Enter Subroutine - Lisbon league Part 1

Hello all. It’s been a while since I wrote something up. Things with life were pretty hectic, but now, I think I may have some free time to go back to a weekly basis. I’m currently playing on a league. So I’ll write a report on all the games I do on the league, while sharing with you my thought process about the decks I chose, changes, plays (the interesting ones), etc. This’ll be done in several parts, but for now let’s start with this league format and my choices.

This league requires you to choose one faction for each the Corporations and Runners. You then are only allowed to play with Identities of said faction. Then, everything is as you’d expect: you battle against your opponents and you can tweak out your deck to adjust to your meta-game, be it minor card tweaks, or an overhaul strip to bone build again with new Identity tweak. Even if you have a majority of players playing a similar archetype, your deck must be able to answer all the other players not playing that strategy. Deckbuilding, meta-game reading and skill all involved. Check!

The factions I opted for? If you’ve been reading my articles since I’ve started you already know them: Haas-Bioroid for Corporation and Shapers for Runner.


Why HB?
Several reasons: in a world full of Jinteki (boooring), it’s a different faction to begin with. It has a vast array of identities to choose from, enabling you with a ton of options, just to name a few: Cerebral Imaging (Scorched Earth or the Shipment from Sansan combo), Engineering the Future, arguably one of the best Identities, full stop. Be it in a Fast Advance build (splashing Sansan City Grid), or just the normal HB taxing (Ash and Caprice), Stronger Together, which is now having an insurgency because of Enhanced Login Protocol and Heinlein Grid, although I always thought this one was strong. NEXT Design, a bit wacky, but capable and the newest The Foundry, that, in my opinion shows a lot of potential once the Grail ICE comes out.
This faction also has a ton of very good economy in-faction, fantastic nasty ICE and some sweet, sweet operations (gotta love Blue Level Clearance).

While I went on testing some Jinteki build for fun (which turned out to be quite good actually, but more of that later on), I was clear I wanted to play HB and I knew already which Identity I’d start the league with. HB: Stronger Together.
One of the more awesome things about this game is that you can make something deemed bad good. With the right amount of dedication you can make a solid build and then through your play style make it good. One of my major complaints about the game state right now, is that people are not willing to take a lot of risks. Which I can comprehend when it’s playing for the big prize. But this then brings the game to stale meta of mirror matches after mirror matches. People go for what it’s deemed good and don’t even take a second look on a perfectly design card that just needs some love to become good. That’s what I think happened with Stronger Together, it was shadowed so much by its older brother (Engineering the Future) that it never got the spotlight it deserved.
(I'm kinda paraphrasing what Damon Stone said at an interview for Team Covenant during GenCon, but yeah, I guess I feel the same way).

Why Shaper?
Shapers are more of a personal choice. I like their philosophy and they have my favorite Runner in the whole game: Rielle “Kit” Peddler.
“Kit”’s ability is just fantastic, if you put it in a perspective that you have an Inside Job varying in cost per turn, that’s difficult to argue with. With the current card pool you can have really competitive builds. She is harder to pilot in general than the two other often seen IDs (Kate, for the most part and occasionally Chaos Theory). She makes the best use out of Cyber-Cypher, Yog.0ssaurus, cards like Paintbrush, Tinkering, etc. She’s the most aggressive of the Shapers, has the most unique ability, which disrupts how the Corp shall place the ICEs and the need to double ICE everything, which is very troubling for some ICE-light Corps. Then we have the usual suspects: Kate is always solid, be it Katman archetype, Prepaid Voice PAD economy based, Underworld Contacts economy based, ICE destruction, big rig, she’s pretty good in any of these archetypes because her ability is always useful. Last but not the least we have Chaos Theory, which is very dangerous with a good deck. Only having 40 cards as a minimum deck size is very strong in this game.
There’s also three more Identities, but I don’t know how to properly pilot any of them and what a deck should contain to be good. I did test The Professor and I liked it, but I’d need much more extensive testing before reaching to a powerful build.
Lastly, the various instantaneous search effects, and the powerful economy card Magnum Opus, with the nasty tricks they have up their sleeves, seduced me to go with this faction.


