I scored 7 points in 1 turn w/ mushin & made top 8 at worlds

formerteen 1382

have you heard about the biotech deck that made top 8 at worlds? hello. that was this deck. i was the one to play it. thank you for visiting its netrunner db page. let me tell you about BIOTECH.

this twitch comment from my game against abram jopp is probably the best introduction to the deck there is.

but first thing's first: this deck did not originate with me. it was created and piloted by my friend dan, @MaximumSushi, to great success this past store champs season. the list he posted differs from mine by only half a dozen slots or so but i thought i would do another rundown for those curious about how this deck made top 8 at worlds. he was not able to make worlds this year, unfortunately, but his legacy is secured in this deck's performance. this deck went 7-2 in swiss and then won 1 of 2 games in the cut. its most infamous win was in round 2 of the cut. i mushin'd a card on turn 3 or 4. the runner did not check it. i went on to IAA a couple junebugs and overwriters. a couple dozen turns later, i mushin'd another a card. the runner did not check that one either. the following turn, i advanced both of those mushin'd cards, played clones, and scored 7 points in one turn.

i brought this deck (along with APOC VAL) because i find it extremely fun to play and i thought it would be advantageous to play something off-meta. rather than forcing runners to play the CTM shell game of "is this an MVT or an AR-Enhanced Security?", i force them to wonder "is this the winning agenda or am i about to die?" this strategy is based on a combination of snap mushins and plenty of IAA (way more of the latter than you might think). what mix of the two you use, which cards you choose for each, and when you do these things is based on your reading of the runner. some runners will never run a remote. others will always check the first one you install. and finally, many runners will check a remote only when they feel cornered. by piloting this deck a lot, you'll grow to recognise these patterns and to understand how to deal with each of them effectively. you will win when you either give the runner 4 brain damage and you flip, they kill themselves on errant net damage, or you score 7 points using your 3-pointers and clones.

a beginner's mistake with this deck is to rely too heavily on mushin. while mushin is excellent and clearly crucial to the deck, relying on it solely makes the game basically a coin toss. instead, i would recommend waiting for a moment when the runner is uncomfortable and then either IAA or mushin—whichever is more valuable at the time. i won games in swiss without ever drawing a copy of mushin (e.g., have the runner check two IAA'd overwriters). by getting better at applying pressure to your opponents, you will increase this deck's win rate markedly.

also be sure to maintain your poker face, even when your opponent says something like "You could win next turn, that's the crazy thing about this stupid deck." i recommend wearing glasses to push up.

i won't belabour each and every card choice but i am happy to explain any of the slots if anyone has any questions. one unusual choice should be explained though: localised product line. it's the first card people take out of this deck when they sleeve it but they shouldn't. do not take this card out of the deck. it will win you games. the most obvious play is to use LPL to fetch 2-3 copies of mushin. this is fine but often not the optimal call, in my opinion. instead, you can use it to shore up whatever weakness you are currently experiencing. for example, against 419 apocalypse, i used LPL to grab 3 copies of kakugo to cover my centrals. that net damage won me that game. against maxx, i used it to grab ark lockdown and get rid of 2 copies of levy. it won me that game. against wilfy horig in the final round of swiss, i used it to fetch clones and score the final 4 points to win the game.

to those who opine that this deck wins based entirely on luck, i would suggest you consider the astronomical amount of luck needed to get to top 8 at worlds with it. i did get extremely lucky at worlds though—i got to play this deck (instead of my runner) in three different 2-for-1s. it won all of them. i would also suggest you watch my game against abram. he plays it perfectly, taking calculated risks, checking a remote only when he's confident that i am about to win. sure enough, he won that game. he did not win through luck.

finally, a few shoutouts. first, a huge thank you to dan for creating such a ferocious deck and giving me plenty of advice on how to pilot it. he should be put in prison, and i along with him. next, thank you to my opponents for playing against this bananas deck without throttling me. i hope you found it to be a pleasant break from CTM, as i did. a special shoutout to the other two biotech players, both of whom were near top tables with me at the end of swiss. and finally, a huge thank you to the TorSaug community, who helped me hone my piloting skills with this deck and collaborated in building my runner deck. my worlds success is shared with dan and the rest of the toronto netrunner community, as it is thanks to them that i have become half-decent at this children's card game.

finally, fuck CTM. thank you.

28 comments
12 Sep 2018 scd

I love this. You are forever my hero.

12 Sep 2018 neuropantser

wish i could heart/star this 3x for the glasses push gif

12 Sep 2018 scd

How useful was the Mind Game?

12 Sep 2018 ptc

Watching this deck was one of my Worlds highlights. Great stuff.

12 Sep 2018 Agasha

Seriously. Fuck CTM.

12 Sep 2018 spags

I love the deck. I love the write up. I love the glasses-push-up-vs-tbb-hair-twirl.gif. I loved talking :241:.

