Kate Blitz: Who says only Criminals are aggressive?

Actually I had conceded about two datapacks ago that Corps have enough money to not be terribly bothered by denial unless you go all-in :p. Using and recurring two Emergency Shutdown was surprisingly uneffective, and corps were able to rerez fairly easily.

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Is anyone here found a solution for dealing with replicating perfection (untrashable ver). I played against it and got gobsmacked! With only 9 agenda cards in the deck, and only asset based econ, I found myself burning through my whole deck with no answer.

I’ve had some trouble with RP and Red Coats as well. Hopefully Imp will help us. I’ve had more success being more flexible so rather than hammering R&D I’ll switch gears to keep the corp on its toes. The only other solution I can think of is to combat click compression directly. Perhaps that upcoming resource Rachel that gives an extra click can help. It’s a bit expensive though.

Swapping Kati for Infiltration sounds good. I will miss her though. With 2 Armitage and 2 Infiltration we have a 1 in 3 chance of drawing an Armitage in the first eight cards, about 45% in ten cards.

The only thing I can think about that would help against this kind of decks is MO. Because those decks are in for the long game, and MO will help you keep the pressure longer.

I’m terribly sorry, but I have more food for thought :x

I’ve been studying tournament winning Shaper decklists. About 85% of them run the Scavenge/Test Run combo. Do y’all think we should attempt this? Femme (or Garrote) can be pumped via credits in an emergency to avoid Grim. Coupled with Tinkering, no two-ice server is safe from Femme, which is extremely powerful. I think I’d be comfortable cutting the other Sharpshooter if I did this to fit in two TR. Downside is that I am forced to wait until TR and Scavenge are drawn and can’t reasonably SMC it. I think getting a sentry breaker online before the first run is our highest priority what with the popularity of Caduceus and soon Jinteki ice. It’s a great, simple combo, but still a combo nonetheless, so I’m a bit leery here. I still want to keep an eye out for a better Killer and Fracter.

An alternative to MO for sustained economy is Levy AR Lab Access. I think MO is better-suited against straightforward glacier decks, but LARLA is better against Jinteki, program-trashing decks, and if you’ve used up all your recursion tools (and we can revert to Akamatsu’s). I can see an argument for either, though I think glacier is our bigger weakness right now.

Edit: Screw it, I’m going to test dropping Mimic and one Datasucker for Ninja. The top five Sentries I care about are Caduceus, Grim, Komainu, Archer, and Ichis. Link will most efficiently address the first, and Ninja is better-equipped to handle the rest. My lone Datasucker will drop Komainu and Archer into a more reasonable range, and work well enough with Parasite and Atman. Grim/Archer/Ichi 2.0 are just too prevalent in my meta and they screw with Mimic too hard.

I’ve tried the tr/Scavenge combo before, and it’s bloody slow. SMC is way faster and can get you stuff mid run.

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I’ve been loving the idea of returning to Kate since successfully piloting Katman at Plugged In and Worlds (17-2 over 4 events). I do believe you need speed thanx to the NBN rise.

Not sure if this is fast enough, but I was so enamored with the idea of a Prepaid deck that I decided to put this together. Prior to Lucky Find, I had Imp in there. With recursion, I’ve found it to be strong.

I don’t believe TR/Scavenge is optimal for this deck, but agree that Scavenge/Imp is super-tight.

PADman

Kate “Mac” McCaffrey: Digital Tinker (Core Set)

Event (18)
3x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)
1x Escher (Creation and Control)
1x Levy AR Lab Access (Creation and Control)
3x Lucky Find (Double Time) ••••• •
3x Quality Time (Humanity’s Shadow)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)
1x Test Run (Cyber Exodus)
3x The Maker’s Eye (Core Set)

Hardware (8)
3x Clone Chip (Creation and Control)
1x CyberSolutions Mem Chip (Fear and Loathing)
1x HQ Interface (Humanity’s Shadow) ••
3x Prepaid VoicePAD (Second Thoughts)

Resource (7)
1x Kati Jones (Humanity’s Shadow)
3x Professional Contacts (Creation and Control)
2x Public Sympathy (Cyber Exodus)
1x Same Old Thing (Creation and Control)

Icebreaker (6)
2x Atman (Creation and Control)
1x Corroder (Core Set) ••
1x Deus X (A Study in Static)
1x Femme Fatale (Core Set) •
1x Sharpshooter (True Colors)

Program (6)
2x Datasucker (Core Set) ••
1x Parasite (Core Set) ••
3x Self-modifying Code (Creation and Control)

15 influence spent (max 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Double Time

Deck built on http://netrunnerdb.com.

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Heh, Padman. I was considering Prepaid Voicepad as well. The only reason I elected not to go that route is that I want to cut as much fluff as possible so I have as many tricks as possible. Perhaps I should test it and LARLA as an alternative to MO though.

