Nasir Meidan's Philosophy

Deck Archetypes
29

Buuut Cortez Chip doesn’t work that well with Nasir anyway. It’s an additional cost, not an increased rez cost, so his ability doesn’t come into play.

30

Ooops, my bad. I don’t know why the wording is different for an effect that is otherwise almost always the same.

31

The real difference boils down to this: you are allowed to not pay additional costs, and thus avoid whatever would normally happen. This is why the runner can choose not to steal an agenda guarded by Strongbox or Red Herrings, or pay the additional cost on NAPD or Fetal AI - normally the runner has to steal agendas when found, but they are allowed to refuse the additional cost and thus do other things, like ignore it or Imp it.

Similarly, for the corp, if you Snitch+Blackguard an ice, I normally have to rez it if I am able - even if you have increased the rez cost via, say, Reina Roja’s trait. But if you have added an additional cost to rez the ice - such as via Running Interference, Cortez Chip, or the built-in additional cost on Archer - I can refuse to pay the additional cost. This ruling is why you can’t Snitch+Blackguard an Archer to force the corp to lose an agenda.

For reference to deckbuilders, here are a list of cards that actually increase or decrease rez costs (and thus work with or against Meidan’s ability):

  • Akitaro Watanabe (decreases by 2)
  • Awakening Center (decreases by 7)
  • Braintrust (decreases by 1 per agenda counter)
  • Rook (increases by 2)
  • Xanadu (increases by 1)
  • Reina Roja (increases by 1 - and yes, obviously you can’t play Reina and Nasir simultaneously, but Social Engineering uses the same type of “gain credits equal to its rez cost” mechanic, so it’s worth noting)

And here are cards that do not increase the amount of credits gained by Nasir’s trait or Social Engineering, because they actually impose an additional rez cost - they do not actually change the rez cost.

5 Likes
32

One nitpick: the ability to Imp an NAPD Contract isn’t connected to the additional cost thing in any way. You can Imp a Braintrust just fine, even when with no Red Herrings, Strongboxes or Sources around.

The normal chain of events goes like “Access” → “Oh, it’s an agenda, I must steal”, with Imp being able to trigger on access, before the actual stealing.

Oh man, this is what The Collective’s ID ability should have said!

“Choose two runner identity cards. Gain the identity text box of each of them.”

and keep it as a Shaper 55/5 with 0 link. If it turns out to be too weak, go overboard and have it be three runners (which means you get to keep the artwork as a bonus, too). Now that would actually… you know, be a collective.

(mind-linked Gabe and Silhouette? Yes please!)

edit: I think I’m gonna tweet this idea, been too long since I got ridiculed anyway :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like
33

I heard from a playtester that at one point it used to allow you to play runner identities as one-of ressources (0 cost, 0 influence).

1 Like
34

You are, of course, correct; I was thinking of the ability to avoid killing yourself by not stealing a Fetal by not paying the additional cost and got that mixed up with what I usually do (namely, imp it). Fixed.

Now that would’ve been interesting, as two or three runners. Huh… they’d automatically be better at being The Professor than The Professor is, if you included him. :laughing:

1 Like
35

“Hi. We’re a Collective composed of The Professor, Rielle Peddler and Gabriel Santiago. We like long walks on the beach, polyamorous relationships and getting into your servers. Prepare to die.”

Like that? :smiley:

2 Likes
36

There was a card in original Netrunner called “total genetic retrofit” - a reworking of that allowing you to change identity would be kinda fun.

On the subject of The Collective though, do you think we’ll see them anyway in a different guise? I can’t remember what the details of the competition were now, but they’ve already commissioned artwork for them so I’d be surprised if we didn’t see them in an alternative form somewhere down the line.

37

Maybe as a Resource?

38

I have been fiddling around with Nasir as a stealth deck. It seems ok. I think there are probably a number of optimisations to make to this list, but here it is for discussion anyhow.

Secret Agent Man (45 cards)

Nasir Meidan: Cyber Explorer

Event (11)
3 Diesel
3 Modded
2 Net Celebrity
3 Test Run

Hardware (16)
2 CyberSolutions Mem Chip
2 Dyson Fractal Generator [color=#cf3713]••••• •[/color]
2 Lockpick
2 Omni-Drive
2 R&D Interface
2 Replicator
2 Silencer [color=#444f80]••••• •[/color]
2 The Toolbox

Resource (8)
3 Ghost Runner
2 Order of Sol
3 Personal Workshop

Icebreaker (3)
1 BlacKat [color=#cf3713]•••[/color]
1 Dagger
1 Refractor

Program (7)
3 Cloak
1 Magnum Opus
3 Self-modifying Code

Built with [URL=http://netrunner.meteor.com/decks/F342zzYYi49Dz7rLF]http://netrunner.meteor.com/[/URL]

I’ve found it works best in mid to late game, as it’s heavily rig based. Once you’re up and running, the corp will be weary to rez ice as it allows you to dump your hardware off the workshops, and if they do, they end up just providing more fuel for your breaker suite. Once set up, it seems as if unless servers are very deep, you always have the cash to get in.

I prefer Nasir for this build than the other shapers. Kate’s economic bonus is actually a slight weakness here, you want to spend all your cash all the time. This is why first cut is almost certainly modded. I have found them to just sit in hand unless I have spent my money already then they become sortof useful. Exile can’t work, Professor no, Chaos Theory is an option, but I prefer 45 cards (not sure what I would cut, though opus and modded look likely, and probably the second sol). The extra mem would be useful, but I want to to at least try a build that seems to naturally suit Nasir himself. Kit is a pretty good option for stealth lulz, but she would go about it a very different way. Due to influence Shaper seems the only option for a full stealth rig at the moment.