So without further ado here’s the lists and the card-by-card analysis.
(Note: As of now I’ve already had a few games with these lists, so, some of the card analysis may discuss changes I’d like to make or cards that I’m doubting to continue running)


HB: The Punisher

Haas-Bioroid: Stronger Together (What Lies Ahead) – The strategy is simply, first you start by double ICE’ing everything to start taxing the Runner. You then have two plans: 1st is to tax them enough while they steal an Agenda to then make sure your Punitive Counterstrikes connect. You can assemble the double Punitive combo with Archived Memories, giving you 5 virtual copies of this card in the deck. This can end games very quickly. The quickest win I have is turn two; the 2nd plan of attack is to score your 3 pointers, you have a lot of Assets that can disguise as 3-point agendas, so bluff with them to gain scoring windows. If a Runner is slow, Fenris helps you blitzing out agendas.

Agenda (9)
1x Accelerated Beta Test (Core Set) – Merely to fill in the 2 points needed to get to 20. The list started with an NAPD Contract, but on eventual scores it was a pain, because you often rez 1 Fenris per game. This is easy to score and with the added bonus of coming along with some Bioroid friends who can help you protect the servers. It’s also safer to shoot an Accelerated Beta Test blindly in this build, because you have a low agenda density and if by chance an Agenda does drop on archives it enables the Punitive Counterstrike path of victory.
2x Domestic Sleepers (Upstalk) – This agenda made this build much more solid. Before it came out, I had to score three 3 pointers, or, if lucky the lonely 2 pointer. It was a pain… so Punitive was the only real way to win. It was good enough, but not as solid as it is now!
3x Priority Requisition (Core Set) – standard 3 pointer. Can save you up to 11 credits upon scoring rezzing an Heimdall 2.0 or a Bad Publicity rezzing a Fenris (although this one is a fairly dubious strategy). There’s currently no other 5/3 I’d rather run. That might change in the near future.
3x Project Wotan (Creation and Control) – This agenda is incredible. You can make Viktor 2.0 almost unclickable or have Ichi stop runs, or just make them pay an extra credit which might be just enough to avoid access.

Asset (12)
2x Adonis Campaign (Core Set) – Standard economy Asset. The list initially ran 3 but, I shaved a number to have an Aggressive Secretary in the deck because she can be really back breaking. I normally end up very rich and with some recursion (Archived Memories), I can reinstall them if needed.
1x Aggressive Secretary (Core Set) – A one of will be seldom seen so that I can prepare the Runner to think it’s another thing. Since I also run a number of Ichis I don’t really need any more than one.
2x Cerebral Overwriter (Creation and Control) – This is just nasty. And a fine way to make the Punitive kill easier. Its main purpose is just disruption. It also disguises itself well as a 3 pointer. If you’re at match point (which in this deck, with Domestic Sleepers, more times than not, is 3) it becomes much more deadly. Having 3 is often redundant and useless. 2 makes you see one per game a fair amount of time and that’s just fine.
2x GRNDL Refinery (Fear and Loathing) ■■ ■■ - Oh my Wotan! Is this card good or what! Its weakness is its speed… it’s as fast as a snail, but if you have it on the table for a turn, the play “advance two times, trash it for creds” gives you 8 credits, two more than a “rez and use Melange Mining Co.” turn. If you’re confident that your server is secured you can advance it even more earning enough credits to pay for this game of Netrunner and the next one as well!
2x Jackson Howard (Opening Moves) â– â–  - It smoothes out our draws, looks for combo pieces, flushes away agendas and fixes awkward ABT triggers. Standard all around goodness. This card speaks for itself. Having 2 copies is enough. I often find people running three which in some builds is not correct. I saved an influence point. Having more than one Jackson Howard is pretty redundant and often a dead draw until you have to trigger the one rezzed, if you have to at all.
3x Thomas Haas (Creation and Control) – On the very first article I wrote, this card was the spotlight of a very interesting debate. Thing is, Thomas Haas in this particular build is good. When your objective is to tax, there’s nothing better than to install a Thomas, advance it thrice, or more, have the Runner run it and look at their face when this Asset vanishes into credits just before access. It’s also an amazing counter to Account Siphon and Vamp, banking your money and even giving you some profit back! It disguises the real amount of money you have, making the Runner think you won’t have the credits to rez certain ICE. This card is a trap, it’s not an economy card. You can make it function like it. If you have an active Adonis, you can advance Thomas more freely and reap a good reward. It’s flexible, annoying as hell and does what’s required to do.

