"21" (Season 2 GNK Winner Aug 23, 2014)

After the latest data pack came out I decided to throw together what I thought would be a decent Noise build and after several evolutions this is the final version that ended up undefeated in my local game night tournament. It began as a mill bomb deck with a ton of viruses and 3x Mass Install but that sort of gimmicky play wasn't reliable enough for competitive play and so I added better support and brought down the virus count to what this deck is simply named after: 21.

• Breaker Suite: I wrestled with this aspect of Noise for quite some time and after trials with Knights, Darwin, and D4vid I decided to go with the basic set up of Crypsis and Corroder. Knight is great for the early game and allows you access when you really need it but I found that it drained both my clicks and credits for runs that more than anything turned up nothing, not to mention takes up MU which can be troublesome at times when you want to drop a surprise parasite when Djinn isn't in play yet. Darwin synergizes with Cyberfeeder excellently but a well timed purge by the corp and well defended servers can set you back pretty badly and wastes all those free credits you could have used installing viruses or using Crypsis/Corroder. There's also the Clone Chip + Parasite combo, I'll often chuck a Parasite willingly if I've got a CC installed to face check ICE and mill a card. Once they've rezzed the card you can determine whether it's better to just break through it or slap a Parasite on it., remember you can always get them back with Deja Vu!

• There's also Noise's style of running to take into consideration, he's usually either short on credits or clicks in some fashion to be using the typical "run fast and run often" strategy. Instead I've found that making fewer runs with more impact more than made up for a traditional breaker suite and often lead to more agenda pulls, the trick is learning to identify the right moments to strike. A very key aspect of this is when they have face down cards installed on remotes that could be Jackson. If you've milled enough cards to make an archives run worth it and no face down cards installed (which is usually after they've spent a turn scoring) my turn usually goes with an Aesop's sell + Wyldside draw + virus install + virus install + archives run.

• Jackson: This card is an obvious deterrent to this build but it can be worked around by forcing his usage early. While there are limited ways of knowing when they have one in hand you can almost guarantee that a face down install after a good turn of milling is a Jackson, or you should at least treat it as such. I often find that after milling enough agendas they'll voluntarily pop Jackson on their own turn to avoid the milling of over 3 agendas which is a great time to Djinn out a Medium and run the hell out of R&D. Just keep an eye on the field and if at all possible run those Jacksons early enough to take them out of play in the late game where it really matters.

• Wyldside: I had my doubts about this card simply because limiting my already precious clicks seemed like a waste but it really pulled it's weight in the tournament every single game. Vs Jinteki it was a godsend that basically saved me clicks drawing up after traps or scoring which is what I'd be doing anyway. As a draw engine vs the other decks it supplied a constant choice of fresh viruses to choose from every turn which was a welcomed sight to see especially when I'm digging for a cache or a missing component to my rig like Aesop's or Grimoire. All in all I'm glad I put it in to say the least and sure you lose a click every turn but without Knight wasting your clicks you basically save a click since I found myself drawing at least twice a turn when digging anyway.

Hope this description has helped and happy milling to all you Anarchs out there!