Netrunner: Weyland Meat-grinder

I’ve been playing Android: Netrunner a bit lately, so I wanted to post a couple of deck lists that I’ve evolved a bit. When I’m playing casually, I typically play the corp side, as it appeals to my lawful side. I also really like the hidden information aspect of the corp game – it’s always more fun for me to hide information than to be the one revealing it.

In choosing a corp, I initially gravitated toward the Weyland Consortium, and that is my primary faction. I’m most excited when they get a new identity or particularly cool piece of ICE. As my deckbuilding evolved, I eventually found myself with a deck that was very much in the Tag-and-Bag camp. Unlike other Tag-and-Bag decks though, this deck is less about one specific combo, and more about lots and lots of tagging with lots and lots of meat damage.

Weyland Consortium: Building a Better World
Megacorp
49 Cards (45 minimum)
15 influence: •••••••••••••••

  • Agendas
    • 3x The Cleaners (5/3)
    • 2x Posted Bounty (3/1)
    • 1x Priority Requisition (5/3)
    • 3x Private Security Force (4/2)
  • Assets
    • 3x Dedicated Response Team (2/3)
    • 2x Pad Campaign (2/4)
    • 2x The Root (6/4)
  • Operations
    • 3x Beanstalk Royalties (0)
    • 3x Hedge Fund (5)
    • 2x Housekeeping (2)
    • 3x Scorched Earth (3)
  • Barriers
    • 2x Hadrian’s Wall (10/7)
    • 2x Ice Wall (1/1)
    • 2x Wall of Static (3/3)
  • Sentries
    • 2x Archer (4/6)
    • 3x Data Raven (4/4) ••••••
    • 3x Dracō (1/0)
    • 3x Flare (9/6) •••••••••
    • 3x Hunter (1/4)
  • Code Gates
    • 2x Checkpoint (4/7)

I think Housekeeping is the weak-link in this deck. It is in there primarily do deal with my brother’s currents (which he always runs three-of) and give me a bit of extra damage-tax. While I’m typically very leery of Bad Publicity, Checkpoint made it into the deck solely for the meat damage capability and the double-whammy of Checkpoint and Dedicated Response Team – suddenly if the runner has taken a tag as part of a run, they could be looking at five meat damage (or seven if I have scored The Cleaners) just for succeeding at a run.

I nearly added Primary Transmission Dish (2/3 Asset, 2 NBN Influence) to the deck, but it didn’t make the cut in lieu of adding an extra Flare and Data Raven. At the end of the day, I feel like I should have enough hard cash to make traces land when they matter, and I’m not convinced I would be able to use the recurring credits every turn. Conversely, The Root slid in just barely over other money choices, mostly for the rez credits – this deck has the ICE to make that worth it pretty quick.

One of my favorite games with this deck was against my wife. At first, she was playing a pretty cautious game and doing reasonably well taking apart R&D while not getting tagged. Then, in a critical run, she took a tag, then took a second; with only one click left, I thought I had it… …But with her last click, she played Diesel… …And pulled out of Scorched Earth range. The game changed significantly in that round, and we were both doing everything we could to end it quickly because we were at a critical junction – she no longer cared about tags if I couldn’t execute and ran with abandon, where I had to execute before she stole the remaining points needed to win. In the end, I managed to get another Scorched Earth and end the game by excessive meat damage, but it was a very fun change of tempo.