Discuss the latest StimHack article by Alexfrog on Professional Contacts here.
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Great post. I’ve a Kate deck built around it that’s similar to yours (I call it “Grimoire Gunslinger”). It started as an Exile deck, but I think Kate is better with it.
Card draws are so powerful for runners :).
How do you feel that Professional Contacts compares to Wyldside? Most Noise decks run dirt cheap, and the burst cards that you highlight all typically show up in Noise decks as well. With this and Sahasrara, does Wyldside getting the boot make sense? (Especially since it is identical in influence to the decks that used to run 3X Workshop)
I tried this swap; got wrecked by genestealers’ Jinteki:PE when I couldn’t find one, but it performed admirably well in a pair of followup games. With Sahasrara to install stuff, the extra credit is great to bank for actual breaking with Crypsis :).
Not sure if it is better, but I’ll keep testing.
You Sir, did it again! Great article, great point.
Downside: now I have to change my deck again 
I think this deck wants Pro Contacts more and Noise wants Wyldside more.
Are you willing to elaborate? I definitely see the pros of Wyldside, I’ve been running it since core. 2 cards for 1 click is a really good deal, especially if the cards are all burst econ cards and cheap to install items like the ones that enable a Professional Contacts strategy. I just wanted to know if gaining the versatility of Professional Contacts outweighed the inherent value of the firehose that is Wyldside.
I have never actually used Aesop’s to turn off Wyldside, but sometimes I have been tempted to just to regain the click that it eats. Professional Contacts has the option of being used multiple times in a single turn and doesn’t have to be used unless you actually need it. It just seemed to me that it was something worth looking at since Noise decks are typically full of things that cost 3 or less and burst econ cards already.
Noise benefits from multiple installs per turn, Kate does not.
Not sure how else to explain it. Noise makes his clicks profitable by drawing either viruses or econ cards. Since every card you mill technically reduces the number of credits you need to win the game (if you mill 7pts of agendas into the bin you only have to make one run to win) drawing viruses for noise is a pretty high value click.
So in a noise deck with 14 viruses you are getting econ from 14+3(suregamble)+3(dailycast)maybe+3(easymark) or more than half of the deck.
So I think noise is fine with wyldeside because it’s a good balance of giving you a free click to draw while still leaving you 2 clicks to play what you drew and use kati jones or make a run.
Noise is fine playing 2 things and pawning 1 of them for money, because they milled the opponent. If Kate does that, she only gets the $3, she doesnt get a discount on the second thing, and she isnt accomplishing much of anything.
Noise likes the flood of things coming, 2 things every turn, because he wants to mill you a TON. Kate doesnt want the flood to come quite that hard, and she needs to gain money, because she isnt just pawning tons of things.
Fair enough. It makes sense that the raw power of Wyldside would be preferred to the versatility of Professional Contacts. Either way, Sahasrara, Daily Cast, and Clone Chip have really improved Noise, so if nothing else in C&C really makes a huge difference, then he’s still come out a huge winner.
Monolith saves 3 clicks! Talk about efficiency!
The expected value of Monolith is far worse than its perfect case. The perfect case for many cards is incredibly strong, but you need to look at expected values, probabilistic averages over all cases for your deck, to see the actual strength of a card in that deck. Monolith’s average case is not very good.
No Alex, you’re just not playing Monolith right. You’re supposed to wait patiently until you’ve cycled through enough of your deck until you have your full rig in hand and 20+ credited, then BOOM. They never saw it coming.
I’m glad PC’s getting a little more love, I was confused why it was getting such a thrashing initially. Eventually I’ll try PC in Andy to see how that works, after I’m done playing with Shaper.
I’m glad PC’s getting a little more love, I was confused why it was getting such a thrashing initially.
Maybe because it looked like Opus, and we have spent months looking at these Opus Shaper decks and going: “Wow, this deck just sits here doing nothing for way too long, whereas Criminal attacks, and gets money by attacking, which is way better”. Also, because Diesel and Quality Time are good cards, and we all know they are good cards, and as soon as you play Pro Contacts you make them pointless.
Eventually I’ll try PC in Andy to see how that works, after I’m done playing with Shaper.
It might be good, but it runs into the problem that one of the reasons Andromeda is so strong is because it can siphon and then ignore the tags, but with Pro Contacts its cant ignore the tags.
Card draw is always welcome, and you can easily change your strategie as you playing. Yeah, i prefer professional contacts over magnum opus, for many reasons.
After some games I have my doubts about the whole package. Shouldn’t we take the chances of drawing/tutoring into account? PC has a lower chance of getting because OM can be tutored. Isn’t there way to take that into account?
After some games I have my doubts about the whole package. Shouldn’t we take the chances of drawing/tutoring into account? PC has a lower chance of getting because OM can be tutored. Isn’t there way to take that into account?
You can always play 1 Opus and then tutor for it if you cant get PC. If the advantage of Opus is tutoring for it, then this lets you have that advantage in the PC deck.
Tried Kit and Professional Contacts, both for the first time last night and it felt like a thoroughly positive experience. Econ support in the form of 2x Katie and 3 x daily casts and sure gambles, I was never poor and effectively being paid to draw through your deck just puts you on the front foot psychologically. Although I felt like I was lacking draw when Prof contacts didn’t show up early in the first game, I think a mulligan for him is probably sensible - in any case have added some Diesel to the mix now too 
THanks for the article - keep up the good work. 
Looks like Professional Contacts now has a tutor in the Opening Moves card “Hostage”!
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Yep! We have a tutor! (Though its criminal).
On the other hand, the new NBN agenda can destroy a Pro Contacts.