The Anarch Cookbook: Chapter One

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106

Didn’t mean to say I’d want to. If there was something I absolutely needed, I could probably do without 3x Jackson, but he wouldn’t be my first choice and it’d make a number of games much harder. Even in RP, he’s not vital, but that’s a poor argument on my end since he’s still damn useful, especially in comparison to the others I’d listed.

107

After I read this I went away and made a Desperao plus Security Testing Whizzard deck. And it’s good, so long as it sees at least one of those two early. But (as someone who has only really played Anarch) I spent a lot of time wondering (as I failed to draw the breaker I needed) if Andy with a Scrubber or two might not be just better. What do you think?

108

My current (non-Siphon) Whizzard has 2 Security Testing and 3 Special Orders. Even if I don’t see the Security Testings early I have John Masanori and Dirty Laundry to make runs profitable.

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109

I feel like it’s not quite a fair comparison. Going by the results, Andy is just the better deck, bar none. With Scrubber, she can be pretty effective.

It’s a different deck, though, and there’s value in that even if they’re similar (I tend to not take the idea that each runner needs to be entirely different very seriously – some do, but not all). Where was your other influence? I tend to like Express Delivery to help solve cases like that, though I also run a breaker-heavy deck.

But being in-faction gives you many options Scrubber!Andy lacks. For one, the ability is there from the get-go, and bigger. For another, instead of RDI (or nothing), you get Medium (which is better)! Djinn helps manage programs slightly to make up for wanting breakers all the more. Knight is a free splash (and worth three-of), and so is Imp (which Andy generally can’t run and is, as others have mentioned, monstrously powerful).

I’ll post my list at some point – I’m in the process of testing to see if Lamprey is actually worth including (despite that the deck was all but made to run it) or if I’d prefer a Nerve Agent, third Cyberfeeder, and/or third Imp instead.

I’m tempted to cut the Lampreys because the other cards are all amazing, but Lamprey’s one of the only cards that can turn virus wiping into a liability (play it AFTER a wipe and hammer HQ to make them regret it). As things stand, the corp can generally choose the least painful option – wipe viruses or let them continue amassing – and the deck doesn’t pack Demo Runs to make leaving counters on Medium quite as stupid s’long as R&D is taxing enough. Might still be better with the alternate HQ pressure, econ boost, and general trashing benefit, though.

110

I tried Whizzard today

Whizzard Goodstuff

Whizzard: Master Gamer (What Lies Ahead)

Event (16)

Hardware (2)

Resource (9)

Icebreaker (9)

Program (9)

15 influence spent (max 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Honor and Profit

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

Whizzard’s ability was nice, but the deck absolutely terrible. I don’t understand the mindset that PeekaySK wants anarchs to have. “Don’t worry about your grip size or your credit pool”… ok but doesn’t that then open massive scoring windows for the corp? Obviously I have not built the deck with that mindset (Liberated Account), but I feel like I would never be able to get past ice if I went lighter on econ.

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111

Credit pool and economy are different things entirely. Recurring credits (like Cyberfeeder) are an Anarch’s best friend, and I’d highly recommend swapping those in to replace Liberated Accounts. They do so much more for you.

112

Indeed. I should have credited the Security Testing inspired beating you gave me as another reason to put the deck together!

Thanks for the thoughts. Cyberfeeder is a really obvious choice that I should have spotted! Two/three of them definitely go in. I’ve not build an Anarch yet that didn’t take Djinn out on the first cut, but this has enough click-efficiency that I can see it might be worth trying. Lamprey is an interesting choice. I’d be interested to know what verdict you come up with.

Yes, Express Delivery is my other influence (Quality Time would be the other option). I have Masonori as well and 2 of each breaker plus 3 knight and 1 morning star. It should be enough, but sometimes lady luck just frowns on you.

113

Maybe wait until I’m done writing about it, then read it, and then meditate on it? :stuck_out_tongue:

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114

Ooh, Cyberfeeder is interesting. That makes me want to try Cyberfeeder + Spinal Modem + Security Testing… except that based on my previous experience with Spinal Modem my guess is that I’d be better off just running Desperado instead.

Probably the saddest thing about building Anarch decks for me is that usually I get to like 30-something cards and then after that there are no more cards that I am excited to add to the deck. It’s so sad ;_;

115

Prooobably. It synergizes nicely with Security Testing, avoids the Trace issues, and is slightly cheaper.

