Chronos Protocol - You don't need that card do you?

Therad · September 9, 2015, 12:28pm

Hi, I noticed that there is no dedicated Chronos Protocol thread, so… here it is.

My idea is to use Chronos Protocols ability in tandem with blacklist to make your victory inevitable. Trash their breakers and score out your agendas.

Blacklisting Protocol

Chronos Protocol: Selective Mind-mapping (The Universe of Tomorrow)

Agenda (9)
3x Fetal AI (Trace Amount)
1x House of Knives (Honor and Profit)
2x NAPD Contract (Double Time)
3x The Future Perfect (Honor and Profit)

Asset (8)
2x Blacklist (Breaker Bay) [color=#FF8C00]••[/color]
3x Jackson Howard (Opening Moves) [color=#FF8C00]•••[/color]
3x Shock! (True Colors)

Operation (12)
3x Celebrity Gift (Opening Moves)
3x Hedge Fund (Core Set)
3x Neural EMP (Core Set)
3x Restructure (Second Thoughts)

Barrier (6)
3x Galahad i[/i] [color=#708090]•••[/color]
2x Himitsu-Bako (Opening Moves)
1x Wall of Thorns (Core Set)

Code Gate (6)
2x Enigma (Core Set)
2x Lotus Field i[/i]
2x Merlin (All That Remains) [color=#708090]••[/color]

Sentry (6)
1x Ichi 1.0 (Core Set) [color=#8A2BE2]••[/color]
3x Lancelot (First Contact) [color=#708090]•••[/color]
2x Pup (Honor and Profit)

Other (2)
2x Data Mine (Core Set)
15 influence spent (max 15)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to The Universe of Tomorrow

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

Deck choices:
Agendas: Fetal & house of knives for net damage, tfp to minimize steals. NAPD could probably be a hades + another house of knives. Another alternative is to use more 4/2 (medicals perhaps?) and use emps to see if you have a scoring window.

Shock over snare:
Works everywhere and are cheaper. This is not a kill deck, it is a control deck.

Assets: blacklist because it works quite well with chronos. Should probably free up inf to have bootcamp in the deck.

Operations: money and emps. Didn’t really want asset economy, mainly because I am tired of it.

Grail ICE: with blacklist+chronos we are really after 3 things, trashing installed programs, use net damage to trash programs in grip and end the run sub-routines. Grail fulfills them all with all kinds of sub-routines.

Data mine: extra emps and gear check basically. Exchange for anything you like.

This deck is quite rough, it is mostly here as a discussion starter. Have you done any interesting decks?

x3r0h0ur · September 9, 2015, 12:45pm

My initial thoughts were around blacklist and the grails. I think your deck is basically the same thing, and kills it, but I do think you’re missing out on Batty, he’s in faction!

licoricemaniac · September 9, 2015, 12:49pm

Nice. I was about to start the dance with Chronos myself!

The deck you assembled is a very good start. I would try to go with the following changes:

Markus Batty. You need the Batty to force installed program trash against strong players. Strong players will play against your ID. They will preemptively install everything they can’t afford to trash, and they will not run when it is not necessary (to de-activate EMPs). So you need to be prepared for the worse case scenario: full rig that you were not given the chance to trash. The Batty can deal with that.
With batty in the deck (and with Data mine), Crick is desired.
Hokusai Grid is a good inclusion as well for guaranteed net damage in key server.

You have too many ice I think. -2 pup, -1 Enigma -1 Lotus -1thorns -1 Himitsu, then +2 Hokusai +3 batty +1Crick

kiv · September 9, 2015, 1:02pm

I have been playing this ID quite a bit, the gimmick is after you see their hand you can call Targeted Marketing accurately. The card excels at delaying Parasite spam on your grails, and Noise decks generally have to give up the $10 to get their Wyldside or Aesop’s running. Other than that, a standard “score behind Caprice” deck.

Batty is 100% necessary, very recently I fired Batty Lancelot on their killer and then made then encounter that Lancelot + 2 more revealed, completely wiping their rig.

In my experience you don’t really want to start a second remote for Blacklist as you have no asset econ to put in that server after they use a trick to kill Blacklist. If you’re not pressuring the Runner to run then they will just sit back and fully rig up before doing anything.

I’m also not sure how many Neural EMP you can afford to play. Spending money for net damage inevitably delays your scoring by $3 compared to clicking for credit. I would play Hokusai over EMP since at least the Hokusai taxes them and can bluff as Batty.

