[TWA] How Is That Fair? (Argus, etc)

BigBadWolf 1393

This list is largely unchanged from the original deck designed my TWA Panelist and 2014 Australian National Champion Jesse Marshall. I've been playing this deck for a very long time, as I was convinced Jesse was onto something, and only minor changes have been made.

But let's get fucking real, and let me break this bad-boy down for you:

Firstly, this list is nowhere near fair. Nothing that happens to you or your opponent is fair. It's your duty to remark about the lack of fairness often, and loudly.

Secondly, (and this is important), you're going to MURDER your opponent. Seriously. Point are for cowards too afraid to leave their phallus-compensating corporate towers to go kick the doors in on the god-damned smug-as-fuck runners that keep getting in their way.

When you sit down, it doesn't matter what ID your opponent is playing. There is no game plan other than MURDER. You are going to kill your opponent with meat damage. You have to believe this so you are prepared to make some very difficult decisions. Even lean over the table and say; 'I'm probably going to score some point, but what's going to happen is that I'm going to come into your house in the night time and MURDER you.'

Seriously. How is that fair?

Thirdly, you need to give as little fucks as possible. Don't overthink your decision points, because if your opponent detects a lack of confidence, they'll exploit it.

You want them to steal your AGENDAS so that you have an excuse to give to those Fat Cats upstairs before your jury-rig their car and watch them tail-spin into a taxi later that evening.

However, you don't want them to steal the 2-pointers, especially not early. If they do, How is that fair?

Try and score out a Fracking or an Atlas behind some Binary ICE as early as possible. If you can overscore your Atlas, then the world is your fucking oyster and you deserve a promotion because, just like it says on the building, you just Guaranteed the fucking Protection.

The other Agenda you really want to score is Profiteering. You're not in this business to avoid those pissant 19-year olds throwing beer-cans on your doorstep and talking shit about you. You're taking 15 credits and all the bad-pub on the planet. Why? Because fuck them that's why!

With the exception of 4 trashable assets, that bad pub is going to do sweet FA, seeing as all your ICE is binary save Archer. So, I ask you again: How is that fair?

I cannot stress the advantage of this in a meta where everyone is using Stealth Breakers and Faust! That Bad Pub doesn't even LESS. So soak it up and proudly remind them at the beginning of each run how many free credits they have.

Now, if you wanna get a little tricksy, you can goof your opponent out with a Snare!/Dedicated Response team combo. Unless I'm sure my opponent has a death wish, I'm rarely going to do this early.

What I prefer is to establish a pattern. I'll install an agenda or two and score one out the next turn. Then you do it again a couple of turns later. The second or third time you do this, you'll notice the glimmer in your opponent's eye: They think they've figured you out. They'll think it's fair, but honestly, it's not fair at all.

Nice try, numb-skull. Just install that happy DRT/Snare! duo and watch those sparks fly. How is this fair? I've no fucking clue.

Coming into the Midgame is where you're ready to start sending out kill teams. Either trick them into keeping a tag by gently reminding them if they don't run that face-down remote with their last click, it could be an Atlas and win you the game. (You also just win sometimes because they're too scared to run. It's so fucking gas. And it's not at all fair.)

You can also forfeit your False Lead, or use all that juicy Profiteering money to land them a show with Midseason Replacements.

If you van afford to go for it even if you don't have the kill in hand. I'd recommend doing it. Suddenly those two face down DRT's become really gross. But you can't let them run tagged for too long, because then they have no reason not to steal all your secret agendas.

You'll want to fire off a traffic accident first, especially against Anarchs, to try and avoid that pesky I've Had Worse. But then just follow-up with a scorched.

Despite MURDER being your primary plan, it's important to recognize the hesitance in your opponent that might give you a window to score out and just win the game from your poorly-protected remotes.

There is also a lot to be said for Archer in this list. You have numerous useless 1-point agendas to feed it, and after your opponent see's the third Paper Wall in front of your second Quandary, they're far more likely to faceplant into your Archer and lose their rig. You can usually score behind an Archer all day long. It is most certainly not a fair way to win a game of Netrunner.

You will have to read the expectations a little bit. Remember that you are dead to a turn-one siphon, and if any little pissant tries to get you with Keyhole, you're fucked. You'll want to protect R&D with a wraparound against those Eater Decks, and the yellow wall works really well against all that Faust bullshit going around at the moment. (Aside: Seriously though, How is Faust Fair?)

