Peddling Peddler – All Things Kit

Say hello to the oft-forgotten middle child of Shaper, one Rielle “Kit” Peddler.

Lacking the long competitive history of Mac (and to a lesser extent, Chaos Theory) while not being a Jank Lover’s dream like Exile or The Professor pushes Kit into that middle child territory. She has a very unique talent but is weakened by her 10 influence, lack of link, and ability to be countered – but there are things you can do that no other runner in the game can manage, and that’s what we’re here to talk about.

Building A Rig

Starting Strong

First, let’s talk about Code Gate Breakers.

Each listed Decoder has a place in the right Kit deck, given the proper support, and each plays a different role.

Gordian Blade: The old core set workhorse. I actually haven’t used Gordian in a deck in a long time but it’s a solid option, providing reasonable stats for an affordable price. The situational ability is much more likely to be relevant in a Kit Deck where you can hit the outer Ice and an actual Code Gate. It has great synergy with Tinkering and Paintbrush (both of which we’ll talk about), but in general it falls a bit short against taxing Ice (7 for a Tollbooth? Gross).

ZU.13 Key Master: Gordian’s little brother. 3 less credits for 1 less strength and the loss of Gordian’s rolling strength boost. Excellent if you need a Code Gate breaker right now for cheap. Sometimes good to set up early while you wait for your other pieces or bigger breakers. Horrible against anything taxing (8 for a Tollbooth? Gross++).

Torch: 9 cost in a faction with Test Run/Scavenge and Magnum Opus isn’t quite the problem some people make it out to be. With 4 strength you can comfortably deal with taxing Ice on the outer layer and still break any Code Gate in the game for cheap. Getting it into play is your biggest concern.

Cyber-Cypher: Incredible stats with a notable drawback, Cyber-Cypher has a lot of similarities with Criminal’s Central-Only breakers. In decks where you’re ignoring remotes and pressuring centrals, it can be a huge boon. Cyber-Cypher also has great synergy with Scavenge, allowing you to quickly move it between servers.

Refractor: We’ll talk about Stealth Kit in-depth, but Refractor has merit on its own, outside of a majority-Stealth deck. It’s cheap to setup, breaks weak Code Gates without Stealth, and does great work with Stealth credits. It does suffer from turning off one of Kit’s greatest strengths, which is early game 1-card rig pressure.

Yog.0: One of most popular breakers in the game, recently smacked down by a whole string of (arguably justified) hate coming for it. Yog.0 still has a place in the right deck, as 0c is the price you want to be paying when you break subroutines. Like Refractor, it also needs solid support to do its job, more so now than ever.

Others: I’ve covered pretty much all of the Shaper Decoders and splashing out of faction is hardly worth it for anything other than Yog.0. Maybe one day we’ll want to use Leviathan, but I have my doubts. The only noteworthy card I haven’t talked about is Sage, which may have a place in a Kit deck one day, but hasn’t had enough play time to justify talking about yet.

Fracters and Killers

There’s not much to say here other than “it varies”. Influence is a limiting factor so sometimes you need to be creative with your decisions, which we’ll explore more in individual decklists. In general, I like Inti+Cerberus “Lady” H1 for taking care of barriers and relying on a mix of Atman/Femme Fatale/Sharpshooter/Deus X for handling problem sentries. Corroder, Mimic, and even Garrote can find a home here as well, and of course Dagger makes an appearance in Stealth.

Why am I playing this Identity again?

Let’s break down what Kit’s ability actually means.

You have easy access to servers in the early portion of the game.

Your opponent is forced to go two Ice deep to keep you from maintaining that easy access, taxing their economy and card resources.

You can confidently face check at least one Ice a turn. Kit has the best face checking ability of any runner in the game – you are safe with a 1 card rig from anything the corp rezzes, as long as you’re careful with your money and other cards.

Your Code Gate breaker will always be relevant if it is efficient at breaking.

Properly keying off 1-2 of these points should be your first thought when it comes to deck construction. With only 10 influence you’re limited for options, but luckily a few things have changed over the last cycle for Shapers to make that less of a problem. Knowing what you want your deck to do allows you to choose your rig around it.

Synergistic Cards

There are a few specific cards that Kit likes to see in her decks, either regardless of the archetype or because of it. Additional breakers, support cards, and types of economy vary from deck to deck, but these are some examples of cards that more than pull their weight for Ms. Peddler.

