Graduate Admissions: Apply Now - A Steve Cambridge Thread

Decklists
1

surprised to not see a thread for this guy. i think he’s a really promising ID who can do what criminal does best: run all the things and Siphon all the credits
with all that money, maybe he can pay off his crippling debt of student loans

here’s my first pass at a deck with some new cards from TD:

Steve Cambridge: Master Grifter (Terminal Directive)

Event (21)
3x Account Siphon (Core Set)
2x Career Fair (Breaker Bay)
3x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)
3x Employee Strike (Data and Destiny) [color=#708090]●●●[/color]
3x Inside Job (Core Set)
1x Spear Phishing (Terminal Directive)
3x Special Order (Core Set)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)

Hardware (5)
3x Desperado (Core Set)
2x HQ Interface (Humanity’s Shadow)

Resource (11)
3x Aaron Marrón i[/i]
3x Earthrise Hotel (The Source)
2x Same Old Thing (Creation and Control)
3x Temüjin Contract (Blood Money) [color=#4169E1]★★★[/color]

Icebreaker (6)
1x Abagnale (Terminal Directive)
1x Demara (Terminal Directive)
1x Femme Fatale (Core Set)
1x Gordian Blade (Core Set) [color=#32CD32]●●●[/color]
1x Mongoose (Kala Ghoda)
1x Paperclip (Blood Money) [color=#FF4500]●●●[/color]

Program (2)
1x Medium (Core Set) [color=#FF4500]●●●[/color]
1x Sneakdoor Beta (Core Set)
15 influence spent (max 15, available 0)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Terminal Directive

this is just a general good stuff crim (i took the main shell from the Andy/Leela decks i’ve been playing lately and added a few of the new cards). the main idea is to just hammer centrals as much as you can, focusing on spamming the hell out of HQ with Siphon. you have 3 in the deck, some Same Old Things, and you can get some more uses out of Steve’s ability
Temujin should go on R&D with Medium when the corp is sufficiently distracted on HQ (or as a means to put pressure elsewhere). i think the general strategy is to choose two similar (or identical) things, like 2 Temujin or 1 Abagnale and 1 Gordian (if your gordian got trashed, for example)

you can also just siphon spam and camp remotes to build some agendas in HQ. if that’s your plan, some Political Operatives and/or Councilman are good for dealing with Jackson

i went for Demara over Saker so you can bypass something really big when you get ready to install Paperclip, saving you a bit of tempo, but i think i do like Saker overall, and it can be used to derez something in the same way Demara is used to bypass something, so the choice between these two is total personal preference. Paperclip will be the primary breaker though

Gordian is great, but Abagnale might be all you need. you can use the influence there for another Medium, for example to put more central pressure on the deck

the Spear Pshishing is just to have another Inside Job, but it can easily be replaced (by just about anything tbh, but i suggest looking to replace this for a Feint or Demolition Run if you fear Crisium ruining your siphon party)

Employee Strike for mostly the same reasons anyone else uses it, but also to deal with Skorps since it can kind of ruin your day by removing your siphons

the third Aaron is to deal with MCA better

has anyone played him outside of the campaign yet? how do we like him?

2

With three inside jobs, would emergency shutdown be a goodinclude?

3

It’s too bad Blackmail got MWL T3’d, because Steve is a good fit for breakerless Crim with BM/Corporate Scandal. I’ll have to think on an alternative list, but my initial thoughts are:

3x Inside Job
3x Spear Phishing
3x Emergency Shutdown
3x Same Old Thing
3x En Passant ** ** **
3x Crescentus
3x Forged Activation Orders

4

I like 2x legwork more than 2x HQI in Andy, and in Steve that seems doubly so, since he can reuse the legworks.

3 Likes
5

yeah, very good point. i was just thinking of Sneakdoor accesses (but i guess it doesn’t matter if you have HQI anyway)

i think in general going for lots of events over other things whenever possible is good. it’s almost like a toolbox crim but with events (since that’s what you’ll most likely be recurring)

if temujin didn’t exist, i’d definitely say Bank Job over Security Testing (since you can get more), but bank job is probably a good call anyway

6

got to finally play some Terminal Directive tonight as Steve

i think a natural inclination is to include a lot of redundancy in a Steve deck so you can just pick the cards you want, but tonight in one of my games, i ran HQ, gave the corp the choice between Maker’s Eye and Account Siphon, he chose TME, and i won on it next click
if he had chosen Siphon, i could have simply drained his credits and started camping the remote

and many times i gave the choice of Sure Gamble, Bank Job, Armitage, etc., knowing that i was getting a money option back

7

I made a triple parasite Steve deck that’s a lot of fun! Sneakdoor into HQ to build up datasucker counters and recur parasites - most of the time they’ll give you temujins or siphons instead.

