Tech Talk - Vamp

It's Tech Talk Time, time to take a look at one special Android: Netrunner card and see if we can't help you see why and how you might use it. This week, we turn our attention to that vexing vixen, Vamp. Look ma, alliteration!

DOCUMENTATION: Runners need credits. Android: Netrunner players take that as an inviolable truth, like the sun rising in the east, or water being wet, or someone always being wrong on the Internet. Clicks let the Runner actually *do* things but most of those things require credits for the doing. You need credits to install all those wonderful toys you put in your deck. Most of the neat-o events you're packing are going to cost a few credits. And, of course, you're going to need credits to power your icebreakers so you can get through all that stupid ICE the Corp puts in-between you and their servers. Credits are muy importante, as Tech Talk would have said in 12th Grade Honors Spanish.

It's easy to see why, when Trace Amount released a month back, everyone was pretty hardcore thumbs down on Vamp (Trace Amount). I mean, an event that let's you spend X credits to make the Corp lose X credits? C'mon! Account Siphon (Core) let's you drain up to 5 of the Corp's credits and nets you double in return! At the very least, you can use the money you gained to ditch the tags you get. If you run a Vamp, you end up broke AND tagged! Vamp? *SPITONTHEGROUND* Let us speak of it no more!

But what if Tech Talk told you that the Runner needing credits isn't as inviolable a truth as it seems? Because, you see, the Corp needs credits, too. In fact, the Corp? She needs credits more than you do because she can't do anything without them. The Runner, theoretically, can win the game without spending a single credit - making a run in and of itself costs nothing. The Corp, on the other hand, *must* spend credits to advance Agendas to win. Scorched Earth (Core) costs credits, as does every single means of tagging the Runner. Project Junebug and Snare! cost credits. Data Mine (Core) is free, so if the Corp can get you to run into 6 of them in a row, you're toast. If the Corp has no credits (or just very, very few), she can't win. Period.

Not only can't the Corp win without credits, but everything that causes the Runner to *need* credits is put into play by The Corp using, you guessed it, credits. A runner doesn't need icebreakers if there are no rezzed pieces of ICE on the table and the Corp can't rez any pieces of ICE if she's poor.

So *how* do you keep the Corp poor? If only there was a card that let you drain the Corp's coffers as much as you needed to...

The Runner's economy is stronger than the Corp's, at least at this point in the game's life. Sure Gamble, Easy Mark, Liberated Accounts, Armitage Codebusting, Magnum Opus – it's pretty easy for the Runner to put together a nice little nest egg. As we said, how much you *need* all those credits is entirely up to Corp – as we pointed out, you don't need to install and use expensive icebreakers if the Corp can't rez any ICE. With Vamp, you can put your credits to direct use, cutting down how many credits you'll need later

(The Corp's most powerful economy card, Melange Mining Corp (Core), requires full investment of clicks, so she's not doing a whole lot else, like installing ICE or Assets or Upgrades, if she's using it.)

"Yeah, but," says Connie Contradictory, "if you spend all your credits draining the Corp, how are you going to deal with the tag?" To which Tech Talk replies, "What, dear Connie, is the Corp going to do to you with NO MONEY?" All of the really dangerous things that being tagged can lead to cost credits. With three clicks and no cash, the worst they can do is play Freelancer to trash two Resources, which can, it's true, suck. (Depending on the Corp, it might actually be worse if she plays Big Brother (Trace Amount) on you, but still...)

INSTALLATION: Using Vamp takes patience and restraint. If the point of playing Vamp is to keep the Corp poor which will then keep them from rezzing ICE or Assets or Upgrades that will make you need money, you need to give the Corp the fewest possible chances to rez those things. Sit back, build your economy, get your rig together (as cheaply as possible), and wait to draw Vamp. Who cares if the Corp gets to layer ICE three deep on R&D and/or a juicy-looking Remote Server? As long as you can get into HQ, you can keep all her other defenses face-down and run willy-nilly.

You'll want to keep your rig as economical as possible. We are referring, of course, to the install costs of all your necessary pieces. Hopefully, there won't be much ICE for you to break, so the efficiency of the the program(s) isn't as big a deal. Crypsis (Core) is a winner combined with Vamp because, for the low cost of 5 credits, you get all the icebreakers you'll need. You don't need to run multiple times a turn and, if things are going well, you'll know exactly how many pieces of ICE (on anything other than HQ, zero) you're going to encounter, so you can load Crypsis up with just the right number of Virus tokens. Hardware that gives you recurring credits for icebreaking, specifically Cyberfeeder and Spinal Modem (What Lies Ahead), are great to combine with Crypsis in this sort of build. The drawback on Spinal Modem won't be as big a deal if the Corp doesn't have money to throw into Traces and, since you'll be playing a slow game where you get all your pieces in pace before you start running, the occasional Brain damage isn't going to wreck your game. As for Cyberfeeder (Core), it has the bonus of helping you pay for Crypsis if you install it first.

If Vamp is doing its job and the Corp is po' (to the point that she can't even afford the O and R in "poor"), she's probably not going to be building out Remotes and installing Agendas, so you need a way to get at them and, you know, win. That means digging into R&D. Medium (Core) is a great choice, since the Cyberfeeders you want to run anyway will help pay for them. Maker's Eye works well, too, although it isn't as economical.

Deja Vu (Core) is also an all-star in a deck that kinda' sorta' hinges on one card, letting you pull it out of the Heap and run it again, which is probably going to be necessary – you don't want the Corp to get her footing in the mid- or even late-game and suddenly be able to start rezzing all that dormant ICE...

Do you know what sucks worse than getting hit by Vamp? Getting hit by Account Siphon and *then* getting hit by Vamp. There is nothing like using the Corp's own credits to drain them dry. Think about spending the hefty Influence cost to bring a couple in. You're already packing Deja Vu, so you'll get enough use out of 'em.

Either of the current Anarch identities works well with a Vamp-focused resource denial deck. Noise will want to pack more Viruses in order to punish the Corp for not being able to protect the Archive. Whizzard and his three recurring credits will let you get rid of cards that might help the Corp get back on her feet (PAD Campaign, Adonis Campaign, Melange Mining Corp) without digging into the pile of credits you want to keep around to fuel Vamp.

IMPLEMENTATION: While Vamp fits very, very well in Anarch, at two pips of Influence, it can make a splash in the other factions as well. Criminals have Account Siphon, which we know combos well with Vamp, and Gabriel naturally wants to hit HQ anyway, so building a resource-denial deck on a Criminal base will be different (things like Compromised Employee and Inside Job may be less useful if everything is going well), it is very possible. Kate-based Shapers, on the other hand, might want to simply splash a single Vamp for mid- to late-game shenanigans, a very real threat since Kate decks tend to spend the early game building, making fewer early runs and leaving a lot of unrezzed ICE into the mid-game.

COUNTERMEASURES: If you suspect that your opponent is running a Vamp-fueled resource-denial type deck, pay attention to your Central Servers. ICE them up fast and deep. Rez your ICE whenever possible, even if it'll make you poor – it's better to be creditless and defended than broke and vulnerable. Remember that you can rez Assets and Upgrades in *any* server during a run. If the Runner's coming at you with Vamp, spend as much of your money as you can before she gets to you.