On The Go

Sheshonk 550

In a meta of dominant runners, Blue Sun was an outsider, an ID fallen on hard times due to Ice Destruction and Employee Strike. Every T1 Weyland card imported into NBN. Every other identifiable faction strength being the laughing stock of competitive play. Those with masochistic tendencies hoped to imagine a world where glacier could be played again despite Rumor Mill. That day has arrived, like the phoenix rising from the ashes, so too, has glacier returned.

Why Play This Deck?

This deck went undefeated at my local GNK where all the try hards already had Hayley alternate art. Obviously this means you should bring this deck to worlds. Don't think about it, this deck is the best. Shut up.

Ok, maybe think about it a little bit. What's dominant in the meta today?

General Strategy

Early Game

Rush! Create a remote of one or two ice and attempt to rush out agendas. Thanks to Faust becoming MWL'ed, Mother Goddess can really shine in this role. If you are scoring a Project Atlas, make sure to get a token, this will help you form the combo to close out the game.

Generally Blue Sun can snowball if the first Oversight AI lands, I've included a fourth copy in the form of Consulting Visit. There are six ice to use this on: Curtain Wall, Orion, and DNA Tracker.

Assuming you have a cash advantage, it is completely plausible to rush out agendas even if your opponent has already met the gear check. A runner needs to respect SEA Source or Midseason Replacements into meat damage.

Eventually, you need to start deconstructing the remote with Blue Sun's ability and transition into mid/late game.

Mid/Late Game

Your goal is to now assemble the combo and score the remaining points necessary to win the game. The combo includes an agenda, Off the Grid, Crisium Grid, and sometimes Mushin No Shin. Make sure to use Blue Sun 's ability to pick up the Off the Grid after the combo turn. This means you can go broke defending on your scoring turn and use the 6 from Off the Grid to score the agenda next turn.

Since Crisium Grid makes the HQ run not successful, Off the Grid is not trashed on the first run. For a runner to steal an agenda they will need three clicks to do so: two for HQ and 1 on the remote. Generally a runner does not have enough clicks to respond to the combo the turn of and you can sometimes catch them unprepared.

For the combo to work, you will need to tax HQ. You don't need to go nuts and durdle around to rez both a Curtain Wall and DNA Tracker. With just a pair of Meru Mati's on HQ it costs Paperclip or Corroder runners 17 to break the combo.

I can't express this enough. You cannot durdle around and take 3 a turn. You will lose. The only way to keep an economic advantage is to play aggressive and force the runner to respond your threats. Draw hard into your combo and efficient economy cards.

It's okay if the runner breaks the combo. Assuming you haven't lost the game, it should take longer for them to recover than you thanks to Interns and 3x copies of Off the Grid and Crisium Grid. Draw hard.

Sometimes you'll get lucky and Excalibur will win you the game.

Other Things To Know

Only use Mushin No Shin for Project Atlas or Global Food Initiative.

Blue Sun's ability is powerful, but it can be a bit of a trap. If you pick up and replay a card you are losing a click. This might not seem like much, but it adds up. Use the ability carefully, don't abuse it or you will lose the game through click compression.

Feel free to throw down spare Crisium Grid's on non-HQ servers when your hand gets clogged up. If you lose your primary Crisium Grid you can always Blue Sun the spare onto the proper server.

On the combo turn, make sure to rez the Crisium Grid on your turn to play around Councilman.

When using Jackson Howard, don't just use him to recycle event economy or agendas, remember to bring back those combo pieces.

Employee Strike can be a pain in the butt early. Since we aren't playing Adonis Campaign the effect is neutered, but I've still included Paywall Implementation. Consulting Visit can also become your second current in a snap.

Sneakdoor Beta and Omar are annoying, but not as detrimental as one might think. Crisium Grid on HQ still protects Off the Grid. If you happen to get a second Crisium Grid on archives things become rather problematic for the runner.

What about including _?

Where's the gif?

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25 comments
15 Oct 2016 Jake_Armitage

Even Sneakdoor Beta was no match for this behemoth! I've had nightmares about it for a week!

15 Oct 2016 RKruler14

Always have respect for Crisium Grid + Off the Grid :) . Ever think about Enhanced Login Protocol? The runner would have to spend 3 all 4 clicks to steal from the remote. Maybe add 1 Strongbox so the runner cant steal withought some sort of click gaining resource like Beth Kilrain-Chang. How ever if you stay under 15 credits you shouldn't be poor and you will deny them the click. You would have to free up some influence however.

15 Oct 2016 RKruler14

all 4. ignore the 3 xD

16 Oct 2016 karmaportrait

You get a like solely for the "Where's the gif?"

16 Oct 2016 Lttlefoot

I was thinking of making this exact deck but got scared of Political Operative. Grats on making it work and on the win

17 Oct 2016 crfluency

what a cute dog!

17 Oct 2016 Sheshonk

@RKruler14 Enhanced Login Protocol warrants some play testing. Strongbox is crippled by its trash cost, to be honest, I've never played it and probably never will.

