I would think if you wanted to keep with the Parasite Andromeda plan (which I think is stronger than the R&D Interface version) you could take the deck that I ran in Durham (that spags posted above), with the following changes:
-2 Easy Mark
-1 Gordian Blade
-1 Stimhack
-1 Corroder
-2 R&D Interface
+2 Mr. Li
+1 Zu.13 Key Master
+2 Parasite
+2 Clone Chip
Maybe take out an Account Siphon (it seems the vast majority of the time I’m using it to force the Corp to spend money and not actually take the money!) and some of the Ninjas for Faeries or Femmes as well.
There are a few problems with this setup, namely that Zu is a lot less efficient in a potential post-Lotus Field meta that may include things like Enigma and Datapike. However, the Parasites can be used to clear these nasty Code Gates out of the way. Another doubt I might have might be MU-issues, but these are essentially the same programs MU-wise that most Criminals run nowadays, so I guess it’s not that big of a negative (if it is an issue, certainly add some Faeries).
I also like how this rig is far more resilient against rig destruction decks that use things like Power Shutdown, Grim, and Aggressive Secretary. With only one Corroder, one must not be afraid of Same Old Thing’ing a Special Order to find all of their breakers.
If I were continuing to play Andromeda, or if I am to come back to her before Worlds, I may give these changes a try. I just wasn’t confident using Parasites before Durham in order to execute something along these lines.
EDIT: Before the Durham tournament one of the guys I came up from Atlanta with was talking about how he wanted to bring at least one card of R&D pressure (he was thinking Maker’s Eye with Same Old Thing to recur it) one of our friends who moved out to California told him to “leave the teddy bear at home” (or something quite humorous along those lines!). Which I think I’ll need to start trying. R&D digging seems so great, but having watched and played against the no R&D dig Parasite decks has really changed my opinion.
I think criminals at this point should either be completely all in on siphon training the corp (little to no resources, bringing in tricks and possibly deja vu), or they should cut them. Clearing tags slows you down too much if you’re on resource econ, and siphon-less econ means you get to run a decoy and save a few deck slots on plascrete. I’ve had decent success with it as well (second at TC regional, local tournament win afterwards)
Yeah, great call. If I start the Siphon train, the SOTs are going towards them, as well. If I never drop one, they become a discard. Playing RP in the warmup tourney for the WI Regional, I faced 4 Crims, and most of them discarded Siphons (a great feeling), as it was just too expensive to do it, usually going through a Tsurugi/Komainu, and then an ETR piece of ICE.
Plus, against NBN, Weyland, and some Jinteki, you NEED to clear tags nowadays. One Ken player I played floated ONE tag against me, for DLR, and I Closed him three times.
I agree. Generally if you’re Tagging, you’re killing with Scorched, or else Psychobealing. Hard to pack it expecting self-tags, and if you’re going to actively Tag them, what’s the huge deal with -2 MU anyway? Generally the Runner has their Console out and so they’re keeping 3 Programs. It feels like a niche card to me, like Cyberdex Trial.
Yeah, there’re few deck types that’re overly hurt by it. Anarchs have big consoles and Djinn, Shapers have mem chips, and Criminal tends to run light pretty easily. In basically all cases, you need to double-tap Bad Times to have any real impact unless they need absolutely every program. If they do, hey, it’s useful to chip away at that, some.
It’s great to have something that is influence-free tag punishment for the odd HB/Jinteki deck that might put a number of tags out but not have a means of doing much with 'em, but generally speaking, Scorched and Closed Accounts are likely easier to make use of.
I don’t think it’s terribly out of the question to jam them in a midseasons deck to replace scorch and save a bunch of influence, but it’s not going to be everywhere. Also, it’s pretty reasonable to jam it in any CI deck with Archived Memories because it’s a 0-influence unpreventable way to stomp tag floaters in one card, (you really need to play 2 Badtimes for it to beat someone).
Anyway, don’t cut Account Siphon. Aside from the fact that it lets you stomp all over just-ok players who aren’t adept at defending it, it’s also just huge in general any time you land it. You can use it to burn their money out before running remotes, you can run it blind when you think the facedown ICE is a bluff and just win the game, you can remove tags, you can not remove tags… I don’t know… the card is just super dynamic. At the very least you can use it on a regular old HQ run to make them spend a bunch of money. Maybe most importantly, it puts most random jinteki and weyland decks just completely out of the game.
If you’re not landing profitable account siphons in more than half of your games, you’re doing something wrong, no matter who is on the other side of the table. What you replace it with, (more legworks and inside jobs?) is not going to be better enough of the time, even if you (almost) always remove the tags.