Parasite: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Nothing ruins Kit’s day more than a first layer Pup, Yagura, or Pop-up Window, or a second layer Rototurret hiding behind some innocent Quandary. Parasite takes care of all of these problems and more. With or without Datasuckers it does a lot of work for you, and combined with in-faction recursion and tutoring it can be included as a one-of to limit the impact on your influence. Parasite does everything for Kit that it does for other Shapers with the added bonus of destroying a 0-strength Ice at approach, keeping your Identity ability in tact for the next Ice (Note, this doesn’t work if you need to encounter the Ice, such as to use Datasucker Tokens to finish it off. Anything which forces you to encounter, like Datasucker, Femme Fatale, Ice Carver, etc. all consider you to have encountered that Ice and have triggered your Identity).

Datasucker: As good as it is in any other deck. I can’t say much about this card that hasn’t already been said, but it does have excellent synergy with Yog.0, Refractor, and Parasite, specifically.

Account Siphon and Vamp: Kit’s ability to force the Corp the Rez Ice and get into servers early makes her especially adept at using these cards and playing denial in general. Her low-influence means if you’re including them you’re building around it. We’ll explore decks that utilize both of these to the fullest.

Dinosaurus: Good synergy with Yog.0 specifically or any decoder in general. This card can be very slow to set up and should not just land in any Kit deck, or even any Yog.0 deck.

Tinkering: While this by no means a “must include” in any Kit Deck, it can be helpful for important accesses and sucker-punching your opponent who thinks their two-deep remote is safe. Always remember that Tinkering lasts for the duration of the turn, so get as much out of it as you can – it can give you a second access for the Indexing follow-up, for example. Additionally, this card can serve as pure econ – if you save a lot of money by turning that Archer you need to get past into a Code Gate and break it with Torch for 6, as opposed to Femme Fatale for 12 – that’s a hell of a credit swing for one card. Excellent synergy with Gordian Blade.

Inti: Noteworthy for turning off Wraparound for cheap. That card is a huge pain when you only have a decoder out, and no one wants to use a Torch and 4 credits to break a 2-Cost Ice. Often combined with Cerberus “Lady” H1 as a Corroder replacement when saving on influence.

Other Good Runner Cards: They’re as good here as they are anywhere else. Atman, Indexing, Astrolabe, R&D Multi-Access, Akamatsu Mem Chip, Sharpshooter, Deus X, Test Run, Self-modifying Code, Femme Fatale, Kati Jones, Sure Gamble…the list goes on.

It’s a trap!

For all the good, there’s bad as well. While these aren’t the only cards you want to shy away from they are cards that tend to end up in a lot of Kit decks for all the wrong reasons. By all means, there are decks that can use them but I believe that there are more efficient options.

Paintbrush: Along with many others, I was incredibly excited for this. It seemed like the perfect card for Kit – Tinkering on a stick, great Gordian Blade synergy – what’s not to love? Well, to start with, 2MU, 3C, the click intensive nature of the card, and most importantly, the fact that it only works on rezzed Ice. You can definitely build a deck around this card where you hammer R&D from now until the end times while aggressively face checking Ice to force rezzes on the outermost – you could even get whacky and throw in Forged Activation Orders or something. The problem is, in most games your opponent will have outpaced you due to all the time spent setting up each run. That’s time you can’t use to up your econ or develop your rig. It looks really strong on paper but after only a few games with it I was not satisfied.

Omega: Like Paintbrush, this card seems perfect for Kit – you can threaten any two-deep server with minimal card investment. At 7c to play and mediocre stats, this card ends up falling short of that dream. Eventually you’ll need to develop your full suite and you may as well use that investment to get out the right breaker – often for fewer credits and more efficient runs.

Archetypes and Decklists:

In general there seem to be four major Kit Archetypes: Standard Shaper, Pressure, Full Denial, and Stealth (which is really a subset of Standard Shaper). Every successful deck I’ve seen has fallen broadly into one of these categories whether the user intended to or not.

Standard Shaper: Kit can play Standard Shaper Big Rig surprisingly well, and her ability benefits it in two ways. First, she can gain the early access that Standard Shaper sometimes has a problem with by setting up her Decoder early and probing the Corporation’s Ice. Second, by using an efficient Code Gate breaker you force your opponent into non-optimized Ice placement and sometimes give yourself cheaper runs. Using a Torch on the outermost piece of Ice means no matter what they put there you’re probably getting past it for less credits than you would as another runner. For example, an Eli 1.0 on the outside of a server costs you far less than it would if you were breaking it with Corroder.

