E. Kim Appreciation Thread

That deck already exists. It’s called Reina headlock right? It’s better in Reina.

Well yeah exactly, but the downside of eater i dont think would be worth it just for the datasucker token so you need something else as well, maybe along with cutlery but then by that point - again its better in reina.

I run 2 Scrubber to help with asset econ- I kept an RP out of Tollbooth range for 5 or 6 turns last night with a Medium out. Trashed all his asset econ, dug R&D for 3, trashed a topdeck giraffe, see a Bako and another giraffe below it. His turn, click for 3 credits after mando-draw. My turn, run R&D again, trash another gift in my dig. My Kim build can set up pretty fast (abusing Stimhack in the RP matchup specifically), and between Kim’s hammer for Hedge/giraffe/Interns and Scrubber I’ve been able to make most RP click for credits through about half the game.

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I also think that the 3 ops deck is comfortably an outlier. 6-9 is probably the realistic low end.

I disagree with the notion that a deck with more ops relies on them more. In my experience, denying RP a single Gift is a much bigger hit than a more ops-econ focused deck. Denying Interns is even better.

Again, the fact that you’re hitting a specific chunk of cards that are the hardest to interact with matters a lot.

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I really like this. Its easy to compare Kim’s ability to imp and refer to it as the “built in imp”, which can dilute the impact of the ability in peoples minds. But it really does have a profound effect, when it hits. As has been said a lot the frequency of the ability firing puts it out of the raw power leagues of some other IDs, but its still has the potential to effect a very deep change in the game plan of the corp.

Glad I’m not the only one who won’t play Ed without Plascrete. People called me crazy! Crazy! Hah! Me! Ha Ha! Ha!

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Between Eds ability, IHW, and (for me) utopia shard. Is plascrete really necessary?

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Hey if we ever get Net Ready Eyes, it’ll always be useful.

I always pack 1 just so IHW can also double for draw in a pinch. Also the play of traffic accident > scorch can kill you from 5 cards in hand, even if 1 of them is an IHW. Just makes sense to pack the tech sometimes, even with kims ability.

Again, his power is a bigger trigger than Kate, say. How many triggers do you need before we cross the ‘worth’ line? Sometimes it’s just one.

If Kate played a Legwork after a bad Corp mulligan and stole seven points, you don’t criticize the player for not optimizing Kate’s ability. What matters is the win.

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@Xavi the first time you topdeck a Government Takeover with two IHW in hand and die to a single Punitive, you reconsider a Plascrete :stuck_out_tongue:

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I thought that was the point i was making?

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Yup. Just restating it.

You have to consider the number of times that actually happens (hit a random takeover, the corp already has punitive, and they have enough credits to land it) that you also have the Plascrete in hand. If you’re only running 1 of, it’s not going to happen that often. If you’re running 2 of you’ll see it more, but you’ll also have more dead draws in every other matchup.

The thing about Timmy is that sometimes he does actually manage to pull off that big play. That’s okay: you win some, you lose some. But it doesn’t mean teching against Timmy is worth it unless he’s doing it consistently enough that the tradeoff in your other matches results in a net benefit.

If the Plascrete is doing other work for you – like if you’re regularly losing to Scorch decks who burn through your IHWs with recursion, or you like the freedom it gives you to still use Stimhack or something, sure, bring it along. It doesn’t feel like it’s worth it in the matches I’ve been playing lately, but your meta may vary.

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Ah sorry :slight_smile: this is what happens when i start trying to post at 2am - i fail to read peoples meaning properly.

Well to be honest i dont think the math on that example is entirely accurate. Its not taking into account the insane draw of some kim decks. Its not taking into account previously installing plascrete. Its not taking into account recursion in the corps hand, sometimes 1 punitive is plenty when you can recur, or a scored atlas token. All of these things are common. A 1 off of plascrete may not always be there when you need it but it will enough to make the difference.

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[quote=“king_mob, post:760, topic:2413”]
Its not taking into account the insane draw of some kim decks. [/quote]

No matter how much draw you have, your odds of seeing a 1 of are x/45, where x is the number of cards you’ve drawn until that point (presuming you haven’t mulliganed specifically for Plascrete, in which case they only improve slightly). For Punitive to be relevant, Takeover has to be the very first agenda you’ve scored. So, let’s be really generous and say you normally draw half the deck before you see your first agenda of the game – that still means Plascrete’s only going to save you half of the time against this particular scenario, which is going to happen less often than not even in this specific matchup (because Takeover is 1x per deck also – all other things being equal, you are much more likely to steal any other agenda first). So we’re looking at an edge case, and unless this specific Timmy build is running rampant in your meta, we’re actually looking at an edge case in a minority of games.

