It is, 4 times each turn.
1 Like
Sure its annoying but I donāt want to spend two deckslots on a card that saves me some money some of the time.
1 Like
Play Inject dammit Ā© :<
Your version has some heavy cards that bloat an already not-so-lean 50 cards Identity. Medium? Crypsis? Cyberfeeder? Memstrips to support this?
The rest of the deck is very close to what Iāve cooked up in my kitchen so far. I also dropped PPVP and stick to 3x Desperado, as well as swapping in and out that single Security Testing and 2x Lucky Find.
Iāve ran some tests and arrived to following:
- PPVP is too heavy for this deck. Not only you donāt have Kateās discount, you also canāt reliably use it every turn, especially on power turns when you go Keyhole Keyhole Keyhole Keyhole. Wanton Destruction turns also leave second PPVP unused, as well as Keyhole x3 into Blackmail turns.
- Investigative Journalism is amazing. Bad Pub is very strong if you build to capitalize on it, and the difference between 1 and 3 is tremendous. 3 Bad Pub means that Iām running Lotus Fielded R&D for profit. Incredible.
- Itinerant Protesters isā¦ weird. Iām always wary of playing it against NEH (since they can score out of nowhere to get rid of it). But it kinda works against Jinteki. Still on the fence about it.
- You really want Deja Vu. At least two, and quite possible three. If you play two, you can rely on playing 4 Blackmails per game. If you play three, its 4 Blackmails + two extra Parasites.
- 3x Inject, 3x Hotel, 3x Steelskin is consistent enough to find everything you need in 50 card deck.
- 3x Desperado is necessary. You are very sad panda without that extra MU, not to mention the economy.
- It plays quite decent with RP and PE. A bit too sluggish vs NEH. Did not test vs. Blue Sun yet.
- If Corp figures out your main weakness, youāre screwed. The correct way to counter Eater Valencia is to drop Jackson Howard behind any ETR ICE (Wraparound preferred). Every Howard basically buys Corp an extra turn to do whatever they want, and he also eats your Blackmail for nothing. I have yet to figure out how to deal with this. So far I just try to setup ASAP and start Keyholing Howards directly from R&D, hoping Iāll win before Corp manages to utilize all three.
2 Likes
Use it to nuke Pop-Ups then 
Iām wary of spending 3 influence a pop on cards like Security Testing/Desperado in a 50 card deck. They are both untutorable, hard to find and dead after the first. Iām particularly wary of Desperado when Anarch has some great synergistic consoles (Vigil if youāre playing Itinerant Protestors, Spinal Modem if youāre running Eater/Keyhole, Grimoire if you want MU and more Virus synergy).
2 Likes
I share your reservations but this is desperado we are talking about, I think whilst the meta is still asset heavy desp is far superior. Spinal is certainly worth testing however.
Not to mention that Eater negates Modemās inherent weakness against facechecking tracers.
1 Like
Desperado + Keyhole is the idea behind the whole deck. You donāt really need any other out of faction cards (Hades Shard is a notable exception), as you can see we are spending extra influence on economy (Lucky Find / Security Testing). Clone Chips might be decent too, thatās one of the roads Iāve yet to travel. I can see 50 cards argument, but we do play 3 copies of it for that very reason :>
Spinal Modem does not even come close to it, really. Not in the deck that wants to run multiple times per turn. Desperado providing 3-4 creds per turn is quite common in this deck. Itās also live credits you can use to build rig or trash cards, unlike Modemās virtual ones.
Bad Pub + Desperado was always a very strong combo (If you played alot of Bad Pub Weyland you should know about it). It is especially good now with all the asset spam in the meta.
Oh and by the way, I forgot to mention - why you should play Utopia Shard:
- You can Wanton + Utopia to blow up their full HQ.
- It can also just sit there and threaten to counter various combo attempts (Scorched Earth, Double Puni, Neural EMP, Diagnostics etcā¦).
- Or work as a +2 accesses in a hail mary Blackmail Archives.
- Or troll NEH who tries to score ASPP from deck with Fast Track. That possibility often encourages Corp to NOT score directly from deck, which is good for you!
- Its very easy to push Utopia on the table for 0 since Corp will often rez a single cheap ETR ice on HQ and be content with it for the first few turns (since it prevents accesses b/c of Eater ability) and not rez anything else in response to direct HQ run. I like to combo it with Dirty Laundry too.