Operation (10)
2x Archived Memories (Core Set) – Recursion. It’s an important combo piece and the extra copy can be used to replay economy cards. Hedge Fund – Archives Memories – Hedge Fun is a fun turn to have. As mentioned before it can kill the Runner recurring Punitive Counterstrike, or fetch a trashed Asset. I think 2 is the right number: even if one more would mean a better chance at the kill combo and more leeway to recur Operations and Assets, having multiples is not fantastic and if you manage to get 2 Punitive Counterstrikes in hand, you’ll just want to get rid of the Archived Memories... recurring good stuff, that is.
2x Blue Level Clearance (Fear and Loathing) – Since this operation came out I’ve included two copies in every HB deck I’ve built. The ration is just too good to pass up. It nets you 1 credit less than Hedge Fund but only costs 2 credits, eats one of your clicks, but replenishes it with a card. It dilutes HQ if you have it together with an agenda, draws into your combo. It does everything. That said, having 3 of this would make your hands very clunky and slow, depriving your turns of flexibility.
3x Hedge Fund (Core Set) – This boring card is needed to mitigate the high cost of your ICE. It also ensures a wealthy amount when you’re ready to play The Punisher role. They should be Restructure but the prohibitive cost of Restructure, versus the sleek cost of Hedge Fund ensured I’d have to go for the latter. It’s also important to mention, after you spent a large amount of credits rezzing an ICE a Blue Level Clearance gets you to the exact cost of Hedge Fund, resetting your board and economic position.
3x Punitive Counterstrike (True Colors) ■■ ■■ ■■ - The combo kill. They’re the sole reason this build exists. The whole deck functions around this idea: I’ll tax you to death, literally! Anyway, although they are one of your win conditions, the primary even, don’t be afraid to dump them as soon as you see an extra careful Runner filling the board with Crash Spaces and Carapaces. This deck is also designed to win through scoring using your taxing ICE to open scoring windows.

Barrier (6)
3x Eli 1.0 (Future Proof) – Standard early game taxation. The ratio on this card is so good it’s almost a sin. One Eli, if clicked through, deprives them of their entire turn, two Eli stop them dead, until they install a fracter, which, if it is Corroder, they’ll have to spend 5 credits just to get through one; Inti, don’t even bother; Morning Star only after 3 or 4 runs would they get their investments worth against yours. Their placement is best outermost.
1x Heimdall 1.0 (Core Set) – This, previously was a Wotan. But such a big dumb piece of ICE was not really pulling its weight. Besides, if it meant the game, the Runner goes through a Wotan pretty easily! And you spend 14 credits to lose a game? No thank you. This is a good ICE with a cost in between to two other Barriers I have in deck. It fills another role than Wotan, but taxes the Runner nevertheless while improving my ICE rezzing costs too.
2x Heimdall 2.0 (Creation and Control) – Heimdall 2.0 is our beefiest ICE. With the ability of the ID he is immune to Knight (!) and really only a Deus X scares him enough. When I dropped the Wotan I didn’t want a third Heimdall 2.0 because of its cost. I’d opted for his previous version (1.0) to make my ICE costing more bearable. Don’t forget though, the Runner can go through him, taking a Brain Damage, which makes it’s placement on the middle best. It's incredible with Project Wotan.

Code Gate (5)
3x Viktor 1.0 (Core Set) – This is a piece of ICE that, in this ID, gets completely bonkers! First of all, it has 4 strength, so no Yog.0 non sense, second of all its subroutines are really, really nasty. You won’t get anyone by surprise running against him on last click, but, he makes some servers pretty good. He’s very good placed innermost. A server of Eli into Viktor is very strong. It was not at all difficult for me to land a Brain Damage with Viktor 1.0 with this deck.
2x Viktor 2.0 (Creation and Control) – The older brother. I’m still torn about this one. The first subroutine I think sometimes is a little worse, other times is a little better. But in the end I’d rather he dealt the brain damage straight away. I don’t know which ICE would replace him best. I could mess around with the influence to include Inazuma, which might be a very good proposition in this deck, but for now I’ll continue playing with Viktor 2.0. I find him the weakest card in my deck.

