Help on CI and Hasty CI Decks

Hello everyone,

as I mentioned in several other topics already, I have just started playing Netrunner but I have a lot of experience with CCGs in general and ONR as well (it was a long time ago though).

We have a Regional coming up in less than 2 weeks, and I might try to attend.Given my style, I have been attracted to Fast Advance CI decks. I know, I know, this may be a bit ambitiuous for a newbie, but well…

First things first: do you think this is a reasonable choice in the meta ?

Then, I will start with those 2 decks for reference :

and

Are those decks good (as far as CI decks go) ? What are their fundamental differences ? Do some of the newest cards (from TD for instance) fit into/improve the decks?

I Have been looking at them and tried to play the 2nd one a bit but I sometimes fail to see the best lines of play and I am pretty sure I don’t get all the combo I should be doing. Hence, could someone please point me the different combos or things I should do with those decks (or point me to explanations already done by other people).

The way I understand the 2nd one :

  • you cannot score 7pts in one turn, but you advance agendas from hand, preferably starting with Eff Comm
  • Biotic Labor + Project Vitruvius (PV)
  • Once Eff Comm is scored, you can score PV from hand
  • the main combo is to (i) install agenda (ii) play Hasty Relocation (HR) putting 2 Shipment from San San (SSS) and 1 reclamation orders (RO) from HQ on top of R&D, (iii) then play Accelerated Diag (AD) to put 4 counters on agenda and get SSS back thanks to RO
  • are there other shenanigans I should be aware of ? Once Eff Comm has been scored, I guess other agendas are much easier to score.
  • however, you basically need a 5 card combo to score your first Eff Comm (1 Eff Comm, 1 HR, 2 SSS and 1 RO), it seems a bit unreliable, above all if the runner puts a bit of pressure on you. I guess the idea is to mulligan for econ and draw operations, draw cards and gain credits, put 1 cheap ice in front of both HQ and R&D and then wait for the combo, right ?

I have less experience with the 1st one, and it seems more obscure to me :

  • I guess the main interaction is between Advanced Assembly Lines (AAL), Lakshmi, Mushin and Shipment from MirrorMorph (SMM)
  • the idea seems to be to score 2 agendas in a few turns, playing a Lakshmi and then Mushin a Vanity or Global food with another one in handand then install multiple assets thanks to SMM to get counters on Laskshmi, and rez everything during runner’s turn.

Anything else ?

thanks !

Hasty CI (aka Space Penguins) is a solid chance in the current meta. Although you already discovered a weakness of the deck: If you don’t draw EC or Hasty/AC, you’re kinda stuck. And mostly in the early game all you do is gaining money and cards, which is kinda boring and not very interactive.

Luckily you play 3x off all the important cards so you have a good chance of drawing them early. Also, the combo can be adjusted if you are missing certain cards (but have others):

  • If you have no EC, just score a Vitruvirus with a counter. You can use that counter to fetch missing combo parts (Hasty, AC) from Archives, so you’re getting to your second score faster.
  • If you only have one SfSS, but a Biotic, you can still score agendas. Install agend first click, play Hasty second, put back SfSS/Biotic/something else. Play AC third click. Place two with SfSS, gain two clicks from Biotic to advance further. If you have a Lateral Growth, playing it as third Operation in the pile allows you to even score a Food from hand → First click Hasty, second click AD(install with Lateral, advance two times with SfSS, gain two clicks). Then you have three clicks left to advance the usual way.

A scored EC allows you to score basically everything from hand. It’s +3 clicks, so you can install agenda, advance, take clicks and then advance up to four more times with SfSS from hand. Actually, if you’re up against a slow setup deck it might be worth it to push trough an EC behind gearcheck ICE, just to have that option.

For the other deck you have: I’m no expert on Fashion CI, but I have the feeling it’s just a weaker version of the flavour of the month deck HB asset spam. And while this and Skorpios remain popular, everybody and their dog play Film Critic. And that’s a hard counter the Lakshmi combo, so I wouldn’t recommend that deck right now.

I agree that Hasty CI is the more robust deck (of the two), since it can deal with Employee Strike, little money, and other weaknesses of many other CI decks.

One important combo when playing Hasty CI that you didn’t mention:
With a scored EC you can win in one turn by scoring another EC and a GFI. Just install-advance the GFI, take EC-clicks, combo out the second EC, and play the last two SfSS manually. This is (in my limited experience) how most games should end if you are winning.

As @adquen mentioned, Hasty CI is very flexible. You can easily substitute different cards to adjust the combo or even play Hasty on one turn and then AD on the next,for example to score a GFI without needing extra clicks.

As far as cards go, take a look at Ultraviolet Clearance, Localized Product Line, and Subliminal Messaging. They can be helpful if you want to tinker with the deck a little.

@kiv played a bunch of CI Lakshmi a few months ago that he uploaded to his channel:

There 4 other videos in the last 5 months if you want to check his feed. I don’t think it’s the same deck, but the play style should be the same.

Ok, thanks everyone for the answers. Things are clearer now. I will focus on the Hasty CI deck I think.

Only 1 thing I am not sure I understand : “If you have a Lateral Growth, playing it as third Operation in the pile allows you to even score a Food from hand -> First click Hasty, second click AD(install with Lateral, advance two times with SfSS, gain two clicks). Then you have three clicks left to advance the usual way.”

For me you can score a 4-cost agenda with this combo, not a 5-cost one because you have 2 counters from SfSS and then 2 clicks to advance. Am I wrong ?

Click 1 hasty
Click 2 ad -> lateral growth, sfss, sfss/biotic
Click 3 advance.

That scores a 5/3.

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Ah yeah, thanks, did not count the biotic. This is indeed for when you want to finish the game and don’t care to get the SfSS back with RO.

I’m not sure, but I think Ultraviolet Clearance is good for Hasty. I assume this is so since every other clearance is good for CI.

Just answering your question about TD cards.

Yeah, indeed, that’s the one I will probably include when/if I get hold of TD cards.

Not sure you know, but since you said you just started recently, there is one important interaction with Ultraviolet Clearance: You cannot use it in place of Lateral Growth (for the install) during an AD combo, since you would draw the other two cards and then cannot play them with AD anymore.

It’s still a good card for Hasty CI, just one thing to keep in mind.