The Tower of Babel

Contrast 1834

"And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."

Super vertical Foundry deck. It abuses install ice (Architect, Minelayer), positional, depth-based ice (Sensei, Chum, Eli to an extent), and synergy ice (NEXT) to build towers of 4 or more cheap, high strength ice.

Executive Boot Camp helps you rez ice on your own turn (on the cheap) so you can proc the Foundry ID ability twice, on the Runner and Corp turns.

Peak Efficiency provides strong economy on the later stages of the game, reusable via Archived Memories.

Edge of World can be tutored and used to protect Shell Corporation. Snare is there to be summoned to the hand in the face of multiaccess, or for architect shenanigans.

The score plan is to play never-advance behind a 3 or 4 ice-deep remote. They will have to respect the server because an Edge of World will pretty much end them.

No Jackson Howards, because the deck draws a lot of ice as it is, I think. Feel free to -1 Snare -1 Archived +2 Jackson though.

18 comments
3 Nov 2014 Doragunov

Looks really cool man, hows the economy fairing with peak efficiency its a card I'm on the fence with.

Also do most your wins come from runner hitting edge of world then refusing to run on remotes anymore, or just flat out scoring.

3 Nov 2014 HauntPun

Interesting ice choices, nice to Sensei in there and Minelayer

3 Nov 2014 Contrast

@Doragunov I don't think peak efficiency is a good card, except in an extreme deck like this one.

The whole point of the deck is to rez tons and tons of ice, on the Runner and Corp turn. I can't imagine a deck that rezzes ice more often than this one. That makes Peak Efficiency usable, and quite scary often, but it's still an endgame tool. I can easily gain 8 or 9 credit boosts thanks to it, which is fantastic.

Edge doesn't win you the game. However, Edge of World + the threat of Snare when accessing R&D or HQ is a great deterrent. Mostly, I will just use Edge to babysit a Shell Corporation in my big remote until it's practically untouchable, then I will start scoring (with the occasional trap).

3 Nov 2014 whuppo

interesting ice choice, yes. late game could be hard tho if the runner doenst hit your traps.

3 Nov 2014 PaxCecilia

I was doing some sample hands and got both Chum and Architect... realized how annoying a server with Architect on the inner most and Chum right before it would be. Let those awesome subs fire and and 3 damage, or break a 5 strength sentry.

This deck looks like a ton of fun, totally trying this out on Thursday, I'll post my results :)

4 Nov 2014 Doragunov

Gonna try this also, I assume you've considered Executive bootcamp when its released? Or do you think its not needed.

4 Nov 2014 Doragunov

Ignore me...just had a brainfart already realized its in there -__-

4 Nov 2014 Contrast

No problem, happens to everyone :P Executive Boot Camp is what inspired this deck to begin with, actually :D

5 Nov 2014 wedgeex

If ever there was a deck that needed a single copy of Security Subcontract this would be it.

9 Nov 2014 Orbital Tangent

Edge of World with Shell Corp on a super stacked remote... That idea is just sick. I think I need to sleeve this up and give it a try. I think the one change I'd make is dropping a 5/3 for a random 2 pointer.

9 Nov 2014 voltorocks

@wedgeex Well, it's still a bad card, so I guess that means no deck will ever run Security Subcontract...

@Contrast Love the deck. I played a similar deck a while back with minelayer, NEXT, and chum at a few local tourneys with pretty good results. It used Amazon Industrial Zone instead of Executive Boot Camp and since Shell Corporation wasn't out yet I couldn't have your awesome idea of trap-supported econ... had to make do with disposable asset econ in the scoring remote. EotW + Shell is way better, though I may try to squeeze in an Amazon or two myself (maybe drop the snare? I dunno) as I think that card plays brilliantly with this ID.

Anyways, just wanted to say, love the look, and end of the world is truly inspired. I look forward to bringing this deck out of retirement (after stealing all your ideas of course!)

10 Nov 2014 Dydra

So how Gordian Blade doesn't wreck this?

10 Nov 2014 voltorocks

@Dydra yeah, that's probably the main weakness- but it only takes a few swaps for barriers or sentries to spead the CGs thin enough for this to not matter, withoutout messing up the core idea.

Plus, how many gordians are you really seeing these days anyways? Seems like I see more and more Refractor, ZU.13 Key Master, Cyber-Cypher, etc.

10 Nov 2014 whuppo

but but but guys guys guys..... Kati says "place 3 credits from the BANK". Shell doesnt. Could it be that shell corporation is just another sealed vault?

man im confused because it would destroy a lot of excitment. sad face.

11 Nov 2014 thebriarfox

Gordian is the decoder of choice 'round these parts, actually.

11 Nov 2014 voltorocks

@whuppo look at the language on sealed vault, it is very specific about where the credits must come from. While it's a weird wording oversight, I think it's clear the intent is for it to function like Kati.

@thebriarfox yeah, I definitely don't disagree that the Gordian is a problem for this deck as-is. But, the concept seems pretty solid, so a few ice tweaks should solve the problem.

19 Dec 2014 MrMint

Cyber-Cypher is better than Gordian against this deck (granted it's only on one server) : only Sensei would cost you more than 1 cred if you don't have 5+ NEXT rez (you have only 6 NEXT and parasite is played in those kind of Shaper).

Actually against a prepaid Kate Lady/Cy-cy/Mimic all your ICEs cost 1 or 2 to break or/and 1 or 2 Lady tokens. =/

6 Oct 2015 hiimderektan

Has anyone considered putting a couple of Vanity Projects? But then again, that's two extra influence you'll have to compromise...