its called high stakes job for a reason 
4 Likes
I won a 24-person Store Championship Saturday with this list:
Faust Gabe
Gabriel Santiago: Consummate Professional
45 cards
Influence: 12/12 ●●●●●●●●●●●●○○○
Event (18)
3 Account Siphon
2 Drive By
3 Easy Mark
2 Emergency Shutdown
1 Employee Strike ●
2 Fisk Investment Seminar
1 Inside Job
1 Levy AR Lab Access ●●●
3 Special Order
Hardware (10)
3 Desperado ○○○
2 HQ Interface
2 Plascrete Carapace
1 R&D Interface ●●
2 e3 Feedback Implants
Program (9)
1 Breach
2 Datasucker ●●
2 Faust ●●●●
1 Mongoose
1 Passport
2 Sneakdoor Beta
Resource (8)
3 Bank Job
3 Drug Dealer
2 Same Old Thing
7 Likes
Good job! Love the x2 Drive By!
1 Like
I’ve been running wild with this on j.net. It’s super, duper unrefined and was built in a janktastic fever dream, but it turned out to put on crazy pressure. Only been playing it for a few days, but with some revisions there might be potential:
Janktown: Population, Leela
Leela Patel: Trained Pragmatist (All That Remains)
Event (28)
3x Account Siphon (Core Set)
2x Bribery (The Source)
3x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)
2x Drive By (The Underway)
3x Fisk Investment Seminar (The Universe of Tomorrow)
3x High-Stakes Job (Kala Ghoda)
3x Inside Job (Core Set)
2x Kraken (Humanity’s Shadow)
2x Legwork (Honor and Profit)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)
2x Unscheduled Maintenance (The Spaces Between)
Resource (11)
3x Armitage Codebusting (Core Set)
3x DDoS (The Universe of Tomorrow) [color=#FF4500]••••• ••••[/color]
3x Earthrise Hotel (The Source)
2x Security Testing (Honor and Profit)
Icebreaker (3)
1x Alias (Honor and Profit)
1x Breach (Honor and Profit)
1x Passport (Honor and Profit)
Program (3)
3x False Echo (Opening Moves) [color=#32CD32]••••• •[/color]
15 influence spent (max 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Kala Ghoda
Deck built on NetrunnerDB.
The DDoS/Echo interaction is strong, but it might be a bit of a red herring at literally all of your influence. DDoS into High-Stakes Job, though, is absolutely nuts (it’s not usually worth it as a strictly econ play, but making 6 credits in the middle of your DDoS shenanigans turn is baller). FIS can be… fussy, but it’s also a really, really great tool for controlling tempo. Ideal times to play it:
- Corp has committed to scoring next turn (e.g. install-adv-adv out of FoodCoats) and is already at or close to max hand size.
- You have 2 or more in your hand and corp is at or close to max hand size. Playing them on 2 or more sequential turns sets a pace that I don’t think any corp is comfortable with.
- There is a rezzed Jackson on the table that you are absolutely, 100% committed to trashing him (or forcing the removal) this turn.
- Game has durdled on and corp is getting low on cards (<12). You’re pretty unlikely to deck anyone with 9 extra draw, but I have squeezed out a few games when corps are forced to play faster than they’d like because of the impending deck.
Anyway, if I get interested in polishing this up, first steps are:
- Cutting Bribery. This was just me being dumb, thinking it was more like Running Interference than it is. It’s a really, really bad Inside Job that doesn’t work on rezzed ice. This card is effectively blank in this deck (and basically worthless altogether, as far as i can tell). I did use a 0 str Bribery to avoid an ELP tax yesterday, though – that was super cute.
- Security Testing is also not really optimal. It does have its uses – given the way this deck interacts with ice, encouraging the corp to spread themselves thinner is good, and if they drop a single ice on Archives to feed your High-Stakes Job, all the better. But the direct benefit to you is pretty marginal when you’ve got Armitages and you’re not running Desperado.
- Speaking of Desperado, I don’t think this deck is running often enough to justify that particular MWL penalty, but some kind of console could be good. Doppelganger for those power Leela turns, e.g.
- A Sneakdoor would be great here – serving some of the same functions as Sec Test while also offering another avenue of pressure during your bonkers DDoS turns. Needs MU, though (see 3.).
