How to Play Crimininal is Post-Rotation meta?

Netrunner General
1

Hey guys, Fairly new to Netrunner here (Approximate 4 ~ 5 months of playing). Have a big interest in Criminal despite playing Anarch most of the time.

Looking at the current meta, it seems to me that Geist is the most viable Criminal out there. Not sure does Los coming close 2nd (I’ve been playing with the rez-derez shenaningan, very inconsistent with the results).

I’ve been toying with Fisk also recently … However I do find Criminals very hard to make money :confused:

So I would like to know, what’s the general guideline, and the general viable strategies to pursue if I were to dive into the Criminal minds in this post-rotation meta ?

1 Like
2

On a competitive level, Gang Sign Leela and Geist are the only two remotely viable right now. The classic breakers, money, and tricks style is simply too weak at the moment, due to a combination of inefficient breakers and economy. The loss of Andromeda also robbed the faction of much of their tempo.

If you are interested in GS leela, I would recommend the KOS list on NRDB; for Geist, look for lists from Worlds. Neither are considered “tier 1” but they’re the closest you’ll get.

If you want to play classic Criminal right now, be prepared to lose often, even with optimal lines. The faction is simply in a bad spot, overall.

3

What’s classic Criminal ???

Haha sorry for my lack of knowledge…

1 Like
4

Run a lot, pressure multiple servers, use a simple game plan with not much setup needed. For final pre-rotation version of the deck, check NRDB for multiple decks called “Andy’s Last Run” from tournaments during this summer.

3 Likes
5

Classic or Reg Criminal was a deck that used good breakers (Paperclip, Gordian Blade or Inversificator, Mongoose & Femme), run-based economy (Desperado, Temujin Contract, Dirty Laundry), credit denial (Account Siphon), and the best multi-access in the game (Medium) to pressure the Corp on multiple fronts.

In its last version, it also had great anti-tag tech (Aaron Marron) and solid card draw (Earthrise Hotel, Aaron Marron, John Mass, Andromeda’s ID ability).

The breaker suite remains now, but nearly all the other cards that made this deck strong are gone, so Reg Criminal has been floundering quite a bit. Since the original Core Set, Account Siphon has been one of the defining cards of Criminal. It was a card every Corp had to play around and defend against. Now, it is very common for Corp players to leave HQ undefended because the cards that punish the Corp for that choice just are not that strong.

Here is example of trying to build a Reg Criminal build in the current card pool. I’m not saying it is a good build, but it is an example if you are trying to experiment around yourself.

Reg Steve

Steve Cambridge: Master Grifter (Terminal Directive)

Event (22)
3x Career Fair (Breaker Bay)
3x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)
3x High-Stakes Job (Kala Ghoda)
2x Indexing (Revised Core Set) [color=#32CD32]●●●●● ●[/color]
2x Inside Job (Revised Core Set)
2x Legwork (Honor and Profit)
1x Mad Dash (Daedalus Complex)
3x Special Order (Revised Core Set)
3x Sure Gamble (Revised Core Set)

Hardware (2)
2x Doppelgänger (Revised Core Set)

Resource (12)
3x Aeneas Informant (Earth’s Scion)
3x Daily Casts (Creation and Control)
3x Earthrise Hotel (The Source)
3x Sacrificial Construct (Revised Core Set) [color=#32CD32]●●●[/color]

Icebreaker (5)
1x Femme Fatale (Revised Core Set)
1x Inversificator (Earth’s Scion) [color=#32CD32]●●●[/color]
1x Mammon (Terminal Directive)
1x Mongoose (Kala Ghoda)
1x Paperclip (Blood Money) [color=#FF4500]●●●[/color]

Program (4)
1x Sneakdoor Beta (Revised Core Set)
3x Tapwrm i[/i]
15 influence spent (max 15, available 0)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Revised Core Set

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

3 Likes
6

I’m on a variant of this ID/suite that is decent. I have just one Indexing with 3x Peace. 3x Inside job and 2x Maxwell James gives good early remote pressure and can help with nasty ICE later game. Mostly use Steve trigger for econ recursion.

7

I’m a Shaper fan but have been enjoying the Gang Sign Leela deck lately. It does well against CI because of the heavy HQ pressure. I currently run Maw and Fisk Investment Seminar to constantly pull new cards into HQ and pressure centrals while accelerating your own card draw.

3 Peace in Our Time + 3 Sacrificial Construct + 3 Tapwrm is a great core economy package, which you can supplement with Sure Gamble, maybe Tri-Maf Contract, and a few other economy cards. I’m also currently testing Möbius because with Leela, you can occasionally clear ice off R&D and then create a great window for earning free credits from the multiple runs.

Not sure it’s as good as other decks out there but it’s pretty fun and fast paced.

2 Likes
8

Been including 1x Fall Guy which really helps against Best Defense.

9

Tapwrm with sac con and fester is legit. Aumakua with Dean lister is legit.

The problem right now is a shortage of in faction draw and the fact that the above card combinations are easy enough to splash that you can generally get a better deck if you import them.

1 Like
10

Fisk Investment Seminar combos a bit with Tapwrm cause Corp doesn’t want to purge if they’re flooded or if they want to keep their cards…but you gotta time it together.

11

Iain is still good