In this article I'm analyzing the card pool of tournament winning Andromeda runner decks. To do this, I'm using the deck lists provided by
Stimhack.
I'm limiting the decks to the "Double Time" and "Fear and Loathing" time period. It still gives a relatively big amount of data, and the cards of the last data pack didn't really make it into the most popular builds. (If you ask me Andromeda builds haven't really changed much since "Opening Moves".)
Andromeda decks are quite uniform, usually they don't show as much variance as other identities, so they are ideal for statistical analysis. There is only one build that differs from the standard Andromeda deck, that is the Blackguard build. I will filter these out, and it still leaves us with 44 decks out of the 47 in total.
I'm providing two data after each card in brackets. Average number and percentage of being used in decks. For all the cards, see the
summary table at the end of this article. So, let's see the most popular cards broken down by type!
Events
This includes burst economy and awesome criminal events.
We have
Account Siphon [2.93; 100%],
Dirty Laundry [2.93; 100%] and
Sure Gamble [2.93; 98%] as the top money making cards. Usually
Account Siphon by itself convinces people to play criminal and makes corporations grind their teeth. It's one of the best cards ever, many players consider it overpowered.
Other awesome criminal events include
Special Order [2.77; 100%],
Emergency Shutdown [2.36; 98%],
Inside Job [2.22; 95%],
Hostage [1.09; 57%] and
Easy Mark [0.98; 39%]. Tutoring for the right breaker or contact helps criminals a lot.
Forged Activation Order [0.62; 32%] and
Infiltration [0.53; 30%] do not see as much play as they used to.
Hardware
Desperado [2.80; 100%] is a must have and sadly, you better have three of it. In my experience, this is the card that nets you the most credits. I often mulligan if I cannot see it in my opening hand.
Plascrete Carapace [2.36; 95%] is also an auto-include because of Scorched Earths and Punitive Counterstrikes. Usually two is enough because of Andromeda's ability.
R&D Interface [1.84; 84%] is needed to maintain a lock on R&D, which is quite important when playing against a fast advance corporation. Other hardware are rarely ever used.
Resources
Andromeda decks usually have a couple of Connection type resources.
Kati Jones [1.66; 89%] provides the runner with credits. As for additional card draw, players tend to use one of the following:
John Masanori [0.34; 30%],
Professional Contacts [0.34; 34%] or
Mr. Li [0.27; 20%].
Same Old Thing [1.55; 64%] adds some event recursion (Account Siphon, Emergency Shutdown, Inside Job, Special Order) and
Daily Cards [1.09; 41%] can be used for getting ever more credits.
ICE Breakers
Since sentries can be dangerous these days,
Faerie [2.07; 84%] sees quite some play. Other cheap breakers come from the anarch suite:
Corroder [1.80, 100%],
Yog.0 [1.07, 86%] and
Mimic [0.95; 84%]. Please note that these breakers depend highly on
Datasuckers.
Femme Fatale [0.77; 70%] is there to handle troublesome ICE (i.e. Tollbooth) and can also break sentries if needed (do not forget!).
Crypsis [0.75; 61%] is usually a quick access through any ice (even Chimera), but consumes a lot of credits and clicks. These two programs might help you out if other breakers have been trashed or discarded due to damage. Power Shutdown can be a real pain to the criminals, since they have no program recursion on their own (Clone Chip, Test Run, Scavange).
Other Programs
The only program worth mentioning here is
Datasucker (2.61; 89%). It's just essential if you are running
Yog.0 or
Mimic, and it also cuts down the cost of breaking ICE. It works well with the expensive-to-strenghten breakers:
Femme Fatale and
Crypsis. Any other programs are marginal.
