This deck is the result of a lot of testing with the Nasir Atman concept, after multiple tweaks to adapt it to the current meta via a bunch of tutorable silver bullets. The deck thrives on efficiency, and uses a "just in time" approach, with special emphasis on not wasting a single credit. It is super fun and hard to pilot! I'm planning to take it to Spanish tournaments and report on it. So far it deals surprisingly well with most major archetypes, including NEH Astrobiotics. I've really fallen in love with this deck and I'm doing my best to be a pioneer in taking Atman Nasir to a competitive level.

Your game plan is to set up powerful hardware pieces and sources of recurring credits, and maintaining constant, fearless pressure while staying prepared to respond to any ice. Your credit level will stay close to 0, with some small spikes when running against certain archetypes (will go into that in the matchup section). Don't worry, your Atmans and Parasites will allow you to run broke. I've ran against a 4 ice deep deep Blue Sun server with Curtain, Hadrian's and two Elis with 0 starting credits.

Here's the guide to pilot this deck. Disclaimer: The guide is huge! Feel free to skip to parts that interest you :).

Economy: Where are your Sure Gambles?

Nasir is probably the most unorthodox runner when it comes to econ, and this particular list goes one step further. You won't see any traditional economy here. However, well piloted, this deck generates ridiculous amounts of money. I've seen many people dismiss lists like these outright because they lack any of the "normal" economy pieces, but believe me, they are not needed.

• The main piece is personal workshop. You really, really want this card out; keep any hand with PW on it, and mulligan if you don't have PW, Diesel, SMC or replicator (I will go into why these are important opening cards later).

• Order of Sol is another major player in Nasir's economy. Remember all those people that said it sucks? Don't listen to them! This card is completely fantastic. In case you haven't seen it in action yet, remember that it procs on both your turn and the Corp's turn, which means you can use it to pump money into Personal Workshop at an astounding 2 credits per turn rate. It also pays off the turn it comes out, so it essentially costs 1 credit. Learning to adapt OOS to Nasir's ID ability is a very important skill to develop. Remember that OOS let's you "carry over" a single credit when you hit a just rezzed piece of ice.

• Stimhack: Stimhack is both an economy card and a surprise attack. It is a table-turning ambush that you should keep in your hand until the best opportunity arises, so I will go into its uses later. However, it can buy you those two RD interfaces on the workshop in a pinch, so it's good to count it as Economy too (and a damn fine card for that matter).

• Recurring credits: Cyberfeeder, Toolbox, Net Celebrity. These aren't strictly speaking economy (with the exception of NC, maybe), but they're worth mentioning. Remember that Feeders and Toolboxes allow you to pump Atman when it hits the table, which can be very useful. Also, count Cyberfeeder when considering your options from cracking SMC, since it will pay for parasites, nerve agent and datasuckers.

Facechecking 101: How to exploit Corp ice without blowing yourself up

Do you like facechecking Jinteki turn 1? You are going to enjoy this deck. Fearless facechecking is not only possible but pretty safe too, as long as you follow some basic precautions.

The primary tool for facechecking is, of course, Self-Modifying Code, together with the knowledge that your deck runs Deus Ex and Sharpshooter. Don't be fooled by its flowery look, SMC is nothing but a shield, a glowing piece of anti-ice armor. Turn 1 SMC -> Run is a fantastic play even against the gnarliest Jinteki decks (even though I'd wait to have the Net Shield against PE in particular). If you get a really beefy piece of ice rezzed, you can crack the SMC pre-encounter and fetch Deus Ex, then break the ice and get out with the access and the money. If the ice isn't that big or dangerous, you can use the pre-encounter money to get yourself a 0 counter Atman, which is always necessary, and bounce. Even if you run with 0 credits, almost every single ice in the game will give you enough cash on-encounter to fetch either Deus or Shooter, and the few inconvenient exceptions will not kill you outright.

It is very tempting to use SMC to do cool Parasite tricks and to find matchup specific silver bullets, but I'd advise to keep one copy out there at all times (or have it accessible through clone chip) to save your bacon in case you hit an inopportune Ichi / Shinobi / Grim, etc. Seeing a big ice rezzed should be a source of pleasure, never an "oh shit" moment, and SMC is key to that.

So far we've talked about dealing with the ice itself, however, accesses are another story and you should be aware of the dangers you can face there too. Be prepared to deal with Snare in the decks in which it makes sense. Always run with 3 spare credits against upgraded servers if you expect Ash. If running against PE, there is another set of precautions that I will explain in the matchup section that make it reasonably safe to multiaccess R&D.

