Evil Clowns (3rd @ Malmö CO 2022)

This was my corp homebrew for Malmö Circuit Opener 2022. It aims mainly at using evil Weyland agendas and clown remotes with multiple upgrades, to create a cat-and-mouse game where you set up various scenarios where a wrong action, or inaction, leads to a flatline for the runner.

GAME PLAN

Early Game: Make some money if you can and pile up upgrades on a remote to protect Rashida Jaheem early for some tempo, or to sneak out a False Lead. The threat of everybody playing Hard-Hitting News helps with the early tempo while saving deck slots for you. Formicary can jump in from any server to protect the remote and lead to a quick net damage + tag & bag combo if the runner overextends. An early Snare! on a couple of upgrades can also work against a daring opponent, especially if they know the usual game plan.

Mid & late game: Keep slamming things on a remote and threaten to score the evil agendas that can flatline the runner if they don't do anything. Seamless Launch helps score the agendas even if not advanced and is a good enabler of proactive kill plays if the runner just sits back and builds up their board. The upgrades, traps and Your ID ability add uncertainty to the run if they decide to bite. Use whatever creative ways you can think of to set up a potential kill. Some lines of play you have available for this:

-If double-advanced card on a remote goes unchecked, you can Seamlessly score an Armed Intimidation and have a couple of clicks left for High-Profile Target and/or Broad Daylight.

-If they sit back installing cards and end their turn with less than 3 cards in hand, seamlessly score an Azef Protocol and have a click left over to finish them off in Broad Daylight. False Lead is a sneaky way to end the runner's turn early after they install something to make sure they end the turn on low hit points.

-Lure the runner to a double-advanced clown remote with an NGO, get the money, and tag them with Forced Connection or two. Use False Lead if needed and shoot them in their high-profile face.

-Use Overseer Matrix to protect your upgrades, let them pile up, feed them an agenda on the remote and bury them with more tags than they expected with AMAZE Amusements, Forced Connections, Prisecs and your ID.

-Use Formicary when they play a high-impact run event to protect the server they thought didn't have ICE, to invite them to take a risk so the run event can hit, and to overextend.

-Use the fact that nobody plays Crisis Management to mess up their card hit point calculations when they float a tag.

PROBLEM CARDS & POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

-Apocalypse can be a problem for your silly remote, but Overseer Matrix threatens to leave them tagged so you can shoot them next turn.

-Diversion of Funds can be a problem since we're running quite light on economy and not much ICE. Formicary can help dodge it by jumping in on HQ to be rezzed. With Seamless Launch, we can also score the potentially flatlining agendas from very low credits.

-Light the Fire! and Because I Can can clear your silly remote without risk. Use your 3x Preemptive Action, play more silly remotes, and take advantage of the free brain damage from Light the Fire!.

-Stargate can dodge your traps on R&D and score out quickly. Overseer Matrix on R&D slows this down with tags and invites to clear it with a normal run, which can also find a Snare! or Forced Connection. Three Preemptive Actions also helps shuffle the trashed R&D cards back in.

POTENTIAL CHANGES

This version of the deck runs a bit too light on economy to fully take advantage of the Snares and Forced Connections. Earlier I played another variant that had -3 Seamless Launch and +2 AMAZE Amusements and +1 Regolith Mining License which is nicely protected by the upgrades. You could also replace one of the Preemptives with another Regolith for even more econ. That variant loses a bit of proactivity in kill options since Seamless Launch is not available, but on the other hand, the 3x AMAZE Amusements enables some nice tagstorm plays on the remote and centrals with the ID ability. It's a unique card so you can't pile them up unfortunately, but it makes the tagging threat bigger and more consistent.

Another nasty variant is to replace Snares with Hard-Hitting News and Forced Connections with Mumbad Virtual Tours, which is probably a better deck overall, but I prefer the Snare variant mainly because I'm tired of HHN.

FINAL NOTES This is not an easy deck to play and you feel quite vulnerable when playing it with so little ICE and not much money in the bank. But that can also work in its favour in a way, as it plays very differently than the more established Argus decks, so the runners often have a hard time reading when the flatline threat is on. I've been surprised several times how the deck opened the kill window out of nowhere, after I thought I had already lost the game.

Also, you might accidentally score out with this deck while chasing the kill. Be careful with that.

Shoutout to @Bridgeman for hosting a fun circuit opener (and congrats for the win!), to all fellow Netrunners I had the pleasure playing against for the good games, and to @Kagolskab for helping test yet another silly deck :)

Thanks for reading and Always Be Running!