Sample List:

Standard Shaper Kit

Rielle “Kit” Peddler: Transhuman (Creation and Control)

Event (18)

2x Indexing (Future Proof)

2x Legwork (Honor and Profit) ••••

3x Modded (Core Set)

3x Quality Time (Humanity’s Shadow)

2x Scavenge (Creation and Control)

3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)

3x Test Run (Cyber Exodus)

Hardware (12)

2x Astrolabe (Up and Over)

2x Clone Chip (Creation and Control)

3x CyberSolutions Mem Chip (Fear and Loathing)

2x Plascrete Carapace (What Lies Ahead)

3x R&D Interface (Future Proof)

Resource (1)

1x Utopia Shard (All That Remains) •

Icebreaker (8)

1x Atman (Creation and Control)

1x Cerberus “Lady” H1 (All That Remains)

1x Deus X (A Study in Static)

1x Garrote (True Colors) •••

1x Inti (Creation and Control)

1x Sharpshooter (True Colors)

2x Torch (Mala Tempora)

Program (6)

2x Magnum Opus (Core Set)

1x Parasite (Core Set) ••

3x Self-modifying Code (Creation and Control)

10 influence spent (max 10)

45 cards (min 45)

Cards up to All That Remains

Deck built on http://netrunnerdb.com.

Shaper’s tools are diverse enough that this deck can spend influence in strange places. Garrote, Utopia Shard, and Legwork all do a ton of work here, and Test Run/Magnum Opus/Self-modifying Code let you create a powerful rig quickly while maintaining pressure throughout and scaling well into the endgame. Very few frills – just good breakers and economy. The decks biggest weaknesses lie in MU and early game Economy if you don’t hit a Magnum Opus or Tutor in your starting hand.

Mulligan aggressively for Magnum Opus or a Tutor. The ideal hand looks like this: Modded, Magnum Opus, Test Run, Scavenge, Sure Gamble/Quality Time.

(This is the deck I’ve been playing recently.)

Pressure: Sometimes confused with Denial, pressure is all about maintaining tempo and staying ahead of your opponent. A high-pressure deck wants to out-value your opponent constantly by making economic trades in your favor. Forcing them to rez Ice which gives them little value (or value you remove) is a big part of winning the game. This type of deck has had trouble over the most recent cycle as Corps have gained a lot of tools in the economy war, but it can still find success. It utilizes tools like Parasite, Datasucker, and Yog.0 to get the upper hand in any trade while Shaper support cards keep you relevant.

Sample List:

Kitman

Rielle “Kit” Peddler: Transhuman (Creation and Control)

Event (15)

3x Diesel (Core Set)

3x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)

3x Indexing (Future Proof)

3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)

3x The Maker’s Eye (Core Set)

Hardware (9)

2x Akamatsu Mem Chip (Core Set)

2x Astrolabe (Up and Over)

3x Clone Chip (Creation and Control)

2x Plascrete Carapace (What Lies Ahead)

Resource (5)

2x Daily Casts (Creation and Control)

3x Kati Jones (Humanity’s Shadow)

Icebreaker (7)

3x Atman (Creation and Control)

1x Deus X (A Study in Static)

1x Inti (Creation and Control)

1x Sharpshooter (True Colors)

1x Yog.0 (Core Set) •

Program (9)

3x Datasucker (Core Set) •••

3x Parasite (Core Set) ••••• •

3x Self-modifying Code (Creation and Control)

10 influence spent (max 10)

45 cards (min 45)

Cards up to Up and Over

Deck built on http://netrunnerdb.com.

Run hard or go home. Face check aggressively and force Ice Rezzes. Datasucker tokens are critical and Atman is a big part of this deck – it’s really a derivative of classic Katman, adjusted to account for Kit’s ability. The first Atman typically hits at Strength 4 to deal with Lotus Field. Architect sometimes forces a Strength 3 as well, which isn’t exactly optimal (Losing 1 Datasucker for a Mimic may be the correct move these days, especially if the upcoming Eater puts Swordsman on the rise again). Running early on click one or two with only a Yog.0 is very safe, as most Ice which can hurt you is STR3 or less, costs a boatload of money, or is clickable. Big things to watch out for – Merlin (especially against Foundry), the occasional Grim, and Inazuma -> InsertPainfulSentryHere. A noteworthy element of this deck is the lack of Dinosaurus, relying only on Datasucker to support Yog.0. While the Dinosaurus/Yog.0 combo is great, this deck doesn’t have the time or early money to find and set up a 5 cost console.