@vor_lord According to Lukas tweets, a Sneakdoor Beta or Omar Keung: Conspiracy Theorist run with a Crisium Grid on HQ does not break Off the Grid. No doubt its problematic, but not as back breaking as how I played it at the GNK!

ancur.wikia.com

@Lttlefoot It's definitely a meta call. Currently Political Operative doesn't see as much play. Due to Rumor Mill most corps have been scared away from upgrades. Since there aren't as many valid targets, a lot of runners have been dropping Political Operative as a response.

@crfluency Australian Shepherds are a great breed, but probably too smart for their own good.

18 Oct 2016 Ladriel

Can you give me more insight about the Mushin No Shin inclusion. Especially considering Dedication Ceremony is in-faction too.

I get that you can't use Dedication for Project Atlas though.

18 Oct 2016 Lttlefoot

Off the Grid gets around Mushin's drawback of having to install in a new server, since you can spend the third click of that turn playing off the grid to protect it. It works on any agenda in your deck, while Ceremony only works on Oaktown, which you would rather advance the normal way since you don't get credits from it if you mushin/dedicate.

18 Oct 2016 Ladriel

I dunno why i didn't think about it that way. Thanks for the tip ! :)

20 Oct 2016 EnderA

Have you considered switching the DNA Trackers into Janus 1.0 (or Heimdall 2.0)? The brain damage can help with the kill, and seriously punishes blindly facechecking without gear/money. They're also more expensive than the DNA trackers, which means more money with Oversight, and Wormhole/Orion can copy a brain damage sub, too, if you leave one rezzed.

20 Oct 2016 EnderA

Oh, oops, for some reason I thought you were running Punitive Counterstrikes. My bad.

Still though, I've been trying them out and they're a lot of fun in a kill Blue Sun deck.

23 Oct 2016 CodGod

I played this in the finals of my local league, it was really fun to play, and strong enough that I won. I swapped DNA Trackers for Tollbooths, and Paywall Implementation for Enhanced Login Protocol, because I wanted ELP as the current and the Tollbooths freed up that influence, and gave me more ETR subs. Mother Goddess was amazing, constantly being set back to typeless by bouncing other ice - AI breakers don't seem to be popular in my local meta. Thanks for coming up with and sharing this deck! It warms my heart to be able to actually win with Off the Grid, with has always been a favourite card of mine.

23 Oct 2016 poysama

@EnderAWhy not Brainstorm though?

23 Oct 2016 poysama

@EnderAI forgot it's 4 inf. Damn

23 Oct 2016 Sheshonk

@CodGod Congratulations! Glad others are taking enjoyment out of the deck.

@EnderA If you go the Punitive Counterstrike route you'll need to change up the agenda composition to higher point agendas. If you go all in with Government Takeover and Vanity Project then you lose the ability to rush. Since runners will almost always out cash a corporation end game, I haven't had much success with that route. Maybe there is a happy medium with 3 pointers to explore, but with BOOM! being popular currently I think it would be a struggle to kill an opponent with a stolen 3 pointer.

24 Oct 2016 poysama

Ok, tried this awesome deck. I believe the biggest threat to this is just Omar with trashing Crisium Grid. But hey, you have Interns to cycle Crisium Grid and also Off the Grid.Project Atlas token is important for the OtG if you did not draw one, like a few of my games. Just keep in mind that Mushin No Shin requires a new server and is also a double, so make sure you consider that when playing Interns or Consulting Visit. Don't be afraid to draw especially with Jackson Howard. You can Jackson those archived agendas when it hits you. Be careful with multi-access. 2 Meru Mati's in HQ and a Crisium Grid should hold the runner off.

Congratulations @Sheshonk.

25 Oct 2016 FightingWalloon

Good looking deck. What are cards you hate to see when playing this? I would think Political Operative would be bad for this deck since your "Off the Grid" costs six to rez but zero to trash.

25 Oct 2016 formerteen

this deck looks great! definitely going to try it. can you comment briefly on ice placement? i know you mentioned double Meru Mati on HQ but what's your ideal/typical r&d ice? what're you scoring behind? thanks!

26 Oct 2016 Happy Puppy

Thanks for the cute dog gif. Always a joy to see Blue sun decks, I like big ass taxing ice.

28 Oct 2016 Sheshonk

@FightingWalloon Political Operative is definitely a problem if it ever actually lands. With 3 Crisium Grid and an emphasis on guarding HQ this generally happens early game exclusively. Ice destruction, D4v1d, and Sneakdoor Beta are other cards I'd prefer not to see on the other end of the table.

@formerteen Depends on the matchup and board state heavily. Rush behind any ice that has an ETR that you can afford. Scare your opponent away from face checking with DNA Tracker, Cobra, and Enigma. Late game you'd like to have Meru Mati and Excalibur placed on HQ. Generally you'll want R&D to be less taxing than HQ, this way the runner will hopefully spend their resources peaking at the top of your deck instead of dismantling your combo in hand.

28 Oct 2016 Snake Eyes

Nice gif. Have an upvote.

19 Dec 2016 SourSweet

-2 DNA tracker -1 Enigma +2 Chiyashi +1 swordman -1 Hedgefund +1 Consulting

Covers todays AI problems

5 Feb 2017 ChairmanWill

This is a great deck. Even as a relative novice I had success triggering the various states, and was always able to keep the runner comfortably busy.