So...I've been looking at some Netrunner cards

[Alexfrog]

Been looking at Netrunner cards since the most wanted list came out.
Periods of time with unsettled metas are the best. So many opportunities are open and deck possibilities are available.

This is the time to be creative. (And this is why the most wanted list is good imo, it allows deckbuilding all over again.

There are quite a lot of new options available. Sadly, everything I wanted to make costs too much influence, even before accounting for the lost influence due to the MWL.

So far the cards that jump out to me most as ‘fun to try to build a deck for’ are:

1. Wasteland. I love the potential of this card so much. The potential reward for ekeing out every last ounce of efficiency from this card by trashing stuff on the corp’s turn. (Too bad clone chip costs more influence now, and this also costs 2 influence, and makes it so hard to fit things in). I love how there are a plethora of drip economy cards that cost $2 (or more), require you to jump through some hoop to make work, and provide $1 on each of your turns. But wasteland has the potential to give $2 instead, and that makes it special.

Apex’s restriction on using only virtual resources which basically says “The character that most wants to use Aesop’s cannot” pretty much makes him unplayable imo, but we can still try to fit his cards into Aesop’s decks in other factions.

Sadly I havent even come close to making a list that uses this and fits into the new influence constraints.

Wasteland is SO cool. it might just be my favorite netrunenr card ever.

2. Haylee: Like wasteland, the temptation of trying to activate Haylee’s ability every turn (corp and yours) is too strong! Again, I’m mostly running into influence problems. I tried so hard to make Wasteland Haylee. If only she had 30 influence.

To Workshop or not to workshop with her? I dont know.

3. Geist: Its like Andromeda, except you get your +4 cards later on (which is bad), but if you use enough trash abilities you can increase that amount.

4. Faust: I’m pretty sure Faust is just completely broken. I’m sure there are lots of tourney lists already with it, though I have mostly been trying to build stuff from scratch, not looking yet at netdecks. If you are going to have to pay some influence to get good breakers anyway, might as well pay 2 influence for Faust and just break most ice with him. Use whatever in faction breakers are actually strong in your faction to reduce the need for card discards. Then use LARLA and heavy amounts of draw to keep going.

Faust even makes me want to try again to break some old combo cards that never managed to get broken, like Replicator. Install hardware, get two free copies you dont need, use them to Faust?

I’m pretty sure this deck will end up being like 80 cards after putting in everything I want in there, and then will be impossible to actually cut down to a real deck size.

5. Anarch. Anarch is really strong right now. After not being able to play them competitively for a while when I last played, its nice to see them get their chance. There just seem to be so many good things you can do in Anarch right now.

Corp side:

1. Titan Transnational: Wow, this makes Atlas good. If Atlas can always give you a counter, you can build a deck with hybrid kill/rush potential. Of course you can tutor for your SEA/Scorch plan, but since that will usually get countered by Plascretes or whatever, you also have the plan of getting a SanSan and scoring Atlases on it, and each Atlas can tutor up the next one.

I hear that Weyland is the worst corp right now. On the other hand, the wanted list seems very good for them (hits NBN and HB much worse, also nerfs Lady which wrecked many Weyland barriers). So maybe they are ripe for a comeback now.

2. Gagarin deep space. Torment the runner with remotes, make your asset economy stick around, and get to play remotes without them being wrecked by things like Security Testing (not that anyone plays criminal though, right?).

3. NBN agenda bait deck. Play lots of cards that punish the runner for accessing an agenda (or agendas that punish for access, like Casting Call, Franchise City, Award Bait, etc. Then try to get the runner to access an agenda without being able to steal it with Red Herrings, etc. I’m sure this isnt actually that awesome and there are better strategies available now, but it sure sounds fun.

4. Recruiting Trip. ALL of the sysops! Again I’m sure this is terrible and costs too much influence, but it seems fun.

5. Lots of new ice that do something other than end the run which provides actual value, and don’t seem horribly overcosted. Especially Archangel, ice being a trap when accessed is amazing!

Finally a couple more thoughts on the MWI:

• With Clone chip costing more influence, even in shaper, hopefully it will actually get played less (instead of everyone sucking it up and still playing all the clone chips and just cutting other influence). This could make program trash more relevant again. Some of the most fun games of netrunner are when a critical rig piece gets trashed, and you have to rely on strange backup plans or desperation attempt runs somewhere else because you just cant get in somewhere. Its fun when the runner’s rig gets partially wrecked!