No Decoder?? I think you may want even just one Cyber Cypher or Gordian.

I’m really hoping continuing to test my build doesn’t show that we’ve diluted the essential pieces with too many tricks though. One thing I like with your build is it’s simplicity. You have abundant econ, your breakers, and your access enhancements. Now I have Imp, Scavenge, Tinkering and other shiny toys. We’ll see how it goes and I’ll try out Voicepad.

At least in adding Ninja I was able to cut down to one Datasucker and I took out the last Sharpshooter, opening up two slots.

I just added a Sharpshooter, dropping Kati, after reading the thread. A Decoder would be nice, but Katman crushed pre-Wraparound with no Decoder or Fracter. Parasite is a major tool, and Escher lines up the problems, esp. if you get them to ICE up Archives.

The PAD is a little trick, but the burst Econ May allow for a quick recovery/assault. SOT is mainly to protect the LARA. Once the PADs are out, the events (Lucky Find for 9, anyone?) are super-efficient.

Are you worried about FA? You should be. I see the Kate’s (at least one of them) that rocked the Paris Chronos had a Nerve. I went with the HQI. Both are nice. HQI is better v. CI.

I personally think that nerve is better as a one off, because we can tutor for it if we see an opening over HQ.

This is a very interesting list. I’ve tried Prepaid in Andy, but, like Hostage, I found it terrible for tempo. A Katman approach is more about board position / efficiency, though, so I like where it is going. Especially if it means you can avoid the Magnum Opus…

Definitely food for thought!

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After placing 2nd in a store championship with Kate Blitz thanks to this thread, I’ve been experimenting with different Shaper decks.

I tried a replicator/silencer/dagger deck that was pretty strong but really slow to get off the ground. I found it hard to find deck space for all the things I wanted to do. Prepaid with Replicator can make events extremely efficient but I ended up dropping it.

Lately I’ve been experimenting with a Stimhack Atman deck inspired by the Workshop Fast Rig post, here’s what I’ve come up with so far. I’d love some feedback.

Stim Blitz

Kate “Mac” McCaffrey: Digital Tinker (Core Set)

Event (12)
3x Diesel (Core Set)
2x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)
1x Levy AR Lab Access (Creation and Control)
3x Stimhack (Core Set) •••
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)

Hardware (11)
2x Akamatsu Mem Chip (Core Set)
3x Clone Chip (Creation and Control)
2x Grimoire (Core Set) ••••
2x Plascrete Carapace (What Lies Ahead)
2x R&D Interface (Future Proof)

Resource (9)
3x Daily Casts (Creation and Control)
1x Kati Jones (Humanity’s Shadow)
3x Personal Workshop (Cyber Exodus)
2x Public Sympathy (Cyber Exodus)

Icebreaker (6)
3x Atman (Creation and Control)
1x Deus X (A Study in Static)
1x Femme Fatale (Core Set) •
1x Inti (Creation and Control)

Program (7)
2x Datasucker (Core Set) ••
1x Nerve Agent (Cyber Exodus) ••
3x Self-modifying Code (Creation and Control)
1x Sneakdoor Beta (Core Set) •••

15 influence spent (max 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Creation and Control

Decklist published on http://netrunnerdb.com.

The general idea is to host Atman and R&DI on Personal Workshop and then Stimhack R&D early, installing Atman mid run to desired strength. I’ve found it to be pretty flexible. Inti is there for Wraparound, Femme for big ice/Swordsman, and Deus X for Snare/Jinteki.

One thing I love about Shaper is how flexible it can be so I’ve tried to bring a lot of tools but perhaps narrowing focus of this deck would make it better. In the few test games I’ve played with it, surprise Sneak Door + Nerve Agent is nasty, especially when you hammer R&D early.

I’m still trying to figure out the best way to spend influence. Parasites seem good in this deck but in practice I haven’t found them very helpful. I feel like Femme can fill a similar role if needed, especially with Personal Workshop on the board. I’ve also tried Doppleganger/HQ Interfaces instead of Nerve Agent/Grimoire, I’m not sure which is better. Maybe I should remove the console altogether?

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I’m still running my 1.4 Siphon list, and went 3-1 at FFG’s April monthly on Monday, bringing my tournament record with the deck to 12-3.

You definitely need to be careful with your Siphons, but it’s still great (obviously). However, I think its days are numbered, so I’m still working on the Imp list I posted most recently. Nice to see some different takes on Kate - I’m going to be looking closely at these lists as I tinker (pun intended).

