Geist Gamblecam 1.0

Decklists
1

Hey all

I’m been absent from the forums for a while because I took a year off from the game. I’m back in it and have started building a few decks. This is my latest Criminal brew:

Gamblecam 1.0

Armand “Geist” Walker: Tech Lord (The Underway)

15 influence spent (max 15, available 0)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to 23 Seconds

Decklist published on NetrunnerDB.

I’ve tested it a decent amount and revised it over a few weeks. I think it’s pretty well evolved. The core engine isn’t unique and I’ve seen a few other builds with similar pieces but I think this one does a good job of being strong throughout the game, a true midrange deck. You’re able to run early if you need to, can break into most servers midgame, and can develop that awesome credit pool full of inevitability in the late game.

Vamp is a head-scratcher for some but is key to lots of matchups- lets you turn that credit advantage into a massive tempo hit for the corp. Code gates on remotes are a weakness of the deck (max 6 breaks a game) and Vamp can prevent them from rezzing that ice- unrezzable ICE is the best kind of ICE. Additionally there’re three multiaccess cards in here, more than I see in some other decks: HQI, RDI, and Turning Wheel. I find the multiaccess to be more powerful than Spycam/FTE alone, such as when you haven’t been able to get PolOp down and they Jackson away that agenda on top. WIth RDI and/or the Turning Wheel it’s not a waste. HQI synergies very well with the Vamp/Siphon plan when you help force a flood midgame or you camera an agenda but can’t score it right away.

Deuces Wild is another head turner. I find it to be an excellent card early to set up, shifting to a very important tactical card mid to late for planning those key runs via the expose/run functionality. I try to avoid dead cards as much as possible and both Sure Gamble and Quality time were good early but useless in the stretch so it’s been a strong swap. Pretty much everything else besides the 2nd forger is never dead, and even that can get popped and replaced after a Siphon or vamp if you’ve got a hopper down for the link.

No Peddler because you want to see every card. No Replicator/Bazaar so you can pressure earlier.

Am considering a 2nd Polop or even a plascrete since the hoppers are mostly used for setup draw and the main damage/tag protection is money. A 2nd Levy would be nice for some matchups but the Cams really help with the efficiency of your runs. Would love to find room for a Crescentus again, which helps with the Code gate remotes stuff.

Comments welcome, especially from those who’ve been playing Geist longer than I have and want to share some lists! More broadly, this is my attempt to make a uniquely Criminal deck that has a chance in the current meta. I decided on Geist because draw was such a huge problem in every other ID but if you’re working on other Criminal stuff I’d love to hear about it.

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After playing it for a while now what changes have you made? Any new insights you have into the ID or plans based on new spoilers? I see you’ve already made the switch to cameras.

3

The only Head-scratchers for me are the R&D interface and the turning wheel. I’d spend the influence on a “real” decoder to be able to camp remotes better, and rely on Cameras and Legwork for central pressure.

4

Here’re the cards that are set in stone in my mind:

  • B&E Breakers (9 cards)
  • Vamp & Siphon for econ pressure (2 cards)
  • Levy and Same Old Thing (2 Cards)
  • Techies & Fall Guy for cash (9 cards)
  • Spy Cam (6 cards)
  • Freedom thru equality wins games (1 card)
  • Link: 1-2x Forger/Reflection + 3 hoppers (4-5 cards)

That’s 33-34 cards down. After that, we definitely need a permanent breaker suite (3 cards), which is negotiable, multiaccess of some form (1-3 cards), also negotiable. So you’re up to 37-40 cards that give you choices but need to be there. @pang4: you’re right that Gordian is a great include. So much influence though! I might suck it up and consider Peacock if I need the influence for something else.

Then you’ve essentially got 5-8 cards of teching like Crescentus, PolOp, Deuces or efficiency boosts like Scherizade or OffCampus. These slots basically should be meta calls to speed up or enrich the deck, though some like PolOp are likely to stay in for the foreseeable future. So for instance if you’re too slow add some Peddlers. If you’re petering out add an extra levy. Etc.

I’ve been looking to shore up the asset spam matchup so have tried 1x Paricia recently. Reflection seems like a good choice over Forger since it gives the needed MU and can let you know when HQ needs to be hit. I dropped the Scherizade and Offcampus for in-faction Autocripter as efficiency boost. And I added a Gordian for more reliable access to remotes. Here’s the current list:

Gamblecam w/Paricia and Gordian

Armand “Geist” Walker: Tech Lord (The Underway)

Event (7)

Hardware (12)

Resource (12)

Icebreaker (12)

Program (2)

15 influence spent (max 15, available 0)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to 23 Seconds

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

I took out the R&D interface for influence and with the Cams that’s OK for most matchups. Resource destruction is a worry for this deck, so don’t pop your Fall Guys if you expect All Seeing etc.

I’ve been very happy with the deuces for their synnergy with both Vamp/Siphon and the cams, letting you know if you can snipe that early agenda. I’ve learned that aggressive Camming early is almost always a good idea. Even if you can’t snipe it right off that will let you konw whether it’s likely to be worth it to hit HQ and/or the remote.

Jury’s still out on Paricia but asset spam decks, esp EOI tagging decks, has been a weakness so I think it’s a good add.

Haven’t gotten a chance to test Temüjin Contract but that or a Security Testing could be an alternative. I’d probably drop the Crescentus for them. But I’m wary of adding even more resource dependency. The deck tends to fold if someone can land an All Seeing Eye so I wanted to add some resilience via non-trashable stuff. It also synergises with the Writers and Autoscripter.

Speaking of Autoscripter, I added it back in because I found I was often unable to install all the cards I drew. Faster setup is definitely a good thing in all matchups and you usually can afford the 3 creds. At 1x you’re usually happy to see it but don’t fold without it.

I tried out Beth on Jinteki and really liked her in this deck but the influence is probably better spent elsewhere. See also resource vulnerability.

Definitely considering Golden for the Garrote. Derezzing is boss when you’ve got the econ advantage. See also Writer and Scripter synergies with the re-install.

I had 1x inside job in here for awhile but Gordian solves the remotes problem I often used it for much more completely so it got cut.

Hope that’s helpful! I’ve been testing this pretty much exclusively to get a sense of how to evolve it. From here I might play some Halyleycam for comparison and to test out the Bazaar/replicator stuff. This is a different style of deck than that (less reliant on long setup before running) but with some similar engine pieces.

5

Number of cards math is off in one or two places (I revised as I wrote) but you get the point.

Edit: nvm figured out how to edit :slight_smile:

6

The post Temujin list is looking something like this:

Peddle to the Metal (GNK winner)

Armand “Geist” Walker: Tech Lord (The Underway)

Event (6)

Hardware (10)

Resource (17)

Icebreaker (12)

15 influence spent (max 15, available 0)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Blood Money

Decklist published on NetrunnerDB.

2x Temujin 1x Tech Writer seems to be the right split.

Add networking for tag heavy metas and film critic for midseasons-heavy ones. I gambled without them on this list and took down a GNK.

Geist lives!