I’d prefer Corroder for the lower install cost, considering how click-starved you are in the early game.
Another breaker possibility is to go -1 Shrike, -1 Shooter, -1 something and +1 Gingerbread, +2 Pancha.
I think you can survive on Mimic as your only sentry breaker if you need to with support from sharpshooter. How many sentries do you care about that are > 3 strength, don’t involve traces and can be realistically double stacked on a server? Discounting Sandburg, you’re going to be fine in most games.
Sandburg is still a thing though and it can be rough especially if you’re not packing political operative.
Whoah whoah hang on
Yeah. A boosted Komainu or Cobra is no joke, and Palana or RP can easily stack them. Mimic and Atman seem way too risky unless Sandburg gets less popular.
Rumor mill will probably push Sandburg out for a bit, until the corp gets some kind of counterplay.
yah have been playing a prepaid kate list with three deuces (no lucky finds tho, running shrike and a stimhack and a pol op) and it’s super fun, and works against most things (you do need to deal with sandburg quickly) but have not played v ctm which would probably be pretty tough. Film critic, deus x make it pretty good v a lot of decks though. So been a very enjoyable way of playing prepaid kate at gnks again, even if anti meta andy is likely to be my jam for nats
Given the presence of our new yellow overlord, CTM: The King is dead! Long live the King!; isn’t it Nexus’ Kate time to shine?
I have seen a few competing builds knocking around – one based upon Mopus for econ with draw supplied by Earthrise/QT; the other using traditional Proco for both money and draw and hyperdriver/peddlers.
Anyone got experience with either and can lend a considered opinion?
Proco seems a bit risky–nexus kate has a slow set up time, right? That gives CTM the space to sneak out a breaking news and trash your proco, setting you even further back. Earthrise just needs to tick down for a few turns, and its not heartbreaking if it dies a turn early, so that seems a better bet.
the thing is you need a build that can challenge the tempi of CTM. Mopus seems slow and this is compounded if you are having to re-invest that money into draw which at 4 (EH) & 3 (QT) is not cheap at all. Also memory issues means you probably have to lose the mopus later anyway?
In my decidedly non-expert opinion, I think it comes down to who gets the better start. If Nexus Kate opens with Modded → MO and Rabbit Hole and commits herself to checking and trashing all the remotes, CtM can’t win. Rushing agendas behind gearcheck ice is weak to shapers with good draw and SMC and there’s not much CtM can do if they can’t keep their assets alive. On the other hand, if CtM starts with a Sensie Actor’s Union that Kate can’t afford to trash they can quickly snowball into a win before Kate comes online. I haven’t played enough matches to really judge the win % but I think Kate has an advantage here.
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This is where Cloud Breakers are key. Shrike, and sometimes Zule are the way to go for an Opus build.
Thought I’d throw my stealth pre-paid Kate list into the mix. Had to put in Clot to deal with the SYNC FA threat, sadly. I was using Deuces Wild, and it’s great, but I needed the inf for the Clone Chips and Clot. 
I have two ProCon instead. I’d love to put Deuces it back in, if I could find the influence and card slots. I’d maybe swap a Clone Chip for one… But I still need to fully test out this build. I also had to get rid of “Freedom Through Equality”, to great personal pains, for a card slot. I want that back, too. 
I’m keeping my eye on whether I find the Akamatsu necessary. I’m thinking that can be my “Freedom Through Equality” slot for the future.
Edit from original post: -1x Akamatsu Memchip, +1x “Freedom Through Equality”
Stealthy Kate
Kate “Mac” McCaffrey: Digital Tinker (Core Set)
Event (16)
1x “Freedom Through Equality” (Democracy and Dogma)
3x Diesel (Core Set)
3x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)
1x Levy AR Lab Access (Creation and Control)
3x Lucky Find (Double Time) ●●●●● ●
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)
3x The Maker’s Eye (Core Set)
Hardware (11)
3x Clone Chip (Creation and Control) ☆☆☆
2x Mirror (23 Seconds)
1x Plascrete Carapace (What Lies Ahead)
3x Prepaid VoicePAD (Second Thoughts) ☆☆☆
1x R&D Interface (Future Proof)
Resource (8)
1x Film Critic (Old Hollywood)
3x Ghost Runner (The Spaces Between)
1x Political Operative (Democracy and Dogma) ●
2x Professional Contacts (Creation and Control)
1x Same Old Thing (Creation and Control)
Icebreaker (4)
1x Atman (Creation and Control)
1x Dagger (Creation and Control)
1x Refractor (First Contact)
1x Snowball (Trace Amount)
Program (7)
3x Cloak (Creation and Control)
1x Clot (The Valley) ●●
3x Self-modifying Code (Creation and Control)
9 influence spent (max 15-6☆=9, available 0)
46 cards (min 45)
Cards up to 23 Seconds
Deck built on NetrunnerDB.