Sentry (7)
3x Fenris (True Colors) – Fenris is good at surprising Runners. Normally they’ll run first click against HB to make us rez ICE since they’ll be able to click through. Fenris counters this strategy and may end up making them discard an important card. If a Runner is slow you can use Fenris to fast score Agendas, since they’ll absolutely need an Icebreaker or some trick to go through him. Beware of the Bad Publicity. It’s serious money you’re giving the Runner for the chance of biting off one of their cards and a finger too. You can place a Fenris anywhere, he’s nasty all the way around. Don’t be afraid to ditch them for Bioroids though, they don’t gain the bonus and once the Runner sees them he’ll be wary of Running without a sentry-breaker.
2x Ichi 2.0 (Creation and Control) – I might shave this one and add an Ichi 1.0. But I really love the 2.0 since you can’t click through it without having to face one of the subroutines. Being 3 credits cheaper though might be good enough to warrant one copy of the 1.0 version. That said, it's also worth mentioning that this is my only program trashing ICE and I'll really only switch a copy for an ICE with a similar role. Ichi 2.0 is very taxing, but doesn’t end any runs. I usually place him in the middle of a server.
1x Swordsman (Second Thoughts) ■ - It’s an answer against Overmind and Atman, this can easily go out if your meta doesn’t have a lot of those.
1x Tsurugi (True Colors) ■■ - When the stars align I’m able to kill the Runner on 10 credits and an enough advanced Cerebral Overwriter. Tsurugi damage also acted as a surprise kill condition if they had previously accessed said trap or any of the Viktors, Fenris, Heimdall. But it doesn’t do enough. I had it for a longest time but now I’m going to switch it up for a Taurus. Killing E3 Feedback Implants Plascretes and PPVP, seems good enough targets that I’d want one Taurus over Tsurugi. It’s one credit cheaper also.


The Runner deck:

Rielle “Kit” Peddler: Pressure Gates

Rielle "Kit" Peddler: Transhuman (Creation and Control) – The strategy I went for this Runner is to run a pressuring game from turn 1. Strong economy cards (Kati Jones, Magnum Opus) power this deck to do what’s supposed to. This deck credit costs are very low and you should amass a wealthy amount to fund your runs. The early game you can swerve your angle of attack, but once the servers are ICE’d up, lock R&D and HQ.

Event (12)
3x Scavenge (Creation and Control) – This card is a necessary evil, changing where you might attack with your Icebreakers and doing the normal shenanigans with Femme Fatale. It should come as a no-brainer that this supplements the inclusion of Test Run.
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set) – Standard boost economy, the best to get your game started. Mitigates the cost of Magnum Opus, Professional Contacts or played from hand Femme Fatale.
3x Test Run (Cyber Exodus) – An aggressive deck wants to have its weapons at the ready on turn one. This search effect ensures you’re able to land them on the table to start pressuring the Corp. It also enables you emergency plays such as fetching a Magnum Opus or another one-of in need.
3x Tinkering (Core Set) – This enables you to extend Kit’s ability for the duration of the turn. A common strategy against Kit is to have a double ICE’d server and keep the innermost piece of ICE unrezzed, this card thwarts that strategy.

Hardware (11)
3x Clone Chip (Creation and Control) – Extra copies of self-trashing programs, such as Self-Modifying Code and Deus X. By keeping such a good tutor around, you can run without fear of most ICE, which respects the plan of keeping the Corporation under pressure.
2x Desperado (Core Set) ■■■ ■■■ - It’s hard to splash. 3 influence, on a Runner which only has 10 of influence to play around! But, for the long time I’ve tested her, this is Kit’s console. It’s the most rewarding console for what you want to do with her ability and play style. And it’s perfect for its low cost and utility.
2x Lockpick (Opening Moves) – This little card is very good. Since you’ll use a decoder every turn this effectively lowers the cost of running by 1. Incredibly useful against Pop-up Window, or Pup, etc.
1x Plascrete Carapace (What Lies Ahead) – Only one is really needed, at least in my meta right now and even when it’s needed you can play around the cards accordingly and outpace the Corp’s economy with your Magnum Opus. Still, it’s a safety net. A dead draw otherwise.
3x R&D Interface (Future Proof) – Three are absolutely important to make the R&D lock. I prefer the interfaces over The Maker’s Eye for their staying power synergizes very well with Kit’s late game one run per turn strategy.

