I think it’s not necessarily overall skill, but also specific experience against the deck, which is important. Part of the strength of the deck in my experience is that otherwise seasoned players will often make backbreaking mistakes because they don’t understand the big picture of what you are trying to do, and once you’re underwater against Reina it’s very hard to come back. I’ve won a lot of games with this deck where the corp player will say at the end “If I had only done X, that game would have been easy,” and they’re right, but X didn’t even cross their mind because it would’ve been a very bad play against, say, Kate or Andy or Noise or MaxX. It has a very similar feel to the old GRNDL Supermodernism decks, where mistakes are punished severely, and understanding the deck’s gameplan gives you a huge boost in equity.
If not a full set, Corroder, maybe a single yog. You delay the game so much and draw a great deal of your deck over the course of the game that you have time to draw into Eater or your breakers to keep you going. I’d say the problem is MU, not a lack of tutors.
I’ve seen a few strong players make the mistake of going to score an agenda. That’s usually the backbreaking one; people think they have a scoring window and go to get some points when in reality all they’re doing is putting themselves in credit denial range. Reina is a deck which you should always plan to lock out, never race. Even as RP, you’d often rather give up a Nisei than score it if it means overwriting a Sundew.
@SamRS Had a top 8 finish at the Team Covenant Regional with Headlock Reina. After watching him play I’m pretty sure he’s got the flow of the deck to a “T”. There was a game against Ahmed that I watched that, while Sam did not end up winning, he had constant pressure applied in all of the right places and the tools to make it work. If you know what you’re up against you can prepare but if it gets rolling Headlock is still a force to be reckoned with.
@ItJustGotRielle explained Anarchs to me as being disruptive. I would say this deck epitomizes that strategy and often times the disruption is enough to topple even the most seasoned veterans.
Disruption is a big part of the Anarch ethos. This Reina build is brute force disruption incarnate.
I would love to give this a roll, but just don’t have the reps. Def. feels like it needs to be piloted nigh perfectly.
hope @SamRS gives us a report! eager to see how he thought it performed against top-level opponents and how he compensated against the weaknesses we’ve been discussing.
after a few games with it, it’s not too difficult to identify the preferred lines of attack. maybe it needs to be piloted perfectly against people with a lot of experience against it or know how to play against it, but from my experience it just rolls over every one else.
Dammit. I was looking for a challenge!
Thanx, you shit. I was planning on getting some work done today.
Why, you only have 4 more days?! 
I was actually seriously considering running 1 yog as the only non-ai breaker at tulsa regionals, regretted not doing so as everyone was on crick and enigma rp. That being said, the deck started as a thought experiment around the idea that you don’t need breakers or much running money if you only break ice once and then kill/derez it. Working a crypsis back in might do a lot of work though.
[quote=“eric_c, post:447, topic:3185”]
hope @SamRS gives us a report! eager to see how he thought it performed against top-level opponents and how he compensated against the weaknesses we’ve been discussing.
[/quote] Was planning on it, but I took my notes on the back of my match sheet and someone took it/threw it away during the break before top 8. Long story short: This deck has an amazing matchup against kill decks and is one of the few top decks with a good rp matchup, so in this metagame I would recommend it. That being said, the dallas metagame will kill me if I keep playing it, so I’m going to try other decks out. It did very well on the day, only loss being to ahmed in top 8 in an extremely close game.
Where did you end up in the top 8? Who ended up taking the whole thing?
App., Sean beat Ahmed in the finals. Noise win.
Nice job. What’s your current build?
Pacer won it, wound up 5th losing to sasha and ahmed
Reina Roja: Freedom Fighter (Mala Tempora)
Event (9)
1x Déjà Vu (Core Set)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)
2x Vamp (Trace Amount)
2x I’ve Had Worse (Order and Chaos)
1x Knifed (Order and Chaos)
Hardware (5)
2x Desperado (Core Set) ••••• •
3x Clone Chip (Creation and Control) ••••• •
Resource (15)
3x Liberated Account (Trace Amount)
1x Scrubber (A Study in Static)
2x Xanadu (Humanity’s Shadow)
2x Kati Jones (Humanity’s Shadow)
3x Daily Casts (Creation and Control)
3x Earthrise Hotel (The Source)
1x Symmetrical Visage (The Valley)
Icebreaker (5)
3x Knight (Mala Tempora)
2x Eater (Order and Chaos)
Program (11)
3x Parasite (Core Set)
3x Crescentus (A Study in Static) •••
1x Keyhole (True Colors)
3x Lamprey (Upstalk)
1x D4v1d (The Spaces Between)
15 influence spent (maximum 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Order and Chaos
Fit a yog in somewhere. Still don’t care for queens gambit, but other people swear by it so -1 liberated for that if you want.
Desperado + poor corp is still the most efficient rig in netrunner.
EDIT: Forgot to include a couple last minute changes I made
IHW do any work?
I’m honestly blown away that Ahmed didn’t take this whole thing. He was just crushing it so hard. Pacer knocked me out of contention at worlds for conquest. I had no idea he was so strong all around. Kudos to him for a job well done.
And good for you @SamRS! It was cool to meet you. I will definitely be looking at your headlock reina for Louisville in 2 weeks.
gonna have to try out this build (so you’ll get lots of practice against it @djhedgehog :oP )! i’ll miss Career Fair and its free Daily Casts and three-credit Liberated Accounts, though…
Sometimes I needed the dig since i’m not on vigil, and while it never triggered off damage, I did feel more comfortable checking jinteki ice with it in hand, and it did let me go tagme for a turn against nbn scorch, so there’s that. It’s probably the cut for yog though
I’ll try this out tomorrow:
-1 Knifed
-1 SymVis
+1 Scrubber
+1 Crypsis