(@Saan, since I forgot to make this a direct reply)
First thought after looking at this list again: -1 Clone Chip, -1 Lucky Find, -2 ProCon, -1 Akamatsu, +3 Deuces Wild, +1 Sacrificial Construct, +1 “Freedom Through Equality”. Think it could work! Or maybe do that and just keep the ProCon and forget the SacCon and FTE… Gotta test gotta test…
Based on my experience with Stealth Kit (which is still the best ID for stealth in my opinion), I would say that you probably don’t need the mem chip. 5 Memory is enough for stealth and you’re running 6 with mirror.
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Agreed, here.
5 Memory is enough, and 6 Memory is enough to run literally all the things. (A lot of Stealth Kit get by with only 2 Cloaks installed, though that’s partially because they can screw up Sentries into Code Gates.)
I will point out that you’ve got Atman here, though, so that might throw off the MU Math.
I’m 90% of the way to removing it. It’s nice to be able to have an SMC with 2 Cloaks and 3 breakers out, though, if I have to get Clot. It’s also nice to have it for the Atman with a full setup. Worse comes to worse, though, I think I could drop down by 1 Cloak if I need all 3 Breakers + Atman, since the Atman is hopefully providing coverage for something that reduces my reliance on stealth credits. Same with Clot. If I need it that bad after being that set up, I can drop a Cloak to make room and recover it later.
Edit: It is done. -1 Akamatsu, +1 “Freedom Through Equality”
not to be “that guy” but I don’t like two pro co. Imo it is three pro co or none. Just scrolled up to see if you were running a killrey chang (or whatever the card is called) in the third slot which would almost make sense, but you ain’t. Three pro co, buddy! I’d also make one makers an indexing, esp if you are playing freedom, but that’s just me
I don’t have the Chang pack yet, I would certainly use her. I’m actually fine with two ProCo for the moment because I don’t want to see him early due to the investment, and am ok seeing him a little later. He might as well be a placeholder for 1 Kilrain 1 Symmetrical Visage at this point, though. As soon as I get that pack (which may be this next game night…???), I’ll be making that change.
I played something very very similar yesterday at a GNK and noticed 2 main weaknesses:
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It struggles against very big ICE: Dai V and Corroder/Lady are too inefficient for stuff like Hadrian’s Wall or Curtain Wall. Next ICE and Hive/spiderwebs are not a problem on the other hand.
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Needs some kind of HQ multiaccess
The second problem is ideally solved by one legwork (which I would slot instead of the 3rd lucky find/ rumor mill) but how would you solve the first problem?
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HQ Multiaccess is something I miss, but not too much. You can run it cheaply enough that just hitting it every so often is threatening and affordable. As for Curtain/Hadrian’s, it’s never been an issue. If you need to break them so often it’s breaking your bank (or Lady counters), you’re probably just running too often. Generally, this is a remote lock deck, where you first make sure they can’t score agendas, then hit HQ a bit, since agendas should pile up there. Once R&D starts getting thin, finish up in there.
I really, really think Rumor Mill is better than Leg Work, since it basically locks down the remote for the rest of the game. Just having it in your heap and an Same Old Thing on the table makes it so that they can almost never score from a remote ever again. Once they can’t score any more, Leg Work isn’t needed any more, since 2/3s of HQ ends up being agendas if they can’t Jackson them away, and if they do they need to blow Jackson immediately so Rumor Mill doesn’t blank him before you run Archives and pick them all back up, which just makes R&D a better and better target. Just keep em outa that remote.
With all the ctm going on, isn’t nexus kate due for a revival?
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I’ve certainly seen it out there, but I don’t know how good it is against the field as a whole as I haven’t played it myself.