My latest list:
Identity
[URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/844/valencia-estevez-the-angel-of-cayambe/]Valencia Estevez: The Angel of Cayambe[/URL] (Order and Chaos)
Event (23)
3x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/2/dj-vu/]DĆ©jĆ Vu[/URL] (Core Set)
3x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/50/sure-gamble/]Sure Gamble[/URL] (Core Set)
2x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/847/wanton-destruction/]Wanton Destruction[/URL] (Order and Chaos)
3x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/846/steelskin/]Steelskin[/URL] (Order and Chaos)
2x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/804/day-job/]Day Job[/URL] (Order and Chaos)
2x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/768/itinerant-protesters/]Itinerant Protesters[/URL] (Order and Chaos)
3x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/725/inject/]Inject[/URL] (Up and Over)
3x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/476/blackmail/]Blackmail[/URL] (Fear and Loathing)
2x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/246/dirty-laundry/]Dirty Laundry[/URL] (Creation and Control)
Hardware (3)
3x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/24/desperado/]Desperado[/URL] (Core Set) ā¢ā¢ā¢ ā¢ā¢ā¢ ā¢ā¢ā¢
Icebreaker (3)
3x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/851/eater/]Eater[/URL] (Order and Chaos)
Program (9)
3x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/12/parasite/]Parasite[/URL] (Core Set)
3x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/8/datasucker/]Datasucker[/URL] (Core Set)
3x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/579/keyhole/]Keyhole[/URL] (True Colors)
Resource (12)
1x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/739/utopia-shard/]Utopia Shard[/URL] (All That Remains) ā¢
1x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/722/hades-shard/]Hades Shard[/URL] (First Contact) ā¢
1x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/679/security-testing/]Security Testing[/URL] (Honor and Profit) ā¢ā¢ā¢
3x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/770/investigative-journalism/]Investigative Journalism[/URL] (Order and Chaos)
3x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/821/earthrise-hotel/]Earthrise Hotel[/URL] (The Source)
3x [URL=http://www.acoo.net/card-detail/323/daily-casts/]Daily Casts[/URL] (Creation and Control)
Total Cards: 50
Total Influence: 14
[URL=http://www.acoo.net]Acoo: Android Netrunner Deck Builder[/URL]
3 Likes
Maybe I need to grow a pair but running no breaker other that eater makes me feel vulnerable. How will you deal will an early IA behind one piece of ice If you havenāt drawn on of three blackmails in your deck? You also need to get at protected assets such as sans sans and it dep.
3 Likes
Corps wonāt do this because of Blackmail threat 
And if they do, they risk me having one of my three Blackmails (or drawing into them with Inject/Steelskin) and losing points!
I used to have one Singularity in the deck, but it was dead draw too often so I cut it. It has certain counter-synergy with the engine since once I Singularity the remote, they rez ICE there and I can no longer Blackmail it.
The only time I imagine myself being happy to see it is against Mushin-d unknown on the table, but even if itās Ronin I can just ignore it and Keyhole my way to victory.
Or against EBC/Oversighted ICE on remote, and me having not enough Datasucker counters to Parasite it away during Blackmail run. It is possible, but it takes a lot of effort for Corp to engineer such a situation. Usually Iām simply too fast for this to happen, and present much more urgent threats for the Corp to deal with. Then again, I did not run proper tests against Blue Sun yet.
SanSan and IT Dept get Blackmailed and trashed. I keep 3 Dejas in the deck to not run out of Blackmails.
In both SanSan and IT Dept cases itās even possible to ignore them and simply go for the headshot and win.
Against SanSan you can literally just Keyhole away. Iāve won some games this way against NEH. Keyhole is able to reliably generate 2-4 points per turn if left unchecked, so even if Corp SanSans another 3/2 next turn I still can win faster.
In IT Dept case Corp is unlikely to score anything anytime soon since they dedicate resources to IT Dept protection and sink clicks in there. Your response could be keeping pressure on R&D to force them to waste a power counter every turn to protect it, and making Protesters + Wanton Destruction (and/or Utopia) move eventually against their inevitable agenda clog in HQ, then Blackmail Archives for the win. Parasiting stuff they rez and buff with IT Dept so they have to dig more ICE and rez it to replace the trashed one also happens to slow Corp down even more, further clogging their HQ.
However itās usually much easier to directly Blackmail IT Dept when they sink several clicks in there.
Also, grow a pair 
How do you beat Caprice on R&D (especially with Architect protecting the server)? Crisium Grid? I would say Ash as well, but Iāll save that for the Spinal Modem folks instead =)
2 Likes
Caprice on R&D:
a) Play the psi game. Architect is likely to cost you 0 to break so you just risk a click.
b) Suck it and shift pressure to HQ. Keep 2 Blackmails (Or Blackmail and Deja) in hand to deal with Ash in remote. If they have Caprice on R&D, she is not in remote => its harder for Corp to score => agenda clog in HQ.
c) Let Architect fire the subs Does not work in Lotusā case, however.
As far as Crisium goes - if itās behind Lotus on R&D you are pretty much screwed. Try to not let it happen, trash Lotus/Crisium with Keyhole before Corp draws them, etc etc. If itās already happened, shift pressure to HQ and remote and go hail mary. Game is likely in a later stages anyway, you probably managed to sneak some Keyhole runs already. You can still access Archives at least once or twice this game, make it count.
P.S. bayushi_david mentioned Haemorrhage, and I like the idea. It gives value to your runs (which you do alot) in the form of HQ pressure (which you want alot). Itās worth testing, but one has to figure out MU support first. Wanton has the advantage of being āsuddenā, however. And I donāt want to give Corp even more value out of purges that hamper my DS and Parasite.
P.P.S. Running Spooned may be worth considering if you expect a field of Lotus Fields (pun intended). Depends on the meta.
