A Nose for News

This deck is built around Valencia's ability use Blackmail to avoid ice and run specifically on known agendas. Your ideal board state is little to no rezzed ICE and if you can help it, never causing ICE to be rezzed. Breakers are present, but only as a backup. You will use various cards to scout installed cards in their servers before Blackmailing into them.

Knight is kept as her primary breaker if needed, since it can deal with anything shy of Turing or Swordsman. Plus it's ability to move where needed makes it ideal for a minimal run deck. Because the corp can trash an ICE to dispose of Knight, Retrieval Run is kept in so you can put your Knight back if needed. Also, Armitage Codebusting, Kati Jones and Sure Gamble can keep your money flowing if you need to break ICE. Also, if ICE happens to get rezzed, Muertos Gang Member can force the Corp to derezz.

However, this deck is not designed to break ICE. By using Infiltration, Raymond Flint's trash effect and, my new favorite, Drive By, you should have full, working knowledge of what the Corp has put in their server BEFORE you run on it. Recursion through Deja Vu and Same Old Thing means you should always have some way of seeing the Corps installs, no secret is safe from you. Drive By itself is extremely handy for dealing with unknown installs. Either it will reveal an agenda, ripe for running on, or it will destroy an Upgrade or Asset, saving you from traps.

Your connections should be hosted on Off-Campus Apartment to take advantage of the free card draw effect. This means that you need to be wary of Tags but as long as you are cautious in your runs, this is doable. Also, since cards like Elizabeth Mills can destroy Off-Campus as a trash effect, Drive By handles her very nicely as well.

Raymond Flint also offers an opportunity to access HQ without running. If you have nothing better to do with your turn (and sometime's that does happen) spend your clicks and trash Investigative Journalism, giving the Corp another Bad Publicity and a free HQ access from Raymond Flint. Then, if you want a free click during your turn, Raymond Flint can be Trashed (no click needed) to expose a card.

Blackmail is of course there for your actual run. By knowing what is in a server ahead of time, you can save costly and dangerous breaking runs and just keep the Corp from rezzing any ICE to begin with.

Stealing agendas without rezzing ICE is fantastic! But you still have Punitive Counterstrikes or the classic SEA Source + Scorched Earth combo coming down on your head. Keep that I've Had Worse in your hand and always put a Plascrete out as early as possible to save yourself the worry.

Also, some cards such as Rex Campaign, Veterans Campaign etc, help the Corp shed Bad Publicity. These may not necessarily stop Valencia, however you should make the effort through Drive By and Blackmail to stop these before they can happen. Also, you must be patient. Running for no reason can and will get you flatlined or worse. Be Aware, Be Patient and Be Prepared!