It is very strong once you have a couple of cloaks out, and recurring hardware support for the breakers. I haven’t come across a server I couldn’t break into once set up.

It has a very noteable weakness to trace and tag n bag. In my meta this isn’t prevalent, but I could definitely see there being room for hard counters to that, probably some good ol carapaces.

I’m pretty sure there’s something strong lurking in here, would be great to hear your feedback.

39

On its face I’d say this lacks HQ pressure/multiaccess. I’d consider swapping one or more of the out of faction stealth cred generators for 2x HQI. Also, since you’re pretty much all in on the mid-late game I think Procon is a natural fit for all the drawing you’ll be doing to assemble the parts of your rig.

1 Like
40

I’m pretty new to the game. I can’t see how to play Nasir well in a meta full of zero-cost ICE.

Face checking ICE early in the game in particular seems like a good way to waste your money.

How do you play and deck build for this guy?

41

You could check out the recent posts in this thread Exploring a Stalling Metagame: Nasir Meidan StimShop by El-Ad David Amir - #615 by x3r0h0ur

But my actual recommendation would be: don’t play Nasir. I love him, but he’s really bad right now.

4 Likes
42

If you really, really want Nasir, play Stealth, leave money as long as possible on Net Mercur, don’t get tagged. :wink: You can take any good Smoke build and use the five cards you need to add anyway (as Nasir needs a 45-card deck, in comparision to Smoke’s 40) to accelerate the build or adjust it to Nasir’s need of dumping money before he loses it. But with Net Mercur and enough other Stealth sources you can actually play a relatively moneyless build.

Other than that:

43

Reviving an old thread here to try and kickstart discussion about this intriguing ID. Because Nasir isn’t rotating yet, the announcement of Core 2.0 and the ban/restriction list opens up conversation about deck building, and there are a number of cards that have been released in the past year since this thread was last updated, I’m curious to hear from the “hive mind” about what you would include in a competitive Nasir deck.

The first post in this thread is a good reminder of general considerations of Nasir’s strengths and weaknesses when it comes to philosophy of building decks around his ability. However, it’s a bit outdated now.

Some of my thoughts on cards that might be worth considering:

  • System Seizure: This 0-credit current allows you to retain the strength of your first icebreaker boosted during a run. If you know what you’re going to encounter, you could preemptively boost that breaker to save money throughout the run. If you use this in conjunction with Gordian Blade, you can have multiple breakers that retain their strength, offering you more targets for effectively spending credits between ice encounters.

  • Mammon: This could be a primary breaker that you dump extra credits into. In conjunction with System Seizure, you could add all of the counters you need at the start of the turn, boost strength on approach, and then have the ability to break as many subs as needed regardless of what ice you encounter.

  • Derez cards: If you can consistently force the Corp to derez cards, or choose to not rez ice on runs that threaten scoring, you can capitalize on Nasir’s ability. Leave No Trace is an influence-heavy option (3 influence) that seems like it would have a powerful effect in a Nasir deck. Emergency Shutdown is a little more affordable at 2 influence, and the 0 play cost means it would work well to allow for additional runs on the same turn. Maxwell James is even easier to import at 1 influence, and could help with remote locking.

  • Escher: This might be more of a stretch, but you could use this to put more derezzed ice on a server that you want to target on a subsequent run. At the same time, you could stack ice types on the same server, allowing you to capitalize on breakers like Blackstone or Gordian Blade.

  • Stealth cards: I think a stealth-based rig is a strong consideration here, which is stronger than ever in the past year. Net Mercur is an obvious choice for storing credits to supplement costs for icebreakers. Recurring credits (e.g., Cloak) and other cards that retain strength for the remainder of the run (Blackstone, Houdini) are also good options.

What other economy options would make sense to consider? I’m wondering in particular what you would use to quickly recover from 0 or 1 credits between runs, so you can get back to credit thresholds necessary to play events or install additional cards. Everyone keeps saying that Nasir can be really rich, but I have never really tried him, so I’m wondering if someone could offer insight into how much economy to include in a deck. For example, is Magnum Opus a contender here to help you recover from having low credits?

3 Likes
44

I don’t currently have much to add to the conversation, though I do plan on trying things out with Nasir for funsies. (Note that he’s probably not a good ID when fast advance is popular.)

I just wanted to point out that Nasir was printed in Upstalk and will be rotating in the next rotation.

45

Study Guide, maybe? It seems like it should be good, because it’s a place to dump credits mid-run and then benefit from them later, but maybe it’s too expensive and/or needs the money too early.

2 Likes
46

Hah, I’m dumb. Thanks.

47

Algo Trading seems like a good card for Nasir. Being able to “off-shore” your credits is pretty much half the battle when playing the Cyber Explorer.

2 Likes
48

Nasir with Security Nexus + Power Tap allows you to avoid newly rezzed low cost ICE when you need to. Unless the Corp is rich beyond words you get to choose when Nasir’s ability fires, not the corp.

Here is my latest build…

Nasir - Ghost In The Machine

Nasir Meidan: Cyber Explorer (Upstalk)

Event (16)

Hardware (4)

Resource (16)

Icebreaker (3)

Program (6)

15 influence spent (max 15, available 0)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Revised Core Set

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

  1. Get Trope out fast, if you do not draw into it by round 2, pop an SMC to get it on the table.
  2. Hyper draw your deck and quickly establish your boardstate.
  3. Pressure the Corp as long as possible before you pop Trope, you want at least 8 counters.