###[Targeted Chronos 0.2][1] (49 cards)

[Chronos Protocol: Selective Mind-mapping][2]

Agenda (10)

2 [Fetal AI][3]
2 [House of Knives][4]
3 [Nisei MK II][5]
1 [Philotic Entanglement][6]
2 [The Future Perfect][7]

Asset (5)

2 [Jackson Howard][8] ••
3 [Shock!][9]

Upgrade (5)

3 [Caprice Nisei][10]
2 [Marcus Batty][11]

Operation (13)

3 [Celebrity Gift][12]
3 [Hedge Fund][13]
2 [Restructure][14]
3 [Successful Demonstration][15] •••
2 [Targeted Marketing][16] ••

Barrier (4)

3 [Galahad][17] •••
1 [Himitsu-Bako][18]

Code Gate (6)

1 [Crick][19]
2 [Enigma][20]
2 [Merlin][21] ••
1 [Yagura][22]

Sentry (6)

3 [Lancelot][23] •••
3 [Pup][24]

Therad · September 9, 2015, 1:18pm

Batty is a good inclusion for program trashing, and I can swear I had a crick in there before…

I usually hover around 17-18 ice and in this deck I don’t really see data mine as an ice, I see it more like an operation. I think with some refinement data mine might drop.

Also, I think medical fundraiser could be a good replacement for restructures, since you try to control the flow of the game, not really caring about their money. Will need to test this a bit.

licoricemaniac · September 9, 2015, 1:18pm

but the EMP triggers the ID power on your turn. It could hurt the runner if they choose to draw cards after they run.

Also, @kiv, will you be posting some games with your deck?

Hannibal · September 9, 2015, 1:20pm

I think Neural EMP is very strong because it can hit them after they draw back up from running into traps or other net damage, which is why I think there is a place for Snare in the deck as well. you don’t have to use Snare as a kill card as much as it is a tempo card.

I also believe that 3x House of Knives should be practically mandatory. I played against a Chronos in a store tournament this weekend and he scored an early house of knives which made running to gear check very hard. At the very least, it forces the installation of breakers before ICE gets rezzed which is advantageous to the corp.

I also think that Grim might be more useful than Ichi This deck doesn’t seem to care about the bad publicity and you can even play with the agendas to include the occasional clone retirement both as a fast advance option and removing the bad pub too.

Investing heavily into Future Perfect, NAPD AND Fetal AI plays into the Film Critic meta.

Trenzor · September 9, 2015, 1:52pm

Rules question: is it legal to build a Chronos Protocol deck without a Chronos Project in it?

x3r0h0ur · September 9, 2015, 1:54pm

You can, but like playing dyson mem chip, there aren’t many good reasons to do so.

Trenzor · September 9, 2015, 1:56pm

Makes sense. Time to #playtheproject folks.

kiv · September 9, 2015, 1:57pm

I would but Chronos Protocol is severely bugged on OCTGN and will actually desync the game. If anyone wants to see vids please pester and ideally donate to @db0 so we can get this one fixed!

You always care about their money - cards and credits and clicks are all interconnected in Netrunner. If they spend clicks installing and loading Kati, or playing econ cards then those are clicks not spent drawing or rigging up.

I killed a person last night because they played an econ card from their hand on last click because they were poor, and then I scored a Philotic for exactly lethal.

Also if the Runner is poor they literally cannot beat Caprice which is your main win condition.

If you play 3 Gift then you can normally afford to play Restructure. If you don’t like Restructure then I would play Subliminal before I play Fundraiser.

Maybe I should write a full article on this, but in my opinion (and totally not to pick on you) this ID is one where it’s extremely tempting to neglect the basic economy to run too many expensive toys, resulting in a deck that runs poor constantly and is vulnerable to econ denial.

Here’s how I think about a Corp deck with operation econ: as a basic breakdown of your credit needs, you need $12-15 to spend on advancement tokens, another $15-25 on ICE install and rez costs plus Caprice rezzes, and also budget $8 for TFP/Caprice/Batty psi games.

So the deck needs a plan to get $35-48 in your credit pool within the time frame when you want to score out. If I can get 2/3rds through my deck and see 2/3rds of my econ (say 2 Gift 2 Hedge 1 Restructure 1 Demo) then that gives me $32 + my starting $5 to put me in the ballpark of what I need.

Now if you go through and play fewer cards that make money and more cards that spend money, suddenly you’re generating $5 less per game and you need an extra $6 to trigger Snares or EMPs and now you’re not in the ballpark anymore.

If you’re not in the ballpark, then your deficit is made up by repeatedly clicking for credits. If that Snare is paid for by 4 clicks for credits, now it’s a tempo hit for you and not for the Runner who will need fewer than 4 clicks to recover on average. Especially with Pancakes and IHW, Snare is seriously not that great these days.

Same idea with EMP, if you have to pay for that EMP with 2 clicks for credit (and a third click to play EMP) then you’re effectively spending a full turn to land that net damage.

x3r0h0ur · September 9, 2015, 2:02pm

If your only option is to play subliminal in your deck, you should learn to like restructure

With that package there is probably 0 reason why you can’t get to 10 credits to play it. Anything else is just wrong.

desertfox42 · September 9, 2015, 3:03pm

So I’ve been doing a wee bit of testing with Chronos Protocol lately, and here’s what I’ve come up with:

Icicleteki 1.1

Chronos Protocol: Selective Mind-mapping (The Universe of Tomorrow)

Agenda (9)
1x Fetal AI (Trace Amount)
2x Global Food Initiative (Data and Destiny) [color=#708090]••[/color]
3x House of Knives (Honor and Profit)
3x The Future Perfect (Honor and Profit)