Jokes aside, this list is the most fun I've had playing Netrunner in a really long time. I've been slaying with it for a few months now, and I can attest that even when you're opponent knows what you're doing and how you plan to do it, the deck still wins just as often. And if there is an argument as to how that is fair, I'd certainly like to hear it.

You just have to beleive in the MURDER. Make each play with unfaltering confidence. Make all your considerations during your opponents turn because you don't want to be seen faltering at all between your clicks.

I can't thank Jesse enough for coming up with this list. It's excellent.

Remember: Trepidation is for cowards.

It also never hurts to make a joke about how you've been up all night because WE NEVER SLEEP.

Cheers,

Brian,

The Winning Agenda

10 comments
17 Aug 2015 HexNet

What are your thoughts on Film Critic? An early install would be crippling, since it blocks your Argus, Midseason, and therefore Dedicated Response Team triggers. The only way to tag would then be Snare! Or kill the Critic with the singleton Contract Killer.

17 Aug 2015 Dydra

Nice wrap-up, but truth is this deck would be wonderful in a non Film Critic world. Get that Corporate Town shoved in and a few Executive Boot Camp to fetch it and we can talk again. I don't know a deck that won't be splashing some of Film Critic simply due to the prevelance of Midseason Replacements and the way sp,e Corp IDs work on "when the runner steals an agenda.

17 Aug 2015 BigBadWolf

@HexNet @Dydra im hearing both your concerns. This deck was designed and has only been played in tournaments before film critic has been legal/released. Jesse and u may be forced back to the drawing board once Old Hollywood starts showing up down under. I think it may be fixed by playing more Contract Killers or even a Corporate Town as suggested.

18 Aug 2015 cwoac

Punitive Counterstrike is another very unfair card that would fit nicely. However deck limits are also unfair.

Having said that, how about going to 54 cards? I was thinking: Up the Geothermal Fracking count to 3, add in a couple of punitives and two of the following - a third punitive, a second Contract Killer, a Corporate Town, a second Enigma or a Snatch and Grab

10 Oct 2015 RJayz

How come Paper Wall made the cut over Ice Wall? Paying 1 credit has to be worth not taxing the runner 1 credit/1 card more than once, no?

10 Oct 2015 BigBadWolf

@RJayz ice wall does nothing beyond a paper wall due to the sheer ammount of bad pub you rack up. You need cheap (yes, ever credit counts) ICE to REZ/score behind in the first couple of turns of the game. Paper Wall does this phenomenally and ice wall isn't a tax.

10 Oct 2015 RJayz

@BigBadWolf Whilst that is certainly true for any Runner using a barrier breaker that uses credits, I'd keep in mind that isn't true for the most popular Runners, Noise: Hacker Extraordinaire and Kate "Mac" McCaffrey: Digital Tinker. Noise will be using Faust, meaning that Ice Wall will either require a Parasite, or trash a card every time he wants to pass it (not unimportant seeing you don't want to drop low on cards to not die to the meat damage), and Kate (and most other shapers) will be using Cerberus "Lady" H1, where Ice Wall will continue to tax a token every time she wants to run through it.

12 Oct 2015 I_AM_G:\ROOT

Would data raven help with film critic? Tag on demand is powerful, plus you can probably afford to boost the trace. The future is now also seems like a very good agenda to fit in.

12 Oct 2015 BigBadWolf

@Nooblix data raven would be good. But it doesn't ETR and 4 creds is WAY more than you usually want to be spending. The trace often becomes superfluous with the bad pub. I realy love TFIN! It wasn't released at the time of putting the deck together. I INAGINE ill lose 1 FL and 1 Gila Hands to make room for 2 copies.

12 Oct 2015 I_AM_G:\ROOT

@bigbadwolf data raven may act as sudo end the run due to tagging ability. Whilst it isn't hard end the run it can potentially scare the runner and create windows. Plus it becomes mildly taxing forcing them to clear tags.

i have only played this deck a few times, but so far im really liking the murder plan.

last game was R&D locked, installed ice wall and triple advanced it next turn. the other player asked if it was Orion. i said yes, he didnt run R&D again. lolz