I don’t think this is quite competitive because I’m not sure it can compete with asset spam, but it should be ok against glacier!

Parasite Steve

Steve Cambridge: Master Grifter (Terminal Directive)

Event (14)
3x Account Siphon (Core Set)
2x Career Fair (Breaker Bay)
1x Emergency Shutdown (Cyber Exodus)
1x Hostage (Opening Moves)
1x Inside Job (Core Set)
1x Interdiction (Martial Law)
1x Legwork (Honor and Profit)
1x Special Order (Core Set)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)

Hardware (3)
3x Desperado (Core Set)

Resource (13)
2x Aaron Marrón i[/i]
1x Daily Casts (Creation and Control)
2x Earthrise Hotel (The Source)
1x Kati Jones (Humanity’s Shadow)
2x Maxwell James (Terminal Directive)
1x Security Testing (Honor and Profit)
3x Temüjin Contract (Blood Money) [color=#4169E1]★★★[/color]
1x The Turning Wheel (The Liberated Mind) [color=#708090]●[/color]

Icebreaker (7)
2x Abagnale (Terminal Directive)
1x Demara (Terminal Directive)
3x Faerie (Future Proof)
1x Mammon (Terminal Directive)

Program (8)
2x Datasucker (Core Set) [color=#FF4500]●●[/color]
3x Parasite (Core Set) [color=#FF4500]★★★●●●●● ●[/color]
3x Sneakdoor Beta (Core Set)
15 influence spent (max 15, available 0)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Terminal Directive

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

1 Like
8

i was trying Faerie since it seems like a cool combo with Steve, but it’s basically just an econ option later on or a necessary breaker (meaning you pick 2 copies of Faerie or risk losing all of them), and it actually increases the fragility if you lean too hard into Faerie

i do like Parasite though. seems good.

also yeah, for sure, Sneakdoor is amazing.

i’ve also been trying out Pheremones instead of Tapwrm, but so far it’s been a little inconsistent other than the odd purge. Tapwrm does that too, costs less, and gives me credits for anything (even if i am running HQ a lot with Steve)

also, Fisk Investment Seminar is amazing for Steve. it’s good draw, helps flood HQ, and when you get it back into your grip, you can actually play it again (next turn)
also, Information Sifting is awesome. good against laser moon and CI with massive hands and after you Fisk them

9

I wanted a 100% disposable rig because there’s 3 MU of ‘must have’ programs (datasucker, sneakdoor), and the other disposable sentry, Lustig, really sucks. If the game goes long mammon may become the only breaker.

I think Fisk Investment Seminar would be bad for my deck - the last thing I want is to help them draw into ice to replace the one I just killed. Could be good in a different deck though.

1 Like
10

I’ve been playing Steve quite a bit and am enjoying him a lot. I’ve won two GNK with variations of the list below, which is what I’m currently testing.

The Long Con

Steve Cambridge: Master Grifter

Event (18)
3x Account Siphon
3x Career Fair
1x Emergency Shutdown
2x Inside Job
2x Legwork
1x Mad Dash
3x Special Order
3x Sure Gamble

Hardware (4)
3x Desperado ★★★
1x Plascrete Carapace

Resource (13)
2x Aaron Marrón
3x Daily Casts
3x Earthrise Hotel
2x Same Old Thing
3x Temüjin Contract

Icebreaker (7)
2x Abagnale
1x Demara
1x Eater ●●●
1x Femme Fatale
1x Golden
1x Paperclip ●●●

Program (4)
2x Keyhole ●●●●● ●
2x Sneakdoor Beta

12 influence spent (max 15-3★=12, available 0)
46 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Terminal Directive

Deck built on https://netrunnerdb.com.

I don’t really want to be playing Demara but it’s just a back up for the Skorp decks around at the moment. You could easily drop a Keyhole for a 2nd clip but its good to see R&D pressure early. It’s quite versatile, it can siphon spam, it can set up for remote pressure. In the early game I use Steve triggers only for economy and draw and save the high impact events for later when the decision is harder for the corp. Not sure it’s tier 1 but its interesting.

