I’ve been thinking about where to go with my pre-paid Kate deck, and how it might get a better matchup against NEH. Against NEH, there are just so many cards that cost influence that I want, like medium and imp, and if you draw badly your econ just never gets started. Then I realized, why should noise get all the fun with Cache? We can run Aesop’s instead of PPVP as our economy enabler, and replace the lucky find’s with Cache’s, saving 3 influence. With Kate’s discount and Aesop’s, we get 6 credits for 1 click- equivalent to a sure gamble with 2 PPVP’s out. Once we’re running Aesop’s we want daily casts as well, so this can replace dirty laundry, netting us 6 credits for 1 click as well, although over 3 turns instead of 2.
The nice thing about Aesop’s over PPVP is that you only need to see 1, whereas you really want at least 2 PPVP’s, which don’t always show up. Also, you don’t need the Aesop’s right away- we can install the cache and get the money, then pawn it in a future turn, same for daily casts. A final advantage is that lots of our duplicate cards turn into easy marks if we need the money. Akamatsu memchips, extra SMC’s, spare datasuckers, Inti against non-NBN matchups, used up imps, even clone chips in a pinch can all turn into easy marks if you need the money.
With that in mind, here’s what I came up with. This list is pretty untuned, I’ve only been playing it for about a week, but early results show promise:
Here’s my list:
Identity: Shapers: Kate “Mac” McCaffrey
Cards: 45 / 45
Influence: 15 / 15
Event (13)
2x Diesel
3x Indexing
2x Scavenge
1x Stimhack ●
3x Sure Gamble
2x Test Run
Hardware (5)
2x Akamatsu Mem Chip
3x Clone Chip
Program (18)
3x Atman
3x Cache ●●●
3x Datasucker ●●●
1x Deus X
1x Imp ●●●
1x Inti
1x Medium ●●●
1x Parasite ●●
3x Self-Modifying Code
1x Sharpshooter
Resource (9)
3x Aesops Pawnshop
3x Daily Casts
3x Professional Contacts
I decided to go with a datasucker/Atman set up for my breakers, since I can spare the influence for datasuckers. This also helps make medium good, by allowing you cheap multiple accesses once you get set up.
I’ve been playing around with this deck, and I really like the way the economy works. The medium and imp have been great, and I usually have plenty of credits. Its been a lot of fun to play, and I think it has potential. I’m not sure about the professional contacts- I’ve been going back and forth between that and just running a third diesel and a pair of quality times. I’d love to fit some legworks in, but I’m not sure what to cut- I could try losing the stimhack and either the medium or the imp for 2 of them, but I’m not sure. Also, I’m torn about the indexing’s- they seem like the right call with atman, but maybe maker’s eye would be better.
The economy package is what I really like about this deck- I’m not sure what the right shell to play it in is. It lets us play all of the shaper tricks we know and love, with a bit more influence to fit in some toys, and hopefully do a bit better against NEH. I’d love some help tuning the deck, and advice is always welcome.