It's not that hard, and she's pretty hardcore - Leela Patel

Decklists
682

Never have tried sec testing to discount the medium counter. That’s a cool idea :slight_smile: You can do that once on a turn to build rnd pressure and then build state for a later multi access run. I’ll have to give that a try, for sure!

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683

That’s some @mtgred t3ch. Any MU issues?

(I’ve been unhealthily obsessed with MU lately)

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684

It’s not huge, but a lot of corps don’t expect it. Amazing what those 3 credits after the run is done can do for getting in a second time. (One reason I like it with Dirty Laundry when possible, costs a bit more to get in the first time, but nets you 6 and leaves you with 8 at the end, which is a nice sum for an R&D access.)

Not the best way to make money directly, sure, but I think of Desperado more as a way to recoup costs than anything else, and while the combo with Sec Test lets you Easy Mark, well… no reason not to make it do more for you.

Worth noting that I use Gordian Blade over Zu, as well as 1-of Breach, so that helps with some server costs, too (though it’s pricier to drop, for sure).

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685

Yeah we cut a corroder for memstrips

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686

I will hunt your family down and they will rue the day niles

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687

One issue I’ve had with Medium over RDI is that Sneakdoor becomes a much worse topdeck lategame. You either want it early or not at all which doesn’t synergize well with running only one copy.

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688

“The truth is, it’s not that hard to troll Dan with Memstrips.” -Niles Patel

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689

So what are peoples’ thoughts on Leela post-Clot? My initial reaction was that she’d be not great because NEH was a good matchup for her and the meta would be littered with glacier and RP. I found it hard to justify playing any Criminal over Kate or MaxX in the post-Clot meta. Despite that, she came second at the SSCI, and because of the large amount of Rush decks, there could still be a niche she fits.

Cortex Lock was an unfortunate hit to the Criminal faction most of all, but it’s not as omnipresent as I expected (because it’s horrible versus Shaper). Any Criminal is a hard sell over MaxX or Kate to me at the moment, but I’m wondering if there’s anybody who feels different or thinks that Leela (or any Criminal, for that matter) is just as strong post-Clot.

690

I didn’t see a lot of reg ass MaxX games in the SSCI, so can you breakdown the comparison between than build and Reg ass Leela?

I’d say Leela is better in the tourney’s glacier heavy meta because of Sec Test, Siphon, and Shutdown. MaxX has speed over Leela, but Leela slows the corp down anyway, so it’s a wash. Leela’s seems like she can do more in 4 clicks than MaxX can.

691

I feel like it was sort of a fluke TBH. If you watched the finals, she was totally locked out by RP and Ahmed threw the game multiple times to lose it, while also missing on a caprice psi for a nisei that would have won on the spot regardless. The HB matchup is actually miserable for Leela in my experience.

I have come off the position that Leela just takes advantage of bad players and bad luck and is bad in a strong field, but I think she has certainly gotten worse with the decline of NBN, and DEFINITELY relies on mediocre play or bad luck from the opponent to some degree, even if you have to get it in the finals of a large invitational tournament.

RP Matchup: Quite bad
HB Rush Matchup: Also quite bad

Seems like a bad meta call to me.

1 Like
692

Most of the strong players who came with reg ass seemed to do quite well with it but had their corp stomped to miss on top 16. I think regass has a much better RP matchup than Leela, (because of the ability to parasite recur and knife elis), a slightly better HB matchup, (leela sucks against ichi 1.0, viper, and IQ, and struggles to trash drip econ), and a slightly worse BS matchup. On the other hand, I don’t think they’re comparable at all. Leela forces the corp to slow down and overice centrals and score slowly. Maxx operates more like a control deck along the lines of ppvp kate, where you take advantage of strong ID and card economy, control remotes, and win the game on R&D. Your game is much more about fighting a long economy war rather than putting fast pressure on the corp.

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693

I found her HB rush matchup is pretty good and is pretty Leela favoured (from testing results), high amounts of agendas and low ICE scoring servers are where Leela thrives, but yeah, the RP matchup is abysmal.

That being said, if I knew the field was going to be almost completely RP I wouldn’t even be thinking about playing Kate or Leela and be testing Reg Ass all day. I’ve still not decided what runner’s the best meta call between the three but I think I can eliminate Leela for now at least: you’re right, there’s too much RP about. The fact the top three of the SSCI were all RP is somewhat telling.

694

interested what @spags and @aandries have to say on the matter

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695

I don’t know about what HB you’ve been testing against, but the BBlum/Calimshaesque rush+FA deck is just as good against Leela as RP. I brought that deck to the all star store champ and walked all over the 3 Leelas I played against. I would check your HB pilot, make sure you go deep on the mid/high str ICE, is and maybe swap sides. You have a lot of shit to rez in response to siphon which makes Leela a lot worse.

You shouldn’t discount stealth Andy. Obviously RP decks are starting to tech their ICE in preparation, but the endgame breaker quite is positively insane. Obviously, she has a very sketchy BS matchup, but if you’re looking to beat RP you have to consider her as well.

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696

We played with her quite a bit last night. Liking Symmetrical Visage. I still think she’s strong, as she has a great ability that fires on both player’s turns. If she gets an early Kati, that can easily support Desp/SecTest running. She has bad matchups, as does everyone. Saying RP is a bad matchup isn’t fair, as it’s a bad matchup for everyone. It’s like saying that playing against LeBron James is a bad matchup for the Celtics. Yeah, them, and EVERYONE IN THE NBA!

She does have some rougher matchups. I played a tweaked version of @Selverin’s HB from the SSCI, and it downright wrecked Leela. Multiple ICE everywhere, ASH, Caprice, and I added a Troubleshooter. Combined with 8 money assets, and it was Bad Times for Leela. There are a number of matchups where it is quite favourable for her, and she can still assault centrals quite well. There was a game where I was grousing about my money start, but after a score was able to peel off HQ ICE and multi-Siphon. Was game quickly thereafter, like old timey Fun Crim Times.

The additions of Caprice and ASH to dex even more than normal has hurt runners like Leela and Valencia. Game is about ebbs and flows. Dan can attribute a luck run to her in the SSCI, just like one could with that MaxX combo deck. However, everyone knew what was coming out of Leela, and still didn’t stop her from getting to 2nd place. Still the 2nd best Crim, IMHO. I prefer the interactivity, and would play her over Andy. Luckily, I’m prob. not playing Crim in the early Regionals.

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697

RP has bad matchups against reg ass, stealth andy, parasite andy if anyone feels like resurrecting that (now seems like a good time), and is middlish against eater keyhole or noise depending on the builds. Kate brings a strong game too, though I think it’s still good for RP.

Would not argue this.

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698

IDK, I think most RP have geared up to combat stealth Andy.

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699

I was testing against vinegarymink, who was playing an early version of the deck he and I played at the SSCI. I think Leela has a lot of game against rush decks, though she isn’t as great against the more glaciery HB variants, especially those with NEXT.

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700

Right. NEXT devastates here.

Here’s the list I wrecked her with, for example:

Selv’s Glaciers

Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future (Core Set)

Agenda (9)

Asset (12)

Upgrade (6)

Operation (3)

Barrier (6)

Code Gate (7)

Sentry (5)

Other (1)

15 influence spent (max 15)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to The Valley

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

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701

You took out the crisium grid. Crisium Grid is wrecking criminals even more.

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