Make Money By Being Bad [Startup] - 5-0 NH Circuit Opener

Howdy! This is my first published deck description, so apologies if I don't have any fancy GIFs or links working correctly.

This is my variant on the Weyland: Built to Last that I took to the Southern New Hampshire Circuit Opener in Derry, NH, at Midgard Comics & Games. The strategy behind it is very straightforward - always have enough money.

How it wins is through creating a prohibitively expensive scoring server, and keeping a clean table of remotes to force the runner into less than optimal choices. Even if it's a single credit, you never want the runner to be able to run one of your servers for free (except maybe Archives) after the 5th turn.

An ideal first turn is an Oaktown Renovations with 1 advancement counter behind a Pharos. This will put you on enough credits to float you through most of the game. Like SuperModernism, you never want to have to click for a credit. Instead, you want to Advance one of your ICE without a counter to make a credit and put a bit of fear out there (if its unrezzed).

This deck typically wins by scoring out Agendas, with Vladisibirk City Grid coming in handy to speed that up. Usually, you can get out two 2-pointers before the runner can break your scoring server, and then you just need one 2-pointer with a loaded Vladi and a Hostile Takeover to close it out. The Clearinghouse give an alternative win route, but its mostly there to force the runner into your scoring server on a turn when they have enough credits to make it. Just respect that it dies to Pinhole Threading.

My ICE suite is pretty straightforward Weyland in Startup, with a couple meta picks and one workhorse.

• Pharos is there to stop Cleaver and other fracters from reaching your scoring server and a central server of your choice. Advancing this three times basically makes it a Strength 10 ICE for 8 credits that gets prohibitively expensive to break.
• Hortum is there to stop Mayfly and other AI breakers. While this one will almost never get triple-advanced, if you're going against someone relying on an AI breaker, this can prove to be a life-saver.
• Crisium Grid shuts down most multi-access strategies and Deep Dive, which makes it a bargain at 3 credits. Worst case scenario, it costs the Runner more credits to kill it, which makes their next run that much harder.
• Mestnichestvo is a workhorse in this deck. Put this wherever your runner is going to be going the most (I like it on my centrals), and make sure it always has 1 advancement counter on it. Starving your opponent of credits is how this deck wins, and this is a great starvation card.

Now, the weaknesses. First off, an early Endurance can just sail to victory through your ICE, and stop you from getting an early lead. At this point, it becomes a game of starvation. Double ICE up your centrals (even Archives) and your scoring server. Keep a Regolith Mining License unrezzed in your scoring along with an unrezzed Vladi with advancement counters to make them spend counters and credits trying to figure out what you have.

You will want to hold onto your Stavka until after the Runner has played a couple breakers, because you want it to fire and either hit something or cost a LOT of money. Once a Stavka has been rezzed, trash it to another Stavka or Extract - this is one you want hitting programs.

Accept that the long game does not favor you. Hostile Takeover is there for early game economy if you are desperate, or as your 7th Agenda Point. Try to end the game before it hits the end game.

Is this a good deck? Probably not, but it can win games if you just focus on doing what Weyland does best - make money by being bad.