Personal Workshop and you: A course in Lean Manufacturing

Personal Workshop is the soul of this deck. I don't have to tell you how good it is, but I would like to go into some of its more obscure uses. Did you know that PW can be your second Plascrete Carapace? Did you know that you can use PW vertically or horizontally? How would you protect your PW from sudden tags?

Obviously, the main benefit of PW is that it allows you to pay for cards mid-run. This allows you to empty your wallet before hitting an Ice, and to spend recurring credits from Net Celebrity and Stimhack on expensive hardware and programs. Also, it generates econ on its own by essentially giving you 1 credit at the start of each turn, and finally it has a great synergy with Order of Sol by allowing you to go down to 0 on the Corp turn consistently.

Knowing all this, the straightforward way to use PW is to load it with an expensive enough program or piece of hardware that will soak enough money until your next turn. Playing like this is fine, but sometimes you might want to use the workshop a bit differently, by having multiple things at 1 credit, ready to go at any moment. This "horizontal play" is very helpful in some scenarios, and I personally like to set it up that way, specially against some archetypes. Here are some reasons why:

• Programs in PW don't take up MU. This means you can store any silver bullets and have them ready to go at any moment without hurting your current board state. Storing Atmans delays the choice of counters, which is always good. Parasites at 1 can be dropped at the end of the Corp's turn, which makes them much meaner, etc.
• Hardware in PW which isn't immediately necessary is best kept there in case you draw into a Replicator.
• Following the last point: With a Replicator on board or on PW, the Personal Workshop can be used as a makeshift carapace, if you're playing horizontally. Whenever you get sea-source'd or you expect incoming damage, grab the first paid ability window and drop all the hardware at once. This will flood your hand with replicated pieces and protect you from the kill (make sure to end the turn with enough money to do this when playing against Weyland, you want to protect both yourself and your PW from trashing).

If you choose to play your PW horizontally, please be careful about tags. You should keep enough money to quickly evacuate all the important cards from the PW in response to a Sea Source or Breaking News, so all your eggs aren't caught in the same basket. Don't worry about Elizabeth Mills, due to the timing structure of the Corp's turn, even if they rez it you still have an ability window to evacuate the PW before it's nuked from orbit. The only way you can get caught with your pants off is by ending the turn completely broke.

Some words on Replicator that don't really deserve their own section: Replicator is a great card to have, on PW or on the board, and as early as possible. It might not look like it but Replicator is a draw engine. Conditional, yes, but extremely powerful. Almost all of your hardware stacks (with the exception of Toolbox) so you will want to be drawing those multiples and thinning your deck. Try to keep hardware that you don't need "just yet" (like Clone Chips) in the PW until you get that Replicator on the table.

Early game: Kickstarting the Engine

Your approach to the early game will depend on multiple factors, including your hand (duh) and your enemy corp. You want to run early, but to do so you need to make sure of two things: 1. You will be able to empty your money somehow before hitting ice in an efficient manner. 2. You won't take excessive damage or lose programs.

Against decks that don't typically go for damage I may feel comfortable doing R&D interface - Datasucker - Run R&D - Draw, but of course I wouldn't ever do that against jinteki. SMC-Run is a good play in almost every single scenario, so you shouldn't be afraid to do that. Even R&D interface - SMC - Run works well. I must insist about being careful with damage. Early Nasir suffers a lot from losing cards; its engine is made of multiple pieces with little redundancy, and you can't use Clone Chips willy-nilly to pay for mistakes.

Obviously, if your starting hand includes Personal Workshop, you want it out ASAP to be efficient from the get go. Similarly, Order of Sol should hit the table the first time you are at 2 credits. Playing these key pieces of drip econ early on does a lot for your late game power.

If you are playing against NEARPAD, RP or other asset econ decks, you may want to make an exception from the "SMC is a shield" rule and fetch Paricia as early as possible. It will pay off, believe me. Just don't crack SMC for a Datasucker. Suckers are very important indeed but they will come at their own time and don't deserve wasting a SMC, at least not this early.

Remember: Corp ice is your econ. Don't fear hitting big ice (your SMC will save you), and don't be too concerned with small ice either (if you've played the way I said, Pop-up windows and quandaries will just be a minor annoyance). Keep constant pressure on the corp, build your engine through their own money and you will proceed into an advantageous mid game.

Mid game: Staying Strong

At this point you should have at least some of the pieces of the Nasir engine. It isn't always possible to draw these Workshops, but with creative SMC and Clone Chip uses, it's possible to exploit ice efficiently anyway. While you fish for the remaining parts of the holy trifecta (PW, OOS, Replicator), you probably found time to set up an atman at 0 (which you almost always want) and a couple suckers. This is when Corp economy is at its best relative to you and they will try to execute their plan.