- Might be worth swapping some/all of the Echoes and using real breakers and/or RDI. There is a definitive drop-dead point here on remote play as your DDoS/Inside Jobs get used up – with no recursion and no real breakers, you’re on a strict clock to do anything at all with a remote. Having said that, cutting the Echoes altogether would make me sad. There is a surprising amount of synergy between the DDoS/Echo play, FIS, and Leela’s ability (particularly if you’ve got the Unscheduled Maintenance going) – hand size becomes a real issue in a hurry. And despite the central-only suite, DDoS/Echo/IJ gives you solid remote pressure, realistically threatening any 2-deep remote on a given turn (3- or 4-deep hasn’t been out of the question either, if I’m planning accordingly in a durdley glacier game). Finally, the central breakers are actually pretty efficient, and given that the whole gameplan here is centered on HQ pressure, I’d hate to water that down. (E.g. breaking a Curtain Wall still doesn’t feel great, but Breach makes it a lot more plausible to Siphon through one.)
1 Like
Nice! This look close to my version of this deck. I’ve felt that NBN FA is the weak point of this deck, due to very little R&D multiaccess, what did you face?
An interesting little deck I have been running with Leela Patel. A little janky, needs some refining but I’ve been having somewhat of a success with this deck.
Tantic Dance 1.0
Leela Patel: Trained Pragmatist
Event (17)
2x Account Siphon
2x Dirty Laundry
3x Fisk Investment Seminar
1x Hostage
2x Inside Job
1x Legwork
2x Special Order
1x Stimhack •
3x Sure Gamble
Hardware (6)
2x Astrolabe ••••
2x HQ Interface
2x R&D Interface ••••
Resource (10)
2x Bank Job
2x Gang Sign
1x Kati Jones
3x Same Old Thing
2x Security Testing
Icebreaker (5)
1x Cerberus “Rex” H2
2x Gingerbread
1x Mongoose
1x Passport
Program (7)
3x Crescentus
3x Panchatantra ••••• •
1x Sneakdoor Beta
15 influence spent (max 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Kala Ghoda
Deck built on http://netrunnerdb.com.
The main function of this deck is to be aggressive with Leela with Panchantra/Gingerbread. Using other cards like Inside job early game to bypass unrezzed Ice and Cresentus to derez Ice on the fly after breaking that Ice. The Gangsign/HQI is a fallback if I get locked out of the centrals and to put pressure on the corp not to score so fast.Downside to this is if the corp gets the funny idea of keeping some snares in hand and/or scores out a Breaking news with 3 QPM in hand. Sneakdoor Beta used early-to-mid game as a way to get the corp caught off its feet before trashing it for other programs.
Originally ran with just the Panchatantra/Gingerbread combo, I added some other Icebreakers in order to span out the span of the game in order to go late game. Plan to switch out Hostage with another Kati just because I only have one connection I can tutor with it. Plan to also include Breach to extend that out and going 46 cards.
Haarp kill, NEH fastro, NEH turtlebacks…lots of yellow in the KC area and surrounding environs. One weird NBN glacier kind of build. There was one Blue Sun, too. Edit: 1 HB, actually, in the Top 4. Forgot about that until just now. e3 makes the HB matchup easier.
This is the exact opposite of what I’ve been seeing in Seattle. There are about 3-5 NEH at each SC from around here, and a couple SYNC sprinkled in, but for the most part, people have been switching to Weyland and sometimes Jinteki to deal with Faust. That said, the Corp winning decks from SC’s in the area have been Tenin (pre MWL), NEH (Me! So innovative!), Haarp, and RP.
Around here, people have decided to deal with Faust by doing what I do: score 5 points in a single turn. (;)) Edit: That is to say, they just switched to NEH Fastro and decided to race to 7.
I think you drop Echo; it’s not high-impact enough to justify the influence. Honestly, if we’re going full jank, I’d rather see the in-faction Forged Activation Orders to trash the ice via DDoS. (That’s how that interaction should work, right?) You could use the Bribery slots for that. Also, I don’t know why you don’t have Emergency Shutdown; it seems like that would go really well with DDoS and High Stakes Job.
My list runs Bank Job over Security Testing. For every match where I wish, “man, if only these were Security Testings instead,” there are 3 matches I’m glad they’re not. Bank Job also pairs remarkably well with Dirty Laundry and HSJ.
I’m surprised you don’t have a Sneakdoor. It seems pretty clutch.