This eater crap is getting away from what valencia really is. Valencia is The bog standard boring generic anarch. she runs Icebreakers multi-acess Parasite/datsucker, tutorās, draw, and economy. Anarch has really good tools right now in terms of economy (stimhack and queenās gambit count for a lot, the neutral economy finishes it off) and multi-acess. Parasucker is obviously abusurd, and while anarch lacks tutorās you can easily spend 6-9 influence on adding some.
I think valencia would do well in taking the boring Shaper/criminal decks and adding a small amount of anarch flavor (full parasucker package, medium/nerve agent, some archives pressure) then calling it a day.
1 Like
If you donāt run at least a mimic, Jinteki will start running Swordsmen, then you will lose that match-up even more.
If you donāt run even one corroder, then dealing with Wraparound is going to be expensive, even with huge amounts of bad pub.
I feel like the weird thing with these decks is that Valencia (especially with Desperado) has a massively efficient running abilityā¦ and Eaterās not very efficient, it just covers all your bases.
Mimic is the most efficient sentry breaker. Corroderās not necessarily the most efficient barrier breaker but itās the easiest to get into play for what it does. Yogās the most efficient code gate breaker.
Iād much rather try a standardish Anarch rig supplemented by Eater (and/or the Personal Touch, because just one of them on Yog means the only guaranteed lock-out ice isnāt).
Maybe glacierās just more of a thing in these parts, but running Eater vs HB through three or four bioroids to hit R&D each turn? 4 BP + Desperado will help, but they wonāt make that cheap.
2 Likes
Agreed with most of your post, just one comment here - Morning Star might actually become supremely playable with Day Job around (and more LA around, as a result). And lemme tell you, a BP-fuelled Morning Star walks all over HBās most taxing ICE.
2 Likes
Iāve always thought itād be funny to run a Morning Star + Paintbrush deck. Toss in an Eater and Knife to trash Ice and run facecheck safely.
1 Like
If Jinteki starts running 3Ń Swordsmen, if everyone plays multiples of Wraparound (which still can be Parasited away), if you expect Wraps + Lotuses + Architects from Blue Suns - donāt play Eater Valencia, play something else. Maybe play conventional Valencia. Maybe play Noise. Maybe play Andysucker, whatever.
I think trying to fit all sorts of anwers to possible Corpās answers will bloat the deck and make it pointless to play in the first place.
You either make a meta call and engineer a threatening deck that requires silverbullets to be shot, or you are too afraid of making meta calls, bring some toolbox-y Shaper, accept the fact that youāre slow as hell, that your deck is filled with useless answers and hope that you donāt face too many blitzing Astrobiotics who will just outrun your rig.
And even when playing against a āhateā matchup you always have a fighting chance. In this particular deck the framework is surprisingly robust - itās possible for you to capitalize on oversightless Blue Sun opener with early Keyhole, you can trash hate cards (Jacksons, Lotus, Arch) from R&D with Keyhole, you can use Hades to access Archives if they somehow lock it completely with Lotus + Ash, you can play second Eater if you get hit by Swordsman etc etc. The tools are there. And the option of not playing Eater deck if you expect too much hate in the field is also there.
5 Likes
The amount of datasuckers needed to make Blue Sun easy to handle with Morningstar is a bit worrying, but other than that, yeah. Itās honestly more the MUs that are tricky. (
Wraparound, sure, maybe it can be parasited down with significant datasucker support. Swordsman, too ā but one is enough to kill an Eater. If you donāt have a second one handy, wellā¦
It feels like those are three already-common āsilver bulletsā. Sure, the deck can handle them ā but a Mimic or corroder on hand to help wouldnāt hurt.
I meanā¦ how do you handle a Caprice on R&D? On Archives, if they see what youāre up to? You canāt trash her, at all. Although with BP and all I imagine Ashāll be less of an issue, thatās still an extra tax. Something like Crisium Grid could shut this down, too, though itās not as omnipresent.
I suppose Iād rather try to build something that can thrive even when itās being hated, especially when much of the hate is incidental and already likely to see play, and when one of the factions most capable of hating it out is likely going to be pretty popular.
Iām definitely going to give the deck (or one like it) a shot, because itās very close to one I was working on, but it feels like it could have a bad game as easily as a good one, and it wonāt take much to shift the meta out of struggling quite as much with it. The bigger changeāll be making folks drop NAPD as they balloon to 5- or 6-advance size and you can subsidize stealing them.
I donāt think Eater is going to make swordsman start showing up, but wraparounds being always at 7 str is a pretty big deal and a big strike against Eater in general, I think. At least when Clot comes out, NBN will be next to unplayable, so at least thereās that going for it.
MemStrips should have you covered, though - the only situation I can think of where Iād need more than 5 MU for non-virus programs is a full suite including Morning Star and Keyhole/Opus (SMC doesnāt really apply after the full rig point). And that is handled by Grimoire nicely.
Donāt you want to play D4v1ds anyway, even in Eater decks, to save a shit-ton of money? Packing a pair of Knived will handle wraparounds just fine. If no wraparounds show up, thereās still Eli and Next Silver to nuke.
3 Likes