[quote=“Crunchums, post:114, topic:1496”]
Probably the saddest thing about building Anarch decks for me is that usually I get to like 30-something cards and then after that there are no more cards that I am excited to add to the deck. It’s so sad ;_;
[/quote]Really? I find I have the opposite problem – not enough space for everything I want.

Sure Gamble, Armitage, Deja Vu, Knight, Mimic, Corroder, Yog, Parasite, Datasucker, Plascrete, Imp, Medium, Nerve Agent, (Desperado, Security Testing, Express Delivery,) Cyberfeeder, Djinn, Demo Run, (Lamprey), Dirty Laundry… I can’t even manage to fit all of that in, let alone anything else.

I’m curious about the lack of love for Djinn – I find being able to tutor up a Parasite useful, as is the ability to host datasuckers and other viruses without using more MUs as I tend to have a Knight or Parasite out, plus the full suite of breakers, and saving on space is handy. I might have to try without – I did cut down to two-of recently – but I feel like I run more viruses than most non-Noise decks do.

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116

Spinal Modem synergizes with Security Testing better than Desperado. Mostly it’s that Desperado is wayyyyy better early game. I guess I could go to Modem if I really wanted to free up some influence, though.

Here is the list I’m currently working with:

Whizzard: Master Gamer (What Lies Ahead)

Event (9)

Hardware (6)

Resource (9)

Icebreaker (12)

Program (9)

15 influence spent (max 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Honor and Profit

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

  • I dropped the 3 Deja Vu in favor of 1 more Corroder/Yog/Mimic because I was never actually playing it because 9 Viruses and no Djinn means you’re not often getting back 2 cards. So even if I wanted recursion I’d probably play Retrieval Run instead.
  • Plascrete I guess I should throw back in here because why not.
  • I’m Whizzard so I don’t want to play Imp.
  • Legwork instead of Nerve Agent
  • No influence for Security Testing, but I’m not a huge fan of it in Whizzard in the first place. I used to have -1 Legwork +2 Express Delivery but it felt pretty weak.
  • Lamprey is interesting, I guess? I think that it (and Nerve Agent) are a pretty good thing to point at and say “we must be having different problems”. Because my problem playing Anarch has been just getting walled out of servers by any ice ever because I’ve got no search and the fixed strength breakers often don’t work without Datasucker or Parasite. So I can’t imagine playing Lamprey because it’s like “rez Paper Wall” and then after 8 clicks of drawing cards I’ll still be locked out of HQ.
  • I feel like when I play Anarch I’m resigned to faceplanting into destroyers. Djinn is nice if they don’t have destroyers (albeit very slow), but I’m not very happy to play cards that make my biggest weakness even worse.
  • Playing Cyberfeeder reminds me why I never play Cyberfeeder. If you draw it early then it’s ok, but if draw it at any other point in the game then it’s pretty bad.
117

Personally, it’s three things. First is the set-up time for that first tutor, which is a big tempo hit. 2 credits and a click to install, another credit and a click to fetch and then another click (plus credits) to install the virus (which you’ve shown to the corp, so they know what is coming). Second is the ordering issue. To make the most use of it, you need to see it fairly early - but that means taking the tempo hit early as well. Finally, destroyers already bruise Anarch badly (you can’t always have 2 'sucker tokens and a mimic in place) and Djinn just makes that situation worse. Oh and there’s the problem of too much good other stuff to include!

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118

Been messing around with the Hall of Fame Oracle May idea. By the end of the cycle this could be pretty fun. Based on maths bandied about on this thread, Oracle is up to 8 creds, 4 cards, 1 trash (on average) per 5 clicks.

Hall of Fame v 0.1

Noise: Hacker Extraordinaire (Core Set)

Event (3)

Hardware (3)

Resource (3)

Icebreaker (6)

Program (30)

15 influence spent (max 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to The Source

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

120

+1. Despite being wild theory-craft I do think there are some solid synergies in the list. I like that Incubator becomes economy or immediately powers a multi-access. I feel like it turns your virus effects into events almost. I don’t think it could do without Grimoire though, nearly every program is better for it.