Thanks to your accesses and knowledge of the meta, you should have a general idea of what that plan is. Here's how you respond to some of the most typical strategies:

• Glacier decks that look for scoring windows: You will do well against those. Here's where Stimhack comes to life. Keep close to broke at all times, and watch as they IAA in a remote they don't expect you to break in a million years. That's your moment to run blind on the front ice (to get money), bounce off it, and then re-enter with stimhack, summoning atmans, parasites and whatnot. Just beware of traps, but the surprise factor of Stimhack makes it hard for people to justify IAA on a Junebug when you're broke. If they do drip econ, don't drop your Paricia pressure.
• Meat damage flatline decks: Your main problem against those is that there's no way in the world you're going to avoid getting Sea Source'd. If by the mid-game you haven't got your Plascrete yet, don't run, and focus on improving your board state. Remember you can put together a "makeshift plascrete" thanks to replicator and ready-to-go hardware in the PW. Many Weyland players don't think of this and will waste their sea sources, so exploit that. Even if you have OOS on the table, start ending your turns with enough money to protect your Personal Workshop.
• Fast Advance: Multiaccess the hell out of these. SMC a nerve agent, replicate R&D interfaces, and keep them on R&D lock.

Late game: Recurring Efficiency

By now, it's unlikely you will depend on Ice for your economy anymore. You should have a significant rig, preferably with Toolbox out and a good distribution of Atmans (I like 0-2-4 or 0-4-6 depending on the deck), with at the very least one Datasucker. These should be backed up by at least 4 sources of recurring credits (2 Cyberfeeders and a toolbox, for example), and you should be protected against whatever means the Corp wants to flatline you (plascrete, net shield, an accessible Deus Ex).

You have a good late game, because a well developed Nasir is hard to stop. Here's where you will be thankful for making intelligent use of these clone chips, because they will help fixing any gaps on your board (accidents happen). Keep constant pressure, remember to stay protected, and go for these last points!

Silver Bullets: Hunting the Corporate Werewolves

The deck runs a suite of five silver bullets to deal with some of the most relevant archetypes, and of course these five slots should remain meta-specific. If you think one of these cards is dead in your environment feel free to change it to a third Replicator, Net Celebrity or Order of Sol, which are always helpful, or to include a different piece.

• Inti: It's here mostly to deal with Wraparound, and will remain as long as NEH stays relevant. It also works well against what I believe will be good archetypes soon (Grail ice suites, NEXT ice), and deals with unadvanced Ice Walls. While not the most efficient, its strength pumping ability combines well with Nasir, since you can choose to dump pre-encounter credits on it. In any case, datasuckers can help bridge the gap. It will be invaluable against Grail suites in the future, because it completes the trifecta Inti - Sharpshooter - Deus X against Galahad - Lancelot - Merlin, preventing all of their cross-effects.
• Deus X: Not sure if I should call it a silver bullet, because it's pretty much central to the strategy. Its presence in the deck almost justifies early aggression. it can also help you when you absolutely need to hit Jinteki advanced remotes. Remember that you can break Heimdall II with this, it's easy to forget!
• Sharpshooter: Ditto to Deus X. It protects against a different set of calamities.
• Net Shield: Makes all flavors of Jinteki (PE in particular) a breeze to deal with. Super comfortable to have.
• Paricia: Direct counter to drip econ. Yes, it isn't as good as Scrubber, but it's in faction and tutorable. It won't help you kill SanSans, but will deal with PAD campaigns, Adonis, Eves, Sundews and Mental health Clinics beautifully. Worth tutoring early if you think you will get mileage out of it.

Matchup Guide: Tools for each Job

• Jinteki RP Glacier: This is a matchup in which you really benefit from getting two SMC's early. One for Paricia, and another to search for Deus X if necessary. You want to fight their drip econ with all your might, while trying to make the mandatory central run of the turn profitable. Even if you don't manage to get Paricia, still do your best to get rid of Sundews and MHC's. Remember to run with 3 credits against servers with upgrades; nothing sucks more than hitting an Ash and being unable to trash it.

  Try to stay ahead economically and you will outpace them, since your rig isn't easy to tax in the late game.

• Jinteki PE net damage: At the beginning of this match you will make an unusual, yet important request: Ask your opponent to warn you after placing the second advancement token on a card, and before the third, so you can use paid abilities. This is important as many PE decks run Chronos Project and you will want to fish Deus Ex from the Heap before they get rid of it for good.