• I really like the MWI idea overall. It shakes up the meta allowing new deckbuilding, and allows it to be shaken up agian in the future any time something becomes a problem. However, it does have the result of placing a significant strain on influence costs during deckbuilding, across the board, and feeling like you dont have enough influence to build things you want to build is not fun. Its fun to get playable IDs with 17 influence and be able to splash a little bit more, and this feels the opposite. But overall I like it a lot. (Also why isnt Caprice Nisei on the list? Why? And Faust, but I thin he isnt on it because he is new).

[AkAnderson]

I too love Wasteland and wanted to put it in everything until a friend pointed out that it’s very similar to Data Folding but with influence. That shattered the image for me. I understand the use in Apex, but he’s not anywhere near my To Do List. If anyone figures out Wasteland outside of Apex, I will be very happy.

[SamRS]

Re: Faust

It should be on the list, and there are several runner decks that use it, it’s the main motivation behind all the ai hate at the moment.

Caprice escaped the list by already being 4 inf and making glacier viable

[Alexfrog]

@AkAnderson

I too love Wasteland and wanted to put it in everything until a friend pointed out that it’s very similar to Data Folding but with influence. That shattered the image for me.

The reason I love Wasteland is that it breaks the curve of the drip economy cards. While in a way it is like Data folding, its the differences that make it special.

Data Folding specifically is a terrible, terrible card. (Unlike Data folding in real life, which is awesome and we all should be doing). It costs 3, not 2, and it requires wasting extra memory, which is a far worse drawback than other things like requiring 2 link or needing to trash cards.

Underworld contacts requires 2 link. PPVP requires you to play an event. Etc. The thing that sets Wasteland apart is that it can be triggered twice, while the others cannot. It is the drip economy runner card with the most potential for bonus use, and thats why its interesting. The influence cost is real though.

I’m not saying Wasteland is the most powerful card ever, its not. But its not bad ‘because its like Data Folding’. Rather, its interesting specifically because it breaks the formula that other cards like Data Folding follow, and has much greater upside potential.

[ahzrab]

Tbh it has only potential if they print future cards that circumvent in one way or another the 1 click for 1 install mechanic.

[SamRS]

I’ve seen a few shaper pawnshop decks use wasteland to good effect, the issue was it’d only trigger once a turn but a lot of the trashing effects happen in bursts. might need to go down to 2 wastelands with the clone chip nerfs though. 2 wasteland, 3 cache, 3 CC, 2 lady, mimic, clot or legwork seems like a solid influence package to start with.

[AkAnderson]

I had it in a Caissa deck, utilizing Pawn and Clone Chip to make sure it always went off. Even with Daily Casts and Earthrise, it’s awesome. But, in that deck, I already had the MU to cover Data Folding. I also tried it in an Exile Gamble For Days build, but couldn’t ever slot more than one copy. Aesop’s for 4 (or more) is cool, don’t get me wrong. I love the applications of Wasteland, and understand it’s different, but it just eats up too much influence.

Edited: too much awesome

[x3r0h0ur]

I was pretty heavily testing a Haarp agenda bait/trade deck that got absolutely murdered by MWL. Essentially it was gambitting Award bait, Beale and Franchise city to give the runner multiple chains of bad accesses, and 1 chain of favorable accesses. Even if the runner won a favorable exchange (in the above set of 3 installs, they hit the beale first), I could pull back from it with news teams, and scoring public support, or a random Franchise off an RnD dig. It had a great winrate online, and flawless win rate local (my meta ain’t great). I think that even with Film Critic existing, this deck can work, I never lost to a film critic deck. I’d be curious to see what you @Alexfrog or others come up with, I’m sure its been tested elsewhere…

[hsiale]

@ahzrab

cards that circumvent in one way or another the 1 click for 1 install mechanic

Hayley Kaplan?

[MasterAir]

@Alexfrog

Data Folding specifically is a terrible, terrible card.

This isn’t quite true. In my experience Data Folding is one of the best drip econ options in decks that can afford the MU. It’s non-unique and starts paying every turn from turn 1. It’s supercharged by decks that play career fair. I wrote it off, but having played it in a couple of pretty successful tournament decks it merits consideration in every tiny/temporary rig deck I make.

[CrushU]

Oh hey, Alex. Welcome back.

I’ll touch on 1) and 2) on the Corp side of things, since I’ve been experimenting with Titan/Gagarin builds recently. Weyland is the ‘worst corp’ because they don’t have a backup plan for scoring when things go south, and their secondary win condition is generally not viable in the current meta. (That’d be SEA-Scorch or similar. It’s not viable because of 24/7 News Cycle-based kill decks out of NBN causing almost every runner to play 1 or 2 Plascrete.)

