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Root Cause - Caissa Rig
Nov 29 2013 06:00 PM |
Hraklea
in Android: Netrunner
Android: Netrunner Root Cause Hraklea
Root Cause is a series of bi-weekly Android: Netrunner articles about deck building, strategy and tactical decision, for new and mid-level Anarch players. It was named in honor of Sam "Root" Groves, the character from CBS' show Person of Interest.Habemus Mala Tempora!
Ok, not yet... but soon! In a couple of weeks, we'll have access to the last cards we need to start our Caissa decks. I bet a lot of you are already testing your future decks with proxy cards, and maybe I can help, or at least give you some ideas. There's a particular part of deck building in Android: Netrunner that I love - the rig. I really like to see the different ways that people find out to handle all sorts of pieces of ICE.
As the cardpool increases, we see more and more different icebreakers sets, even in similar archetypes. Some "Katman" players use Parasite, some do not. Some Andromeda players use lots of Faerie to be more aggressive, some do not. But which sort of rig will fit Caissa programs the best? These are the ones I'm putting my bets on:
3x Knight
1x Corroder
1x Mimic or Yog.0
1x Femme Fatale
2~3x Datasucker
This is similar to a lot of strong rigs we have seen in 2012, with the exception that people currently run Crypsis, because Knight isn't out yet. It isn't very cheap in terms of credits, but it is almost influence free, and it breakes everything you might see. The reason why I like to run a Femme Fatale is that advanceable pieces of ICE can be a problem if you're playing against Weyland Consortium, Because We Built It. If you don't think you'll meet one of these, you can run both Mimic and Yog.0 and remove the Femme Fatale (like the Peter Hodges' rig).
The Darwin One
1x Darwin
1x Femme Fatale
2~3x Knight
0~2x Datasucker
1x E3 Feedback Implants
This is my version of the rig used in Rob Wiley's "Replikate" deck. Using The Personal Touch might be expensive for Anarch decks, but Knight and Bishop will do a great job supporting Darwin, and I believe that you might even not need to use Datasucker in this
case. Femme Fatale is here for emergencies and I would not consider removing at all.
The Golden One
1x Corroder
1x Mimic
1x Femme Fatale
1x Knight
1x Darwin
2~3x Datasucker
If you follow my articles, you already know this rig, so I won't talk about it today. It will require you a very strong economy and maybe even some sort of program searching option, like Special Orders (I'm running it currently, and I'm loving it) or Self-Modifying
Code.
The Criminal One
2~3x Faerie
1~2x Knight
1x Corroder
1x Mimic
1x Yog.0
2~3x Datasucker
or
2~3x Faerie
2x Corroder
2x Mimic
2x Yog.0
2~3x Datasucker
Faerie is a very influence intensive card, but I really love it. Safe face-checking allows you to be way more aggressive than you usually can, and Anarch is by far the worse action at this (this is one of the main reasons why I think Anarch decks are not popular in the current meta). In this rig, I would even consider not running Knight at all, as most dangerous pieces of ICE are sentries. You can also use Emergency Shutdown, if you're intending to play a credit denial deck.
The Suckerless One
2x Corroder
2x Femme Fatale
2~3x Knight
0~1x Crypsis
This one will requires you a very clever use of Bishop and maybe even some Parasite and/or Ice Carver. I find Force of Nature a TERRIBLE card, but you might try it code gates are a problem for you. This is a very good option for credit denial decks too, as the Corp won't be rezzing a lot of pieces of ICE, so you'll be able to handle not having decoders.
This is just the beggining...
There are more cards that compose a deck, of course, the economy, the drawings, etc. But as we don't have the complete spoiler for Mala Tempora yet, it might not be fair to go into it by now. While I do know that this article is a little shorter than most of mine, I believe that all those rigs I suggested will keep you busy enough for the next two weeks. I believe that the spoiler will be out before my next article comes out, and then I'll share my thought about the rest of the Caissa archetype with you guys.
By now, these are the guidelines that I think you should keep in mind:
- Wyldside is one of our keycards. In my experience, playing around it works a lot better than ignoring it and taking out-of-faction drawing options - like some people are doing with Professional Contracts. Both Aesop's Pawnshop and Freelance Coding Contract synergizes with Caissa, to pick the one you like the most.
- Liberated Account is godlike in the current meta. It is the fastest way to make a 10 credits profit in the game, and it only takes you one turn if you have Joshua B. installed. Combo it with Aesop's Pawnshop and you won't run out of credits any time soon.
- Caissa programs are great for R&D lock. On one hand, as more pieces of ICE there are in a server, more Caissa you can place there, making the server weaker and weaker (think about how powerful it would be to have 2 copies of Bishop in a single server). On the other hand, the more pieces of ICE they install protecting the R&D, HQ and Archives become more expose to Pawn, which will bring more Caissa cards to the board. Remember: just because you're playing a "Caissa deck", it doesn't mean you must ignore all virus cards. Medium is godlike, never leave it behind.
- While we don't have an official answer to the Caissa problem, hosting Bishop and Hook on Scheherazade might not work. I suggest you to try it only hosting Pawn and Knight by now.
Have a nice week, guys. And don't forget to share your results!
João “Hraklea†Almeida is a brazilian amateur card game player. Currently, spends most of his time playing alone testing new ideas or playing Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Or watching The Blacklist. James Spader r0x.
- kurthl33t and TheMonsterOfSurrealton like this
26 Comments
One question: How does Aesop's work with Liberated Account?
This is a glorious, glorious feeling and I hope Runners will give Bishop a chance, even if your only aim is to achieve this in a single game.
