Because We Janked It

I have a confession to made: I love janky decks and janky IDs and everything. Janky combo deck? Tier 3 cards? Underdog IDs? Mark me in. To be honest, which ID could be jankier than BWBI?

Prelude and Warning

I started my miser BWBI list just so I could make fun of people after scrapping a win here and there, but over time, it became shockingly effective. The list here is my 3rd iteration (don’t bother with the first two, they are even worse than this one ;-) ) and I really start to grow found of it, because something strange happened: It keeps winning a surprising amount of games. Do I think I created a monster, such as HB-Waldemar? Nope. This list is not what you should bring to a tournament (not even a GNK if you are attending for more than kicks and giggles), but its definitely useful enough for casual games, kitchen tables or gaming groups (maybe not the ultra-competitive, though…).

General Playstyle

I typically play Blue Sun and it might not surprise you that this deck plays quite a lot like Blue Sun. Well, no, it doesn’t, but if you are used to play with only two “effective” clicks a turn as you will use your IDs ability most turns where you are not scoring. It plays like most glacier builds, though you might want to play it a bit slower. An early Trick of Light is useful to fast advance an agenda behind some ETR ice, though it is also fine to build up your ICE for the first few turns. You have to remember that your ability, as well as The Root, Firmware Upgrades and Constellation Protocol are all counting towards your economy. Your ICE is typically big enough to tax runners quite a bit (esp. with the obligatory Ash in the Remote) and while David is quite useful against the deck, it has to be used for most ICE, so they typically run out of recursion quite fast. Your typical turn should look like “Install ICE, install some other stuff / take a credit, free advance”. You don’t want to draw too much in the beginning (except when you are starving for ICE, flooded with a Jackson on board, the usual stuff) to prevent your hand to be clogged with agendas. Use Jackson to shuffle Trick of Light back into the deck if possible.

Card Choices

I won't discuss every card, but some cards might require some explanation. Hostile Takeovers are nice archer fodder, though you effectively want them to tutor for one for the win after scoring 6 points. Try to avoid scoring them too early unless you really need an agenda for an Archer. The single Chronos Project is a perfect miser card (esp with an over advanced Atlas and a Trick of Light in hand) against Levvy Access / Maxx / Recursion sheningans. Might exchange one Hostile Takeover for a second Chronos soon. Constellation Protocol, as said above, it basically eco and used to bluff out 2/3s, which is super relevant against most Maxx and Valencia builds. Against most decks, install them naked, no one will ever trash them. Against Imp-users, Valencia and maybe Maxx, put a cheap ICE in front to either bait out Black Mail runs, prevent cheap trashing, or force runs. The Bootcamp is additional protection against Valencia as well as Jackson tutor due to influence limitations (oh BWBI, why don’t you have 17 influence?). While I believe most other cards are quite self-explanatory, one word about the Melange vs GRND Refinery discussion. I like both cards and while GRNDL has the ability to be bluffed as an agenda in a win-win situation (for you…) by making you rich or forcing a run, it is also super slow. The typical I-A-A followed next turn by A-A-score gives you 16 creds. Nice, but after calculating click costs, its more like 16 – 4 advance – 4 for not just clicking for money = 8 creds. While still nice, it takes two turns, whereas Melange gives you less money, but only take up one turn. The combination of both gives you some flexibility, but feel free to switch one for the other, they are both nice. The Root – while not required for the deck to work, it is a nice asset, saving you a lot of money but requiring an ICE in front to prevent being IMPed. Shipment from Kaguya is an all-star in the deck (would love to fit a second copy in…). You can do crazy sheningans with a Jackson and an Atlas token such as get 2 advancements on agendas with no money (Shipment, Jackson back in, tutor for Shipment, Shipment, use 3rd click for stuff). Or just use it as “save 6 creds”. Second copy would really be great… Archer instead of Nebula. While not fitting the theme, Archer is still Archer. You have multiple small agendas, burn them, rezz the dreaded Archer, and laugh like a maniac when destroying rigs (not obligatory). The reason for Archer is that it’s still one of the best taxing ICE out there. Even Kit with Torch requires 6 creds to break it. Against Switchblade, it sucks, so if Stealth is super common in you meta, use something else. A short note on builder – Builder in front of an Ice Wall is about as good as it gets. Are they really breaking your 2 Creds Codegate? Or are they paying at the Ice Wall? I had a strength 21 Ice Wall once :D

Stuff I would like to add but don’t find space (SPAAAACE) for:

3rd Jackson (duh), but Trick of Light and Ash are super useful and influence is thight… 2nd Boot Camp to rezz some ICE against Valencia for 2 to prevent Black Mail rampages and tutor for Jackson more consistent. 2nd Shipment from Kaguya as a super utility card

Some matchups

Headlock – hurrdurr, this deck could also be called “Because we love Headlock”. Our BWLH rezzes ICE super cheap, can run with basically no money and still tax decently. So get ready to play with the people who have no friends.

Noise – one of our worst matchups, we are already slow and if we are light on ICE, good night sir. A scored Hades Shard is about all you need, but the way is hard. If you can lock down all centrals and tax enough on a remote, it works ok. Against Choir of the Dead and similar builds, hope they believe you want to kill them…

Valencia – throw out assets behind ICE, advance ICE so you can rezz it. This way, they have to burn quite a lot of Black Mails to get some agendas. GRNDL is perfect for this, though scoring an unadvanced Atlas early and bluffing more never-advance 2/3s works quite well, too. Bootcamp is a winner here, protect at all costs!

Rushing Runners (good stuff Gabe, Andy,...) - hope to have some early ETR ICE to force out Corroder. Advance like crazy to get some ICE online and have some unrezzed assets to make Accound Syphon less attractive. Otherwise, hope for the best...

That’s it with my Jank deck, I hope for some comments about how to “improve” it (sounds like the wrong word…). Anyway, happy building 