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.
Maybe as a Resource?
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)
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.
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.
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?
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.
If you really, really want Nasir, play Stealth, leave money as long as possible on Net Mercur, don’t get tagged. 
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:
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?
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.
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.
Hah, I’m dumb. Thanks.
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.
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 Meidan: Cyber Explorer (Upstalk)
15 influence spent (max 15, available 0)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Revised Core Set
Deck built on NetrunnerDB.
Very weird. What are you expecting to cycle with trope? And why not just play Lady instead of the terrible and terribly ambitious Ankusa. Same with dagger v nanotek? Personal preference?
Some people are playing ankusa as kakugo protection?
I mean, I don’t get it either.
Oh yeah, you cycle with trope. And you control what comes back. Just leave what you don’t need behind.
With all the draw you have you will get your rig and supporting stuff out quick.
As to the breaker selection, the stealth breakers are super efficient and either I can use Nexus to bypass massive barriers or I can lift up cheap ones out of the way.
This is not a tier 1 deck. It was a concept deck and it works pretty well. I would never take it up against a meta full of super rush decks or Skorp. Everything else is a fair game.
I’ve been tinkering with Nasir lately. Yes, even now, in the year of our Lord Boggs, post-rotato, MWL 2.0, post-Worlds.
I’m doing this chiefly because I’m a crazy person, but also because I suffer from hipster syndrome (my only other Runner projects at the moment are all Criminal).
Anyway, let’s get this out of the way: there is no competitive reason to play Nasir right now. He lost Personal Workshop, and he has real troubles with Stinson and HHN. If you like winning games, you can quit reading now.
Ok, let’s get down to business.
The key elements of a modern Nasir list (what a sentence that is) are:
Hopefully this has whetted your appetite for janky Nasir talk. Stay tuned! (I have lists!)
Let’s start by talking about deck construction, specifically recurring credits.
Sources of recurring credits:
So, I’ve been testing with the Cloak + Net Mercur package, and it’s pretty decent, although yes, you’re sort of playing weird bad Smoke at that point. That’s ok. I’ve also been using Technical Writer as a means of building up a cache of dollars outside of your credit pool, and those builds prefer Multithreader.
In general, I find that I either want to run Cloak or Multithreader.
Rubicon Switch: Lets you do cute things like bouncing off of an ETR ice and using the Nasir money to derez it right away. With recurring credits, lets you do that cute thing to other ice as well.
Xanadu: Annoys the Corp by making their ice cost more to rez, and gives us an extra dollar when they do rez it. More about value than doing something rude.
It’s possible we don’t need either one, but both bring something good to the table in terms of ID synergy.
Algo Trading: Right, so I know a lot of Nasir players (all twelve of you) swear by this card now, but having played it a bit, I’m disillusioned. Yes, if you draw it early, it can be a sort of delayed Bloo Moose. Yes, it gives you a way to move credits out of your pool. But here’s the thing: if you don’t draw it early, it’s trash. Also, I don’t want to put my money into a hole early in the game, I want to spend it setting up!
Technical Writer: Clone Chip and SMC are your setup tools, and they also trigger the Writer a bunch. This card has worked pretty well for me - being able to burst up a bunch of credits is good, even moreso here. Plus, it costs 0, so it doesn’t hinder setup at all.
Net Mercur: We all know how this card works. It’s great! In conjunction with Cloak, you can keep about 4c on this thing for emergencies and finance your occasional Indexing runs.
I’m split between Tech Writer and Net Mercur, since they both require fairly different shells.
Indexing is the strongest multi-access in the game, and we get it for no influence. Let’s play it?
The Turning Wheel does something important for us: it gives us value from probing runs, which is something we want to do fairly often. Our ability + some cash + SMC means we can facecheck fairly confidently, but if we’re only going for a single access, the Corp might not rez at all! Turning Wheel counters adds pressure to the Corp’s rez decision (which is definitely what we’re going for in general).
An interesting alternative to stealth. A Study Guide, once installed and built up to about 6str, can deal with all of the code gates you’re going to see for very cheap. And Egret lets you spread that love to any other piece of ice for cheap (and with a Clone Chip even!). I think these cards go well in a Tech Writer + Multithreader build.
More thoughts to come!
I got too excited talking about building Nasir decks and failed to explain why I think he’s fun to play, and what our goals are for his deck.
More so than any other Runner (save Los), Nasir makes the Corp sweat at step 2.3 of every run. Do I rez? That’s the question we want to pose the Corp, and we want it to be a tricky one. Additionally, Nasir changes how you look at ice. Getting paid for facechecking is a cool feeling! To sum up: Nasir makes the game interesting and different for both players, and that makes it all worth it to me.
Also, if they ever print Personal Workshop 2.0 and he becomes Tier 3 again, you can tell people you played him before it was cool.
Whatever it wants, really. Specifically, our gameplan is split into distinct phases.
Cards that help accelerate setup:
Cards that help us facecheck:
Cards that sustain our econ:
Cards that help us win:
Interestingly, neither Xanadu nor Rubicon Switch appear in those categories. I’m either missing a category or those cards aren’t actually all that important. HMMM I’ll leave it as an exercise to you, dear reader, or until I post again.