Three Birds and a Turtle v4.3

Why did you do it? I did it for the birds.

Everyone loves them.

Did it work?

Yes, after a lot of pain and brutal testing, it sorta did.

I’m a sucker for trying to play cards the way the designers imagined how they would play. This is a criminal deck that is tricky but fun to pilot. The built-in infinite Crescentus ability of the bird breakers, combined with recurring credits of Sahasrara and the rezzing tax of Xanadu and Hernando Cortez make it a considerable threat in the mid-late game.

The balance of Resource and Event econ makes this deck makes it somewhat able to survive an early Scarcity, until an agenda is nabbed, however it’s not easy. The first priority is to setup sufficiently to reach the late game. Inside Job is there to help if the corp tries to rush an agenda behind a gear check. Our friend the turtle is the prime target for Special Order if drawn early. This deck shines against glacier such as Palana. Usually, once more and more rez taxing cards-derez support hit the board, it make less and less sense for the corp to Rez any Ice anymore and it becomes a free run festival. It reaches a point where it costs more for the Corp to Rez Ice than it costs me to break, derez and reinstall the bird, especially on HQ with Pheromones out. Corp credits plunge really fast until they let your birds go free on all the servers.

CtM, Gagarin and Asset Spam or ASA are a tough matchup, they’re the main reason for Aeneas Informant taking 3 slots, while they which provide minimal support in other matchups. Mulligan for an Aeneas. You will want that 2-3 creds per click efficiency as early as possible. Run HQ and R&D to Derez. Kill Commercial Bankers and Daily Business Show in the same turn for best value. Use Rip Deal for On the Lam and money cards. Keep credits sky high.

Against Jinteki thousand cuts/counterstrike, it’s pretty straightforward. Be careful not to get your birds thrown in the bin. Recon Drone, On the Lam and Film Critic to fight annoying shenanigans. BTW, Saker laughs at Kakugo, like loud fat chocobo belly laughs. That takes a lot of steam out of these decks. Just watch out for House of Knives counters and run with a full hand to minimize risk.

It’s the opposite idea against Skorp. It’s better to get the breakers back in hand so they don’t get hit by hunter-seekers. Run naked, bounce off the ETR Ice, install, run again and return to grip to derez.