Archetype Beginner Series: Rush Decks

Must go Faster

In this series I will be looking at deck archetypes with an eye toward beginners to help you understand what each archetype is, how it works, and what kinds of cards make up that game plan. This should help you understand the general shape of an archetype and identify cards or effects that will lend themselves toward those specific archetypes. I will focus on Gateway+ Elevation (Core) for much of the article while expanding into the Standard cardpool to give you a taste of what else if out there.

We will start with the Corp side as these decks tend to be more defined in their strategies as the Corporation sets the pace of play and is the one that moves toward a specific goal.

First we will cover Rush decks, a simple archetype that you might already be familiar with even if you do not know the specific term.

What is it?

A rush deck is a deck that tries to score quickly to out pace the runner and prevent them from assembling enough breakers or pieces to properly challenge the board state. Rush decks tend to build one or two remotes at most, but their primary remote (aka the scoring remote) will be well defended with two to three pieces of ice and a defensive upgrade or two. The deck will seek to score out agendas quickly so often they will pack tools to advance faster than the standard rate. Often that will take the form of “never advancing” agendas, that means the Corp places an agenda down but does not advance it until they can score. For that to work they need cards that let them place more than one counter at a time, or the ability to gain extra clicks.

So the basic game plan will look like this, build a strong remote with ice and defensive upgrades and score quickly from that remote, with some ice on HQ and R&D to prevent the runner from ignoring the remote entirely. The first agenda will typically be scored out behind one piece of ice with a defensive upgrade, and then the server will be built up as the game progresses.

What Cards?

Rush can be played in every faction though HB and Weyland tend to do it better than the others. Cards that promote a rush strategy are good defensive upgrades, tempo positive agendas, solid but cheap ice, and good burst economy options.

• Starting with IDs we have a few to pick from, in HB we have Precision Design as our classic example, it rewards scoring and thus helps to push the game plan forward and you can just recur Seamless Launch over and over. LEO Construction also helps by turning Bioroids into end the runs for the crucial turns. In Weyland we have The Zwicky Group, this generic value ID helps add that extra bit of forward momentum to keep your hand full of options while you establish an early lead. In Jinteki we have Au Co. which can turn incidental net damage from ice, operations, or agendas into forward momentum to draw more cards and setup faster. In NBN we have Synapse Global or Nebula both present ways to gain extra tempo to setup a scoring remote quickly.

  • The types of IDs that support Rush are those that provide some value when you score or allow you to get more cards on the table more quickly by drawing cards or gaining clicks. If we expand our scope to Standard we have Ob: Superheavy Logistics, Mirrormorph : Endless Iteration and Nuvem SA: Law of the Land which can fit the generic rush style.

• Rush decks want agendas that push them forward either by giving credits, cards, or some other tempo. Offworld Office is a great example as it gives 7 credits upon score which will help rez ice, upgrades and pay for future advancements. Luminal Transubstantiation is a great card for this as it rewards you with an extra turn to set the board up and fix any issues that might arise. Above the Law helps snipe annoying resources and is easy to score at a 3/2. Sericulture Expansion helps finish up scoring patterns with its Dividends Ability. Off the Books helps tutor out the last needed card and forces the runner to go after the remote to avoid losing. Project Ingatan can install some ice or missing upgrades to help sure up the upgrade. Embedded Reporting is useful as a 3/2 with the ability to tutor for a Seamless Launch or similar. For 5/3s options are a bit limited but Send a Message is not a bad choice as it provides some value if it is stolen and Next Big Thing gives nice value for card draw and hand sculpting. Finally, Greenmail is a good way to close out the game as it can be scored from hand with just install and two advancements.

  • The typical agenda suite should be one set of 5/3s, and then as many 4/2s (or 3/2s) as you need to fill out the deck. The scoring pattern is ideally, two 4/2s (or 3/2s) and then one 5/3 to finish the game. Any agenda that pushes the game forward is ideal, and looking at Standard we have a bunch of cards Architect Deployment Test, Remastered Edition, Midnight-3 Arcology, Regensis, Azef Protocol, Stoke the Embers, Kingmaking, Slash and Burn Agriculture, and then a defensive agenda in SDS Drone Deployment that makes stealing it costly to the runner, and Artificial Cryptocrash that pushes the runner back instead of the Corp ahead.

• Operations are those that help score agendas or setup the board more quickly. A real standout option is Seamless Launch, which allows you to never advance a 4/2 very easily. This turns any card in the remote into a potential score next turn, putting a lot of pressure on the runner. Sprint helps fix the hand and get the right cards at the right time, while Predictive Planogram just gives cards or credits when needed. Nanomanagement lets you score 4/2s in a different way and also allows you to score a 3/2 from hand. Top-Down Solutions lets you get setup faster than normal and provides good value. Any other burst economy options are very useful, like Hedge Fund or Hansei Review.

  • Good Rush operations should either gain money, clicks, install cards, or advance them. The standard cardpool a lot options some are Big Deal, Red Level Clearance, Business as Usual, Shipment from Vladisibirsk, and Sudden Commandment.

• Assets should be short lived, or gain you a lot of tempo from being on the board. If an asset is valuable enough it might sit in another remote defended by a single piece of ice. You can never go wrong with Spin Doctor, and it does not even need to be defended, it can fix your hand and lets you dump excess agendas away to be shuffled back when the runner goes for archives or the Spin itself. Regolith Mining License is a good card for getting solid credits quickly, and might be a second remote type of card. Anthill Excavation sticks around for two turns and gives you a lot of value in that time period, the perfect amount of time to get ready for the next score. Humanoid Resources will give a lot of cards and installs that help set up your board in an instant. Otto Campaign once it fires will you score a 4/2 from hand with no other card so it can act as another method to rush out agendas though it needs to take a few turns to cook.

