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Fester-Darwin

#1

While I have not have a chance to test (will in the next few days) but could Fester help with a Darwin deck?

The biggest weakness of Darwin is that it can be purged. Fester makes purges painful. Does this make Darwin better?

This is my first crack at a decklist based on this idea so no promises as to the quality.

Whizzard: Master Gamer (What Lies Ahead)

Event (8)
2x Diesel (Core Set) ••••
3x Inject (Up and Over)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)

Hardware (7)
2x Clone Chip (Creation and Control) ••••
3x Cyberfeeder (Core Set)
2x e3 Feedback Implants (Trace Amount) ••••

Resource (11)
3x Armitage Codebusting (Core Set)
3x Fester (Up and Over)
2x Kati Jones (Humanity’s Shadow)
3x Sacrificial Construct (Core Set) •••

Icebreaker (3)
3x Darwin (Future Proof)

Program (16)
3x D4v1d (The Spaces Between)
3x Datasucker (Core Set)
3x Djinn (Core Set)
3x Imp (What Lies Ahead)
1x Medium (Core Set)
1x Nerve Agent (Cyber Exodus)
2x Parasite (Core Set)

15 influence spent (max 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Up and Over

Deck built on http://netrunnerdb.com.

General idea is to have a Darwin/sucker rig. Parasite away swordsman if needed and David the big stuff. Djinn might be overkill, but I was thinking of ways to tutor for virus and Darwin then grab medium or nerve agent.

Whizzard helps trash asset econ. Imp away things Whiz can’t trash. This might be a base for an Edward Kim deck later as well (he would probably want scrubbers).

#2

Darwin can be an expensive breaker. I guess you do have E3 to help, but your econ may be a little light with just Armitage, Kati and Sure Gamble. I guess Inject can get you some credits, too. maybe the econ is fine, but if not you could try daily casts. Why the 3x Sacrificial Construct? Ice Carver is good with Darwin, I think. he gets back up faster after purges, making them that much less appealing, Fester to boot. Djinn may be a bit much, like you said, especially with 2x Diesel, although you are running no extra MU. ANother version to test might be -3 Sacrificial, -3 Djinn, +3 Daily Casts, +3 Ice Carver.

#3

Sacrificial Construct is a very innovative solution to the downside of Inject. Trash SacCon when you reveal a program with Inject to get to draw it to your grip. Considering the number of viruses in the deck, you probably want to try to find space for 2 Deja Vus.

Also, you will have a very hard time against Lotus Field after purges. Surge deals handily with this.

I agree with @moistloaf that your deck probably has insufficient economy. That means Djinn virus tutoring might be too expensive and Grimoire might be a better option for 2 MU and a boost to viruses.

I would recommend

  • 3 Djinn
  • 1 D4v1D
  • 1 Datasucker
  • 1 Imp
    (Deja Vu means you don’t really need 3 of Imp / Datasucker)
  • 2 Deja Vu
  • 2 Grimoire
  • 2 Surge
#4

That would’ve been really cool, but sadly it can only save installed programs and hardware:

#5

Totally forgot about that. In that case:

  • 3 Djinn
  • 1 Imp
  • 3 Sacrificial Construct
  • 2 Deja Vu
  • 2 Grimoire
  • 2 Surge
  • 1 Clone Chip
#6

For me, the card that really combos with Fester is Lamprey, creating a “damned-if-you-purge-damned-if-you-don’t” situation. Of course, that assumes you’re able to get into HQ repeatedly and reliably, so Darwin might not be your best breaker of choice.

(this is more of a Fester post than a Fester-Darwin post, so apologies for semi-offtopic)

#7

I wouldn’t play Lamprey unless I was playing Noise, even with Fester. It’s too easy to get locked out by cheap Code Gate/Barriers in Anarch. Parasite helps, but you won’t always see them early.

#8

I’ve always found Lamprey to be extremely underwhelming in anarch. Gabe loves it though. I believe a djinn based noise virus deck could feasibly make it better, parasiting away the ice on HQ and repeatedly getting 2+ lampreys on board, but having 1 or 2 for a turn or so is pretty meh, corps can make a lot of money these days, -1 isn’t a whole lot.

#9

Sac Con is my “Oh shit I just hit a Swordsman… who the hell plays swordsman?” when I can’t insta parasite it away. Perhaps I should treat it more like plascrete and run only one of.

My question is then if I need more econ… what to do? I have two extra influence if I drop two Sac Cons.

I think Ice Carver is a good plan, but it would bring anything 5 str. out of David range, which is why I was thinking suckers first and foremost. Also doesn’t help against lotus field.

#10

Here is another shot at it. I dropped the Sac cons and put in an atman, with the intention of Atman always being put at 4. I might have trouble finding it, but ideally with Atman at 4, David, and Darwin at three that is all ice save for Swordsman that can be broken.

I also added a bit more econ to the deck.