Data on all cards used
| title | set | used | average | AIU 1 |
| Events |
| Account Siphon | Core | 100% | 2.93 | 2.93 |
| Dirty Laundry | Creation and Control | 100% | 2.93 | 2.93 |
| Special Order | Core | 100% | 2.77 | 2.77 |
| Sure Gamble | Core | 98% | 2.93 | 2.99 |
| Emergency Shutdown | Cyber Exodus | 98% | 2.34 | 2.39 |
| Inside Job | Core | 95% | 2.27 | 2.39 |
| Hostage | Opening Moves | 57% | 1.11 | 1.95 |
| Easy Mark | Core | 39% | 0.95 | 2.44 |
| Forged Activation Orders | Core | 32% | 0.64 | 2.00 |
| Infiltration | Core | 30% | 0.50 | 1.67 |
| Lawyer Up | True Colors | 16% | 0.34 | 2.13 |
| Blackmail | Fear and Loathing | 11% | 0.18 | 1.64 |
| Quality Time | Humanity's Shadow | 11% | 0.20 | 1.82 |
| Levy AR Lab Access | Creation and Control | 7% | 0.07 | 1.00 |
| Stimhack | Core | 7% | 0.07 | 1.00 |
| Déjà Vu | Core | 2% | 0.05 | 2.00 |
| Satellite Uplink | Trace Amount | 2% | 0.05 | 2.00 |
| Test Run | Cyber Exodus | 2% | 0.05 | 2.00 |
| The Maker's Eye | Core | 2% | 0.05 | 2.00 |
| Diesel | Core | 2% | 0.02 | 1.00 |
| Hardware |
| Desperado | Core | 100% | 2.80 | 2.80 |
| Plascrete Carapace | What Lies Ahead | 95% | 2.36 | 2.48 |
| R&D Interface | Future Proof | 84% | 1.84 | 2.19 |
| HQ Interface | Humanity's Shadow | 9% | 0.11 | 1.22 |
| Clone Chip | Creation and Control | 7% | 0.11 | 1.57 |
| Dyson Mem Chip | Trace Amount | 7% | 0.09 | 1.29 |
| e3 Feedback Implants | Trace Amount | 5% | 0.07 | 1.50 |
| Lemuria Codecracker | Core | 2% | 0.07 | 3.00 |
| Akamatsu Mem Chip | Core | 2% | 0.05 | 2.00 |
| Silencer 2 | Double Time | 2% | 0.05 | 2.00 |
| Doppelgänger | A Study in Static | 2% | 0.02 | 1.00 |
| Resources |
| Kati Jones | Humanity's Shadow | 89% | 1.66 | 1.87 |
| Same Old Thing | Creation and Control | 64% | 1.55 | 2.42 |
| Daily Casts | Creation and Control | 41% | 1.09 | 2.66 |
| Professional Contacts | Creation and Control | 34% | 0.34 | 1.00 |
| John Masanori | Opening Moves | 30% | 0.34 | 1.13 |
| Mr. Li | Future Proof | 20% | 0.27 | 1.35 |
| Armitage Codebusting | Core | 11% | 0.23 | 2.09 |
| Decoy | Core | 7% | 0.11 | 1.57 |
| Compromised Employee | Trace Amount | 5% | 0.14 | 3.00 |
| Bank Job | Core | 5% | 0.07 | 1.50 |
| New Angeles City Hall | Future Proof | 2% | 0.05 | 2.00 |
| Access to Globalsec | Core | 2% | 0.02 | 1.00 |
| Raymond Flint | Mala Tempora | 2% | 0.02 | 1.00 |
| Scrubber | A Study in Static | 2% | 0.02 | 1.00 |
| The Helpful AI | What Lies Ahead | 2% | 0.02 | 1.00 |
| The Source | Creation and Control | 2% | 0.02 | 1.00 |
| Underworld Contact | A Study in Static | 2% | 0.02 | 1.00 |
| ICE Breakers |
| Corroder | Core | 100% | 1.80 | 1.80 |
| Yog.0 | Core | 86% | 1.07 | 1.24 |
| Faerie | Future Proof | 84% | 2.07 | 2.46 |
| Mimic | Core | 84% | 0.95 | 1.13 |
| Femme Fatale | Core | 70% | 0.77 | 1.10 |
| Crypsis | Core | 61% | 0.75 | 1.23 |
| Ninja | Core | 20% | 0.20 | 1.00 |
| Knight | Mala Tempora | 7% | 0.14 | 2.00 |
| Gordian Blade | Core | 7% | 0.07 | 1.00 |
| ZU.13 Key Master | What Lies Ahead | 5% | 0.07 | 1.50 |
| Deus X | A Study in Static | 2% | 0.05 | 2.00 |
| Torch | Mala Tempora | 2% | 0.02 | 1.00 |
| Other Programs |
| Datasucker | Core | 89% | 2.61 | 2.93 |
| Sneakdoor Beta | Core | 9% | 0.16 | 1.78 |
| Crescentus | A Study in Static | 5% | 0.07 | 1.50 |
| Savoir-faire 2 | Double Time | 2% | 0.07 | 3.00 |
| Magnum Opus | Core | 2% | 0.05 | 2.00 |
| Parasite | Core | 2% | 0.05 | 2.00 |
| Djinn | Core | 2% | 0.02 | 1.00 |
| Keyhole | True Colors | 2% | 0.02 | 1.00 |
| Self-modifying Code | Creation and Control | 2% | 0.02 | 1.00 |
1 - average if used
2 - card of Double Time, actual usage could be higher
Update: I just realized that
mplain has created similar statistics for
all store championship decks. Check it out!
