"Au Revoir" from out of the ashes

vor_lord 194

The idea here is simple: You can't have a 30 card deck to set up faster, so why not make use of your overdraw? Draw a lot, discard out of the ashes. Set up your au revoir/snitch as soon as possible. Once you've got things set up, abuse Out of the Ashes, The Turning Wheel, and Au Revoir to see a lot of cards, with no way to be stopped.

I think influence is completely set. But there is room to play around the other cards. If I could make this a smaller deck I would. I'd love a clot also but the meta makes going without ok.

Turning Wheel/Au Revoir/Snitch/Out of the Ashes are obvious. Here are some comments on other cards.

  • Hyperdriver : the theory was to help it make for an even bigger turn once you get enough of your combo. In practice, this is almost always used to set up faster. Invaluable. Use those clicks for draw if you get them early.
  • Leprechaun : memory can be fiddly sometimes, even with your 5 that you start with. I've gone back and forth on this one, ending up with 2 Astrolabe and 2 Leprechaun. Another option is NetChip, but Astrolabe does so much work in helping you draw.
  • Feedback Filter Your pile of money makes you laugh at net damage. Don't discard this against Weyland either -- Snares can ruin your day when it seems you can't lose.
  • Vamp : awesome use for a pile of cash. Really your only good answer for caprice
  • 2 Plascrete Carapace. Meta call. If you don't need them, get more Same Old Thing or even duplicate copies of breakers (your tutoring is stretched thin)

Obviously your biggest weakness is fast decks. Against rush, you're shaper. Don't use your Self-modifying Code on au revoir right away -- keep the rush threat at bay. Draw instead!

Against true fast advance? Give up! Lose! Don't be afraid to abuse an early turning wheel on a piece of end the run ice -- it's a big threat even without all the cash you need.

The addition of Turning Wheel and Out of the Ashes has made this a really fun deck to play.

13 comments
12 Aug 2016 dawciu

Nice. Do you consider to exchange Astrolabe with Comet? You have 16 events, with all of this ashes you could keep rushing faster

12 Aug 2016 LynxMegaCorp

I like this idea; a few suggestions / questions.

Why ZU.13 Key Master with no over something like Study Guide that becomes insanely efficient later on? (Or just a good old Gordian Blade of course...)

Similar argument with GS Shrike M2. I think Mongoose would serve a similar purpose but has a lower install cost and is slightly more efficient overall. Stacking sentries do become a problem, but you have Snitch to prevent hitting them and don't have to bring out Pheromones until your power run, anyway. Mimic would be the next best option if you don't want to risk stacked sentries.

Leprechaun costs 2, and saves 1 if Hyperdriver isn't installed on it. This might sound off, but I feel like Maya could solve any problems on its own while providing a decent ability. It would also open up 2 slots (Professional Contacts, maybe?) With Maya you end up with 7: 3x Au Revoir, 1x Snitch, 1 of each breaker.

I can see that you want to be able to host Hyperdriver on Leprechaun for a huge power turn, but once you do it, if its not successful, you just have a dead program lying around. I'm no expert - just a few things that come to mind. I'll try out a build like this myself.

12 Aug 2016 mawa

@Lynx KuronekoI think Mongoose risks getting wrecked by stacked sentries when you finally decide to run. I'd stick with ZU.13 Key Master and GS Shrike M2, and then think about dropping the leprechaun by finding some link. Rabbit Hole? Thins your deck, link is useful these days, only marginally more expensive, not order dependent. You can run 2 or 3. I'm also thinking Ankusa and Tinkering would be a great pickup. Allows you to drain the corp credits even after a vamp, which matters if they're running asset spam.

I really like Professional Contacts here, especially with Ankusa. I think I prefer Astrolabe to Maya though; asset decks are fast, and this is how you get to be fast.

12 Aug 2016 vor_lord

@dawciu Comet doesn't work with Out of the Ashes. Remember you aren't playing OOTA, but removing it from the game to make a run. Comet requires a very specific deck to be any good, and even then, it's not very good.

@Lynx Kuroneko Study Guide would be far harder to use against a rush deck, and once you're set up you don't mind the inefficiency--your danger time is earlier. Gordian Blade would be ok, but 1+2 is a lot easier to SMC out than 4+2.

Usually Hyperdriver is for helping you set up more than a power turn. Sometimes it's 3 cards for 1, sometimes it's 8 and 3 TTW counters, sometimes it's something in-between. I consider it irreplaceable, despite the memory complication.

