My LGS has an achievement league running right now. One of them is to win as a Runner without any factioned cards. What do you think the most competitive Neutral deck would look like? I am thinking Gabe for my ID, but feel free to argue for others.
(Sorry for no formatting, Meteor won’t work on the terrible work computers)
3 x Infiltration
3 x Dirty Laundry
2 x Kraken (there’s another achievement for destroying ICE with Kraken)
3 x Lucky Find
3 x Sure Gamble
= 14
3 x Prepaid VoicePAD
3 x Dyson Mem Chip
2 x Plascrete Carapace
= 8
3 x Overmind
3 x Crypsis
= 6
3 x Same Old Thing
3 x Armitage Codebusting
3 x Kati Jones
3 x Daily Casts
3 x Underworld Contact
2 x Access to Globalsec
=17
=45 (I think)
Without any form of card draw, redundancy is necessary. I don’t want dead UC in my hand, thus the 2 Globalsec. I may not have the Prepaid early game, but I figure they will make my SOT’d econ more efficient in the mid- and late-game.
Keep in mind, this is a casual achievement league. I am pretty confident that I can win with a Neutral deck, just asking for some feedback on this tentative list I just typed up in 5 minutes (not that there’s much wiggle room with the neutral card pool).
Aren’t you basically playing every neutral card there? lol
To be honest I think this is a pretty pointless thought exercise - even for casual play, unless the Corps are doing the same thing? The way the game is at the moment, the best runner decks are only about 50-50 with a tuned Corp deck. This is the Netrunner equivalent of cutting off both your legs and then challenging Usain Bolt over 100m.
You can probably get away with some of the chaff events and some blanks like Globalsec, but I think your big problem is your breakers. You’re going to have to pay for every single point of strength you encounter in the whole game and that will quickly add up (particularly if you’re paying money and clicks for Crypsis too).
As for ID - I think I’d disagree with Gabe. Because you have to pay through every ICE all his text is doing for you is saving $2 on a successful HQ run, but without multi-access tech and all the normal goodies (Desperado, Datasucker etc.) and the events to trigger on HQ runs those runs are going to yield a single access which is fairly useless for you. I’d either take Kate (for value) or Chaos Theory (the MU helps Overmind and the small deck means you can cut some of the crap).
John M? Not enough worthwhile runs maybe. Donut is possibly good. The Source probably isn’t.
I’d be seriously tempted by Whizzard as an ID or Reina. The Link is pretty tempting, tracing ice is unusual at the moment but running through it is way cheaper if you have link. underworld contacts is bobbins for 0 link runners.
Iain Stirling can afford to run those awful breakers…
I realized once I went back to work that Gabe isn’t a good choice. I hadn’t considered the Link angle, either. I was thinking Kate, but I hadn’t considered Whizzard or Iain. I have been playing a lot of Burke’s Motivational Iain, so maybe I will go with him. After all, the Corp is likely to get an early lead on me with this deck, so he would help leverage that (a bit).
It’s not a thought exercise; it’s just for a few extra Prestige points in the achivement league. I am pretty confident I can win with a neutral deck. It may be tough, but all the people I’ve encountered so far are very casual; most don’t own all the cards. I think this deck will be a fun challenge. As my posts on Stimhack attest, I’m not a cutthroat competitive player myself, either.
CT is worth considering too, mostly to trim the fat. 5 less cards would make the deck a tiny more efficient, which I’m going to need while manually drawing for everything. The 0 link hurts my intended UC econ, though. Same goes for Whizzard. I think Iain may be the strongest choice.
I feel like the deck probably has enough money in it, between the 3 different events (and Infiltration if you needed it), PPVP, and Kati/Casts. Underworld Contacts are probably not needed, which means you could also drop Access to Globalsec and potentially even the Dyson Mem Chips. Also means you could easily drop it to 40 cards and not miss a thing. Could make room for Donut or The Source.
Last month, I played exclusively neutral decks, both runner and corp, against everyone else’s normal league night decks and came out of it with a winning record.
I can tell you the following from that experience:
1 - You will absolutely want to play with x3 The Source. Without multiaccess, forcing the Corp to play the remote game is crucial. With lots of money and AI breakers your deck will be very good at playing a remote control strategy. Forcing the corp to play into the one strategy your deck excels at playing will win you games. The majority of my runner wins were directly attributable to The Source. Even against non fast advance it forces the corp to indicate agenda/non-agenda by upsetting advancement patterns, leading to more informed run decisions.
2 - Play Andromeda. This is sets up UC in the early game and compensates for your lack of card draw.
3 - Play Infiltration. The better informed your runs are, the fewer credits you will spend, Overmind counters you will blow.
PS I think go with Dyson Mem Chip or Access to Global Sec, but not both.
Thanks for your advice! I hadn’t considered The Source, but all your points are sound. Playing Andromeda would leverage dropping some link redundancy. I will post the results and final decklist afterwards.
