Welcome back Foodcoats. How I missed you.

*Edit * An updated version of the deck: Hangery Doggo v1.0 has been given a run out on -CodeMarvelous-' channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nykzjSqstLQ) where it does HB things against Andy. Check it out and subscribe to the channel :)

Inspiration

With a new Most Wanted List severely denting the power of both Anarch and CTM, it felt like a change was in order. Given that the meta is in a lot of flux and coupled with only limited time to build a deck, I felt that it was probably best to go with something that I am comfortable playing. HB seemed to be the obvious choice.

Y u play Seidr?

HB is clearly a strong choice in a meta that is likely to feature far less Rumor Mill. You have Ash in faction, tons of spare influence to splash for Caprice and some pretty taxing choices when it comes to your ice - I am looking at you Fairchild 3.0. In addition, the Adonis, Eve, BBG combo remains as powerful as ever and Friends has come along to make it even easier to bleed the runner's credits as they finally get in to clear out your Caprice, Ash, BBG server only for them to magically come back. The agenda mix is also pretty tried and tested at this point, so it means that the deck largely builds itself.

Really the only thing to figure out is what kind of ice you want to play. With Eli coming off the MWL and having a delicious full-bleed from the 2015 World Champ, it was a no-brainer that 3 would be included. I had to sacrifice one Architect in order to fit in the second Caprice, but it is still an excellent piece of ice and well worth the influence. Ichi 1.0 remains a really annoying piece of ice, and is particularly good to double stack if you expect a lot of criminals that rely on Mongoose. Turing exists as a one of largely because it is still a good piece of remote ice (and really good given the lack of D4v1d), and can act as AI hate against eater keyhole decks in a pinch. Finally, vanilla is an important early gear check and a hard ETR in a deck with a number of bioroids that can be clicked through. It can be super clutch for avoiding early siphons, or denying access to a remote after a siphon.

The odd one out is Seidr. This is a piece of ice I remember looking at when it was released, thinking "that's pretty cool", and then remembering that Sifr exists so ice strength doesn't really matter anyway. With the new MWL I decided to give it another look. I've seen a lot of people compare it to a bad Wall of Static or just another Bastion (which didn't see play) but I think this is a mistake. HB builds big servers and Seidr is naturally at home in a three ice server. Paying 4 for a strength six hard-ETR on a remote that the runner is likely to have to check multiple times and beat an Ash trace at the end of it all is pretty good value, and I often was getting it up to strength 6+ during games on the day.

I vacillated between Seidr and Enigma for ages until I eventually decided to just give the new toy a try. Good lord that was an excellent decision. I felt that an extra hard-ETR was important for the deck, so it really had to be between these two and WoS. I have been burned before by a reliance on code-gates and Enigma (or indeed Ravana) would have been disastrous for me given that I faced a Papa Smurf build 3 times on the day.

As it turns out though, Seidr was a true MVP. Being able to put one down on a server often meant that runners radically underestimated how much money they would need to get in and as the server grew it just became increasingly taxing. There is something truly filthy about firing an ABT and being able to place a Seidr on top of a Seidr, raising both of their strength simultaneously. In a deck that values being able to force the runner to consistently check a taxing remote over and over again, this ice really warrants its place.

Tournament Performance

The deck went 5-3 on the day, with all three losses being due to play error on my part that threw away game winning positions.

In the first round against a PPVP Ken deck, I chose not to boost an Ash on R&D during a makers eye run with the runner on 4 credits. I judged, incorrectly, that my credits were more valuable at that stage. The runner stole 4 points off that run and would later do a last ditch Maker's eye run with the winning agenda on the table to steal another 4 and win.

My second round game against Dave "Tony" Saiya also came down to a bit of bad play where I chose to place Caprice on R&D, expecting some Dyper shenanigans. As it turns out, he had rused me and I was vamped in the mid-game. With Caprice redirected to HQ, it was too late as he could simply camp my remote and win with endless money.

Finally, I threw away my first game after the cut by largely trying to take the piss and build a ridiculous server (though it was absolutely glorious: seidr, vanilla, eli, seidr, vanilla, Turing). Of course I was punished for my hubris as he ran R&D with a single medium counter, clicked through the fairchild 3.0 and sniped two GFIs.

Wins were against: 2x PPVP Kate, 2x Papa Smurf Variant (this was the same deck that I lost to in the first round of the cut), and 1x Reg Andy.

The Foodcoats build is a well-tuned machine at this point, so really its going to come down to what ice you think is strongest for dealing with a particular meta. I expected a lot of Shaper and Crim, and that is what I got, so the reliance on barriers and sentries was a good call. There was a lot of Caprice hate on the day, but Friends makes it really easy to deal with. Knowing where to put your defensive upgrades, how to position your ice, and when to capitalise on a scoring window is actually what makes this deck brutal. This is something I am not yet good enough at, but I am sure will come with practice.

Changes

Hell if I know. Slots are so tight at this point that you are basically choosing between AAL, Eve and ice. I'd like to test a version that runs just two Ash to see whether or not there is some flex there, but even if there is it seems as if your choice is to just go for more ice. That is likely to be overkill, but it does make firing your ABTs blindly a little bit more interesting.

Obviously, any and all suggestions are welcome :)