CriminArchy Redefined

BTrain 2971

Run early. Run often.

Quetzal's ability lets us play Anarchs like we would Criminals, so get that early pressure on those servers using any number of nasty tricks, and run them again as soon as you can with Same Old Thing. The hallmark Anarch disruption cards are here in the form of Keyhole, Demo Run, Parasite, and Datasucker (which should get pretty fat with tokens if you're keeping the run tempo up). And we can pressure across the board with Knight/Overmind comboed with e3.

There are a few notable changes in this version. First, Hades Shard is out. This deck, like any good Netrunner deck, thrives on consistency, and the earlier we get e3, Datasucker, or Kati on the table, the better off we are. No frills here.

D4v1d is out, because in all the test games I've run, I've maybe popped two counters from it at most. People are adjusting their decks to include ice with that magic strength 4, and that leaves D4v1d sitting on the table eating up Overmind MU, or leaves him heading straight for the heap.

Medium has also been dropped in favor of Nerve Agent. With no Imps in the deck, you're essentially conceding combo control to the corp and letting HQ be safer than it should. Sure, Legwork lets you access 3 cards at a time, but there's no way to get those nasty combo pieces like Scorch, SEA Source, Biotic or Trick of Light into archives, or to get rid of that SanSan without breaking the bank. And seeing that this deck lives for the run, there's an instant synergy with Nerve Agent. Build up tokens by poking HQ in the early game, then Legwork in when you think the time is right in the midgame. Even if you don't think there are agendas, there's a good chance the corp might be holding a fast-advance or kill combo in hand. Once you see the cards you need to get rid of, Demo Run in and trash them all. Meantime, R&D control is strictly in the hands of Keyhole. Many people have said it takes away from Overmind MU, but once e3 is out on the table, your counters will go a lot farther. Plus if you get your Datasuckers fed, you won't have to spend as much money pumping Overmind up to strength.

I'd also like to touch on the perceived econ issues of this deck. Kati Jones is now up to 3 copies, and for good reason. If you see her early, you are golden. Every turn, you should either be taking money from Kati, or putting money on Kati. Every turn. If you're smart about loading up her up, that means every 3-4 turns, you're getting a fat wallet and running a power play. In between those turns you should be poking around, getting a Nerve Agent token when it's prudent (again, to set you up for that beastly Demo Run), applying/feinting Keyhole pressure to make the corp focus on R&D/Archives, or digging for cards. And then you should spend that last click putting 3 credits on Kati, because when it comes time to rock and roll. you want to be able to dump 9-15 credits into your bank and come in guns blazing.

And speaking of blazes, the two Plascretes stay. Weyland's coming back in a big way, and it's time to start suiting up against the Scorched again.

Looking to the future with this deck, I've had suggestions from several people that I should drop the Overminds in favor of fixed breakers. If that's the case, e3 might be out in favor of Special Order, but nothing's set in stone right now. I'll be playing around with this idea in coming tests, but for now I'm sticking with this build which relies 100% on speed. And believe me, once Inject comes out, this deck is making room for it.

Sleeve it up, give it a go, and let me know how it works for you!

15 comments
17 Sep 2014 esutter479

Wow...VERY well iterated, BTrain. :)

I agree with you about D4v1d here, especially since there are no Atmans to really dig into those less-beefy ICE. Everything you've said here makes a ton of sense, and I'm going to definitely favorite this and plug it into OCTGN for some testing.

Your point about Special Order and fixed breakers is interesting as well, but it'll be sad to see the e3 Feedback Implants go, heh.

One (sorta silly) question - What is your course of action when Armitage Codebusting AND Kati Jones are on the table? I assume finish off the AC first? How often does this conundrum present itself?

17 Sep 2014 BTrain

@esutter479It's not a silly question! Armitage is actually the one lingering concern about this deck. In earlier versions, Kati was only at 2 copies, and I was using Armitage to kind of smooth over the gaps until I found her. I actually wouldn't use the both of them at the same time, and in my testing I've never run into a situation where I've had to. Now that I run 3 Kati's though, I'm wondering if it might not be best to maybe replace those with Daily Casts, or maybe some other resource not econ-related? Ice Carver? Xanadu? I don't really know. I do like the economic safety net it provides though because if you see Kati late, it can be a real bear to get momentum.

17 Sep 2014 BTrain

@esutter479Actually, I might swap those out for Dirty Laundries. Not only does it let us access, but it nets us three credits, a Datasucker token, and potentially a Nerve Agent token as well. I'll definitely be testing -2 Armitage/+2 Dirty Laundry when I meet with my playgroup next.

Thanks so much for bringing that up!!

17 Sep 2014 esutter479

I love Daily Casts, and wouldn't mind seeing that become a "3 of" in this deck. IMO, it works very fluidly with Criminals and/or Anarchs (and most especially in a hybrid, very likely). It would be a good fit. I'd MAYBE drop a Same Old Thing for it. Clickless econ is something you just cannot put a price on. :)

On a side note...about D4v1d...I won a store tournament tonight, and if I remember correctly, I Scavenged that stone-slingin' badboy at least twice in the final round and stole several big agendas that were sitting behind a Heimdall 2.0, Janus 1.0 and Wotan.