Titan is very good with Atlas, and in fact, is dependent on the first Atlas score. If you don’t get an Atlas scored, you’re basically playing a blank ID for the most part. You correctly identified the SanSan City Grid play that lets you Atlas-train to victory. The alternate method that several people have picked up instead has been Biotic Labor. The reason for Biotic over SSCG is you only need one or the other in hand, and can Atlas for the other half and score the same turn, which you can’t do with SSCG/Atlas. Biotic vs SSCG is a One-Shot Powerful Effect vs a Long-Lasting Powerful Effect. Titan Rush is the most common archetype for Titan, and you’ll often see SEA-Scorch here because of the ease of finding the combo with Atlas tokens, though ‘Vegan’ builds exist.

Gagarin is potentially a very strong ID for Weyland, increasing trash costs on all Assets by 1. The common archetype here has been a Never Advance/Asset Spam version, which runs as many 3-cost agendas as it can, along with Team Sponsorships. The idea here is that you want to use your ability as many times per game as you can, and forcing them to check your facedowns for fear of Atlas/The Future Is Now scores is the goal. Public Support is bonkers good here as well, and you’ll see 3x PAD Campaign more often than not. Launch Campaign is also an influence-free boon for Gagarin. Pop-up Window is also strong for Gagarin, because they have to pay 2 more than the listed Trash cost of the Asset installed behind it, and you get money, too.

I’m personally trying a Gagarin Glacier (GG) build, because of the strong synergy with Ash for Gagarin. It also lets me run 5/3’s and one Atlas, because I only need to score twice with my 5/3’s, and then get one Public Support to fire. This gives me lots of room for those tasty Assets. Tour Guide is also surprisingly good in Gagarin, especially because the MWL has hit the Parasite Recursion decks the hardest.

Both Gagarin and Titan lose out of Centrals more often than anything else.

These are my experiences with Titan Rush and Gagarin Glacier.

[Alexfrog]

I guess career fair makes Data folding okay, but really the need to waste your MU is a big cost. You could be playing multithreaders or cloaks or datasuckers or something.

I cant manage to fit wasteland into anything due to influence costs sadly. I would provide great economy but influence is just too tight now with MWL.

[GwiLo]

I think the main argument for Data Folding is that if your deck is already running without much MU used, Data Folding is a fine inclusion. For instance, if your deck happens to get 2 link and uses a lot of Cloud breakers, Data Folding works. It may also work if you choose to rely on Faust and maybe one or two other programs. It’s for small rigs, but it provides a source of income that, if started early enough, is not insignificant.

That’s not to say that it’s amazing. It’s all about whether the decks you naturally make and/or play would benefit from it (assuming you have the room).

[Alexfrog]

I’ve never in my life had a runner deck where I had spare MU that I didnt want to use.

[GwiLo]

Clearly not a card for you then. I’ve seen it grow beastly in multiples in Sunny decks that eventually get 6 creds per turn with a rig that can get into any server (the Multithreaders not turning off the Folding due to the breakers not costing MU). It’s a pretty niche card.

Perhaps it may be nice to try a deck that uses it for a change of pace? Try running with a deck that doesn’t play like you normally do. It might teach you things about Netrunner that could improve your game when you move back to the decks you normally gravitate to.

[whirrun]

I’m a big fan of my mushin-kitsune Haarpsichord build atm. Given how fast it is it can definitely survive film critic, however it turns out Leela is huge problem if you see her played.

[CrushU]

Data Folding pretty much only goes into two types of decks: Decks that use Cloud breakers, and Shapers that want to sit back and gain 6 credits a turn for nothing.

It’s not the best of cards, but you can compare to Underworld Contacts in that you don’t need to spend time/cards/money getting Link first; just avoid filling your rig all the way.

[bakashinobi]

Could data folding work in a Haley Chameleon deck? You need at least 2 memory free at the start of your turn for the chameleons and they get uninstalled at the end of every turn.

[whirrun]

It also slots into niche stuff like ABR quetzal, anything with Sage or even Hivemind Val. Not saying those decks are necessarily strong atm, but they’re definitely better for having Data Folding as an option. There was a period when it went into every runner deck I built!

[Saan]

It’s actually also pretty good in DLR Val as a replacement for Daily Casts. There’s almost no programs, so the MU is never an issue, it gives less money for Drug Dealer to steal (since a lot of the time a credit from Daily can be lost), and it sticks around the whole game. In testing before Worlds, we found it was usually better.