4 Likes
11

yeah, sorry i was just talking generally, not just about yours.

as for Lustig, i’ve found it to work well with Mongoose since Mongoose works better at lower strength stuff and Lustig works well on higher strength stuff. again, not for your deck, cos Datasucker totally changes the math on that

i like Saker over Demara because 1 to break subs is much more important that 2:3 boosting
breaking Eli for 4 v 5 sounds great, but breaking Vanilla for 2 really sucks without any ice destruction

this is what i took to our GNK for top 4 for our league (and won all 3 games as Steve)

Graduate Admissions

Steve Cambridge: Master Grifter (Terminal Directive)

Event (20)
3x Account Siphon (Core Set)
3x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)
2x Employee Strike (Data and Destiny) [color=#708090]●●[/color]
3x Fisk Investment Seminar (The Universe of Tomorrow)
2x Inside Job (Core Set)
2x Special Order (Core Set)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)
2x The Maker’s Eye (Core Set) [color=#32CD32]●●●●[/color]

Hardware (3)
3x Desperado (Core Set)

Resource (13)
2x Aaron Marrón i[/i]
3x Daily Casts (Creation and Control)
2x Earthrise Hotel (The Source)
2x Maxwell James (Terminal Directive)
1x Political Operative (Democracy and Dogma)
3x Temüjin Contract (Blood Money)

Icebreaker (6)
1x Abagnale (Terminal Directive)
1x Femme Fatale (Core Set)
1x Gordian Blade (Core Set) [color=#32CD32]●●●[/color]
1x Mongoose (Kala Ghoda)
1x Paperclip (Blood Money) [color=#FF4500]●●●[/color]
1x Saker i[/i]

Program (3)
3x Pheromones (Humanity’s Shadow)
12 influence spent (max 15, available 3)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Terminal Directive

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

as i said upthread, the Pheromones didn’t help that much, so i’ll take them out i think. Tapwrm is good at forcing purges, and it’s a good throwaway piece to choose with something else you want cos the corp really doesn’t want to purge

i forgot that i wanted to include 1 Information Sifting and 1 Legwork (oops). i also feel like Career Fair would work really well, but i can never find the room.

i never drew Political Operative, but i don’t think it would have made a difference, so i think i’ll take him out
2 Earthrise is still probably too much, so i might drop down to 1
i really want to go 1x Femme Fatale / 1x Lustig / 1x Mongoose for my killer suite or maybe swap Femme for Mimic if i can find the influence
Maker’s Eye is amazing, and giving the corp the choice between Legwork and Maker’s Eye is a good way to get information. if they don’t let you have Legwork, they’re probably flooded, so that’s the perfect time to hit HQ. if they let you have the Legwork, you can try to Temujin R&D and try to keep a soft lock going, especially if you’re at game point (i won 2/3 games like that)
also giving the corp the choice between Siphon and Maker’s Eye is hilariously awesome.

12

Are you playing Golden instead of Mongoose because of said Skorp decks that stack sentries? Also, Golden instead of Lustig for the cheaper pump? (Although Lustig can come in handy in some oh-shit scenarios).

13

Clicked on Abagnale twice, can’t believe how good it is for criminals. It’s essentially Gordian Blade - so why spend three precious pips on Gordian Blade?

14

There are a few more stacked sentry situations turning up, and so this works well and it’s numbers aren’t bad. It’s derez ability is rarely used but actually a good threat when you are able to siphon spam. I’d recommend people test it.

15

have you tried out Lustig? i think the 3:5 to boost outweighs the 2:2 to break
plus Lustig gets to 6 with on boost, which is Archer range

16

So I’ve not tested it but have avoided it because I didn’t want to increase the cost of breaking the most common sentry I see which is Architect. Not saying that is right, but I think I prefer Golden from a numbers point of view. Its also strong against Archer due to the derez.

17

yeah, i think Architect is why Mongoose is #1 and Golden, Lustig, Femme are competing for #2 and possibly #3

i love Brute-Force Hack for the derez on Archer but eventually took it out, and i think you’ve sold me on trying out Golden again. it’s only 1 more credit to break Archer anyway

18

I heard @SamRS talking about Aesop’s Steve on a podcast and threw together a list by including every card I heard him mention.

Here is the latest version after playing it some and tweaking it. It still is not a finished product. It needs more draw. I experimented with Fisk but did not find giving the Corp cards always wise. The work continues.

Aesop’s Steve

Steve Cambridge: Master Grifter (Terminal Directive)

Event (7)

Hardware (2)

Resource (19)

Icebreaker (10)

Program (7)

15 influence spent (max 15, available 0)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Revised Core Set

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

1 Like
19

I recently ran into a fisk/sifting/polyhistor/equivovation Steve-build on Jinteki.net.
I like the idea of pressuring the corp that way, playing up to 5 times fisk.
I’m a miserable (criminal) deckbuilder for my own.
Are there some viable decks out there, which the deckbuilders are willing to share?

20

I’ve been messing around with a Frantic Opus Steve build, since Opus is good and Frantic Coding loads the heap with options for Steve. Haven’t won very much with it, but I think it has potential.

Looks like this right now: (meteor link since the markdown export has too many links for a new user to post) Meteor Decks - Android: Netrunner Deckbuilder

2 Likes