That doesn’t impact the odds of drawing the 1of by any point in the game at all. It does make the question of dedicating resources to an edge case even worse, though, as now we’re not just talking about a dead draw, but we also need to factor in the number of games where you spend credits and clicks to install a Plascrete and it turns out it wasn’t necessary (e.g. your opponent doesn’t have a Punitive in hand, you never see a Takeover, etc.).

Sure, like I said above, there are other reasons to pack a Plascrete – in my own experience with Kim (admittedly non-Stimhack Kim, and that could make a huge difference), even in total those other reasons still don’t make it worth it, but they’re definitely out there and if you’re seeing them enough, then sure, pack a Plascrete. I’m just objecting to the notion that this one scenario (Takeover-Punitive) is worth revamping your deck for. It sticks out because you run into it and you think “I have no answer for this: there is literally nothing my deck can do in this situation.” I get that, but unless that situation is common you need to consider how much it hinders you elsewhere. If you try to have a possible answer for every corner case, you decrease your odds of having the right answer at the right time during the life of a regular game.

As an analogy, my current Kim build has exactly one way of breaking Lotus Field: 1x Atman. A few weeks ago, that Atman got plucked from my hand from the PE damage on a Chronos Protocol score. Since there was already a Lotus Field on R&D, I knew that was pretty much game. I could have edited my deck to pack Zu or Force of Nature (shudder) or something, sure. But I didn’t, and since then I’ve played at least 30 games with the same build and that situation hasn’t come up again – that suggests it was the right move not to worry about it. (OTOH, much like Plascrete, there are other reasons to pack a backup breaker for Lotus Field; if I started seeing a lot of Will O’ The Wisp suddenly, for instance, I might rethink my decision.)

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Do you not run Imp? Imping the Takeover is a legitimate strategy.

I took Ed with desperado and Ice murder to Oxford regionals today. I went 5-1 and missed the cut by 1 game due to a 3-3 corp who was better organised for Kate than Leela and ran into a lot of Leela. Anyway, I’ll post the list and discussion later.

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This sounds similar to my current build, some variation of which I’ll probably be bringing to regionals (although no, I’m not running Imp at the moment).

Here’s what I’ve got:
Edward Kim: Humanity’s Hammer (Order and Chaos)

Event (13)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)
3x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)
3x I’ve Had Worse (Order and Chaos)
2x Knifed (Order and Chaos)
2x Hacktivist Meeting (Breaker Bay)

Hardware (5)
2x Desperado (Core Set) ••••• •
3x Clone Chip (Creation and Control) ••••• •

Resource (11)
2x Scrubber (A Study in Static)
2x Kati Jones (Humanity’s Shadow)
3x Daily Casts (Creation and Control)
2x Earthrise Hotel (The Source)
2x Symmetrical Visage (The Valley)

Icebreaker (6)
2x Corroder (Core Set)
2x Mimic (Core Set)
1x Yog.0 (Core Set)
1x Atman (Creation and Control) •••

Program (10)
3x Datasucker (Core Set)
2x Medium (Core Set)
3x Parasite (Core Set)
2x D4v1d (The Spaces Between)

15 influence spent (maximum 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Breaker Bay

I’m not 100% on the Hacktivists – there are games where they shine, but on the whole I think Queen’s Gambit might fit better in those slots. The lack of tutoring hasn’t proven a significant problem so far (in true Anarch fashion, I run with what I’ve got and if I hit something I don’t have an answer for I apply pressure elsewhere while I dig up answers), but given the amount of RP I anticipate at Regionals, I’d like to squeeze in a couple Special Orders to dig that Atman up in a hurry when need be. Or, to preserve influence, I could slot Injects back in, but that gets dicier with Blacklist around. Anyway, once Chrome City is legal, I think going 2x Yog + 2x Net Ready Eyes will be much stronger on the whole, but since my Regionals are in a couple of weeks I need to make other plans in the meantime. :wink:

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