That looks like a very solid build. The only candidates for removal in favor of an RnD Interface that I can see are:
Akamatsu, but that feels risky with just one Grimoire
Indexing, but that will reduce consistency in the early game
Atman, because you probably don’t want to have all three out anyway
Self-Modifying Code, because you never really are using your third copy
My experience with the CT I linked above taught me that the third SMC isn’t actually all that critical, especially if you have enough memory left over to Clone an SMC without having to ditch an already installed program. Especially if you run another useful program in its place, you’ll often either draw a needed program or the SMC. Also, you’re running Test Runs, so you technically have almost four SMCs, in a way.
Personally, I’d probably ditch the Atman - use a combination of Atman #1, a Datasucker and Inti to live through early game, use the Femme bypass to keep access to one of the centrals post-purge, and then use the second Atman at the most convenient strength.
(also, as a person who got smoked by triple Punitives at Chronos, I’ll come out and say that no Carapace feels risky :D)
@Lysander alright, keeping the third QT. Then you probably have to ditch the third Atman though, because I really feel like the RDI will be more sorely missed.
@PeekaySK: Well the main reason behind the No Carapace is because with the amount of indexing & control I can have on the corp deck, I feel the Carapace isn’t that needed. If the corp never ever draw either his scorch / sea / punitive, you won’t really be punished. That’s at least how I feel. But yeah, I should make some room for the plascrete but the issue is the same: I don’t know what should i remove to play them.
Maybe I should remove the third atman and the third SMC to make room for a RDI and a Plascrete. The deck got enough draw power and shuffle to play just a single Plascrete and still feel safe. Or play with 46 cards so I could play 2 of them.
Believe me when I say they are needed. Look at my deck - I’m slimmer than you (40 cards) and run Same Old Things for Indexing recursion (so I get to move unfavorable cards to the bottom), and I still wasn’t always able to stop them from getting them. Are you really willing to lose a tournament round (and possibly a sweet-ass messenger bag :P) on a gamble that they didn’t get a kill card in their opening hand? That you really can’t index away, you know.
(also, Corporate Shuffle, Anonymous Tip and Jackson Howard are all real, played cards that will get stuff into their hands, Indexing or not)
You need two slots… I’d probably suck it up and drop the Levy+SOT. You probably won’t be playing long enough for them to matter most games anyway, and it’s more probable you’ll need the Carapace than the Levy.
Alternatively, I’d be tempted to drop Escher and Sharpshooter, even though Escher would definitely hurt. The Sharpie you don’t really need that much - just have one Atman at STR 5, and either have a sucker token when you’re facechecking a possible Archer, or have Grimoire + Parasite at the ready (so, either Clone Chip or SMC). Ichi 1.0 is doable with Femme, even though it costs a fortune. Worst case scenario, you can always click through the bastard.
@PeekaySK : Well to be fair, I already won the messenger bag :p. Don’t really need a second one (though finishing first in a larger tournament is always nice).
I played this deck for a couple of months and I never feel that I needed the plascrete to be honest, but It’s probably because i usually end with more creds than the corp and I got the recursive imp / nerve agent to deal against the moving piece of the scorch/sea combo or punishing counterstrike.
Toolbox Kate - Spin Cycle (45 cards)
Kate “Mac” McCaffrey: Digital Tinker
Event (12)
2 Dirty Laundry
3 Modded
2 Scavenge
3 Sure Gamble
2 Test Run
Resource (6)
3 Daily Casts
3 Professional Contacts
Icebreaker (7)
2 Atman
1 Deus X
1 Femme Fatale
1 Inti
1 Sharpshooter
1 Yog.0
Program (9)
2 Datasucker
1 Imp
1 Magnum Opus
1 Nerve Agent
1 Parasite
3 Self-modifying Code
[Edit] On the topic of playing Katman with multiple Indexing / Voicepad econ, I feel this archetype REALLY need the Levy / SoT / Escher to be truly efficient if the game draw a lil bit longer. And I really don’t know what I could I cut to play both the double Plascrete and those 3 cards.
I like it. I’d love to get a Stimhack into my current build. Still waffling between Public Sympathy and Plas. The Crete will save one’s life, but the Sympathy can be useful every game with the amount of draw in here.