I find that the games I lose are the ones where I whiff on multiple Indexing runs. This is especially true now that Caprice is a thing and remotes can be very hard to get into. With 3 Indexing and 2 SOT, I don’t have trouble making 3 Indexing runs in a long game, but if those 3 runs turn up 2x Clone Retirement like they did in my very annoying 50-minute game against a PE player in round 1, it’s hard to get those last few points. The problem is that the other main option, R&D Interface, is worse against Jinteki. We’re pretty good against Jinteki now - yesterday was my first loss to Jinteki and I could probably have gotten a timed win if I hadn’t wanted to play the second game - but losing Indexing would hurt thr matchup and Jinteki is about to be all over the place. (It’s already overrepresented in Minnesota, which is another reason why I switched to TWIY*.)

Still, the problem remains: what happens if you make 3 Indexing runs and get almost nothing? On the one hand, that’s rare and I have a great record with the deck, so maybe I should just chalk it up to occasional bad luck. On the other hand, though, I think there’s an opportunity for the Imp list. If you Index and see no agendas, you probably saw a mix of ice, economy, and maybe traps (lumping Ash/Caprice into that category for now). Just put the card you like least on top, run again, and Imp it. Bonus: maybe they blow a facedown Jackson to shuffle away, opening a new Indexing window.

Jackson hurts, though. Caprice plus Jackson causes real problems for Indexing, and both are going to be in a ton of decks. We could free up deck space by switching to 2-3x R&DI and cutting SOT; the free space could be used to shore up the Jinteki matchup somehow. I don’t know how to approach that, though, and I have to admit that I have an almost irrational love of Indexing.

Interestingly, I saw five players on TWIY*, and saw them all (myself included) lose to aggressive Shapers, both with and without Siphon. We definitely have more than enough for that matchup, and the prevalence of Shaper in my meta plus the release of Caprice has me playing with some different decks (Lysander’s Caprice troll deck and dual combo Weyland).

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A very interesting read and the decklists posted are quite cool. Looking at the different versions I think a lot of problems could be solved by dropping 5 influence (Grimoire and Imp) and replacing them with something else would allow you to swap to Kit adding a lot of extra utility to most of the tricks in the deck. On the downside almost everything is going to be more expensive but is that really a problem when a single CyberCypher is such a big threat in the beginning?

I’ve contemplated Kit several times, and I agree this deck would work for her. My primary issue I think is that I’m just bad at playing her. The only other issue is that after midgame, she’s pretty much lost her ability and she has very few tricks to get back into the game.

Still, I think someone can (in theory at least) get quite a bit of mileage out of this archetype with Kit.

I’m not so certain her ability is lost after midgame - if your decoder needs to be pumped by two less than your fracter, you’re still getting 2 credits per turn/run out of it. If a code gate is first on each relevant server, doesn’t that just mean you get so much more value out of Escher and Parasite?

Do we actually need the Plascrete when we have Indexing, Imp, and Magnum Opus? With MO we can stay ahead economically so we don’t lose the trace, be it Midseason, Sea Source or Punitive Counterstrike. With Indexing and Imp we get some degree of control which cards the corp has available.

I considered the same, but with Jackson being a thing, we definitely need them. Imp and Indexing have allowed me to greatly push back the opponent’s timetable, but especially with heavy draw, it’s not unlikely for the opponent to get the necessary components.

Plus we’re about to have to start preemptively Plascreting against most Jinteki opponents.

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This is my version on this deck that i ran today at Chronos Protocol, got top 4.
if you have any questions or thoughts, they are more than welcome. (i posted an earlier version on the BBG forums)

Kate
Total Cards: (45)
Event (14)
Diesel (Core #34) x3
Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control #52) x3
Sure Gamble (Core #50) x3
Scavenge (Creation and Control #34) x2
Escher (Creation and Control #31) x1
Test Run (Cyber Exodus #47) x2
Hardware (11)
Clone Chip (Creation and Control #38) x3
Akamatsu Mem Chip (Core #38) x2
Plascrete Carapace (What Lies Ahead #9) x2
R&D Interface (Future Proof #107) x2
Desperado (Core #24) x2 ■■■
Program (16)
Atman (Creation and Control #40) x2
Cyber-Cypher (Creation and Control #44) x1
Deus X (A Study in Static #66) x1
Self-modifying Code (Creation and Control #46) x3
Femme Fatale (Core #26) x1 ■
Datasucker (Core #8) x2 ■
Parasite (Core #12) x2 ■■
Corroder (Core #7) x1 ■■
Magnum Opus (Core #44) x2
Sharpshooter (True Colors #67) x1
Resource (4)
Kati Jones (Humanity’s Shadow #91) x2
Daily Casts (Creation and Control #53) x2
Influence Values Totals –
 Anarch: 8
 Criminal: 7

Edit: posted this after a full day of netrunner and a total of 5 hours driving (over the whole day)
will have better thoughts tomorrow

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Looks very similar to my original decklist! I’m glad to see it worked well for you.