Semi-Rogue Argus V4 - 1st Place 5-0 Local Tournament Winner

"I said you had a choice. I didn't say it was a good choice."

The latest rendition of my Argus. It's operating much more smoothly, and it's a ton of fun on top of that. Hourglass and Data Raven are MVPs, especially if Data Raven's out in front and Hourglass brings up the rear. My overall thought process throughout the various builds of this deck has been to present the runner with an uncomfortable amount of choices. Done well, this can really throw the runner off his or her game. The agenda density is greater, which maximizes ID triggers, the Ravens are always a tough call for the runner, and you never know what's installed alongside Shell Corporation. Is it Cerebral? Shattered Remains? Just a GRNDL Refinery? It's a stream of choices, ranging from bad to worse, culminating in a blazing demise.

Update: This just went 5-0 in a local 10-man tournament this weekend, netting me 1st place. My matchups were as follows:

MaxX – Eater/Keyhole, and he managed to dump five points into Archives before I scored out. I opened with Hostile Takeover, and then put down Enigma and Fracking in a remote. Data Raven on R&D dissuaded him from running until I scored Fracking. Once he got his Keyhole setup, he pitched an Atlas, a Fracking, and a Chronos Project. Double Data Raven on HQ really shook him up, so he focused on R&D. However, by then, I had added Hourglass, Checkpoint, and Ireress to R&D. My scoring remote had expanded from Enigma to add Wraparound and Wormhole. Long story short, scored an Atlas, False Lead, and another Hostile Takeover for game.

Nasir - Stealth build, but he didn't draw Personal Workshop until I had already scored a Profiteering, netting enough money to flex some Argus muscles. Again, Data Raven did a lot of legwork, buying me time to score a 5-advanced Atlas. From there, it was all downhill for the runner. Maker's Eye into Fracking, Chronos Project, and a Hostile Takeover. He had more tags than he'd planned for, and double Scorched wrapped things up.

Noise - Crazy virus shenanigans. My saving grace was that, although he milled a solid 15+ cards, he only hit two agendas in Archives. With his efforts for naught, I had time (and ICE) to score out for the win. Note: Jackson Howard was crucial here, as it recycled Data Raven and Wormhole that went right onto Archives after an Atlas tutor. Dedicated Response Team nailed BOTH his Deja Vu and Hades Shard in this game, which was glorious.

Iain - So many resources. It was insane. The match almost went over time just because of the Iain game. Again, Data Raven was the MVP, as he had seen Scorched in HQ, and he ran into a double advanced Cerebral Overwriter, forcing him to spend his clicks wisely. When I was finally able to get a tag to stick (thank you, Legwork, and yes, you can absolutely have those two 1-pointers), I Scorched out. I should note that GRNDL Refinery saved my economy here. I had Shell Corporation rezzed, and the Refinery was facedown with 4 advancements. He had already seen Cerebral, so he couldn't afford to risk the run. Next turn, advance, trash, gain 20 credits from the Refinery, then take the 12 from Shell Corp.

My last match was Reina, which was kind of all over the place. He hit with Account Siphon, but I had opened up with Hostile, which lessened the blow. Wraparound blocked HQ for a moment, while Enigma in a remote got me a scored Profiteering, recouping my losses, and then some. I had already decided to just take the bad pub and not care, as I had drawn back to back Scorched. He ran a single advanced Shattered Remains (to trash Shell Corp), which got rid of his Plascrete. Double Data Raven on R&D kept him out for a while, and his Parasite didn't speed things along, since Dedicated Response Team nailed Datasucker, and Checkpoint hit the other Account Siphon and a Deja Vu.

MVPs - Data Raven, Shell Corp, and Hourglass. Data Raven is obvious, but Hourglass is so unexpected. If they don't have a decoder, it's brutal, and if they do, it's taxing. Shell Corp is great because of Cerebral and Shattered Remains. It's a mind game that's always fun to play, which can result in major damage (Cerebral and Shattered) or big money (GRNDL Refinery and Shell Corp itself).