My opponent was playing The Foundry, and I was able to create a couple different momentum swings which ended in me scoring a Mandatory Upgrades out of R&D for the win. Being able to do that with D4v1d and Clone'ing a Faerie back a couple times for Janus really kicked major ass for me. The kicker - I also busted through a Caprice Nisei AND a recurred Ash 2X3ZB9CY. It was NOT easy to get my foot in that door, haha.

Granted, however, I was running with The Professor...so many Shaper tricks kept me afloat for just long enough. Opus hosted under a Djinn was also a superstar for me ... ramble ramble. But yah...there's a chance that in the future, D4v1d could creep back into the concept, possibly? Big ICE need respect too. :P

17 Sep 2014 esutter479

Wow, I think we were typing at the same time, lol.

I never even thought about Dirty Laundry. I definitely don't use that card as much as some of my friends that I play on a weekly basis. That would work too, since it's a run event...but I, personally, would still keep the Casts in the back of my mind. :)

17 Sep 2014 BTrain

You do bring up a great point. In situations like the one you ran into, although rare, I'd rather have a D4v1d and not need it, than need it and not have it. I'll look at maybe dropping the Stimhack, and one other card (Datasucker down to 2?), to make room for 2 D4v1d's again. And I really like the Daily Casts the more I think about it. I'll run it as a two-of for now because with the run pressure this deck looks to put out, Same Old Thing is a must have. BUT!! Daily Casts pump out less money than Armitage when you look purely at credits, so putting in 3x Daily Cast and 2x Same Old Thing might make more economic sense. It would also take some of the pressure off clicking Kati at the end of the turn. So many interesting decisions! :D

17 Sep 2014 esutter479

I hear ya, man. :)

I'd say Datasucker at 2 of is a solid move. You'll still have 3 Parasites to put some fear into the Corp. With 3 Déjà Vus, there's certainly no pressing need to have 3 D4v1ds. I think you'll save at least 4 or 5 clicks per game (or more) with Casts over Armitage Codebusting, which will hopefully net you more runs!

I'm a big fan of the "surprise" Stimhack...so unless you test it out a few times and never really use it mid-late game, I'd keep it in there. The Inside Job is a nice splash too. You just never know when an Archer is going to rear its ugly head. :) This may just be me, but PERHAPS the Planned Assaults can be considered for removal in favor of some Shaper recursion (Chip/Scavenge). I have no idea who uses what in your meta, though...so it's really a tough call for me to make.

17 Sep 2014 esutter479

By the way, do you use OCTGN? Cuz if nothing else, it'd be cool to type chat with ya on there. :)

17 Sep 2014 BTrain

Yep! OCTGN username is the same as on here.

And yeah, I had looked at splashing for the recursion. Everything from Scavenge, to Clone Chip, to Aesop's+Retrieval Run, but really I found Deja Vu got the job done well enough when it had to. Add to the fact that e3 adds a huge lifespan to anything with a counter, and you find the recursion tactics really just end up slowing the deck down. The run pressure is the one thing I've never been willing to give up with this build, because it's what Quetzal's ID is all about. I figured if I were going to pursue any of those other options, I'd just sleeve up a different runner :)

17 Sep 2014 esutter479

That's fair enough. :) You've sold me on this Quetzal build quite well, no doubt. I currently use Reina for Anarch, but would love to switch off soon for variety. At any rate, I'm gonna be on OCTGN for a little while tonight (I work a rather late 2nd shift at my current job, so going to sleep around 5am EST is not unordinary for me, heh. If you felt like hopping on to talk Netrunner, that'd be cool. It's gonna be tougher and tougher to find other like minded folks if this awesome website gets shut down... :-/

17 Sep 2014 BTrain

Believe it or not, I work overnights, so I'm not even home until 6am EST. I'll add you on there and we'll make something work.

17 Sep 2014 Onarian

@BTrain Well, I tried both versions (the one you posted and the one with Aesop's Pawnshop and Retrieval Run) and you were right. Aesop's slowed down the deck too much. I'll give this one a go next.

17 Sep 2014 esutter479

Ok, sounds good. My name on there is - ligre. I used to work a similar shift as you, so I know what it's like. I have Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays off from work, though my Saturdays are mostly taken up by my fiance. :)

Definitely add me though, and I'm sure we'll find some window of opportunity to chat on there. I just realized...looking at the decks that you've published...you actually got me interested in Anarchs with your Reina deck. I've since made one of my own and had a chance to test it out against someone and it did fairly well. I ain't ready to use it in a tournament just yet, but I'm loving the whole "Caissa" thing and making my opponent's eyeballs tired as well as annoying all their servers!

16 Oct 2014 Jander

Have you thought about putting Hemo in your deck?

20 Oct 2014 sebn83

Any thoughts on adding Hades shard? A lovely fit with keyhole, especially when Jackson is present