Slow Advance 1.1

Waltzard 403

This is another version of my Slow Advance deck, after the first was thoroughly dismembered.

Lessons learned from 1.0: 1. If you sit around the runner is gaining the ability to break your ice faster than you can install it. Wait too long, you can't gain tempo with a trap, since he can run into a junebug and be right back at matters next turn. 2. Clicking for credits is bad. Need more economy.

Ice Choices:

I tried to have all ice that ends the run, and to mix weak and strong from all varieties. Nothing much to write home about.

Here is Mark 2: richer and fiercer. First "Secret" weapon: Hostile Takeover.

Hostile takeover works as an economy card, allowing for IAA score turns that also refresh the wallet. It makes the archers live, threatening the runners rig whenever they approach unrezzed ice. It puts 3 points into the wind, meaning that if I pull off a slow advance for a Gov takeover or a Vanity project the points are there to finish the game without getting through another. Further, it means that if the game goes to time it'll be more likely to be 1 or 2 to 0, rather than the irksome 0-0 tie this deck was prone to.

In order to win, my opponent or I need to hit a Vanity or a Gov. Adding up the other agendas all together does't get it done. With just 3 win cards in 49 cards it is hard to win from R&D. This gives me time to get my ice suit out, despite not being particularly fast about it.

Second "secret" weapon: Underway grid. Nothing is worse than a Drive By on a big fat junebug, or an Inside Job that skips Orion. With 3 Underways I can be pretty confident of getting 1 for Fort Weyland (the remote) in most games. The others can either protect HQ or replace the Fort's upgrade when it gets trashed.

Third "secret" weapon: Cerebral Overwriter. Now I've got 6 traps and just 3 slow advance agendas, turning the trap flatline on. Very daunting for the runner, as IAA followed by AAA is either a brutal trap or one of my big agendas. If they check at the IAA stage, though, there are enough traps to make them suffer for it. Bonus point: I get to hit for brain, net and meat damage, depending on what's going on.

If a trap fails to fire at IAA, again at AAA, and then again after one more A (that is, the runner is dead sure this is a junebug/overwriter), then I've got backdoor channels to make some hay from a bad situation (of course, its funnier if the card was actually the gov takeover, but that's only happened 3 times to me).

Weaknesses: The scorched earth is kind of incoherent with the deck. I included it because Weyland, and because I do have snares, but without Sea Source or tagging ice its hard to see how it fires.

Between 3 hostile takeovers and a checkpoint I have a lot of bad publicity in the pipe, and no way to clean it. Obviously, that might pose a problem.

Melange mining corp remains disappointing. I don't WANT to spend a turn making 7 money. The runner is making more money in that time. Only included because it gives me something to do with Fort Weyland when the time isn't right for agendas or traps.

5 comments
6 Oct 2015 FarCryFromHuman

This looks way meaner than the last iteration, nice work. Weyland mind-games are totally a thing now that we have Back Channels.

Exposé seems like the right card to handle the bad pub. It does more of what you want (forcing runs through your remote), and you can trash it out from under the runner to get the effect. I'd replace at least one, if not both Snares with it.

If you don't need the deck slots, keep the Scorched Earths. They are great for keeping the runner honest.

If you are looking for other cards to try, see how Patch and Sub Boost play in this deck.

6 Oct 2015 Grumblecorn

Maybe consider Punitive Counterstrike in place of the Scorched Earth? With your only tag source being Snare! it probably won't go off much. I can tell you from experience, seeing the joy on a runner's face as they access a Government Takeover only for it to melt away as you drop the punitive is gold.

6 Oct 2015 Grumblecorn

Also, if you're not a fan of Melange Mining Corp. you can try rocking Restructure for a cool 6 profit with building a better world's bonus credit.

6 Oct 2015 Waltzard

@FarCryFromHuman Expose seems like a good call. I was considering getting rid of the Snares for Sea Source, but fixing the bad pub might be a bigger priority. Hard to fit Patch/Sub boost in, they'd probably end up taking the place of another ice, which does most of what they do anyway.

@Grumblecorn I've been trying to not care about Film Critic, nothing that fires on runners stealing. Maybe I should let that go though, certainly with such huge agendas Punitive would be murderous.

Restructure is definitely worth considering. I like how Melange can bait the runner into spending their way through the ice. I'm of 2 minds about it.

6 Oct 2015 Grumblecorn

@Waltzard Yeah, melange is good bait - Something else that might work for a bit of bait might be Contract Killer. I recently tried it in my own deck, and I've got to say the little guy gets a ton of work down. You can IAA him, and if the runner wants to waste their credits trying to get to him, no biggie. If they don't, you can easily blow the brains out of say, Kati Jones, Aesop's Pawnshop, or Film Critic. Worst case scenario is you spend a few credits to force a run. Best case? Unexpected loss by meat damage.