Mulligan for Yog.0 or Self-modifying Code, preferably combined with Datasuckers and Econ. There’s very light econ in this deck – you rely on the fact that your runs will be cheap/free, but this causes problems against things like SanSan City Grid or Econ Assets that you want to trash. Don’t neglect Kati Jones.

This deck has lost a lot of potency recently. Lotus Field, Architect, and Blue Sun in general all cause it serious problems. It can catch opponents off-guard in the Near-Earth Hub matchup, and has a better matchup against RP then a lot of Kit decks do due to the liberal use of Parasite and Atman-4.

(I played this deck over Store Championship and Regional season).

Full Denial: Here’s where Account Siphon and Vamp come in to play. Kit’s early runs give you better access to HQ than any other runner in the game. Siphon and Vamp can both capitalize on this to hit the Corp’s economy hard. Denying them money gives you access to their other servers in turn, enabling a win condition. Special note goes to the Vamp/Magnum Opus combo, which is difficult to do outside of Shaper, but allows you to land Vamps which you can still recover from.

Sample List:

Rielle “Kit” Peddler: Transhuman

Event (21)

3 Diesel

3 Indexing

3 Modded

3 Quality Time

3 Scavenge

3 Test Run

3 Vamp ••••• •

Hardware (7)

1 Feedback Filter

3 R&D Interface

3 The Toolbox

Resource (3)

3 Personal Workshop

Icebreaker (7)

2 Femme Fatale ••

3 Gordian Blade

1 Inti

1 Snowball

Program (7)

3 Magnum Opus

1 Nerve Agent ••

3 Self-modifying Code

This is Chris Hinke’s winning decklist from the Cambridge, MA Regionals over the Summer and it shows how to really utilize Kit’s easy access to the fullest. You can watch some of his games on the Stimhack page for the Cambridge Regional. I don’t want to write too much about the strategy for this deck as I didn’t create it and have only played it a few times, but the core is clear – like the pressure deck, it keeps your opponent too poor to deal with your constant runs. Use Magnum Opus to fuel Vamp. This list is also about 6 months old at this point – I’d be surprised if he hasn’t updated it.

Account Siphon is always an option for Full Denial as well. Some decks opt for a 2xAccount Siphon 1xVamp/Nerve Agent/Planned Assault/Insert 2 Other Influence Here strategy using Same Old Thing to recur Siphon. Cyber-Cypher can be a very strong choice for this archetype.

In general this can suffer from the same problems that Pressure and other Denial decks such as Anarch Siphon do – if the corp really gets rolling it can be hard to drag them back down.

Stealth: Many people see Refractor and immediately think of Kit, which makes sense – good Shaper decoder, right? Well, Kit has some inherent anti-synergy with the stealth suite. I wouldn’t say it’s enough anti-synergy to be a complete waste, but it does mean you’re playing differently than your normally would. You sacrifice Kit’s innate early pressure for incredible late-game sustainability. You still have a lot of mid-game pressure once you start hitting some stealth cards, but you are hurt a lot more by two layer servers than most other Kit iterations. Once you get set-up, however, you’re nigh-unstoppable.

Sample List:

Stealth

Rielle “Kit” Peddler: Transhuman (Creation and Control)

Event (11)

3x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)

2x Legwork (Honor and Profit) ••••

3x Quality Time (Humanity’s Shadow)

3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)

Hardware (12)

3x Clone Chip (Creation and Control)

3x CyberSolutions Mem Chip (Fear and Loathing)

3x Lockpick (Opening Moves)

3x R&D Interface (Future Proof)

Resource (3)

3x Ghost Runner (The Spaces Between)

Icebreaker (7)

1x Atman (Creation and Control)

1x Corroder (Core Set) ••

1x Dagger (Creation and Control)

1x Deus X (A Study in Static)

3x Refractor (First Contact)

Program (12)

3x Cloak (Creation and Control)

2x Datasucker (Core Set) ••

3x Magnum Opus (Core Set)

1x Parasite (Core Set) ••

3x Self-modifying Code (Creation and Control)

10 influence spent (max 10)

45 cards (min 45)

Cards up to First Contact

Deck built on http://netrunnerdb.com.

