Adamn

London Team: UK InterCity 2 (Edinburgh) Jan 2016. This deck went 3-1-1 (wins, timed, losses) on the day

Hear me discuss the deck with the rest of the London team in Episode 6 of the Facecheck Podcast

Become a Bioroid

Game plan

The key to this deck is keeping your hand size up to take advantage of Safety First's free card-draw. You're looking to score points early and quickly. Thanks to Brain Chip, the more you score the stronger you become. This means the deck can keep applying pressure beyond the early game and you'll often find matches that looked impossible are clinched with a YOLO Maker's Eye or Stimhack.

How to drive

Always Be Running means to some extent this deck drives itself, but there are a few things to keep in mind. This deck is fun. It's also great for tournaments because it can go very quickly.

Opening hand

Mulligan for a Public Sympathy (or a Brain Cage in a pinch).If you don't have either a then Brain Chip will be ok as long as you can steal an agenda very early. Dirty Laundry is a great opener because it will prevent the tempo-hit of an unlucky Neutralize All Threats access.

Breaking ICE

Don't be scared of using up Overmind counters. As well as three copies of Overmind, Scavenge is a two-of to instantly replenish tokens. In a pinch there's also Uninstall, although this is more costly. I like to try and save Scavenge until I've already got Brain Chip on the table with a few Agenda points to get the most value out of it.

Faust is amazing in the late game when the Corp thinks you are shut out. Generally you'll end up with a hand size of 10-14 so you'll be able to get in anywhere. Be aware with no Levy AR Lab Access your Faust runs are limited by what's left in your deck so make them count.

As long as your hand size is doing OK you'll be getting free card draw from Safety First, so don't be scared of spending clicks with Always Be Running to break ICE. Seeing two cards from HQ is often worth three clicks.

Money's too tight to mention

Especially thanks to Neutralize All Threats's ability, this deck can sometimes struggle with money. Stimhack is your best friend, but in the lean times know that Safety First will deliver you economy cards very soon!

DO NOT TAKE TAGS

There are no spare copies of the Directives so if they get trashed you will lose. Always Be Running is the only way to deal with AI-hate cards, Safety First is absolutely critical for keeping the deck running and Neutralize All Threats is the only HQ multi-access in the deck.

Notes on cards

Dorm Computer is amazing, especially in decks like this one that must avoid tags. It turns off Data Raven, Gutenberg, Turnpike, Virgo, News Hound, Information Overload, Muckraker, Bandwidth and many more. It also blanks News Team, Argus Security: Protection Guaranteed and others. It even gets around the ELP tax. On top of all this it costs 0 to install! Be aware, in a game where tags are more important than breakers you can use Uninstall to reset the tokens.

Career Fair has a few great targets in Daily Casts and Data Folding. Public Sympathy is ok as well, but it's worth holding on to because getting full value off e.g. a Daily Casts can make a huge difference in a deck that isn't flush with cash.

Brain Cage is a one-of to increase the chances of having a hand-size modifier in your opening hand.

Traffic Jam is a one-of to fill a slot. I've chosen this as a way of dealing with annoying Corp currents but this slot definitely needs more thought.

Multithreader can be important when the game goes long because Overmind is not very credit-efficient. In many games you won't need to install it so it can be Faust-fuel. Make sure you don't accidentally turn off Data Folding with it!

Good Luck, Have Fun!