Asset (9)
3x Jackson Howard (Opening Moves) [color=#FF8C00]•••[/color]
3x Mental Health Clinic (Honor and Profit)
3x Sundew (Mala Tempora)

Upgrade (3)
3x Caprice Nisei (Double Time)

Operation (9)
3x Celebrity Gift (Opening Moves)
3x Hedge Fund (Core Set)
3x Neural EMP (Core Set)

Barrier (6)
3x Eli 1.0 (Future Proof) [color=#8A2BE2]•••[/color]
1x Himitsu-Bako (Opening Moves)
1x Wall of Thorns (Core Set)
1x Wraparound (Fear and Loathing) [color=#FF8C00]•[/color]

Code Gate (6)
1x Crick (Breaker Bay)
1x Enigma (Core Set)
1x Lotus Field i[/i]
2x Tollbooth (Core Set) [color=#FF8C00]••••[/color]
1x Yagura (Fear and Loathing)

Sentry (7)
1x Cortex Lock (The Valley)
1x Ichi 1.0 (Core Set) [color=#8A2BE2]••[/color]
3x Pup (Honor and Profit)
1x Susanoo-No-Mikoto (Honor and Profit)
1x Swordsman (Second Thoughts)
15 influence spent (max 15)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Data and Destiny

Decklist published on NetrunnerDB.

Write-up is on NetrunnerDB, but basically you’re an RP that taxes card quality instead of clicks.

Hannibal · September 9, 2015, 3:27pm

I don’t disagree with you. Obviously you will need strong economy to threaten a Snare! I feel it’s wise for this deck to make use of good economy in Jinteki. The OP stated that he is “tired” of Asset econ. That doesn’t mean that a build using Snares and/or Neural EMPs can’t include those cards.

Here’s a bit of a strawman on your part. I didn’t suggest to include Snare/Neural at the expense of econ. Obviously if you are using Snares and Neurals to surgically control the runner’s grip, you can probably start skimping on ICE first. You’re using Caprice and Batty tricks anyway, so cheap EtR ICE gets turned back on by your net damage tricks removing key cards from the runner or just dissuading them from running in the first place.

I think that you are only considering the value of Neural as the net damage it provides rather than the way it turns on the ID ability on the Corp’s turn. Neural EMP combined with Chronos Protocol is a unique tool specifically for this ID. Seeing the runners hand with your first click in a turn and also removing a card from it allows for stronger play on clicks 2 and 3 and is worth changing up the economy of the deck. You can also play with the economic needs by varying the agendas a bit. Adding Braintrusts, for example, reduces the econ needed to buy your agenda points after all.

x3r0h0ur · September 9, 2015, 3:46pm

I believe he is referring to the cost of those cards, making them additional negative econ cards. While offering a positive effect, it takes away from the credit positive operation econ cards. To use his dialogue, it is taking away from the, say 50, credits needed if all you’re doing is scoring out, so you need to add in 4 per snare and 2 per neural EMP you plan on playing. I don’t think he is suggesting cutting econ.

popeye09 · September 9, 2015, 4:41pm

If you run this ID with proactive net damage: Neural EMP, Ronin, Philotic Entanglement, and you have a reasonably rich deck, does Invasion of Privacy become an interesting card to try out? If you plink off a net damage in their turn you choose a card, but you also see their hand. You’re generally plinking away programs anyway, and they will be trying to avoid leaving them in hand. So it’s not unfeasable for you to once in a while come across a hand that contains only one program/hardware that you can plink away. Next Corp turn a successful Invasion of Privacy removes the rest of their hand for two clicks. Of course the Runner will probably draw back the lost card at the end of their turn, so they might draw a replacement program/hardware. Even so, Invasion of Privacy -> Neural EMP has a good shot at ending the match there and then on the chance that they drew a replacement resource/event.

MondoPeregrino · September 9, 2015, 5:26pm

Invasion of Privacy is boss against I’ve Had Worse, but I’m not sure that’s as big of an issue for a deck like this. On the plus side, an all resource/event hand would let you flatline with Invasion into a Neural.

CJFM · September 9, 2015, 6:06pm

Looks pretty slick. I might cut a Demo for a Jackson (which sucks, I hate Jackson. Boo Jackson), and the second Marcus for an Interns, but it looks real good. Yagura has been stellar for me as of late; I think it might just be better than Pup for Protocol. The forced damage forces the runner to break it or risk losing info + tempo. Though you don’t want too many porous ice.

ijw473 · September 9, 2015, 7:56pm

I was playing my APEX deck a bunch this weekend and ran into a CP player. I just played solitaire until I drew Heartbeat. Oh boy does CP not like Heartbeat.

Just had to throw that out there. Moving on…

Secret_Ox · September 9, 2015, 8:12pm

The most successful econ package I have run is 3 hedge, 3 gift, 2 subliminal, 2 restructure.
I’ve been running a Powershutdown/Archer variant. It feels good but I am not certain it is ideal. Personally I’ve kept my distance from the grail suite.