PADman
Kate “Mac” McCaffrey: Digital Tinker (Core Set)
Event (20)
2x Diesel (Core Set)
3x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)
1x Escher (Creation and Control)
3x Indexing (Future Proof)
1x Levy AR Lab Access (Creation and Control)
3x Lucky Find (Double Time) ••••• •
3x Quality Time (Humanity’s Shadow)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)
1x Test Run (Cyber Exodus)
Resource (1)
1x Same Old Thing (Creation and Control)
Icebreaker (6)
2x Atman (Creation and Control)
1x Deus X (A Study in Static)
1x Femme Fatale (Core Set) •
1x Knight (Mala Tempora) ••
1x Sharpshooter (True Colors)
For @Calimsha’s build, ditto on dropping an Atman for a Plascrete, even if it is just one. Adding a third QT may help in drawing it while still helping the deck perform against non-SE builds.
As for my deck, likely candidates to cut to fit a R&DI would be either my third Indexing or my third SMC.
Also, I would not recommend cutting Escher in this deck unless it has absolutely no problem getting multiple Femmes installed, because Curtain Wall takes a huge dump on Atman builds, and we need a means of keeping it inside a server at 6 STR. I actually had to have a 10-strength Atman the other day just for it because I needed to get into a server and couldn’t find my lone Escher.
As for build @spags, keep the Plascretes. NBN Scorch decks are extremely potent and I’m actually surprised we don’t see more of them (I’m playing one currently). I think players tend not to think about revitalizing past builds once new ones come out.
I’d also recommend swapping Nerve Agent for Legwork when it comes out, but that’s irrelevant in the current discussion I suppose.
Well I made a couple of modification on my deck after taking the advices on this thread and it ended pretty much like spags deck, the main difference being Inti instead of Knight, a Grimoire instead of an Akamatsu and 2 SMC / 2 Test run instead of 3 SMC / 1 test run.
Nice. I had a Grimoire and Cybersolutions Chip in my first build. I want to play with the Knight a bit.
I like Legwork. Nerve Agent is a more consistent threat, perhaps making them temporarily focus on ICE’ing HQ.
I really like Escher. It’s not used often, but it can create severe havoc. Oh, H-B glacier deck, I see you’re a fan of Eli, Ichi 1.0, >AND< Viper. Let me just stack those up on R&D/the main remote for my lil’ Atman 4.
Speaking of Escher, if you have a single pip of influence to spend, I would highly recommend Copycat (yes, even over Stimhack). I loved the hell out of it in early iterations of this deck archetype. I would simply Escher for cheap, arrange R&D to be as efficient as possible, and organize a wormhole into a remote so for example, Eli or Caduceus would be the first ice over HQ and the last in the remote. With Clone Chip, I can break into the server twice to trash Ash and steal, and the best thing about it? Nobody saw it coming.
For the builds packing RDI : wouldn’t the maker’s eye be worthy of consideration in place of indexing? It benefits from the VoicePAD and seems better overall vs FA or in the late game when R&D accesses are costly.
The Indexing isn’t just there to make a simili-multi-access, it’s also there to control the tempo of the corp. If the you put all the ICEs down and send him some assets / operation on the top of his R&D, it’s a tempo gain for you. It also gives you a ton of informations on what will be played so you can adapt your own play according to it.
On another note, anyone have played this deck against HB Red Coat and Jinteki RP with Caprice ? I’m curious on how well those matchups fare for this deck.
@PeekaySK > HB glacier/tax with Ash, Tollbooth,Caprice, recursion for Ash/Caprice (Interns, Archived Memories) and a ton of money. The deck doesn’t really try to rush anything, just protect the central, make a huge taxing fort then score behind Ash/Caprice. Sometime, an AggSec is put in the mix to hit the runner tempo.
Ah, so the good ol’ taxing HB build, given a fancy name. Gotcha.
p.s. I really think this is way better out of Stronger Together - every single piece of ICE becomes annoyingly expensive to get through, really. If your Elis cost as much to break as other peoples’ Wall of Thorns, that can’t possibly be a bad thing.
