Do you listen to Run Last Click? The last episode (towards the end) @mediohxcore and @Joseki discuss your situation of when to stick to deck idea when early results aren’t promising:
A lot of the process is do you have the time/willingness to test or do you want to rely on what others have done and had success with. It also comes down to how you see yourself as a player. If you think you might be a great deckbuilder, then maybe try out different ideas and see how they go. Someone like Chris Hinkes sticks to the same deck for months and keeps refining it and surprises a lot of people with his creation and wins or places high with an off-meta deck, someone like Abram Jopp, tries out different decks and see if it has early success, and if it doesn’t win a high percentage of games scraps it and tries something else, then there’s someone like Timmy Wong, that builds a deck the night before an event, doesn’t test it much, and ends up winning or placing high. They’re all great deck builders, but they approach it differently.
Some of deck building does come from experience as a Netrunner player/deck builder. That is can you sense that the idea at the core of the deck is worth it iterating and refining, or is it far outpaced by other decks.
Some general tips:
- I look to successful decks and borrow packages (i.e. econ, agenda, breaker, ice, etc.). Then, when I build a deck I can try some different packages that look to synergize with the deck’s goal and test.
- I try to play at least 5 times before changing anything with the deck, then it’s only a few cards each time.
- Collaborate. World’s has shown us that a lot of the successful players are preparing as a team. This can be partially achieved in the Stimhack forums. Just post a list and thoughts on the dedicated archetype thread and see what others that have been playing a similar deck has found.