[2016 French Nationals Winner] Originality is overrated

YodaSensei 295

So, I hadn't played Netrunner in a while : only one tournament over the last 12 months, and a few Jinteki games here and there when I could find some spare time at work (don't tell my boss! :) ). I had no clue about the meta, so I heartlessly stole decklists from nrdb, played them a couple of times with a friend and went with that. Many thanks to the people behind the decklists for doing the actual building and testing (I have linked the original lists) : all credits go to you!

The deck went 4/1 in the rounds and 3/0 in the finals. The only loss was to a Valencia which very quickly was reborn as a Whizzard with Salsette Slums, and even against such odds I felt like I could have won with a wee bit of better luck on my draws. The deck won against Kate/DDoS, Valencia, Hailey Kaplan, Andromeda (x2) and Whizzard (x2).

I changed absolutely no card from the original decklist, which to be honest looks like most of the other CtM decklists, but I can't really know who came up with this deck first. Only thing I know is I had absolutly no role in building or testing it, I just piloted it during the tournament after playing it a few times on Jinteki and liking how good it was.

Key cards are obvioulsy Hard Hitting News (the sheer threat of which often leads runners to be more careful than they should) and Exchange of Information, but you already know that, don't you?

Not sure what to add, so if you have any question, ask them and I'll answer as well as I can. Be aware that any question "Why did you play XXX instead of YYY?" will get the answer : because I didn't have enough time to test and tune the deck to my taste!

My runner list is here: https://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/38111/-2016-french-nationals-winner-originality-is-overrated-

4 comments
3 Oct 2016 HolyMackerel

In my CtM deck, I run 3 Hard-Hitting News, because landing one early is often an earth-shattering tempo-hit to the runner. Did you find that two are enough to threaten it reliably?

3 Oct 2016 FreqKing

Congratulations on the win! I'm all for a little bit of bombastic fun once in a while but I must say your write up was a breath of fresh air. Respectful credit given, no zany animated GIFs, no claims that my cyborg children will rule the world after playing this deck or similar hyperbole. I'll drop a like on the original builder as well!

4 Oct 2016 YodaSensei

@pang4Good question. I feel like 2 is the right number (but I have a very limited sample of games to support my claim, so don't take it for granted). The way I see it:

* Against average/good players, the threat of HHM is probably more powerful than playing one. They will often restrain from keeping a low credit reserve, leaving your assets alive long enough to be instrumental in your victory, or won't run in the same turn, giving you you scoring windows opportunities. You can either or both to your advantage, and you don't need an HHM in order to do it!

* Against less skilled players, the rest of the deck is so good you don't even need to punish an early reckless run with HHM.

* Against very good players ... well, you have a very powerful drawing engine (3 Howard Jackson + 3 Sensie Actors Union) and need to activate that so that the threat and/or the punishment of HHM to become a significant factor in the mind game.

@FreqKing: thank you :) Bragging isn't really in my nature, I'm glad if that made somebody else happy!

5 Oct 2016 Exo

@FreqKing Exactly that. You get a like from me, only if I could..