Resource (5)
2x Kati Jones (Humanity's Shadow) – Along with Magnum Opus these two cards power the deck. Albeit being slower than Magnum Opus, Kati Jones is still very powerful, the money she provides after a few turns using her can make for pretty wacky turns.
2x Professional Contacts (Creation and Control) – I opted for this card to have some draw against slower match ups, but I don’t think it’s so good in this ID as it is in other Runner’s identities. I might swap it for some more economy, which would make me a bit in need to have some power draw.
1x Woman in the Red Dress (Mala Tempora) – Together with Nerve Agent they lock up HQ. Woman in the Red Dress sometimes acts as a free R&D run. When you have R&D locked out, Woman can provide you with info, so you’ll know when to build up economy or when to go into the attack. If the Corp happens to draw the desired card, Nerve Agent will show up to foil that play.

Icebreaker (7)
1x Atman (Creation and Control) – Atman has been a staple and one of the best AI (if not the best AI) in the game. You’re never disappointed to run one, and she can make some servers pretty cheap to break into.
3x Cyber-Cypher (Creation and Control) – These are the main weapons of attack. I might have to drop their number down to one and have Gordian Blades instead. Thus, I’ll be able to go for several servers and the lonely Cyber-Cypher will lock out R&D for me. Don’t get me wrong, they are very, very powerful. But in a meta where Assets and horizontal play rules, the flexibility on Gordian Blade might be the best bet.
1x Deus X (A Study in Static) – Standard one-of in Shaper decks. It can make you avoid a Flatline and break incredible taxing ICE for free. Against a Jinteki-heavy meta this is a must. Clone Chips also ensure it keeps going back to the table to do some more damage.
1x Femme Fatale (Core Set) ■ - Another tool to pressure the Corp and disrupt their counter-Kit plays. Such as the double ICE’d server with the innermost unrezzed, for example. She’s our sentry breaker of choice. But since I’m only encountering Tsurugi, Komainu, Pup, she breaks them at the same rate as Garrote but as an amazing ability to boot.
1x Inti (Creation and Control) – A fetchable one-of against NBN’s Wraparound. Has come up already. It’s so cool to have this option. Against beefier barriers however, you’ll have to make them Code Gates as this is very expensive to break anything like Wall of Static and stronger.

Program (10)
1x Datasucker (Core Set) ■ - It’s credits in disguise. It adjusts strength for Atman to break, lowers the costs for barriers to be broken with Inti or sentries for Femme Fatale, it’s just a good all-around card. It’s very good in combination with Desperado. The number is due to influence problems, as other cards were more important for the strategy.
2x Leprechaun (Upstalk) – Initially with two Akamatsu Mem Chips, this quickly became the go-to card for memory issues. Its ability to hold Magnum Opus and Paintbrush is extremely powerful, it’s also searchable with Self-Modifying Code (a program he also holds very well after being installed).
2x Magnum Opus (Core Set) – It’s the main economy engine for this deck. I really only wanted 2 copies not to have multiples cluttering my hand. It’s searchable through six cards, so that gives me 8 virtual copies of it in the deck, which I reckon are enough. Having an extra one is insurance against unfortunate program trashing, actually. So it seems perfect at two.
1x Nerve Agent (Cyber Exodus) ■■ - Together with The Woman in a Red Dress they form this decks HQ lock. It’s another form of pressure if the R&D lock fails, or you want to have another venue of attack, and want to make them spread the ICE around.
1x Paintbrush (Double Time) – This card is very good! But not detrimental. It’s really useful to trade up a click for the effort of finding and installing the right breaker. I’ll search for it mid-game and spare some clicks of having to install the breaker until it is necessary. Of course this promotes heavy servers, so Paintbrush only really shines on mid to late game. On mid it’s a tempo play, on late game, it might make a run cheaper by morphing a piece of ICE into a more suitable breaker.
3x Self-modifying Code (Creation and Control) – They’re the glue of this build, they ensure you have the Decoder as fast as possible on the table, they’ll fetch your various one-ofs and be all sorts of awesome with so much flexibility and consistency they offer.


