Is expose ready for prime time... or what should I run?

Decklists
1

I’ve tried a few different Runner decks since I started playing ANR, but haven’t really found one that makes me feel completely comfortable. I mostly play Keyhole Andy because as a Magic player I can’t say no to the 9-card opening hand, but I don’t like matchups where I see plenty of ice out of easy Datasucker range, which is a lot of HB decks. I had a nice run with ice trash Noise, but it struggles in similar situations. I’ve been playing Hemorrhage Noise recently and while it’s a ton of fun, I’ve only won one of about a half-dozen games. I had two brief flirtations with Shaper, but those decks always felt like they took too long to get rolling, and I’ve been crushing Shapers with my TWIY*, which makes me wary of playing one myself.

Lately I’ve been looking at the Anarch and Criminal expose decklists that have been popping up. I find one of the hardest things for me as Runner is calibrating how aggressive I should be at various times and given various board states, and it seems like running an expose deck could simplify that decision-making process quite a bit. Right now, I think Gabe has the best economy to be able to support Blackguard, so I took a look at some Gabriel Knight lists and some of the Gabe Blackguard lists and started brewing. I’m still in the very early stages and have done zero testing, but I wanted to get the conversation started here as Honor and Profit approaches.

Is anyone else testing expose right now, or planning to when H&P drops? What IDs do you think will be most effective for building expose decks? What do you think about its prospects as a top-tier concept?

This is the list I’m working with as a starting point. Input and alternatives are very much welcomed.

Anti-Paladin (v0.1)

Gabriel Santiago: Consummate Professional (Core Set)

Event (18)
3x Account Siphon (Core Set)
2x Forged Activation Orders (Core Set)
3x Inside Job (Core Set)
3x Satellite Uplink (Trace Amount)
3x Special Order (Core Set)
1x Stimhack (Core Set) •
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)

Hardware (8)
3x Blackguard (Fear and Loathing)
2x Lemuria Codecracker (Core Set)
3x Plascrete Carapace (What Lies Ahead)

Resource (6)
3x Armitage Codebusting (Core Set)
3x Mr. Li (Future Proof)

Icebreaker (7)
2x Corroder (Core Set) ••••
1x Gordian Blade (Core Set) •••
3x Knight (Mala Tempora) ••••• •
1x Mimic (Core Set) •

Program (6)
3x Sneakdoor Beta (Core Set)
3x Snitch (Cyber Exodus)

15 influence spent (max 15)

45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Fear and Loathing

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

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2

Right now, I don’t think it’s ready. The only advance-able trap that really scares me is Aggressive Secretary, as the others can be played around and cost as much to set up and spring as they do to recover from. Faerie and Sharpshooter enable aggression against ice, so really there’s not much left to expose.

Expose isn’t bad, and can save some time from running a trap, but I think this question is better posed after we see all H&P has to offer.

Also, have you tried more aggressive, criminaly Shapers?

3

I’m thinking more about exposing ice as econ pressure than exposing what’s in servers – hence Snitch and Lemuria – but I suppose that could be handy too in the right circumstances. Jinteki is all over my meta.

I haven’t tried super aggressive Shapers. Do you mean stuff like CT Faerush decks?

4

Not quite, as Faerie is too influence-heavy. I run a Kate deck with extremely inexpensive programs with a lot of room to swap influence. It’s as good as Criminals, and a much less popular option. Also, it’s great for addressing Jinteki if that’s your concern.

5

Most recently I was tinkering with this Kate, but it isn’t all that aggressive. What breakers do you run?

7

I moved 22 posts to a new topic: Kate Blitz

Use this thread for discussion on expose based decks.

16

I don’t want to derail this topic back to Expose, but Tim Bunn posted an interesting Blackguard deck.

Bunn’s Blackguard (45 cards)

Andromeda: Dispossessed Ristie

Event (23)
3 Account Siphon
3 Dirty Laundry
3 Easy Mark
3 Emergency Shutdown
3 Infiltration
2 Inside Job
1 Special Order
3 Sure Gamble
2 The Maker’s Eye

Hardware (8)
3 Blackguard
3 Plascrete Carapace
2 R&D Interface

Resource (5)
3 Daily Casts
2 Kati Jones

Icebreaker (6)
2 Corroder
1 Crypsis
1 Femme Fatale
1 Garrote
1 Gordian Blade

Program (3)
3 Snitch

I do think I would change some things I feel Andromeda would increase the odds of playing it turn 1

17

To play it turn 1, though, you need to draw Sure Gamble plus Blackguard, and preferably some other econ as well. In addition, Blackguard isn’t nearly as useful without Snitch, and the deck has no way to dig for either Blackguard or Snitch. Plus, that breaker suite with only one Special Order…

I actually don’t think that playing Blackguard turn 1 is what expose decks should aim for. I think you want to land a Siphon if you can, get a look at their ice with Snitch, and THEN drop the Blackguard when you know what you want to expose first, based on how well they’ve recovered from Siphon.

I went with Gabe for my concept because of his built-in econ, and included Mr. Li to dig for pieces. A good option for Andy would be Quality Time, since she’s more likely to hit one and it gets you even deeper into your deck than it would with a different ID. There’s also Lawyer Up, although you need to be confident about sticking Siphons for Lawyer up to be better than Quality Time. I might do something like this:

Andromeda’s Exposé (v0.1)

Andromeda: Dispossessed Ristie (Humanity’s Shadow)

Event (25)
3x Account Siphon (Core Set)
3x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)
3x Emergency Shutdown (Cyber Exodus)
1x Forged Activation Orders (Core Set)
3x Infiltration (Core Set)
3x Inside Job (Core Set)
1x Lucky Find (Double Time)[color=#708090] ••[/color]
2x Quality Time (Humanity’s Shadow)[color=#32CD32] ••[/color]
3x Special Order (Core Set)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)

Hardware (7)
3x Blackguard (Fear and Loathing)
2x Plascrete Carapace (What Lies Ahead)
2x R&D Interface (Future Proof)[color=#32CD32] ••••[/color]

Resource (5)
3x Daily Casts (Creation and Control)
2x Kati Jones (Humanity’s Shadow)

Icebreaker (5)
2x Corroder (Core Set)[color=#FF4500] ••••[/color]
1x Crypsis (Core Set)
1x Garrote (True Colors)
1x Gordian Blade (Core Set)[color=#32CD32] •••[/color]

Program (3)
3x Snitch (Cyber Exodus)

15 influence spent (max 15)

45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Double Time

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

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