Time for another episode of Deck Diving, wherein I delve into the cards in a Netrunner deck and what to expect. This week, let’s look at the Archive’s favorite Anarchist, Noise. Once again, this is a deck I made. In fact, this was my Runner deck at Regionals. Thus the general quality of the deck.
As a Runner, Noise has two main advantages: 1. Thanks to Medium he can concentrate on R&D, where very few traps can be sprung, and see large sections of the Corp deck. Further he can often see enough agendas in one turn to go from 0 to win. 2. With his discard ability he can both strategically take out key Corp cards after seeing them by running R&D, and blindly burning he can hit Agendas and win that way. In fact, I would often ignore on board Agendas in favor of only running those two centrals as I knew there were limited responses to that by the Corp. No chance of them being Aggressive Secretaries or Junebugs.
The next key with this deck is the breakers. Or rather breaker. Originally this had but the one: Crypsis. Yog got added when I had a spot to fill since he dices through code gates with such efficiency. Crypsis only is due to one thing: he breaks everything on low RAM. With so many Virii, maximizing memory usage efficiency is highly important. Getting all of your breaker needs off one mem unit is golden. Further, as a Virus, Crypsis combos nicely with Grimoire to prime it, Noise to mill with it, and Djinn to go get it when you want it. That said, since it needs counters to operate, a smart Corp will ICE up your favorite forts to make it too time consuming to get in all regularly. Sometimes it’s worth it to break the ICE with your face and leave counters on Crypsis. Only experience can really tell you.
The next thing to keep in mind with this deck is that it’s all about the Virii. (Viruses? Virusen? Flock of Seagulls? Murder? I’m not an English major here.) This makes Djinn super powerful, letting you fish out the virus you want instead of just hoping to draw it. But sadly there is no money Virus, so you’ll still need to draw to get your economy cards.
On to the deck!
Deck Created with CardGameDB.com Android: Netrunner Deck Builder
Identity:
Noise: Hacker Extraordinaire (Core)
Total Cards: (45)
Event (9)
Test Run (Cyber Exodus #47) x2 ■■■ To hunt out pieces: you either want to get Djinn or Magnum Opus, depending on your current setup.
Sure Gamble (Core #50) x3
Stimhack (Core #4) x2 Save it for the end of the game. Just when the Corp thinks they’ve got you out letting them get game point, a Stimhack can get you in.
Deja Vu (Core #2) x2
Hardware (5)
Grimoire (Core #6) x2
Cyberfeeder (Core #5) x3 Recurring money. Since it can be used to install Virii in addition to breaking you should easily get your moneys’ worth.
Program (24)
Magnum Opus (Core #44) x2 ■■
Yog.0 (Core #14) x1
Parasite (Core #12) x3
Nerve Agent (Cyber Exodus #41) x3 Just in cause it’s a virus. Play to mill and then toss when you need the memory again.
Medium (Core #10) x3 Wins games. With a few counters starting your turn and a poorly defended R&D you should be able to see more than enough deck to steal victory.
Imp (What Lies Ahead #3) x3 One of the better early game Virii, you can take out important cards you otherwise couldn’t (ICE, Hedge Funds) and when running R&D multiple times you can make room so you go deeper in future runs.
Djinn (Core #9) x3
Datasucker (Core #8) x3 Easily overlooked, with Parasite you can easily kill things, but even without finishing ICE counters on Datasucker are just as good as creds for breaking ICE.
Crypsis (Core #51) x3
Resource (7)
Aesop’s Pawnshop (Core #47) x2 ■■ Mostly for turning off Wyldside when you’re done, can also be used to get some fast cash out of expired Imps/ Nerve Agents.
Wyldside (Core #16) x2 The best Jinteki meta. A few turns of Wyldside should leave your rig set for the rest of the game.
Liberated Account (Trace Amount #22) x3
So that’s the deck. Noise is very proficient at destroying the Corp. I’ve even had games where the Corp ended with less than ten cards in deck. Further, if you can get the R&D run lock early you’ll see any agenda that show up before the Corp has a chance to score them themselves. A smart Corp should clear Virus counters often: many games I won because the Corp is unwilling to sacrifice a turn to doing so. But just in case of smart Corp players, I recommend not priming Crypsis until you’re ready to use him.
Happy Running!
Viruses, just so you know.
Also, how would you change the deck for those of us poor folk who only bought/could afford ONE core set?
*just* the base set would be enough of a major refactor that i’ll simplify as this: shove all the viruseses in, add economy, flavor the rest to taste(ICE carver likely makes the cut now). If it’s one base and expansions, I think the only thing you’re missing (correct me if I’m wrong) is grimoire (which can handle a single, you just lose reliability) and aesop’s / wyldside, which you can replace with Diesel for your card draw, or go with a single off switch (Aesop’s) and rock the Wyldside.
Either way, Noise generally wants as many Viruses as you can cram into the deck with Crypsis for your breaker and as much support as you can handle, both in card draw and economy. I like shaper for support (obviously) but there’s plenty of strong criminal cards you could bring in to the deck. Find what works best for you/ fits your playstyle. Nobody should take this deck as gospel: even with two sets you’ll want to flavor to taste.