First match:
This is the first time I’m playing with this deck and the second time I’m playing against Near-Earth Hub. I got a lock on R&D pretty early, but he managed to get out of it through this ID ability alone, he then built a secure server and between Biotic Labor, Astroscript counters, and Sansan I was shut out of the game. I managed to get a lonely Breaking News on a R&D access. I failed to draw into my R&D Interfaces, which I ran 3 of to boot. But in retrospect, I started the game with a Self-Modifying Code and ended up going for Cyber-Cypher, where I should instead have searched for Magnum Opus. The play wasn’t obvious, since I was getting free accesses, had a strong board position and wasn’t needing any economy other than Desperado credits, but, searching for Magnum Opus still was the right play. It would enable me to negate him Asset economy and thus, keeping him at low credits disabling him of his expensive Fast Advance plays (Biotic a 3/2, or rezzing Sansan). 1-7
On the Corp side, things went much, much better. It’s not the first time I’ve played with this deck and with some minor tweaking with new cards I had a solid build and a solid plan. I quickly outrace the Runner in economy, I’m HB after all, and went for a position I couldn’t possibly lose: I installed a 3 point agenda and advanced it twice, the server had one ICE protecting it, in my hand rested a Punitive Counterstrike and an Archived Memories. The Runner opted to go for it, but, by clicking through my Bioroid ICE, he ran out of actions quickly and was left with a hand of 4 cards and three credits. On my turn I calmly burned his house down, “remembered” I still had to burn him down and did just that. Flatline - 3

Second match:
I went against Near-Earth Hub, yet again. This time with a Magnum Opus in hand I started strong. On a free R&D access I stole an Astroscript. Then I went trashing all his assets to negate him a strong economy, while mine was assured. He did had all the operations he needed to start scoring though. He played 2 Hedge Funds and 2 lucky Sweeps’ Week for a total of 16 credits. I had a full grip, not in fear of Scorched Earth, but, just because Magnum Opus is very click intensive, I didn’t had much time, nor the need, to play out my hand. Went for HQ a few times but the Agendas were never to come up. I lost hard and I lost fast. I was clearly out-played. I really have to review my play style against Near-Earth Hub. 2-7

I amassed a bunch of credits and went for a Score-or-Burn position, but the Runner put his defenses up, so I immediately forfeited the Burn part of the plan, while still threatening it. I built a three-ICE server so taxing even Kati Jones couldn’t fund it. I eventually scored 7 points. It was a game without much history, the Runner didn’t impose sufficient pressure to bother me. And 3 pointers score you out fast. Although, the most intense part of the match was when I scored my last agenda: Domestic Sleepers.
I scored out-of-hand and gave a turn to the Runner. I had all my centrals well defended and almost all my ICE was rezzed but he still could access R&D (can’t do much about that against late-game Runners). He managed to get the first access on R&D, through credits & clicks and stole a 3 pointer. No biggie. Then, using his console Doppelgänger, he went there again, sparing some credits with one click. Got another access and stole another 3 pointer (!). He couldn’t find the final point, so on my next turn I spent three clicks to give Domestic Sleepers my winning point. Uff! 7-6

Third match:
This might be the most frustrating match yet. I went against Tennin Institute (refreshing to see, I was getting bored of just seeing Near-Earth Hubs and Replicating Perfections). From turn 1 I ran, I didn’t want to give him one chance to use the ID’s ability. That meant that my turns were carefully prepared to have income (Magnum Opus), a card draw (when needed) and a run. I mounted my rig pretty quickly and locked R&D. I scored 7 points in a blitz, but due to having to get a Shi.Kyu was only at 6 points. And then I lost. Digging for my last point I saw two The Future Perfect agendas and I wasn’t able to steal them both. I then focused my attack on HQ, had 4 accesses but never saw the agenda again, this, while digging for Nerve Agent, who never showed up. Since my main breakers are Cyber-Cyphers, I didn’t had the flexibility to spread out my pressure and since I’d used all my Scavenges I was pretty limited. The Corp capitalized on it building a two ICE server that I was just out of my reach and, with a previously scored Gila Hands, made 7 points with the two The Future Perfect. My opponent won a game he had no business winning. Yeah, that happened. I don’t think I misplayed I simply lucked out. My opponent played his part and got away with the game. Oh well. 6-7