@RubbishyUsername Au Revoir is my link. ProCo is economy, not draw, and economy is not what this deck needs more of. It can be poor early, but proco is slow to start up. Great card but not in this deck. I like the idea of Ankusa and Tinkering but it's expensive against a fast deck so you'd still have to pack another barrier breaker. That said Snowball isn't so hot either.

12 Aug 2016 LynxMegaCorp

Not sure how Pheromones ended up in my comment...

Also, @RubbishyUsername, I did point out Mongoose's problem...

However, Rabbit Hole is probably a great solution to MU / deck thinning / etc! Just draw 1 and you get all three. Great call.

I'd actually go with removing the Leprechaun and adding Rabbit Hole. Au Revoir isn't your early on - and the link will also ensure your isn't an issue as well.

12 Aug 2016 vor_lord

@Lynx Kuroneko Because of the , ZU.13 and Shrike don't cost ! With Astrolabe, 6: 3x Au Revoir, Snowball, Snitch.

Not being able to install a Hyperdriver or a SMC is what I'm trying to avoid but this seems worth trying.

12 Aug 2016 mawa

For Professional Contacts over Quality Time/Diesel, while it does provide money more instead of draw power, the advantage is that you don't need to run with an incomplete Au Revoir rig to get enough credits to keep setting up. In other words, you have a usable rig faster, not slower, since you can afford to play a breaker and start going for remotes without finding double Au Revoir. Also, if your turns are ProCo/ProCo/ProCo/Install, then you'll have enough credits to play all your breakers and the Au Revoir rig without having to use the rig until later in the game, saving you clicks that you can put into drawing more cards.

I would never reccomend running Ankusa as a sole barrier breaker. Slotting Snowball as well is a good idea, and whichever breakers you install can be based on the matchup. An additional value of Ankusa is that you can put ice back with Ankusa and then still have 4 clicks to just run into R&D using Out of the Ashes. I can even imagine building up to a power turn, vamping the corp, throwing back 6 pieces of ice, then watching them struggle to put the ice back and rez it with 11 cards in hand.

Have you played against Sandburg? I feel like that could be dangerous for you if the corp just sits there and makes every ice 10 strength.

I was also investigating finding more room by dropping all the Sure Gamble and the draw events to play Artist Colony and Fan Site alongside Professional Contacts.

12 Aug 2016 vor_lord

@RubbishyUsername Fair points--the deck would be different but maybe less swingy. I've thought about colony/fan site. As far as Sandburg, I haven't played much against it.

12 Aug 2016 ChaoticBrink

I tried a similar deck with Colony/Fan Site and found the timing of getting fan site out in time before the first few scores made it difficult to reliably use it as a tutor.

12 Aug 2016 mawa

I've just tested it and it's pretty nuts: you can set up your entire deck without clicking for credits or even running with Au Revoir. I found myself NOT playing Snitch so I could draw more. It's super susceptible to NBN shenanigans though - more so than your deck. One thing I hadn't considered is how effective Snitch + Tinkering + Ankusa is: already knowing it's a Tollbooth, letting them rez it, Tinkering, and then bounce it is a brutal move.

One thing I didn't mention is how Hyperdriver is much better with Professional Contacts than Au Revoir, because you don't have to deal with the memory issue. Sure you say 8 credits and three TTW counters is a good deal, but it's less hot when you spent 2 actual clicks and 2 credits to do so because of Leprechaun.

12 Aug 2016 vor_lord

Hyperdriver and Professional Contacts are besties really. It's solving the memory issue for it. I've put together a list with Rabbit Hole and Professional Contacts that keeps the Hyperdrivers. Haven't tried it yet to see if it feels smoother.

15 Aug 2016 vor_lord

I'm going to give Professional Contacts a spin.

26 Aug 2016 vor_lord

Thanks everyone for the feedback. My final iteration is to swap Sure Gamble for Dirty Laundry. Professional Contacts turned out to be great. In our meta which doesn't have a lot of fast decks, I mostly lost games by misplaying. I lost one game because I couldn't find Vamp in time.

I kept two Hyperdriver as they were even better with ProCo. I missed it in the games when I didn't have it. Colony/Fan Site didn't work out well for me in the games I tried it.

Final list here (by final I mean I'm done playing with this deck): netrunnerdb.com