Stealth Kit is still relatively new, and there are many different iterations running around. Like with Standard Shaper you’re interested in setting up your economy and developing a Rig as quickly as possible. As with that deck, this one provides tools to keep pressure up relatively early through Kit’s ability and Refractor while developing for the long game. Splashing out of faction for Parasite, HQ Multi-Access, and a Fracter is the norm. One of the biggest benefits of Stealth Kit is saving on influence for a solid Killer.

Mulliganing for a Refractor, a Cloak or Ghost Runner, and Tutors is the way to go. Seeing Magnum Opus early is strong as well.

Specific Match-Ups

This advice is mostly general as the play-styles vary from deck to deck.

HB Fast Advance: While uncommon at the moment, this deck is always lurking in the background ready to strike again. Porous Bioroid Ice can be nice for Kit as you can break the first and skip through the second – just remember, clicking the Ice still means you encounter it. Applying pressure is key to keep them from affording their fast advance tools.

HB Glacier: One of the best match-ups for Standard Shaper Kit and one of the worst for Pressure or Denial unless you get a very strong start as they can outpace you to the late game. Those decks should hit early and hit hard, aggressively trashing Caprice Nisei, Jackson Howard, and Ash 2X3ZB9CY to give themselves a chance late game.

Foundry: Special mention of Grail Ice here. That layer two barrier can become a lot scarier when it starts trashing programs, so watch out. Parasites are your friend here for Grail Ice and NEXT Silver.

Weyland: Across the board here, fight the economy war and play Plastcretes. The war got a lot harder against Blue Sun – like HB Glacier, try to hit them hard early. If you suspect an Oversight AI coming, save up to counter it. Stealth probably likes this match-up best, but a good start from pressure or denial can end the game before it begins.

Jinteki PE: Deus X recursion, like any Shaper. Tends to run Ice Light, which you like. Focus on centrals and make use of Indexing. This matchup should be in your favor if you’re careful, regardless of build. If you’re Standard Shaper or Stealth, put pressure on earlier than normal since you need minimal breakers.

Jinteki RP: The enemy. Probably Kit’s worst matchup in general due to their ability preventing her from accessing remotes. This deck is very tough to beat for anyone right now, and very prevalent as well. Make liberal use of Parasite, if you have it, and focus on Centrals. You have as much chance as any other Shaper.

NBN Fast Advance: Probably the worst matchup for Standard Shaper Kit, but the best for pressure or denial. Their Ice is only middling and can be dealt with relatively easily, and you can generally get into their centrals often enough to disrupt them a great deal. Often comes down to “how good is my starting hand” for both players.

Tips and Tricks

Never be afraid to Jack Out: Sometimes the right play if your opponent goes two deep in one turn is to run the first Ice and then jack out, especially if they rez something incredibly cheap to nullify your Identity. Hitting early Rototurrets or Grail Ice is never fun.

Use your ability: Run. Put on pressure. If you have enough money, prod just to force Ice Rezzing. Don’t let econ assets sit safe behind a single piece of Ice. Parasite cheap Ice that are negating your ability. You are much safer than other runners, even as Ice becomes more aggressive.

Put yourself in the Corp’s Position: Pay attention to their credit pool. Just because they have two Ice on a server, can they rez both? Can they rez both and protect their other servers? This advice is important for any Runner.

Looking forward

We’ve already seen some cards coming that Kit may like. How well they’ll do in practice is something we won’t know for a while yet.

Sage: I don’t think this will be a good choice for Kit, but it’s worth exploring. If you can make it very powerful by manipulating your MU it can grant you an excellent Decoder that also doubles as your fracter slot.

Code Siphon: More tutors are always nice. Can be good to use against a 1-Ice R&D early to rig build on the cheap. Worth exploring in Standard Shaper Kit.

Spooned: At three influence I have no idea if this card will be worth it but I am already planning a 3xSpooned 1xFemme Fatale build that involves cycling Spooned to obliterate Ice. Remember – the Ice gains Code Gate, so it will be trashed by this card. Too bad it’s only the first Code Gate, otherwise Tinkering shenanigans would be awesome. I may even try to build a Paintbrush deck with it, but it would probably be too jank. This may be way too much influence (it might end up being 2 Spooned to make room for other key cards) but it looks like fun.

Wrapping things up

When all’s said and done, Kit is a Runner with a lot of potential and design space left to be explored by the community. In addition to the Dark Horse potential you get from dropping her against an unwary opponent she delivers a solid toolkit to handle much of the field and can be used even if an opponent works to neutralize her ability.

Good luck out there.