Polite Discussion on the Worlds 2014 Metagame

Netrunner General
26

Abandon all sentries! In Barriers we trust! Oh wait, Quetzal is a thing. SAVE US CODE GATES! Oh damn, Yog…

3x Levy University
3x Mother Goddess

THAT’S ALL I NEED!!!

3 Likes
27

Switchblade combo AND Personal Yogosaurus combo seems a little combotastic to me, even out of Shaper. You’re not dealing with Tollbooth until you’ve got Yog and two enablers.

I think I’d do a conventional decoder and keep Femme for Tollbooth.

@Lysander was going to test Prepaid Kate with Refractor back when it was spoiled. Might be worth looking at.

2 Likes
28

you wouldn’t use yog or morningstar since you are playing cloak you would probably just play refractor and a corroder/inti/snowball, since refractor + ghost runner breaks through a tollbooth on turn 1, which is cool.

I haven’t dicked around with stealth much, but adding stealth credits to the money+breakers equation doesn’t seem like much of a stretch.

Edit: To bring it back around, I think the playability of stealth cards affects the viability of certain glacier decks. As you guys have said, they are plowing down 1 sentry per turn which isn’t enough to thwart RP (good news!)

However, I would like to point out good sirs, that 1 sentry per turn still seems like a big deal. It’s basically ice destruction except I still pay credits for installs.

Granted as @ajar is pointing out, it’s a combo - and speed is a factor for runners today. I think that if switchblade comes down with 2 recurring stealth credits during the midgame phase it’s going to be really bad times because I can stack sentries, but they can also just drop a ghost runner and sweep a server.

3 Likes
29

Right. That was a joke build. 4 Consoles, @spags? REALLY???!?

Here’s a more legit Stealth build.

Sneakate

Kate “Mac” McCaffrey: Digital Tinker (Core Set)

Event (10)

Hardware (13)

Resource (12)

Icebreaker (3)

Program (7)

15 influence spent (max 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Up and Over

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

5 Likes
31

Soooo… Is HB Fast Advance not “A Thing” anymore? I really don’t feel like switching over to a Glacier deck, mostly because Quetzal eats even Heimdall 2.0 alive, and Switchblade will kick ANY Sentry’s ass, so I’m not sure how much longer the Glacier-style will be viable.

On the other hand, I’ve noticed my Corp winrate slip from it’s 100% glory days, even with the inclusion of Domestick Sleepers to thelp me land that final point, so maybe FA is losing steam.

1 Like
32

I would predict at least 50% of Top 8 Corp to be Fast Advance (NBN/HB). after that, a glacier or two, a Jinteki PE or RP, and hopefully that last slot will go to a cool deck. I’d like to see Tennin place in the top 8, or Weyland, specifically Uncorrodable.

Runner side, I’d expect 2 top 8 Noise, 3 or 4 top 8 Andromeda, 2 Kates. other 2 slots go to a Gabe and Reina, maybe. I’d really like to see CT in the top 8, especially String Theory. I still say that’s a powerful deck, but maybe not quite fast enough against Fast Advance?

1 Like
34

For what my opinion is worth, I don’t think CI in that particular form is all that viable these days:

  • The way to beat the deck has always been to nab all your points in one fell sweep (whether from a siphon/vamp, or an indexing, or a multi-nerve-agent dig), and that’s a strategy that only got better/more viable with Legwork.
  • Also, don’t forget that Noise is a really bad matchup for this - you often finish the game with less than 5 cards in RnD, which means that against Noise you’ll often be missing a turn or two to victory.

On the other hand, there is a neat CI build worth exploring in the current meta - Snares and Neural EMPs. Take that, Legwork! :smiley:

1 Like
35

I don’t think of Astrolabe as a consosle for some reason, so that didn’t even register when I read the list. Need to adjust my mental sorting.

I love Astrolabe as a card, though, and am really looking forward to including it in my Shaper decks.

1 Like
36

I think RP’s main, and huge, advantage over HB Glacier is the agendas: Beta test is fine, but Nisei and TFP are completely busted. I still believe it is the better deck, and I think it’s significantly better in a meta where people are geared to beat NEH, cutting parasites from criminal decks to fit R&D multi-access. RDI, by comparison, is very strong against HB Glacier.