I also don’t think that you mill to win here, you use random options to target the weakest servers. That often becomes archives but it isn’t necessarily always the case. That’s probably why I don’t worry about cost versus genuine gaming capability. Incubated Nerve Agent can win me the game, Deep Thought, probably not.

122

Those things all have something in common- they’re all ice, which the runner needs to choose to run on in order for their effects to trigger. I don’t see how that applies to incubator. To make incubator good, you don’t have to rely on a clueless runner blundering into already rezzed ice with no way to break it, as you would for your examples.

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124

Really? If the two are mutually exclusive, I’d never play Whizzard. Imp’s too good.

Sure, for someone like Noise, it saves money – but Whizzard doesn’t need that, so it has other uses. Trashing something after using your credits for the turn (two Jacksons in a row on a Medium run, say). It kills set pieces the enemy can spring that you otherwise can’t deal with easily – eat their Scorches, Midseasons, Biotics, Psychographics, and Tollbooths. You can use it to deal with a TFP you lost the Psi game on, or on an NAPD you won’t be able to get the cash together for stealing – this turn – that’s going to be hard/impossible to access again (because it’s hidden in their hand, or because they’ll have scored it).

I’ve had more than one game as Whizzard where an early R&D run has shown me two-three cards, all of which I can trash thanks to Whizzard + Imps, letting me see three or four more straightaway while denying them some of their more valuable pieces.

[quote=“Crunchums, post:116, topic:1496”]
Playing Cyberfeeder reminds me why I never play Cyberfeeder. If you draw it early then it’s ok, but if draw it at any other point in the game then it’s pretty bad.
[/quote]But having it early is so nice.

That said, I was mostly listing the things I find appealing for a Whizzard/Anarch deck, and our decks are doing pretty different things, so it’s not such a big surprise that we’re having different troubles/liking different bits. Even if we were going for the same thing, playstyle matters quite a bit.

[quote=“Chill84, post:121, topic:1496, full:true”]
Personally, I think Incubator is trash. In netrunner, lots of cards have great theoretical uses that never actually occur. Example, Caduceus never makes you more than 3 credits, rototurret never trashes more than 1 thing, and Chum never deals 3 damage.
[/quote]What makes me interested in Incubator is the notion that it might remove/adjust the corp’s ability to judge when a virus wipe is prudent. Presently, that power’s entirely in the corp’s hands – they know how many virus counters any given thing is likely to gain, and can make the judgement call on whether holding out/prepping defenses or wiping is the better call.

Incubator makes them more inclined to wipe, due to lack of information. If I’ve got credits enough to be a threat, it might be worth wiping my 4-counter incubator before I play out a Medium and do a five or six card dig immediately. But unlike an actual Medium with those counters, they could go onto a datasucker to make a run all but free, or a parasite to kill a hefty piece of ice, or a Nerve Agent to let me see your whole hand in one go.

I dunno if it’ll live up to its potential, but the big gain I see is less getting to use it and more adding to the calculations the corp needs to make in order to determine optimal virus wipes, while doing it in a way (unlike Imp or Parasite) that a single wipe/new Ice install can’t completely take care of.

That said, 3-of seems like too many. I like it, but it’s not Imp or Parasite levels of inherent good.

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125

Maybe this is why so many of his posted are posted, and then removed? :stuck_out_tongue:

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126

Good post, a friend is playing a whizzard deck with 3 imps right now and hes having a lot of fun with it. It’s been a better answer to event econ than donut I think. That said, I think he like to kill ice best with it.

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127

I don’t think incubator is as obviously terrible as you seem to, Chill, but you’re probably right. Gotta let people waste time trying so we don’t have to ;D

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128

[quote=“Chill84, post:126, topic:1496”]
That said, I think he like to kill ice best with it.
[/quote]Oh, yeah, Ice is nicest. Any game where you can parasite your way into free R&D runs and stop them from stopping you for a while is a nice one. Just in general, it doesn’t matter how much money a corp has if they don’t have ice to use it on (barring SEA-Scorch or Midseasons-Psychographics, which are themselves highly Imp-able).

[quote=“mediohxcore, post:127, topic:1496”]
Gotta let people waste time trying so we don’t have to ;D
[/quote]That’s what scrubs like me are for – try out the questionable new things so the great players can focus on more important things. :stuck_out_tongue:

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