Yeah, that is the strategy. Build up the Kati to dump when you score something. Of course, that creates issues that every install could be a Breaking News waiting to trash your Kati. And the problem with Nasir is that if you do dump off a big chunk of money and prevent the Midseasons/SEA, then that money will be gone after the first Pop-up rez.
I can’t help but wondering whether Disrupter wouldn’t be terrible in Nasir. If you’re running link like Toolbox, that puts you at 3 creds already, you fire a Disrupter makes a successful Midseasons rather expensive. Cuts 5 off of Punitive too. Not great versus SEA.
The problem here is having to think up (and put in your deck) all this off the wall jank just to plug a hole, after which you need to start thinking about methods of winning.
Another 1 inf safety blanket is Fall Guy. That will at least protect Kati/PW’s from never-advanced Breaking News. Plus, the 2 emergency credit clause can be useful for Nasir.
I actually did run a 1-of Disrupter when I experimented with Nasir in the early Lunar Cycle, and it did save my bacon once from PC after I accidentally stole 6 AP in two consecutive clicks. It turned out that the corp actually did have just enough to land the kill if he’d just taken a credit for his first click instead of drawing, but he realized too late. But hey, it threw him off enough for the opportunity to pass him by. I had The Toolbox in that deck, and Dyson chips for memory, so I could often reach 5 link without too much trouble.
Still, doing the math again I’m not sure the Disrupter is worth it. You pay 2 to trigger SMC and 1 to install it (and 1 card slot and influence), so you net 3 credits against a Midseason or 2 against a single PC. Then again, I suppose keeping it on the table with 3+ link might make at least Midseasons a lot less appealing (5c for a trace 0? No thanks…), but it probably won’t help much against double PC. And it’s definitely not worth spending it on a trace 3 or lower. Disrupter is most definitely not unplayable, it’s just in a very narrow niche as of yet.
I still haven’t found a solution that allows Nasir to get into a Big ETR (tollbooth or similar) scoring remote when the big etr is rezzed and there’s an unrezzed quandary/ice wall/binary etr in front of it. You can force the rez of the cheap etr, but your opponent will score out in that server and rinse and repeat.
Blue Sun hugely compounds this problem for Nasir because you can bounce your binary etr back to hand.
I suspect datasucker over crescentus in classic Nasir list is a big improvement for this exact reason. Toolbox over Astrolabe is compelling too.
Suckers and Parasite recursion is a pretty sweet solution to that problem. If the little ice is str 0 and you have a Clone Chip you don’t even lose your money! If it’s any higher and you need to sucker it then you have to encounter and will go broke, but only once. And ‘going broke’ is a relative term here - usually it translates to ‘invested into something on the Workshop’.
Recurring credits work well with Battering Ram, Gordian Blade and Dagger to solve this too, but an Ash on the other side of that ice stack would pose a problem. Another option is to bounce on that cheap ice (spending all your money on the Workshop, then Kati or Stimhack and go back in.
At the risk of getting into another “arguing with spikes that will never play Nasir” whirlpool (not an accusation against anyone in particular, ofc, it just tends to happen with conversations about Nasir) I’ll just say: stimhack, instant-speed parasite (only works if quandary, pup, wraparound, rototurret, or pop-up is your low-cost buffer), d4v1d, sometimes lady+ghost runner, femme, regular old efficient breakers + MO… I’m sure there are a few I’m forgetting.
I won’t try to make the case that Nasir is T1: he’s not, and likely never will be. But he is wily as f*** and very hard to predict and play around perfectly, and often gets big scores because unfamiliar or overconfident players assume “I can just do X to shut out Nasir lol.”
as a general side note, if you or the Nasirs in your meta haven’t/aren’t playing “Solidarity” based decks, you have not yet played Nasir. There are other decks out there that are fun for him, but imho it is the gold standard of what makes Nasir boss, and if you don’t at least have that deck in mind when playing/building Nasir you’re a step behind.
Back on topic, blue sun is a mixed bag for nasir. OAI is generally a joke as d4v1d is his best friend, and the blue sun ability is in general a boon to Nasir, but EBC is a real threat, and pretty much every blue sun deck right now has 3x. You need to get on top of it early, so it’s definitely must-trash in this matchup.
Of course, and that’s another drawback. But you’ll always see the traces you might want to use it for (Midseasons, PC and maybe Ash) coming before it’s too late to fetch it.
This really helps. I haven’t unsleeved my Nasir deck since he was released and have settled basically on the ‘solidarity’ list you mentioned.
I’m looking for solutions and have a wily play group who has figured out a number of tricks like this to prevent Nasir from getting into their scoring remote. They’ll typically bait out the Stimhacks and it’s usually small, but not zero strength ETR that is their weapon of choice. The problem with the first click face-check is that it leaves you with only a couple of creds. Opus twice and then you have to run on a 7 or 8 cred server, possibly at an NAPD or something, without enough money to do so. Then they just score out, and replace the cheap etr.
I’m still in the place where I’m certain the deck has a solution, but wasn’t having much luck so I thought I’d rant a bit here and let the internet help me figure it out.
What I 've noticed here is the most people assume Nasir will be hitting a specific server.
For example you usually see Ash on a scoring server. You can just keep the pressure on HQ/R&D. You might run into an Ash when you go into that remote server, and even if you dont get the agenda you can trash him, then either go again or if the run is now too expensive resume hitting R&D/HQ. I personally rarely see an Ash when I play anyway.
The most serious issue is getting tagged. The way I try to work around that is basically is accept that at some point there is the chance i ll get tagged. Running 3 plascretes could help with not caring about SE or punitive as much, and if you dump your Personal Workshop programs/hardware you dont care about losing them. I rarely have them loaded with things mid/late game (and thats when I will get tagged, If I get tagged at all in a game).
I am far from a pro player ofc so I dont know how effective/efficient this would be in a more competitive environment, but I believe at least Ash is not something you should really say creates problems for Nasir.