Trash all the things

Whizzard: Master Gamer (What Lies Ahead)

Event (8)
2x Diesel (Core Set) ••••
3x Inject (Up and Over)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)

Hardware (7)
2x Clone Chip (Creation and Control) ••••
3x Cyberfeeder (Core Set)
2x e3 Feedback Implants (Trace Amount) ••••

Resource (10)
3x Armitage Codebusting (Core Set)
2x Daily Casts (Creation and Control)
3x Fester (Up and Over)
2x Kati Jones (Humanity’s Shadow)

Icebreaker (4)
1x Atman (Creation and Control) •••
3x Darwin (Future Proof)

Program (16)
3x D4v1d (The Spaces Between)
3x Datasucker (Core Set)
3x Djinn (Core Set)
3x Imp (What Lies Ahead)
1x Medium (Core Set)
1x Nerve Agent (Cyber Exodus)
2x Parasite (Core Set)

15 influence spent (max 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Up and Over

Deck built on http://netrunnerdb.com.

#11

For me with Darwin /e3 as a breaker, I like pheromes. Scrubbed helps enormously.

#12

You’re lucky you’re not standing by me, I’d hug you to death.

#13

Fester combos with darwin, sure, but does it fix the fundamental issues with darwin? To me, it’s that as a breaker, it’s unreliable, unstable, and expensive. Fester changes none of those things, and darwin decks don’t particularly care how much money the Corp has any more than other archetypes.

I think fester will be a niche card, but where it shines is when you have a deck who is equally happy having the Corp clear viruses from 0 as if you make them lose 6. I think of an AoA build, that can have a hard time getting the Corp back down if they get out of siphon range, and is plenty happy making key holing and keeping you at 0 (without having to waste a siphon) as it is taking those credits for themselves

#14

So tested this a few games tonight. Won 2 lost 1 (scorched… I thought I had imped away his sea source but he had two curses!)

Fester is not really cutting it in this deck, so I replaced it with Surge, which allows me to get into servers the corp thought were safe.

Also Atman did not impress me in this deck so I am debating what to put in for that slot (never played it just figured I would pump darwin one more time to hit the 4 strength stuff). Any ideas what to do with that three influence?

#15

Wait for breeding ground.
It is going to send Darwin to the stratosphere.
No inf. But you need the slots.

#16

How’s your economy?
-1 Atman
-2 Diesel

+3 Quality Time
+2 Lucky Find

You’d have to cut 2 other cards (maybe Daily Casts if your money is in an okay spot - Lucky Find gives you more and faster. Or -1 Imp -1 Djinn if you feel the better draw will make up for it).

#17

Fester comes off as a card that’s part of a tax layering process and not something thats a perk when using viruses. To me.

#18

I think that replacing Diesels with Quality times actually negates any benefit from Lucky Find. Also, I generally HATE paying for QT.

I am going to try -2 Clone Chips (never used them) -1 Atman. +1 Account Siphon +2 Express Delivery -1 Parasite +1 Daily Casts.

Perhaps when the time comes Breeding Ground can go in instead of Surge…or Cyberfeeder. Not sure about future changes yet.,

Trash all the things

Whizzard: Master Gamer (What Lies Ahead)

Event (14)
1x Account Siphon (Core Set) ••••
2x Diesel (Core Set) ••••
2x Express Delivery (Honor and Profit) ••
3x Inject (Up and Over)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)
3x Surge (Humanity’s Shadow)

Hardware (5)
3x Cyberfeeder (Core Set)
2x e3 Feedback Implants (Trace Amount) ••••

Resource (8)
3x Armitage Codebusting (Core Set)
3x Daily Casts (Creation and Control)
2x Kati Jones (Humanity’s Shadow)

Icebreaker (3)
3x Darwin (Future Proof)

Program (15)
3x D4v1d (The Spaces Between)
3x Datasucker (Core Set)
3x Djinn (Core Set)
3x Imp (What Lies Ahead)
1x Medium (Core Set)
1x Nerve Agent (Cyber Exodus)
1x Parasite (Core Set)

14 influence spent (max 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Up and Over

Deck built on http://netrunnerdb.com.

#19

So you play Inject and lose your Medium. Do you resign yourself to no R&D multiaccess for the rest of the game?

Or you play a couple of Injects and it trashes all your Darwins? Do you not play Inject until you have at least one Darwin in hand?

Inject is going to trash programs. That has to be doing something for you - giving you options, rather than constraining you. I’d at least get rid of the Djinns and bump up the Medium count so you don’t just lose all multiaccess. Or add a Deja Vu. Or both.

#20

So far, I have only used Inject in mid-late game as a way to grab more econ into my hand (or trash programs and get a bit of cash that way).

I think that Inject might be the wrong choice for this deck as I have now taken out recursion. If I take out inject and put in the third Express Delivery (I had one extra influence because I CAN COUNT!) I then have space for two Deja Vu’s.