No More Ashes - 2nd place at Gator Games in San Mateo, CA

I piloted this to a second place spot in San Mateo on 2/18, going 3-1 in Swiss and 1-1 in the cut. This was my first time making a cut at SC+ level tourney, and it felt absolutely incredible. #alwaysbetonshaper #exceptprobablynotreally #butmaybethistime

Shout out to @redonionknight, who not only provided the inspiration for the original core of this deck, but helped me refine it… then took first off me with the reverse sweep in the final. GGs, my dude.

==Genesis==

When Quorum came out and dropped the double bomb of Aaron Marron and Sifr, I took a couple weeks off to evaluate what I wanted out of the game. I came back with a two-fold answer to my own question:

1. I want to play Netrunner. I want to run servers, to break ICE, to bravely facecheck it sometimes. I will never disparage people for playing what they feel they need to play to win, but “degenerate nonsense”—as one of our best local players calls it—will never be my style.
2. I do still want to have some game against the top meta decks I expect to see. I hate the idea of having any basically 0% chance matchups, but I’m fine having to risk it for the biscuit sometimes.

With that in mind I remembered the Kate deck @redonionknight played a few months back that was just run-tastic. (That’s where the name of this comes from: he included Out of the Ashes, which I originally had here, but they were steadily cut, one by one, mostly for tech cards.) That core still exists here in Temmy J, Patron, Datasucker, and Atman. The big shift from there came in the form of a certain Anarch console. You may have heard about it!

==Icebreaking Suite==

With Sifr in play, a single Atman 0 is enough, no need for more copies. It also enables fairly confident play of Mimic as the sole killer and the bargain basement Shaper classic, Inti.

I chose Study Guide for the decoder because this deck needs to run a lot and hot damn are code gates the predominant taxing ICE right now. Paying a lot one time is OK in a deck this rich, and let me tell you how good subsequent runs against DNA Tracker and FC3 feel when you pay a paltry 1 per sub. Finally, the Sucker/Sifr support (there’s some alliteration for your ass) makes it a lot easier to ramp up if you can’t afford to just drop 10 or 12 creds for the max pump the first time. I’m not married to it though, and if you’d prefer Gordian or Zu then go with my blessing.

The single Parasite with 2 Clone Chips closes it all out, letting you take care of problem ICE; something you haven’t got your breaker for yet, or even just something that feels unreasonably taxing. Plus I don’t feel too much like a scumbag since I’m not going for max ICE destruction. A little bit. Just not too much.

==Economy==

Your draw is just 3 Diesel, Patron, and whatever you happen get from the mighty BK-C. I originally ran just 2 Patron, since subsequent copies are dead draws, but the deck leans really hard on it, and I haven’t regretted the third copy in the slightest. If there’s a single card you mull for, it’s Patron. (Though usually I’m looking for money and any draw.)

The creds come primarily from Temmy J and events, though the 2 memory (why did they print this console) from Sifr allows fairly confident play of Opus in the mid-late game if you have the tempo advantage and want to sit back and money up. I’d say I installed it in about 60% of games.

==Seekrit Tekk Kards==

-Net Shield: I wanted to not lose hard core in case someone snuck in a Blade Tree, and I hoped that it might also give some life (along with the LARLA) against IG/RP prison poison. I have installed it maybe once, so this slot is very fungible. Could also be a Feedback Filter, of course, but I wanted the low-cost version.

-LARLA: In addition to extending my game against net damage decks, I thought I might want this to refresh my economy, Parasite, or other tricks. I have not played it a single time, so this is another flex spot as far as I’m concerned.

-Plascrete: I mean, sometimes you get blowed up, amirite? You know if you want this in your deck or not. It occurs to me at time of this writeup that Citadel Sanctuary could be just as good or possibly better…

-Paricia: Sometimes this is a tutor-able Scrubber. Against any deck where you want to challenge their installs, it’s invaluable. You will weep bitter tears the first time you forget you can’t use the creds to trash a SanSan though.

-Employee Strike: Shaper has no good influence-free currents to even consider in its place. Just find the influence. You’ll thank yourself later.

-Indexing: Still really, really good. Influence-free, repeatable with SoT, protects you from Archangels and Snare! Watch out for the Jackson shuffle, of course. And whenever possible combo it with…

-Freedom Through Equality: 3 clicks for 3 points. Seems pretty good. Please someone let me know if you score it along with a Government Takeover for the 0-7 instawin! Seriously though, the value of not having to score a fourth agenda in a meta dominated by 2-pointers is hard to overstate. Being able to 100% guarantee the extra point because of Indexing is top-quality icing on an already delicious cake. Probably like a buttercream or something.

-Escher: This is the only true Seekrit Tekk. You won’t play it much. but that’s OK. When you do play it to turn a Turing-Ichi-FC3 server into 3 unrezzed ICE, or 2 unrezzed ICE into 2 Vanillas, you will understand. It is always game-altering, and unless you’re playing it from SoT it is always a surprise. My proudest addition.

That’s about it, folks! Much <3 to my Bay Area scene, and extra <3<3 to my Santa Clara regulars. We’re losing one of our best to a new job in Seattle this week, and Joe, if you’re reading this, you will be missed. You’ve been a great mentor to me, whether you knew it or not. Stay frosty, and maybe I'll see you at Nationals.