Netrunner: Stealth Shaper

Once I had gotten comfortable enough with playing Netrunner, I got it into my head that I should build a Stealth Icebreaker deck. Where my Weyland deck is very focused on its win condition, this deck is focused on its shtick – the goal is to have fun and try to make Stealth Icebreakers work.

In choosing a faction for this deck, Shaper was the obvious choice. They have the most Stealth capability, and have (from what I can tell) the best tutoring capabilities. I also tend to favor Shaper in general – from an in-universe perspective, they are faction that is easiest for me to connect with. It may be an odd reason to choose a faction, but it’s one that I use quite often.

At any rate, this is what I came up with:

Kate “Mac” McCaffrey
45 cards (max 45)
15 influence: •••••••••••••••

  • Events
    • 2x Sure Gamble (5)
  • Hardware
    • 2x Astrolabe (1)
    • 3x Clone Chip (1)
    • 3x Cybersolutions Mem Chip (4)
    • 2x Cybsoft Macrodrive (2)
    • 1x Dyson Fractal Generator (1) •••
    • 2x HQ Interface (4) ••••
    • 1x Lockpick (1)
    • 2x R&D Interface (4)
    • 2x Replicator (2)
    • 1x Silencer (1) •••
  • Resources
    • 2x Armitage Codebusting (1)
    • 3x Ghost Runner (1)
    • 2x Inside Man (3)
    • 3x Sacrificial Construct (0)
    • 2x Tyson Observatory (2)
  • Icebreakers
    • 1x BlacKat (4/1/3) •••
    • 1x Refractor (1/1/2)
    • 1x Switchblade (3/1/0) ••
  • Programs
    • 3x Cloak (1/1)
    • 2x Magnum Opus (5/2)
    • 2x Paricia (0/1)
    • 3x Self Modifying Code (0/2)

At this point, the deck is completely untested, but at first glance my worries are consistency and money. With only one copy of each Icebreaker, I’m basically banking on Self Modifying Code to get them out, then Clone Chip to get the Self Modifying Code back. Because of this, cards like Chronos Project that wipe out my heap could really ruin my day, especially if they happen to catch one of my Icebreakers. In terms of money, this deck has a lot of money to throw at icebreakers, but I’m not sure yet whether I have enough liquid credits. This one is really going to come down to some playtesting, but, at a guess, I may end up swapping out Paricia and the Cybsoft Macrodrive for more liquid credits (or more icebreakers).

What I really wanted in building this deck was more influence. A second set of stealth hardware would have lent enough consistency that I could probably have dropped off the Ghost Runners. Alternately, a second set of stealth icebreakers would reduce the reliance on tutoring. Finally, I really wanted to add a Sneakdoor Beta (Program 4/2, 3 Criminal Influence) to this deck (and I still might find a way) to force the corp to spread around their ice.

That brings me to my second goal of this deck, which was to force the corp to spread around their ice because I could run anywhere and cause a fair amount of damage. While not as good as a Medium, R&D interface means that I can lock down R&D if given easy access, while HQ interface means that I can cause problems after they draw. With Sneakdoor Beta, I could then force them to spread ICE to Archives as well, making their scoring remote have just a bit less ICE.