  Feel free to run early to exploit ice, but keep access (and specially multi-access) low until you have your Net Shield out (which should be a big priority). Running against PE with Net Shield and the possibility of getting a Deus Ex will make your life much simpler. Beating PE is like eating a hedgehog with your hands tied behind your back, so take as many precautions as possible. Here are some of the main ones:

  • Don't run last click (duh). If you run third click, have 2 credits left for tag removal.
  • If you access ANYTHING, have at least 2 credits to pay for potential Fetals. If you're multi accessing, you should have 4 if possible.
  • End your turns with 1 credit to pay Net Shield for Neural EMPs and agenda scores. These add up a great deal.
  • Don't touch remotes unless you get PE broke somehow. If you do, go ham on them for a turn.

• NEH astrobiotics: You will aim for multiaccess as the game progresses, preferably R&D lock (although if you get the chance to drop a Nerve Agent it wouldn't hurt either). This matchup would benefit greatly from splashing Imp but the influence was very tight, so you'll have to do with what you have.

  A major advantage against NEH is that its ice is low strength and has little stopping power, with the exception of Tollbooth and Eli. Tollbooth amounts to a huge credit swing in your favor the first time you meet it, and you should be looking forward to parasite bomb it ASAP: it's worth it. You should carefully engineer your rig so you can mantain the lock into late game. It is unavoidable for the eventual Fast Track and/or NAPD contract sneaking through, and that's why Nerve Agent is a good tool for this match.

• Supermodernism and variants: Plascrete soon, and preferably set up a horizontal Personal Workshop with Replicator, in case you need to flood your hand in a pinch. Keep money around to evacuate your PW and prevent the all-eggs-one-basket scenario. Remember that Archer can't be tackled with a SMC and on-encounter credits alone, so be careful with that. Keep pressure equally on all servers to slow down their economy, and remember that Snare is a thing (Deus X on the table won't hurt). The new Blue Sun variants of Supermodernism are even easier to deal with, because Nasir counters Blue Sun's ID ability very well. You will be making lots of money at their expense, specially if they decide to rez a Curtain Wall on your face.

More matchups incoming as I get more experience with the deck :).

Dropped Cards: Those that got cut and Why

Here is a list of cards that were tested and got eventually cut from the final list, together with the reason why, as they're often seen in Nasir lists and I want to justify to the best of my ability why they didn't make it.

• Astrolabe: Aside from the lore/theme connection, I don't really see how Astrolabe benefits Nasir. It's a very matchup dependant card, and it will be dead against a good number of decks. In a list with 3xTrade In I would consider a singleton, but it doesn't make the cut in such a tight deck.
• HQ Interface: I played with three of those for a long time, but 6 influence is very hard to justify. 1x Nerve Agent grants us the (tutorable) ability to do the same thing, while maintaining synergy with Cyberfeeder.
• Trade-in: In very few occasions you want to sacrifice a piece of hardware (Replicator and Toolbox are the only two that might be considered for sacrifice, but that comes with its own set of problems) and even if you did, there isn't anything specific to tutor, aside from the rare shy plascrete. Not worth the slots.
• Ice Analyzer: Another card that is often synonymous with Nasir, which I dislike. I generally want my programs to go through Personal Workshop so I can delay my choices, and IA doesn't work with that. I don't think it's worth it for SMC searches alone, but your mileage may vary.
• Omni-drive: Many people swear by this card and I can see why. I've tested it, and it's quite good on paper, but it needs to hit the board before Atman does which makes it inconvenient very often. Cyberfeeder does the same job sans MU increase, helps you pay for viruses, and can enter the board after Atman and still be useful.
• Quality Time: Pretty good, an I'm occasionally tempted to re-include it, but ultimately it's a bit too expensive. Diesel fits Nasir better.
• Imp: It pains me greatly not to have a slot for this card. It would be a fantastic silver bullet, and in a meta SWAMPED with Jinteki PE and NEH Astrobiotics I might drop something like 1x Parasite 1x Stimhack to include an Imp and a replicator. Unfortunately 3 influence is a lot for the "general purpose" version of this list.
• Finally, all forms of traditional econ (including Kati Jones): Seriously, they're not needed :). Kati Jones might be the closest to an include, but I think it's unnecessary. She's essentially a telegraphed Stimhack that saves you the brain damage, but needs to be installed, protected, and clicked four consecutive turns. It slows your game plan in matchups in which you need to be fast, and it's redundant in slow games due to all of your drip econ.

Thanks for reading

Hope this wall of text was useful for someone! I had a lot of fun writing it. If you have found me on OCTGN and saw me play horribly, excuse me, I tend to play at night when my mind isn't working (which explains the name of the deck). If you have any comments or suggestions, please drop a comment 🙂