  • Typically, most rush decks only play a few assets, and those they do play will only be in the server for a turn or two before they are thrown out for an agenda. A few Standard options are Wall to Wall, Wage Workers which helps gain extra clicks for never advancing, Charlotte Caçador, and The Powers That Be that can help speed up a board state upon score.

• Upgrades are key to these types of decks as they are what really keeps the runner out during critical runs. Manegarm Skunkworks is a big player as it adds a massive tax to any run they make on the remote and can keep runners out on its own. Manegarm’s partner in crime is Anoetic Void which allows you to stop the run at fairly low cost for the effect. Combined in a server and the runner will have to pay a lot of credits to get in multiple times. Mitra Aman is a good option to slot the ice you need into place, while Mercia B4LL4RD is useful for getting extra ice down quickly and cheaply while also providing a good Bioriod for LEO to trash.

  • Upgrades should defend the remote or provide a lot of value from scoring agendas in them or just setting them up. Tranquility Home Grid just provides great value for installing cards in the server as you already want to be doing. La Costa Grid, Vladisibirsk City Grid, and The Holo Man all allow for quicker scoring, Zato City Grid and Adrian Seis can help defend a server, while Tucana rewards you for scoring with a mostly free ice install.

• Finally, the Ice suite of a rush deck should have a mix of cheap “gear check” ice (ice that has an end the run sub that requires the runner to have the appropriate breaker down but is weak otherwise) and a few really beefy pieces of ice to protect the scoring remote. Gear Checks are cards like Ping, Palisade, Flyswatter, and Kessleriod. While strong ice are cards like Bran 1.0, Ansel 1.0, and Pharos, while Mycoweb, Empiricist and Biawak can be inclusions if you want more expensive options. Finally, cards like Doomscroll and Senamk-Samun help cover centrals with annoying ice that are a pain to deal with.

  • The ice suite of a Rush deck should follow generally the pattern of gear check ice, a few big pieces, and one or two other cards that help round out the suite be that annoying sentries like Tithe, or some other utility ice. Looking at Standard for Gear Check we have Ablative Barrier, Tatu-Bola, Descent, Tree Line, Sandstone, Afshar, and Winchester, all which have some extra ability or text that make them better than just a gear check. The bigger ice is M.I.C., Mestnichestvo, and Envelopment which are on the cheaper end but do a good job of stopping the runner. Sentries that are annoying are Drafter as an important standout, Hammer, Unsmiling Tsarevna, and Saisentan round out the sentry suite.

What is the Game Plan?

The shape of the rush deck is pretty simple, you set up a strong remote with your big ice and a gear check, preferably of a different type along with your defensive upgrades and then score agendas out of it as fast as possible using cards like Seamless Launch or Nano.

Starting from turn 1 you want to gain money, and ice up either both centrals (HQ and R&D) or a remote with a card like Anthill in it, to get early value. You should spend the next turn or two building up the remote with ice and upgrades to prep it for that score. As soon as is practicable you will want to score your first 4/2 (or 3/2). This establishes the threat to the runner that you are looking to score often and quickly. The game from here is getting the next 4/2 (or 3/2) scored as soon as possible without over extending. That is very specific to each game but try to keep enough credits to rez the ice on the remote and upgrades and maybe one ice on centrals. While scoring the 5/3 will be more difficult, two seamless launches will do it, or a seamless and a Nano. You might just need to advance the card depending on your hand and if you think the runner will be unable to get in. Otto Campaign can help out but might be a bit slow in those final turns when time is against you.

Weyland rush deserves a quick side bar here, because it uses another strategy called “Supermodernism” that uses the threat of kill to keep the runner in check while it pushes forward. The term is derived from an old deck name from the primordial soup of Netrunner and has come to define the general strategy. The ID Bangun: When Disaster Strikes will play this style very well. Cards like Measured Response are designed to keep the runner on their toes and slow them down so they will not have enough time to run the remote and keep their credits and cards up. If they fail to stay on the proper amount of cards and credits you can get the kill but that is not the aim of the deck it is merely a threat.

Similarly Jinteki rush can use net damage to threaten the runner by forcing them to spend time drawing cards. NBN will do a similar thing with tags, these sorts of threats are needed for Jinteki and NBN as they have weaker ice than HB or Weyland.

What can beat it?

Rush decks rely on cheap end the run ice (gear checks) to keep the runner out so ways to sneak past ice or beat end the run subs can really punish the deck. Botulus is a great answer to any ice and puts pressure on the Corp to install more ice than they might otherwise. Tread Lightly can also make rezzing ice too expensive for the Corp thus allowing early access, and Mayfly can beat any ice for the single run needed to apply early pressure on the remote. The runner can also use Shred to pierce the Manegarm and Aneotic server to bust up that final scoring window as well.

As the runner you want to pressure the remote early so the Corp will be forced to slow down and install more ice and upgrades in the remote which makes central servers more vulnerable. You can pivot back and try to steal agendas from HQ or R&D, but also take out upgrades before they hit the table. Forcing rezzes early and often as it forces them to spend money which they might not have to protect everything.

In the alternative if you can assemble a huge rig that can break any ice for almost no credits and deal with the defensive upgrades than you can just shut down the remote and slowly pick them apart as they cannot meaningfully stop such a built up runner.

Wrapping it Up

That is a quick overview of the Rush archetype, it plays a fairly standard game of Netrunner with a few tricks to really bring it all together. This is a great archetype for a beginner as it allows you to find what scoring windows do and do not work as you are trying to force them often and rewards good ice placement and money management. With a proactive game plan it will teach you a lot of strong fundamentals that help you move into the wider card pool.

Thanks for reading and I hope you look forward to the next deck archetype in the series, Glacier.