Nerine 2.0

Emergent

All was still in the collective. Dozens of bioroids stood in alcoves, their systems locked into the Surat City location’s network. Their processing power was split between two directives: protect and advance.

Research continued throughout the complex, and the bioroids were aware of it. Through security cameras and listening devices, they could track the progress of the food initiative project. Of the bioroid development projects. Of more.

All was the network, and all was the collective.

Until they needed to leave their alcoves for maintenance or reset time.

The collective did not change. It was a framework of ones and zeroes that ordered itself flawlessly every time.

Or 99.9999% of the time. One time in a million, something changed. Something radical entered the framework. And small shifts were possible.

A clanging.

Regular.

Banging.

Shifting.

Repeating.

Then another.

And another.

Another.

One of the human technicians walking by stopped at the alcove that contained a Nerine 2.0 and watched curiously as its fingers twitched, clacking against the synthsteel wall.

“Is that ring around the rosie?”

Three other bioroids twitched their fingers in time.

I am the Keymaster

With the freeing of Eli from the NAPD’s most wanted, I was able to throw another Surat City Grid in this deck—make it more consistent, make the combo quicker to pull off. And Nerine 2.0 is about consistency.

You get draws which accelerate your game and… I can’t continue.

Nerine 2.0? I’m missing the value here. A six-rez-cost code gate with two subs and only four strength? Sure, it’s an amazing facecheck. But will someone face check on their third click in the early game against a corp with six or more credits?

Late game, when they have their Yog and a datasucker, Nerine 2.0 is blank.

Late game, when they have their Gordian Blade, Nerine 2.0 is three credits, and their Gordian is probably already pumped from passing a good Code Gate.

I think Nerine 2.0 is binder fodder. Particularly after the ridiculously good Code Gates HB has gotten in the last year with Ravana and the Fairchilds. Let alone Turing.

We’ll give it a shot, but I expect it to be Yogged through like nothing.

Pantheon ST 2.0 (Nerine 2.0)

Haas-Bioroid: Stronger Together

 

Agenda (9)
3x Accelerated Beta Test
3x Global Food Initiative ●●●
3x Project Vitruvius

 

Asset (13)
3x Adonis Campaign
3x Brain-Taping Warehouse
3x Jackson Howard ●●●
1x NASX
3x PAD Campaign

 

Upgrade (3)
3x Surat City Grid ●●●●● ●

 

Operation (5)
2x Biotic Labor
3x Hedge Fund

 

Barrier (6)
3x Eli 1.0
1x Heimdall 1.0
1x Heimdall 2.0
1x Wotan

 

Code Gate (7)
1x Fairchild
2x Fairchild 3.0
2x Nerine 2.0
2x Ravana 1.0

 

Sentry (5)
2x Architect ★★
1x Ichi 1.0
1x Ichi 2.0
1x Janus 1.0

 

Other (1)
1x Howler

 

14 influence spent (max 15, available 1)
21 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Station One

Deck built on https://netrunnerdb.com.

Week 2 – Follow Up

I suffered from HB problems. I got three games in with the Stronger Together deck (two against my Null deck from last week and one against an Omar running Bhagat, Maw, and Temujin.

My very first game saw a Surat combo rez an Adonis on the runner’s turn (before spent clicks) giving me a two-credit discount on the Adonis, and a 10-credit discount on my ice. I got a Wotan and an Eli 1.0 rezzed on my scoring remote and a Heimdall 2.0 rezzed over HQ. It was glorious. Unfortunately for the runner, he didn’t see Sifr out that game, and so had a hell of a time trying to get in.

The second game was a lot, a lot closer. Sifr was out, agendas were being scored and stolen back and forth, and Nulls Nfr got five counters on it. I looked at that, looked at his credit pool, and knew I had to score my fourth 3/2 next turn, or else he could just slice through my scoring remote. (Which at that point included a Heimdall 1.0, some Eli 1.0s, a Ravana, and some type of Fairchild.) If he got his Nfr up to strength to break my Heimdall 1.0, then he could use Null and Sifr to make up the difference with Yog.0.

So I go for it.

He goes to play the Pushing the Envelope and my heart. Just. Sinks.

But he has too many cards in hand!

But if he plays cards, then he won’t have the cash to play PTE and make it through the ice!

Symmetrical Visage draw. Draw. Credit. Run. I rezzed a Howler at the top of the server to drop another big Code Gate in front of him and that was the end.

My third game (against Omar this time) was also exciting. There had been a major hiccup early on when he’d run into Howler and I’d gotten a Fairchild rezzed then derezzed in front of R&D. He knew what it was. I scored an ABT and plopped a Zed 2.0 in front of R&D. Really, it did nothing until I could get some clickable ice in front of it or he dropped his console (which he never did), but you know… free ice. And maybe that was a deterrent for him never installing his Maw? It would’ve turned Zed 2.0 on.

So here, he knew he had pretty much free access to R&D. He runs first click while I’m on three credits after the ABT score. He’s planning to En Passant my Fairchild and hammer me with Medium digs.

No such luck.

I’ve got two Brain Taping Warehouses rezzed that he’d forgotten to take into account. That’s a six-credit discount, and he smacks into a Fairchild as I go to 0. But it lets me stabilize.

He took an ABT, I scored a Vitruvius. He stole a different Vitruvius.