As the Corporation, things started very frightening: I had to mulligan a hand of the beefiest, baddest, credit intensive ICE and no economy for a hand with a plan. Didn’t get there. My next hand, together with the mandatory draw had no less than 9 agenda points. Fortunately one ICE and one economy that made me able to rez it. I started this match buried 6 feet under. My opponent opted to go for the unprotected R&D, which gave me some breathing space. And as I was starting to build my hand and getting out of the mulligan he scored 3 points on R&D. I had the Punitive Counterstrike plus a Memory Archives just a tad too late, but now I was feeling safer with all these bricks in my hand plus the kill combo. That didn't last long though: he saw one more Punitive Counterstrike on an R&D access and promptly installed 2 Crash Space. The burn plan was out. I left R&D iceless for a long time, since, as he stole one three pointer and I had 3 in hand, I only had 5 more agendas in deck (1 Priority Requisition, 1 Project Wotan, 1 Accelerated Beta Test, 2 Domestic Sleepers) in more or less 40 cards.
Meanwhile, I taxed him with my assets, diverting some attention from R&D and getting some more money, Thomas Haas does pull its weight in this build and finally I created a safe board position. Alas, I was out of it. My opponent was playing Ian Stirling, so I should stress that him stealing that 3 pointer early came back to bite him, because I didn’t made a quick development, nor scoring for that matter and only on the late, late game did my opponent get some (irrelevant) credits from the ability. He was also playing those terrible, terrible central-only-icebreakers. A quick two Ice’d remote later and I was blitzing 3 pointers. Sure enough, I scored a Project Wotan, a Priority Requisition and gave him a turn struggling while looking at a scored Domestic Sleepers. 7-3
It’s noteworthy to mention that after scoring the second three pointer I spent two full turns preparing the servers (with Domestic Sleepers already in hand) before going for it.

Forth match:
I was pretty bummed not to have won one match with the Runner. But it just wasn’t to be. I looked across my opponents ID and it was Replicating Perfection nonsense. This Identity is so boring. I mounted my early pressure and stole a NAPD Contract which made me broke. I recovered rather quickly with a Kati and Sure Gamble to a hefty amount of money, but meanwhile he managed to score a Nisei Mk II. The best agenda against Kit. From there on, even if I’d managed to access, I never really had any control of the game and things went south pretty fast. 2-7

The hardest part playing the Corporation is, by this time, I became so frustrated with my Runner losses I didn’t play the Corp side in perfection. Fortunately, the deck played itself. I installed an Adonis Campaign which was promptly trashed, then recovered it through Archived Memories and installed it again, but this time, the Runner left it alone. Having a stronger economy two turns later I installed a naked Priority Requisition, with the kill combo in hand. The Runner drew some cards and ran it on click three. He quickly realized something was wrong, but it was too late, with zero credits in his pool I was already knocking at his door for a cleaning. Flatline – 3

Afterthoughts:
It might just be my play style against NBN, and with the deck in general, or just a match-up problem. Nevertheless I have to focus my efforts on playing it better against NBN and Replicating Perfection, or maybe tweak out the list to have an anti Fast Advance tool as well as anti-Asset cards, although, Magnum Opus fit that bill quite nicely. For the Fast Advance Chakana fits well in this role, it’s fetchable and Shapers can install mid-run. Maybe against NBN it just might be that a deeper R&D lock will enable you to win the game. Their ability to clicklessly draw one card per turn is absurd. And they can focus more on their plan since they’ll eventually see the pieces between so much draw. I don’t want to back down from Rielle “Kit” Peddler. I believe in her. The every turn sudo-Inside Job is bonkers good, it gave me a ton of accesses early game. She’s the only Shaper that can run without almost any rig, on contrast with all others from her faction and that’s why she’s so strong. That said, I’ll change the list, the deck and the Identity for now and play something I feel more comfortable playing until I get more testing with this list, I want to at least have a shot at winning a few games with the Runner side.

Domestic Sleepers is fantastic! Before they came out I was really struggling to get the final point, often relying more on the Punitive Counterstrike plan. But with this agenda now in deck I can push through the seventh point. It’s so easy to score! The turn you waste be it you wasting a turn mid game, or giving the Runner one whole turn to win the game must be done in a controlled environment so to speak. If going for the final point, don’t be afraid to spend some clicks first reinforcing your servers. Playing an underplayed Identity is very rewarding. The Runners often forget how taxing +1 strength can be. And Punitive Counterstrike in a meta where everyone is expecting Net Damage is surprisingly effective.

Thank you for reading!
Be sure to check next week, where I'll post more matches and the updates on the decks I'm running.