And I agree with all of your points on Fisk. I used to have Symmetrical Visage in my list, and it got better once I switched to Fisk. Whenever they’re in a tight spot click-wise, you pop that and suddenly they’ve got tough choices to make. Bonus points if you pop it then draw into a Siphon - life gets bad when you’re at 0 credits and drawing into your 9th card. And I actually have decked people with Fisk, twice. Game durdles out, and you can tell they’re sitting on a Jackson, waiting to pop it; they drop to 2 cards in R&D, and you Fisk. Bingo! But it’s hardly a common use of the card and I wouldn’t argue that anyone should include it on that basis alone.
Alas, no - DDoS is only in effect during runs. More later, but I’m on my mobile. 
1 Like
Ahhhh, right. It’s been a while since I even thought about Forged Activation Orders. Well, there goes that idea.
I’m not saying it’s a bad card or anything. I really like the card, and I think it’s probably worth trying to build good Criminal decks that work well with it, because the upside is so high.
But given the conditions for landing it, maybe the easiest thing to do is add some more money to the deck? Even Bank Job or Daily Casts or Security Testing or Armitage seem like they should be able to pump your credit total up to the point where you can safely play it (particularly with Terminals).
1 Like
Here is the Gabe deck (all hail @TheBigBoy) that piloted I to 4th place, my Corp deck was a miserable failure…
Gabe Perfume Shop v1.0
Gabriel Santiago: Consummate Professional (Core Set)
Event (19)
3x Account Siphon (Core Set)
3x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)
3x Emergency Shutdown (Cyber Exodus)
2x High-Stakes Job (Kala Ghoda)
2x Inside Job (Core Set)
2x Special Order (Core Set)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)
1x Vamp (Trace Amount) [color=#FF4500]••[/color]
Hardware (4)
1x Akamatsu Mem Chip (Core Set) [color=#32CD32]•[/color]
3x Desperado (Core Set) [color=#4169E1]☆☆☆[/color]
Resource (9)
1x Hades Shard (First Contact) [color=#708090]•[/color]
2x John Masanori (Opening Moves)
3x Same Old Thing (Creation and Control)
3x Security Testing (Honor and Profit)
Icebreaker (6)
1x Corroder (Core Set) [color=#FF4500]••[/color]
1x Eater (Order and Chaos) [color=#FF4500]•••[/color]
3x Mongoose (Kala Ghoda)
1x Passport (Honor and Profit)
Program (7)
2x Crescentus (A Study in Static)
1x Keyhole (True Colors) [color=#FF4500]•••[/color]
2x Pheromones (Humanity’s Shadow)
2x Sneakdoor Beta (Core Set)
12 influence spent (max 15-3☆=12)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Kala Ghoda
Deck built on NetrunnerDB.
You can see my pulished version here with all my notes:
2 Likes
Landing High Stakes Job? With Eater, Cresentus, and Emergency Shutdown… All the time. If you man-handle their econ with Account Siphon and/or Vamp, yeah baby! Nets you 7 cedits with Desperado installed.
Well sure but that’s not the Ken deck we were discussing!
2 Likes
I play against @Saan almost weekly and I can atest that his Ken deck is brutal on pressure. Unfortunately my inability to play Blue Sun properly meant we never faced off in the tourney. Granted my Gabe deck will land HSJ more reliably but he has plenty of ways to make it stick when it counts. Getting one or two HSJs in my opening hand makes me a Sad Panda.
Sounds similar to the deck @mendax was winning with in Geist. Does this deck have a hope against NEH Fastro? It’s really cool, but I think it needs parasite for popups and you struggle to fit those any more, sadly.
How many influence is High-Stakes? You know which orange faction would love it?? I’ll get my coat.
1 Like
Can’t tell you how it will do vs. NBN right now because I have only played the deck 4 times and none of my matchups were against a rush deck. I know that a tag centric corp or a 24/7 kill deck will probably wreck me.
Honestly, it probably could use just a little more non-conditional cashflow. It has 3 more money cards than PrePaid Kate did, but unlike Kate, who had 3 PrePaid, 3 run events, and 6 non-runs, the Ken deck has 3 Terminals, 9 run events, and 3 non-runs (which don’t synergise with the Terminals). So 9/12 events require me to be able to complete a run. Once a couple Terminals are down, it’s pretty easy to play the High Risks, so that’s nice (at least easy in terms of cost).
One of the issues is that I’m trying to not play too many resources so that I can go tag me if needed, but a lot of the good econ is tied up in resources. Bank Jobs kind of work, since I can use it the same turn I drop it, but it’s another run-tied piece of econ. I’ll have to play around with things and see where I land. The deck feels pretty good atm, but I do agree that things could be improved.
2 Likes