Bravo.

12 Sep 2018 mo0man

The mind game was boss. There was one game in the cut where the runner ran it, let it fire, and lost the mind game to be sent to archives. Then he asked how many facedown cards there were in there, because of course the deck is running Domes. He jacks out, bottoming a fan site in the process. He breaks it every time after that.

There was a Future Perfect in there at the time.

12 Sep 2018 Reutan

You and Dan are my heroes.

12 Sep 2018 charlie_xavier

Jacob Yu you're my herooooo youtu.be

12 Sep 2018 MaximumSushi

hey i'm dan! yeah, i made this deck because i have been playing mushin for years and owned a brewery irl. i did very well this store champ season with this deck, winning one and coming second in another. our friend austin did very well in a chicago store champ with it as well. this is the exact decklist i used to win the store championship at 401 games except i had 2 mindgames and 1 miraju instead of the otherway around. just meta stuff ;)

lpl is def a very good card in this deck and will win you many games. i know! crazy, right?

i unforunately had to work on a ship in the arctic seas of canada all summer and missed worlds. i couldnt make it to the tournament. i really love playing this deck and am so incredibly happy that josh did so well at worlds with our ~cool~ off meta deck!

12 Sep 2018 lukesim3

Step 1: Mushin all the things

Step 2: Push glasses

Step 3: ????

Step 4: Win

15 Sep 2018 Cliquil

I've been busy swatting down anyone I hear use the dreaded "L" word when referring to this deck. Well played. As someone who plays similar decks (Mushin with consequences either way) I know how difficult it can be to read an opponent correctly.

15 Sep 2018 toomuchnoise

"Wait.....what, seriously? Fuckin' Biotech???" - everybody watching this thing go at Worlds. It ruled.

16 Sep 2018 JamesWinters

"There we were minding our own business, just doing chores around the house, when kids started killing themselves all over my property."

This deck is great. You can't just can't lose! Very based and redpilled.

18 Sep 2018 Chuftbot

I just found out about this because I've been away a long time.

This ID brought me the most joy in Netrunner. Thank you for showing people what it can do.

20 Sep 2018 apcud7

How did you advance two 5/3s (which each needed 2 tokens) and play clones all on the same turn?

20 Sep 2018 scd

Mushin too NPE mods plz ban this thx

20 Sep 2018 formerteen

@apcud7 those cards all had 4 advancements on them because this deck requires you to always mushin-advance. never ever mushin something without advancing it in the same turn. your mushin turn should always be mushin advance.

reasons:

  1. you need to be able to threaten the 7 point turn.

  2. four brain damage is the number you need to win.

  3. six net damage isn't that scary if they ended their last turn on a full hand or they have a single draw card.

  4. you need to threaten ronin (if they don't know your decklist).

basically you always want your cards to be as scary as possible and the way you do that is by putting things on 4 advancements.

27 Sep 2018 BlackCherries

Hi there, any tips for a kitchentop meta where Falsified Credentials is quite common?

3 Oct 2018 formerteen

@BlackCherries i played against a lot of falsified, actually! i ark lockdowned it twice at worlds. one time i actually used LPL to grab the lockdown. i think that's your best play against falsified. ultimately, you've got more traps/agendas/preemptives than they do falsifieds and same old things.

7 Oct 2018 Frission

I wish this had won against Jopp, but you did really well! Some of the comments after you lost were pretty aggrivating though. :/ I guess those people would rather see official netrunner end with nothing but CTM corps. -_- A deck like yours should be applauded for coming to Worlds and getting that far! it's the ability to build decks like this that make this game so great in the first place. :3

22 Oct 2018 Vortilion

Hi, do you always choose the Brewery? Or would it make sense to use another one?

24 Oct 2018 ladybunne

This deck rules, I love seeing weird stuff like Biotech flourish :D

25 Oct 2018 formerteen

@Vortilion the short answer is no. a longer answer: the only situations i can imagine choosing another ID would be 1) playing against Noise somehow or 2) doing it as a lark against someone who knows the deck really well. that way they'd never go to 1 card and you could maybe pull off a surprise win with the 4 advancement counters. so basically, no, you should always choose the brewery.

31 Oct 2018 teleworm

Thanks for the mind game of this I am happy with this that's why I am here sometimes I have an issue to find the support apple) application support was not found and its more important know about how to get the situation of this.

18 Nov 2018 Spyes

Could someone please provide a link to the GIF'd video? Thanks ^^ Also - badass deck! Thanks

18 Dec 2018 formerteen
6 Apr 2019 Vortilion

Any ideas of how to update it to Downfall / System Core 2019? I love this deck, guess I'll try switching the 2 The Future Perfect with 3 Fetal AI and removing 1 "Freedom Through Equality"... What do you think?