Take 12 credits and then trash it at the next turn. It gives you 1 less credit, but saves 1 click. In Wyldside based decks, that 1 click makes a lot of difference.
I'll probably start playing Reina Roja credit denial when Mala Tempora comes to Brazil, but it will take a while. I really believe that caissa based decks will be competitive in 2014.
I agree; I see people ragging on Bishop a lot, but it's 0-cost and not vulnerable to virus-purges. Makes Tollbooth Yoggable, several Sentries Mimicable (even more if you have Ice Carver) and even if you're not running them it makes your runs more economical.
"But the Corp can just install over it!" - Well yes, which is fine because then you don't have to break it AT ALL - and if you're playing a Reina deck focused on making ICE painfully expensive to rez, then the Corp trashing an ICE they paid a premium to rez is going to make me smile.
it only effects the host ice, not the hole server
But how cheap will that server be to run when you Bishop two of the ICE in there?
but it really needs deep red for the MU
Yep, and I've hosted two Bishops on two ICE, one each of course, protecting R&D. Completely destroys the coverage. And if/when the Corp goes to trash and replace, I still come out way ahead because they still had to pay 1c for installing a second ICE and I had a strong (correct) hunch the replacement ICE was not as ideal as the original anyway, so I could still get through.
That would be Deep Red.
I'm not sure what you meant, but I agree that not all caissa have synergy to each other.
But, just like you don't need to run 3 copies of all viruses when you play Noise, you don't need to play all caissa when you play Reina Roja. As a general rule, I wouldn't use both Bishop and Rook in the same deck.
I don't see why not - Rook to make them pay through the nose to rez, and Bishop to screw over their rezzed ICE
Bishop and Knight don't play well together, so you'll need another set of breakers if you're running Bishop. You can still keep Knight around though for pieces of ICE which aren't hosting a Bishop (or other Caissa).
You don't need to play any Caissas with Reina Roja, rook just seems to work with her though.
so say your running a fixed breaker suite, you can hold back you bishops/knights till you hit something you can break, then drop them mid run from hand. lets you use wyldslyde as well since you want to draw more.
**when will anarch get some instant speed install stuff, to make up for our loose a click!
While the Caissas don't seem to work together directly, they all work well with a particular rig. Mimic/Corroder/Yog/Datasucker can slice through your ICE like it's butter already, and the Caissas make it even better. Bishop augments Datasucker better than Ice Carver, Knight helps to break early rush remotes, and Rook + all the other denial I'll run keeps the number of ICE rezzed down.
Basically, denial/Knight makes a great early game, and the full rig makes a great late game. So yeah, Caissas will be competitive for sure.
Note that I don't think this is the only way to use Caissas, just the way that I want to most.
Two comments:
1) I tried to make what you're describing work, ran into some pretty serious memory issues. I was basically stuck with either no Suckers, or no Rooks (or rather, only able to play 2 of the 3 Caissae). You could theoretically play memory chips, but then you're talking one slow-ass deck (and starting to run into issues of "how the hell am I going to fit all this into 45 cards?")
2) denial + Knight won't be all that great, since the biggest part of your denial is Rook, which can't be hosted on the same ICE. Once we start talking 2-ICE remotes, you're in trouble again - basically, you need Inside Job to guarantee getting through.
Don't forget that Caissa doesn't have to be on REZZED ICE. You can have Rook on the unrezzed ICE in the server and Knight through the other one.
@ PeekaySK and Yoshiruken: I think Caissas will work really well without any Suckers at all. Deep Red is effectively 7 memory, which is enough for a Mimic/Yog/Corroder + 3 Caissas and Medium (or 4 Caissas if needed). This rig will be able to break anything early with Knight and anything late with the full setup, which includes bishop. Why use Sucker if bishop, Knight, Static breakers and maybe Ice carver breaks everything? Also, I think Xanadu would be superior to Rook since it doesn't cost memory. I think I'd use three Self-Mod and Wyldside for accelerators, but Freelance with Quality time is interesting.
Anyway, that's just what I'd do for a non-denial setup, but it seems to solve all the potential problems.
I know that, of course. It's something that you'd usually rather not do, though - that particular piece of ICE will just get uninstalled and you'll lose an action and 2 credits, at the very least. It does make sense if you either play Pawns (which don't cost memory, so that's something, at least
Compare the situation to the tough choice of trashing your Ichi that you paid good money for, just to get rid of a Rook. That particular play starts paying off only after what, three rezzes?
Because Knight and Pawn are too good, and you won't have too many time to move a lot of caissa against strong opponents. Of course, that's more a intuitive logic rather than something I actually tested. I can be wrong.
Rook is good with Reina, Deep Red is good with Rook, Pawn and Knight are good with Deep Red. I won't play caissa because I "need" to, I'll play because it will be strong.
Yes, Knight can't break 2-ICE remotes. But just like when crims play Inside Job, you have other breakers. I agree that Knight's use is limited, but not any more than Inside Job's.
The denial I'll use is Rook, Reina Roja, Xanadu, FAO, and Emergency Shutdown. That denial can make a good early game, and Knight forces the corp to rez two ICE to protect their remote. The whole point of denial is to keep the corp from being able to rez all their ICE. When Knight requires them to rez an additional ICE, it makes it even harder.
Why use Sucker? Because it's better than Bishop. I would much rather run Grimoire and Sucker over Bishop and Deep Red, even with the other Caissas.
Also, you should use both Xanadu and Rook. Making someone pay 7 credits for a Wall of Static is brutal.