If the meta is largely comprised of Criminals geared to beat NEH, RP Glacier could easily be a much stronger choice than NEH. I think prepaid is sort of a wash; it has middling matchups against all decks. The deciding factor between NEH and RP will be the anarch matchups, which are hard to predict, because outside of Noise/Aesops/Cache, there isn’t a well established archetype that will see a lot of play.

One deck that I think isn’t being given enough thought is Gabe. His 3-pronged attack is really deadly vs the ICE-light NEH decks, especially with Parasites. I think he might have the best NEH matchup of any runner, (but a pretty bad RP matchup).

7 Likes
37

I think we will see more of the aggressive noise decks that run things like knight and legwork with consistent early game pressure once inject becomes available. The cache-aesops deck is more rigid in play style and can’t go super fast without getting lucky draws. I don’t think it’s going to be a dominating force, but probably a viable choice for the metagame.

I’m looking more forward to having ashigaru in rp than I am to architect in hb.

1 Like
38

It will be like Worlds last year. HBFA is a thing, like PE is a thing. However, numbers usually win out. If most people are running NEH, chances are it will place well.

3 Likes
39

Speaking of PE, if the majority of players aren’t good at playing against it, it’s very much a thing. I don’t know if it will be played much, but getting in practice vs Hinke’s deck is as important as your last 2 influence or whatever. That deck is serious, and seriously requires a different type of play than most people are accustomed to.

6 Likes
40

PE is a great matchup vs Criminal. It suffers a huge amount vs Shaper, though, so I’m not sure how many PE there will actually be. Though, thinking about it, Chronos Project makes that match up a lot better now.

1 Like
41

[quote=“moistloaf, post:32, topic:1944, full:true”]
I would predict at least 50% of Top 8 Corp to be Fast Advance (NBN/HB). after that, a glacier or two, a Jinteki PE or RP, and hopefully that last slot will go to a cool deck. I’d like to see Tennin place in the top 8[/quote]
Most good Tennin decks I’ve seen were FA that never built a remote other than a naked Jackson, is Trick of Light instead of SanSan enough to make it a cool deck? :wink:

1 Like
42

I would assume a higher than normal number of players running Whizzard to try to counter NEH, and a good counter-corp would be one of the Glacier builds. HB might be better because Whizzard wrecks Sundews all day, although I feel Lotus Field is a serious gear check for Anarchs, so RP can save some influence there.

As a runner, I think Shaper might be well-positioned to have a good showing. I’d find some way to fit a Scrubber or two in there for the eventual NEH matchup, or maybe even a one-of Paricia, but I feel even the “default” lists have the tools to deal with a diverse field.

1 Like
43

From my expirience Noise is far ahead in strength over ppvp kate and Andy. It is in favour in any matchup as vs glaciers deck so vs neh biotics as well. midseason deck can stop him, but they are pretty seldom in current meta.

2 Likes
44

Yeah, but it loses so much against Morning Star and Parasite/Datasucker.
RP needs a good, strong barrier, right now I think Heimdall 1.0 may be the way to go.

1 Like
45

It’s expensive to lose to Para-sucker, but it’s also 5 Str and in a faction that’s likely to draw them onto Komainu and Tsurugi and Pup first.

And for all that lots of people talk up Morning Star (quite rightly), it really doesn’t feature heavily in many good decks. (Many being the operative word, here.) Against Corroder, it’s a pretty solid piece of Ice – most likely 6-8 to break each time. Much, much more solid than Wall of Thorns (which is similar in cost and strength, but ever so much less expensive to break).

1 Like
46

It’s 4 Str, Corroder breaks it for 3-7. Wall of Thorns for 5. Of course Morning Star isn’t very popular, but you have to count it as a weakness of RP and Ashigaru doesn’t help here.

1 Like
47

Chrisium Grid on HQ stops all of those cards except Indexing (and you can put one on R&D for that). Noise is tougher but if you have a build than can score more aggressively I think CI has a future.

1 Like