A Skorpios Story 7 - Angry Frothing Head

My name is PowerBunz and I love Skorpios. I've built more Skorpios decks than any other ID and It's time to share my enthusiasm and joy for the murderous and oppressive. Not all these decks will be good, not all of them will have actually been sleeved up and played; they together tell a story of learning, improvement, and, most importantly, huge remove-from-game piles.

This deck is my greatest failure.

I spent weeks trying to make this work for regionals this year. I thought it was amazing. Why play a psi game to trash the runners breakers when you could just remove a tag? I'm trying to tag the runner anyway, it's an extension of the strategy, and Data Raven is pretty good at giving out tags.

But what about A-A-Ron, or NACH, or Forger, or any of the other ways a runner can remove or avoid a tag, you may ask? Introducing: prime binder fodder Navi Mumbai City Grid. No more SMC, no more Clone Chip, no A-A-Ron. No paid abilities on non-icebreaker cards. Perfect. Deck's good. doesn't even need J-How. No fear, no worries.

Then why did I keep losing?

It could be #WeylandProblems. 6 out of my 13 money making cards were Agendas, 2 were ICE. My ICE was relatively expensive without being amazingly powerful. My key cards were all out of faction. So far, so Weyland.

It could be the meta, with strong instant speed tag avoidance to counteract the Fiery Info SYNC decks that are still strong. My methods of getting around this might not have been enough.

Maybe I just hadn't yet learned my lesson. Sure, my deckbuilding may have become more technically competent, but my steadfast refusal to change factions and shift this core idea into SYNC or CtM where it fits easier, where the influence can be spent on BOOM!, Ark Lockdown, Hunter Seeker, and good agendas. I was so certain that this deck was on the cusp of greatness.

Regionals this year really stressed me out. I was certain that this deck was excellent. It fit my preferred play style (Murder + Rush + one more win condition, in that order). It was modelled on decks that actually did work featuring Marcus Batty and Sapper. I kept losing, more than half of my testing games. One would think this was a bad sign, but I was in too deep. It was so close. I was so stressed and frustrated. Navi Mumbai City Grid was my last desperate gasp, that surely this last piece was all I needed to overcome my opponents. I kept losing. I got tilted. Real life suffered.

One of my regular testing friends has a penchant for randomising both the decks he chooses and the cards in those decks. Recently, months later, he played this deck against me without saying so. I spent the whole game asking "What's your plan? Do you actually have a victory condition?" When I realised this was the deck he was playing, I wasn't shocked at why he was losing. It flounders and waits for perfect moments that don't come. It sets up so much and is still easily countered. Seeing it played without the hopes and dreams of the creator piloting it, I could see the monstrosity I had built.

I came fourth in that regional, playing Fiery Inferno SYNC and Mopus Kate. I got my playmat and metal ID. I sold my soul to the meta and was rewarded handsomely. The night I chose not to play this deck and threw together a SYNC BOOM deck to play, a weight was lifted off my shoulders. The world was brighter, birds sang, BOOM! hit harder. I learned my lesson.