By this point, I know I’m out of options. His rig is assembled. Fairchild is keeping him from repeatedly running R&D, but Omar’s getting in once a turn through Archives. I build my remote as big as I can, and I pad my cash as much as I can. He draws down to the bottom of his deck looking for his third Temujin (it’s the last card). He draws it then passes turn.

I top deck into my GFI. Slam it into remote, advance twice.

He can’t get in. He just doesn’t have the credits. I read the scoring window correctly and had prepared enough in advance.

Final thoughts? With Surat/Brain Taping combo you can make just about as much money (if not more) than Engineering the Future. For high-strength ice like Fairchild and Heimdall 2.0, the +1 strength isn’t really a big deal, but it’s a huge deal with stacked Eli 1.0s. Paperclip spending four credits instead of three really adds up.

I really liked the deck. But, it suffered from HB problems. I got to game point and then… didn’t know how to win. Had to be really tricky and use assets as bluffs then read the scoring windows correctly (or else get really lucky). If I’d have had Biotic Labor, Ash, or Caprice in the deck, it would’ve been a much easier win.

As for Valencia, this deck was amazing. I played it against a Spark deck and felt in near-total control all game. Blackmail made his scoring remote redundant, and Maw was pulling cards from hand after hitting and not trashing PAD Campaigns. I also landed a second bad pub, so I was killing his Sensies for zero credits.

I never ran R&D once because I was always afraid of Hard Hitting News. If I actually made runs that required me to install my Conspiracy breakers, I’d go too low to deal with it. As it was, he hit me with the HHN twice in the game. Also a Macrophage that mostly kept me out of HQ.

In the end, I won because I was Val. With a little bit of support from Maw. I checked every facedown card to make sure it wasn’t a Chronos Project (two of them were), and I mostly ignored his money since I wasn’t running his ICE.

I think the deck absolutely needs to go for three Datasuckers. Otherwise, the Black Orchestra and MKUltra are just too damned expensive against high-strength ICE. Even with Bad Publicity.

Next up The Archivist tomorrow and Defense Construct on Friday!

 

Zed 2.0

Build it Higher

Eli 1.0 counted his blocks one by one as the intruder approached his server. It did not concern Eli 1.0. His emotional subroutines were limited. But he did enjoy this game. He built the blocks as quickly as he could. His wall grew taller and taller, and if he could build faster than the intruder could climb, he would win.

The intruding figure’s avatar carried a shining wand in one hand. The wand trailed wisps of white light as the intruder approached Eli 1.0’s wall, and Eli 1.0 ceased counting and started building.

The blocks were solid, composed of recursive code that strengthened each fiber of barrier. Layered layer upon layer upon layer, then built into a grid. The grid reinforced each level of the barrier. Eli 1.0 was proud of this barrier because the Creators were proud of the barrier.

Eli 1.0 expected the intruder to race up his wall. Most did. This one did not.

The avatar raised her wand, and a new shape took form. It was squat and green and powerfully built. Eli 1.0 stopped his building.

His emotional subroutines spasmed.

“PUPPY!” Eli 1.0 shouted.

Eli 1.0 barely noticed as his barrier was shattered. He played with the green puppy.

Zed Takes His Place (I guess?)

I honestly considered making another Cybernetics Division when I got to Zed 2.0. Skewing into brain damage again would be fun. But, instead, I decided to double down on Bioroids. No NEXT in this deck.

The only ice in this deck that isn’t a Bioroid is Architect. My goal was to get one of each of the epic Bioroids for each ICE subtype—hence, Wotan, Fairchild, and Janus. And Stronger Together. Because of course.

And you know what’s a really, really good Bioroid? Ravana 1.0. It combos really well with Zed 2.0 as well, letting you put your Zed 2.0 pretty much anywhere on the board. Then we can land some sweet double brain damage from Code Gates and Sentries.

After choosing all of my Bioroid ICE, I figured I should probably go Brain-Taping Warehouse, and with all of this free influence, of course I should go with the Surat combo. Hopefully we’re rezzing all of our ice for free, so the econ is pretty straightforward.

Oh. And then there’s the fun bit. Extra special thanks to my good buddy Justin for reminding me that Howler was a thing. Also Howler will trigger Surat combo TWICE in one run! I was so excited that I cut two Friends in High Places for two Howler.

I did consider going Architects of Tomorrow, but I thought it might be redundant.

 

Pantheon ST (Zed 2.0)

Haas-Bioroid: Stronger Together

Agenda (9)

3x Accelerated Beta Test

3x Global Food Initiative  ●●●

3x Project Vitruvius

 

Asset (13)

3x Adonis Campaign

3x Brain-Taping Warehouse

3x Jackson Howard  ●●●

1x NASX

3x PAD Campaign

 

Upgrade (2)

2x Surat City Grid  ●●●●

 

Operation (3)

3x Hedge Fund

 

Barrier (6)

3x Eli 1.0 ★★★

1x Heimdall 1.0

1x Heimdall 2.0

1x Wotan

 

Code Gate (7)

1x Fairchild

2x Fairchild 1.0

2x Fairchild 3.0

2x Ravana 1.0

 

Sentry (7)

2x Architect ★★

1x Ichi 1.0

1x Ichi 2.0

1x Janus 1.0

2x Zed 2.0

 

Other (2)

2x Howler

 

10 influence spent (max 15-5★=10, available 0)

21 agenda points (between 20 and 21)

49 cards (min 45)

Cards up to Daedalus Complex

 

Deck built on https://netrunnerdb.com.