End the run. Most times, you'll only need to bust one sub on a piece of ice to get into R&D. You usually want to see Slap Vandal second; ideally putting it on a rezzed piece of ice, and on a turn you're trying to get in twice. Most Corps will install over a Slap Vandal to get rid of it- this is just as good of a result as keeping it- why splash for Hippo when the Corp will do it for you? Boomerang lets you get into the 4 ice stacked server, if it ever comes to that and Poison Vial gives you three runs, which happens to match how many runs Nyashia gives you; fancy that. This is also usually the amount of times you can get into an adequately protected R&D before you start looking for Divide and Conquer.

Divide and Conquer: The haymaker. Most games, you'll poke R&D for 3-5 points before the Corp fully ices it. At that point, Divide and Conquer exposes that Archives was your target all along, netting you multiaccess triggers from Nyashia and Pretty Mary, and the single lad from HQ. It's extremely common to fish an agenda out of HQ, as they generally clog up the Corp's hand because they don't want them on the board or R&D. Most games end here. Even if it doesn't, the Corp usually can't afford the ice to slap a second ice on Archives, so your second copy of Divide will definitely seal the game.

Thank you for sticking around through this stupidly long write-up of mine; it always helps me process deckbuilding better, and I just love yelling about Netrunner.