Always Be .... *YAWN* // Reading SC 2016

This is my deck that I, against all mental alarms and warnings, took to the Reading (UK) Store Championships. And... well, Apex: Invasive Predator won 1 game out of 5. Not exactly amazing, but was fun just to see eyebrows raise at the notion of Apex at a SC.

I love the thematicism and design of Apex. The idea of a sentient nanological horror (considering the fact its a cyberpunk universe, all of his cards involve tendrils/tentacles, and hell; Heartbeat is sprouting veins into the surrounding surely means he has some physicality...) deciding that it must consume all is glorious.

The problem is... Apex just really struggles in every regard because the card that is his (her/it's) lifeline and game-winner flips everything facedown; Apocalypse. He is quite frankly, the weakest off the starting block in comparison to the other Data & Destiny Runners.

This deck here is my sincerest attempt (quite honestly) to make Apex have enough oomph, whilst knowing fully well everything he has is disposable and atop that; to try to show he can be a viable threat at a higher level than casual play.

From all the times I have played Apex, there is one rule; you must Apocalypse. You literally must use it, otherwise you will be glacier'd out of the game. And savvy Corps will ICE the Core-servers up so deep, you will have a nightmare trying to penetrate their defences.

Always Be Running was a card I took due to Apex's own limitations and also mildly helps deal with the glacier problem; you either protect your Core's and Remotes are targets, or risk the alternative and watch a table get wiped. Clot and Traffic Jam are there to help both Apoc and non-Apoc styles; lock Agendas in place and get them binned into Archives with the big-bad-boom card, or have them sat long enough in the remote to strike.

Déjà Vu allows flexibility of card choice from Apex's heap, and Independent Thinking adds card draw from face-down cards should it be necessary. Express Delivery to be conservative with the deck; overdrawing is risky when any card could technically be ammunition the table.

Despite only winning a single game against a low-ICE Jinteki trap deck; Apex though did manage in nearly all other games score 3 to 6 points of agendas. Losses were primarily being outscored, and another was a terrible mis-play of Apoc'ing a player before remembering they had the horrid Scorch-combo in hand, and my Heartbeat had just turned to ash...

Overall; I'm glad I took him to the SC. Apex might not quite there yet; but he made for great table talk, and possibly the Mumbad cycle will open some new potential antics with the tools at Apex's disposal.