Interview with the Champions

by Jens Kreutzer

Here are a couple of questions I asked Chris Phillips and Daniel Schneider (I could not get hold of French Champion Laurent Lavenant and U. K. Champion Philip Harvey in time, unfortunately). Chris won the U.S. Northwest Regional Championship, and Daniel is the German National Champion.

Please tell our readers a bit about yourselves first of all.

Chris: I am 27. From age 20-26, I was a computer technician. For the last year I have been doing freelance computer consulting, learning computer programming and acting as a domestic (taking care of the house whilst my Significant Other makes the money).

Daniel: I've always lived in Kiel in the cold, far north of Germany. I'm 27 now, and I'm finally about to finish my studies in maths and economics. Apart from Netrunner, my most important hobbies so far were: a) long-time gamemaster for R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk Roleplaying game b) full-time skateboarder (no longer) c) semi-professional techno DJ (almost retired) d) team captain of a tourney-level paintball team.

Well, what do you know: I'll be 27 in January too. But that was just an aside. Now, each of you has just won a major Netrunner tournament. We're naturally itching for an answer to the following two questions: What kind of Corp deck were you using?

Chris: A Psycho Tycho variant. Not a very strong one. It didn't have much draw power (a few Night and Day Shifts), and only five or so ACME S&Ls, and about the same number of Project Consultants. Relatively ice heavy (18-20). Average time to win was around seven rounds, not the typical five.

Daniel: I'm still not sure whether to publish my deck list or not. In the case of my Corp deck, "Money for Nothing," I've heard so many rumors told about it and seen so many surprised faces that most people might be disappointed to see its simple structure. The key card is Corporate Negotiating Center (in multiples, of course). This suicidal card is used so seldom that many people simply don't know how to play against it. But it took me several months to make that deck strong against various Runner tactics.

What kind of Runner deck did you use?

Chris: A Precision Bribery/Time to Collect variant, an extremely synergetic deck. It used Loans from Chiba for its money engine, Fall Guys for tag prevention, and Scaldan with Code Viral Cache for the killing blow. Everything worked off of the Time to Collects (the Loans, Fall Guys, and Code Viral Caches). It had Junkyard BBS to complete the lock, and used N.E.T.O., Short Circuit, and a few Jack'n'Joes for deck manipulation.

Daniel: My Runner deck is called "57 Organs" (guess why?). It won every game, and the games weren't easy. I hope to have finally broken the "45 cards is best" rule. One part of the deck was well-known power: Bodyweights/Organ Donor/MIT bit and card engine, two different breaker suites plus Personal Touch to adapt to various defences, several surprise cards like Corporate Ally, Terrorist Reprisal, Lucidrine(TM) Booster Drug, Priority Wreck, Hidden Resources...

Any comments on what it takes strategically or decision-wise to win with these decks?

Chris: Psycho Tycho requires virtually no skill. I usually use the term "brain-dead stupid" to describe its ease of play. Score the first Tycho, draw until you have a second Tycho, a Project Consultants, and an ACME S&L. Win. The Precision Bribery/TTC takes a little more finesse, but it still is a formula win. Get lock. Remove any subsidiary data forts, get Scaldan out, run HQ, drop Code Viral Cache, wait for win.

Daniel: For both decks: Adapt your play style to opponent's tactics. Many constructed decks are well-known, and the better players often know exactly how to play best against these decks after the first few cards are on the table. Each of my decks allows several different winning strategies.

There's been a lot of talk going on concerning so-called "cheese" decks (i.e., decks belonging to a well-established set of very powerful strategies that are just not very "innovative" anymore) in the Constructed format. Do you perceive the ubiquity of these decks as a danger to the fun aspect of Constructed tourneys?

Chris: Yes. It limits the play field. If you want to win a tournament (which I hope is part of everyone's goal), then you are limited to playing two decks for each side. The basic truth is that it's boring to play against the same decks all the time.

Daniel: Yes. Constructing extraordinary decks from the big pool of cards and combinations is lots of fun for many players (including me), but if you want to build decks with a good chance of winning against the most cheesy decks around, your choice of weapons becomes very limited.

Do you think that there exists a feasible way of discouraging the overuse of these decks, and would you like to see this method implemented in future tourneys?

Chris: I think that banning key cards would be the most feasible way. The ban list would have to include only about five or six cards. I would love to see this implemented for future tourneys. For the record: I'd hate to see over-banning (more than the problematic five or six cards) or global restrictions like "no more than four of any card".

Daniel: One thing's for sure: Limiting the format (for example to 1/15) is not a solution; it makes things even worse. I don't see any problems with banning a few cards: Enterprise, Inc., Shields, Identity Donor or Time to Collect. But if you take the example of the "Psycho Tycho" Corp deck, there is no individual card in there that deserves to be banned. I could imagine a method that prevents abusive decks and combos, but such a method would be complex, and it would always be difficult to rule what was cheesy and what was not. The best solution is clearly to build decks that beat the cheesy decks of today. This is much easier for the Runner than for the Corp, though.

The tourneys you played in also featured a Sealed-Deck event. Is there a favourite maxim that goes around in your head when you're playing Runner in a Sealed game?

Chris: If the cards in my hand are replaceable with other cards in my deck, then I run often, frequently forcing the Corp to rez ice (and thus hopefully keeping it poor).

What about the Corp?

Daniel: "Hurry up!" In an average starter you don't have many cards that let you win the endgame. Score the agendas as soon as possible, but don't forget to protect your R&D and HQ.

Do you ever play with Decks or Virus programs in Sealed Deck?

Chris: Yes. I'll often play with the infamous Parraline 5750 if I am short on MU. Otherwise usually not. I am quite fond of Pattel's Virus, and will also use Taxman, Cascade, the rare Proteus Viri (if I am so lucky) just to harass the Corp and put them off guard.

Daniel: Normally I take one deck into my stack. It has to be cheap. Often I only need the extra MU, but sometimes I combine a cheap base link with PK-6089a, Pandora's Deck or Techtronica Utility Suit. I never had much success with decks that provide bits for icebreakers in Sealed. And I never play with Virus programs. Never.

Any message you would like to get across to our readers?

Chris: Thank you for playing Netrunner and keeping the game alive.

Thank you very much for the interview, and merry Christmas!