CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES (Startup, ~80% winrate on Jnet)

HolyMackerel 1460

We had a discussion in the GLC Startup Channel if you could make something viable with Ken, also if Jailbreak was any good. Contrarian as I am, I decided to try to make something happen.

Decklist is pretty stock, nothing crazy or out of the ordinary. The lack of backup breakers might scare people, but it's counterbalanced by a few things:

  • Boomerang and Inside Job are excellent, both early and late. With them, you don't need a full rig until the very late game.

  • Facechecking is the name of the game, as long as you don't expect Saisentan. Few things punish you very hard.

  • Harmony AR Therapy can recur programs in a pinch.

Tranquilizer for Centrals, so you can keep pressure up in the midgame.

On Swift vs Pennyshaver: Swift is fantastic against SkunkVoid, gives you time to draw cards and refuel, and money is usually not a problem if you manage your Prepads decently.

Is the deck better in Zahya or Steve? Maybe. But the Ken credit has actually been pretty good so far, dripping on turns when I normally wouldn't make money as Zahya. Plus, people expect actual good decks out of those runners, so Ken might earn you some underdog-points too.

Go forth, ride motorbikes, and steal all the points.

10 comments
14 Jun 2021 Diogene

Why not use I've Had Worse instead of Diesel. It seems to me that its added protection is well worth the 1 spending.

14 Jun 2021 Kronar

@Diogene Startup is gonna be the most likely answer I assume. But also being able to save your Prepaids for other events since they all make you money/make money back goes a long way.

And @HolyMackerel as a fellow Ken fanboy for a long time.... I love it. Ever consider shifting the Diesel influence into 2x Leech & maybe a Mystic Maemi to make the late game runs better/purge pressure?

14 Jun 2021 HolyMackerel

@Diogene Kronar has the answer - Startup format doesn't have IHW. There's a lot of cool events you'd run in Standard like Diversion of Funds, Embezzle, Run Amok... but that ain't the format we run in.

@KronarI've been toying around with the influence a lot, and Diesel is the latest attempt. Leech doesn't seem good for this deck though, since it doesn't help the plan of intense earlygame pressure. We want to make high-impact runs, while Leech serves more as a transition into the lategame. I might want to cut stuff for a oneof Botulus, though.

14 Jun 2021 Kronar

Y'know, that makes a lot of sense. Time to pull a handful of bad cards outta my Standard Ken list now. I know Ken is definitely not "the call" in Standard but the tools you get to work with in it are too fun, plus no matter how hard I try to build in Startup.... I end up back in Standard.

Botulus is just another card I forget about. But I think I definitely agree on Pennyshaver vs Swift. Ken isn't short on cash, and who would turn down a 5 turn??

14 Jun 2021 Diogene

@HolyMackerel here some ideas (thanks for the correction, when I imported the deck, I forgot to put it in startup).

  1. Boomerang is important and versatile, having 3 of them is better. I would suggest cutting Tread Lightly for it, or go full on Tread Lightly. This would synergize even better with your ID and Swift.

  2. For draw, one The Class Act could replace the 2 Diesel. Which would free space for other things.

  3. Buzzsaw is absurdly good in startup. Anything that you can't break with it, you can break with Boomerang. It would also synergize with the proposition for using Leech.

  4. Instead of using The Maker's Eye, you could have 3 of Harmony AR Therapy and get back Jailbreak for multiaccess.

  5. Alternatively, if you add one Rezeki and one Scrubber, you would be setup to use Khusyuk.

I'll try those and tell you the results of my tests. I've always liked Ken "Express" Tenma: Disappeared Clone and have fond memories of my 40 events Ken deck. Thanks for sharing your deck and giving me inspiration. Cheers!

15 Jun 2021 HolyMackerel

Interesting suggestions.

I've been of the opinion that I don't want to use support programs, since it dilutes your aggression. You just want your breaker to work, with no caveats. That's why I'm hesitant to slot Buzzsaw or Cleaver over Unity. Yes, the Anarch breaker suite is bananas. But if all you're relying on is tricks and Mutual favor, it could be very hard to patch together those high-impact runs using tools like Buzzsaw.

16 Jun 2021 Diogene

@HolyMackerel here is the changes I made after our discussion and some tests : netrunnerdb.com

My hot takes, explaining why I changed some stuff (while keeping your amazing idea of a deck) :

1.More Swift, because it is essential for the deck. For Ken "Express" Tenma: Disappeared Clone, it is the equivalent (almost) of Aniccam.

2.Overclock is very useful for trashing stuff. Without it, asset spam were difficult to deal with.

3.Legwork over Jailbreak here, because the game goes fast and I want run with more impacts.

4.Rezeki is like Prepaid VoicePAD, but better. It help way more than Tranquilizer or a third Prepaid VoicePAD.

5.Second Mutual Favor, because there is only one copy of each breaker.

6.Gordian Blade over Unity. It deal with glacier much better and break low strenght code gate better.

7.Boomerang over Tread Lightly. The econ pressure was not as important as getting access here. Since we play Inside Job, along with Boomerang, it allow for a very good remote lock.

8.I really tried to make 3x Harmony AR Therapy work, but it is just too slow. In most games, it was not even played once.

Long winded. But I really like the deck and I had fun tweaking it. My version has a more narrow tool kit, but I feel it is impactful and more resilient to econ warfare. Also, it does not do econ warfare anymore, that is the main difference between our iterations.

Thanks for the chat online and you feedback on my wild suggestions. It is a lot of fun. Cheers!

17 Jun 2021 HolyMackerel

Oh, this came up in a discussion Diogene and I had:

I'm a Shaper at heart, so 1 of each breaker is normal to me. But it does make you susceptible to rigshooting, especially SDS Drone Deployment. If you suspect it in any way, save your HART to recur programs.

19 Jun 2021 Shorty

Front page Ken, thats something that needs to be highlighted! =)

19 Jun 2021 Baa Ram Wu

This looks like a lot of fun for Startup Ken.

There could be a decent argument for a single Khushuk replacing 1 Makers eye - You have enough 2c installs (with PPVP, Docklands, Corroder, Tranq and Swift) to justify 1x which could be a powerful thing to recur with Harmony.