[quote=“mediohxcore, post:29, topic:1413”]
Anyway, don’t cut Account Siphon. Aside from the fact that it lets you stomp all over just-ok players who aren’t adept at defending it, it’s also just huge in general any time you land it. You can use it to burn their money out before running remotes, you can run it blind when you think the facedown ICE is a bluff and just win the game, you can remove tags, you can not remove tags… I don’t know… the card is just super dynamic. At the very least you can use it on a regular old HQ run to make them spend a bunch of money. Maybe most importantly, it puts most random jinteki and weyland decks just completely out of the game.[/quote]
beating “just ok” players and substandard decks doesn’t help too much, I can beat those things on my own and deck slots are tight
“If you’re not landing profitable account siphons in more than half of your games, you’re doing something wrong, no matter who is on the other side of the table. What you replace it with, (more legworks and inside jobs?) is not going to be better enough of the time, even if you (almost) always remove the tags.”
replaced it with more economy and a second legwork, which I occasionally take out for a sneakdoor. legwork, sneakdoor and having a lot of money are all really strong against the current top decks
I concur on the mimic. Ninja just can’t get the job done against the most common jinteki tax ice. I hate to have to tech against Jinteki, but… Tsurugis and Komainu’s everywhere :)!
I also agree that—at least against the better players in my local meta—account siphons are not as useful as they once were unless I can land them in a huge volley.
There are a lot of decks that CAN beat the RP deck. The problem is that it’s very hard to play perfectly and you need all the help you can get. Anarchs tend to have better matchups than criminals and shapers, though I think the siphon decks tend to be a little bit easier because of how shut down they are by Caprice on HQ. You still have to respect Siphon against any anarch until you see a whole fuckton of influence. Still, even the Siphon decks can turn the matchup on its head in the sense that the corp ends up being the side that has to play a really tight game not to get blown out.
BTW if anyone feels like designating the deck a name, Genestealers has been calling it Soulcrusher, which I like because it’s exactly how the deck plays out. As soon as you score that Nisei the runner has to play for 15-20 minutes in a severely demoralized state. Anyway, glad to see it continues to soulcrush despite time concerns. I’ll probably be bringing it to my regionals.
I saw this on the Facebook Netrunner group, and although off topic slightly, I was curious what the deck looks like. Does it run any R&D dig at all? That’s my biggest issue ATM with trying to squeeze Parasites into Andy w/ the Suckers - getting any R&D dig at all.
Apt name! I ran against the “Soulcrusher” this weekend in the championship round of a small (10 player) tourney with my variation on pre-paid Kate. He started with very little ICE and all econ, so I was able to hit 6 points very early. Since he’d played 3 Celeb Gifts by like turn 6, I made the mistake of ignoring his money in a gambit to get that last point. […]
One hour later I was psi-gaming for the game-winner agenda, but lost. #soulcrushed
If it hadn’t been the final round, I’d’ve gotten a timed win
If you thought it was hard to fit R&D dig into Andy alongside Parasites, try doing it after losing 2 influence to break Lotus Field. This is a discussion for another post, obviously, but having access to 2+ Parasites in andy deck gives you a fair game against Soulcrusher. Komainu, Tsurugi, and Pup really need to be answered in some other way than pay $4 to break if you’re going to beat RP.
Interesting to see Mr. Li after all of the flak he has gotten through the year since his release.
You comfortable with only 1 Plascrete I guess? I’d try to fit a 2nd if possible but you’d likely have to cut an Infiltration or Inside Job. Solid list though!
Mr. Li is one of the best cards in the deck by far. It is absolutely essential, and has won me a ton of games. I would say I likely click him at least 10 times a game, if not more. As far as RP is concerned, in my playing, I haven’t lost to it. It seems parasite and security testing rip it apart. I have never been bothered by a Caprice on HQ either, it means she isn’t in the remote, and I am stealing the agendas.
In my testing, Mr Li is a lot worse than Quality Time because you don’t need to get QT on quickly whereas Li loses a lot of value as you get deeper into the game, (whereas Quality Time inevitably gets you somewhere you need to be as long as you’re not making yourself shit broke). However, with the advent of Lotus Field, I fear that there’s no room to fit it on the influence without sacrificing in other departments.
I’ve been playing with Parasites for a while. Initially, I started with a Clone Chip and 2, but I found the Clone Chip to be just okay. Being able to install Parasites on the go is great, but it never rescued a breaker for me, and it’s usually more important to get Parasites online ASAP than it is to be able to instant-install them. The situations where I drew Clone Chip first were just super annoying. In the end, though, I think Parasites are pretty necessary for Andy to combat RP, (and it’s just a fucking awesome card). It mitigates the need for RDI because you can often just keep R&D cheap enough to run every turn by killing ICE, but that’s not to say I think it’s better than RDI vs NBN and HB FA, (or even necessarily the Red Coats, because sometimes you can’t help but click through R&D Heimdalls for Brain Damage).
I think the best influence for Andy right now is something like:
