Genes to Die For! v.1.1

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None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
No trash Hiro
Genetic Therapy
Tropical Genomics
Genes to Troll For! (Post O&C Industrial Genomics)
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licoricemaniac 495

Foreword:

This is my attempt at demonstrating that IG:GS can be a competitive ID.

I have tested this deck against competitive runners (a very nasty Noise and CT's Double event oracle May, both players experienced with their decks) with a 2/1 result. My one loss was to Noise who pulled a surprise Levy AR after running out of cards and some tactical mistakes on my side.

I think this deck has potential. Right now I would rate it upper 2nd tier.

Philosophy:

The key is to answer two fundamental questions specific to this ID:

1) Leverage the ID's ability by playing MUST trash assets, but which Assets?

2) Secure the ID's ability by making Archives runs very punishing. Shock and Shi.Kyu are obvious choices. But is that enough?

These two questions are interconnected, and the answers led to the current build. Taken apart, the answer to 2 is NO. Without additional pressure on the runner, the best move is to bite the bullet, run archieves, take some net damage, then trash those assets at regular cost.

It became clear that the flatline threat had to be real. It means Neural EMP. It means Ronin with Overwriter. With The ID's ability, both Ronin and Overwriter are protected from being trashed after a random access in HQ/R&D. It means more likelyhood of ending in a remote.

Since taxing the runner is important (else the ID ability is useless) we want taxing ice and low density taxing agenda choice

Strategy:

In the Early game I would overdraw to fill-up archieves with facedown cards (preferably with some traps) and have at least one remote with an advanced card. They key for them NOT running archives is the threat your advanced cards pose. Icing Archives is also high priority (your second ice should go there)

Maintain pressure the entire game, play the Jinteki mind game (if you don't have the guts to double advance a naked Future perfect then this deck is not for you) and have fun.

Choices and alternatives:

When you consider all the mandatory cards, there is not a lot of room to maneuver. Here are my thoughts:

  • 49 cards, no more: I think a fatter deck is a mistake: You want your Archives traps and your overwriter to appear ASAP! Adding cards seems like a good idea since you want to mass thrash into archives, but it softens your match plan.

  • No Caprice? Caprice is a great card with this ID. Cutting her was hard, but I need to focus the deck. I know protecting Archives with Caprice is a sound plan, but what to cut? You need enough ice to be taxing, and the economy is already shaky. Maybe cut some Shi.Kyu. But that softens the threat of a flatline following a run on archives.

  • No Celebrity Gift: Version 1.0 ran a couple, but I was too often in a situation where I did not want to reveal my hand.

  • Sundew: All games I played I had an unprotected Sundew the entire game that never got trashed. One Sundew is all the economy you need. Enough said.

  • Archived Memories: this is a new addition. The game is lost when all 3 overwriters are accounted for. This ensures the threat remains a bit longer.

Known weaknesses:

  • Imp: I have a very simple principle: Purge when they play an Imp. You will still lose a card the turn they play it, but the damages can be irrepairable if you leave it on the table. This is your hardest counter. If you know they can spam Imp, you need to change your plan and protect your remotes with some ice.

  • Economy: The deck relies on the runner not trashing your Sundew, but the truth is you don't have too many economy cards, and the worse case scenario is you are clicking for credits. This is acceptable if the runner is still too poor to trash the Ronin (he spent all his money trashing your Sundew) I do not recommend cutting ice to add economy assets. You want the runner to be too poor to trash the important assets. That's what the ice is for.

Feedback welcome. I'll keep testing and refining.

17 comments
22 Dec 2014 hi_impact

Loved the write up. Will be trying this list whenever I can find the time over the holidays.

The threat of taking 'too much' damage checking Archives to recover from a Ronin or Neural is what I like about your deck. You know that Archives will never be truly uncheckable, and it's only a matter of exploiting the ID's ability as long as you can.

22 Dec 2014 Qualistarian

Have you tried Hostile Infrastructure? It seems to me that, especially with multiple ones out, it will help mitigate the harm from trashing your Sundews and Ronins.

23 Dec 2014 Shishu

You mentioned Imp, but what about Keyhole? I recently played a similar deck and managed to trash two Snares and an Overwriter, as well as a Jackson and 3 points of agendas (2 of which I scored). That's not something you can just clear when they play it. Do you simply ice up RnD, in that case? Or have you just not seen a lot of Keyhole in your meta?

23 Dec 2014 licoricemaniac

@scourged Thanks :) I had a few more games today (casual, undefeated) and it is surprising how quickly you exhaust the runner and they just stop bothering with both Archives and the assets.

@Qualistarian I guess Hostile Infrastructure and Chairman Hiro are two cards worth considering. The big problem is deck space. What would you cut?

@Shishu Yeah keyhole is not very common in my local meta. I have enough ice to make RnD pretty taxing. But keyhole suggest that they will want to run archieves at some point, which may be lethal. Keyhole and expose cards as bad for every jinteki deck, the reason why Imp deserves a special mention is that it it nullifies your special ability, and unlike keyhole, it also hurts your installed cards.

24 Dec 2014 Kroen

What about Snare?

24 Dec 2014 licoricemaniac

@Kroen After losing to equally skilled players with fine tuned noise (due to imp spam) and Andy I have tried to include Snare instead of Shi.Kyu, with Kitsune protecting archives. I think it is more efficient at protecting RnD all centrals this way.

For economy I completely removed Hedge Funds and replaced them with Melange.

27 Dec 2014 Snake Eyes

I feel as though Komainu is anti-synergistic with all the brain damage you're dishing out with Cerebral Overwriter. Any thoughts on trying a harder flatline piece of ICE like say Shinobi?

27 Dec 2014 licoricemaniac

@Snake Eyes Not necessairly. I work with the assumpsion that my opponent is skilled and is unlikely to run into overwriters. The threat is what's important. Once they get brain damage, they tend to overdraw before running. I keep a komainu to guard archieves. The problem with Shinobi is that I have to be much richer than the runner... I don't see that happening.

27 Dec 2014 Jamieson

Cool Build - Any thoughts on Reuse to add benefits to ditching cards? Curious to hear your thoughts on the card in this build (if you have tried it) and with this ID? or with it being a double do you feel you loose to much.

28 Dec 2014 Wolf88

I'd try to run a more taxing deck and use Hostile Infrastructure instead of Neural Emp and Edge of World instead of Overwriter. The added influence would let you run Fenris or Viktor 1.0 for more brain damage. Reworking the agenda suite and adding House of Knives and more Fetal instead of NAPD would let you tax even more the runner. I'll try and work a decklist of my own starting from yours!

28 Dec 2014 Pinkwarrior

Have you tried GRNDL Refinery? i would think this would be excellent econ for the deck tho at the cost of influence.

Also what about Hades Fragment this could help putting face up cards back into the deck or Architect for similar reasons? I am interested to hear your thoughts on these cards i've been looking at trying this ID out and so it seems like it be best to get some info from someone who's tried it before looking at my own version.

28 Dec 2014 licoricemaniac

@Pinkwarrior As I said in a previous reply I now use Melange Mining instead of Hedge Fund, which serves the same purpose as GRNDL Refinery without the influence. If you have the influence to spare then why not? I understand that it helps the bluff game. I still give the edge to melange since with this ID it can stay indefinitely on the table, while GRNDL is trash after use.

Hades Fragment I tried and it saved my bacon once. I'd say it is a viable choice. Utopia makes stealing agendas more taxing, which synergizes with your ID power. I don't run Architect in Jinteki because I assume my opponent will get a sentry breaker ASAP (which is the right thing to do vs. Jinteki)

@Wolf88 To me, EMP, Overwriter and Ronin are three undissociable elements of the same strategy: EMP means that the runner cannot ignore a 4-advancement card on the table and finish their turn with fewer than 5 cards (Ronin + double EMP threat). Overwriter means running the advanced card is a huge risk (4 brain = instadeath to double EMP). If you remove EMP and Overwriter then you are playing a different deck. I am not saying you are playing an inferior deck, but you are not playing the deck we are currently discussing. I don't like Fenris in Jinteki because the runner is always prepared for nasty Sentries against you. Also badpub is antisynergetic with this ID as it makes trashing cards cheaper. Viktor 1 is not good either because no skilled player will run vs. Jinteki on their last click.

@Jamieson Nothing inherently wrong with Reuse, but the big problem is deck space. Assuming you only have room for 6 econ cards I would go full asset (3 melange and 3 sundew for example)

28 Dec 2014 Pinkwarrior

@licoricemaniac Interesting thanks for the replay Melange Mining Corp. had not even crossed my mind i can see how that could be better.

29 Dec 2014 Syntax

Still, I would try this with 54 cards. The bvious agenda is Philotic, and in the 4 cards, I'd put Junebug, and Subliminal messaging x 52 :)

29 Dec 2014 licoricemaniac

@Syntax You know what? I did try 54 cards (with Philotic) and it does work quite well. Instead of subliminal, I would recommend cerebral static (Noise is big in my local meta) or more asset economy, or even throw in one Chairman Hiro in the mix. For the Junebug yeah it can work, I am now running 3 snares with a couple of Kitsune, very happy with that choice

1 Jan 2015 pinksky

How about Reclamation Order — insane useful for returning shocks in facedown archive section?)

18 Jan 2015 dmartel

What did you remove to include the 3 Snares and 2 Kitsunes?