Mono-Darwin Whizzard manhattan tournament winner, altered

Alsciende 1398

This decklist originally came into being as part of the first Turing Test over at CardGameDB. If you aren't familiar with it, go have a read, it's interesting.

Basically, the question was "How fast can you conveniently have Monolith and a full breaker suite up?".

Short version: Insane card draw + Freelance Coding Contract to get a Full Rig With Monolithâ„¢ set up early, then recurring siphons and RnD lock for the win.

First pass through the deck should usually be chucking most programs to FCCs - don't hesitate to install what you need to apply early pressure on the corp though. Often, I'll install Magnum Opus to get Monolith out sooner - if I don't, it usually delays the big beast not because of a lack of money, but because I'll take longer to get the 3 programs to install (since I need to be chucking them to make said money).

Funny thing about Monolith - it doesn't matter which programs you install with it, it always pulls its weight. Even if you do a triple Cloak play, it's still worth it: you save 3 actions and 3 credits, so valuing each click at 2 credits you're only paying 9 for Monolith - and you're getting the memory you need to make this rig work, along with a sweet "let's facecheck cerebral overwriters and run through Januses" ability. And this is just the worst-case scenario - most of the time, you'll be getting a much sweeter deal, with one of the cards being either a Gordian or at the very least a Dagger.

Now, about the rig. It always consists of:

  • one Cloak
  • Dagger
  • Corroder
  • Gordian Blade
  • Magnum Opus

That eats up 6 of your 8 available memory. The last 2 units are circumstantial:

  • If your opponent is Jinteki, you want a Net Shield
  • Unless there's a complete lack of Sentries with the 1-3 Strength range, you want a Mimic (I really can't stress just how hard this breaker owns Caduceus and Katana, two sentries that could potentially become a problem)
  • Fill the rest of your memory with Cloaks

Once that happens, just establish RnD lock, recur Siphons, farm the extra copies of programs for credits or damage prevention, and you should be all set.

Edit 2013/12/06: Added a Nerve Agent, taking out one Corroder. Basically, sacrificing early-game consistency for a solution to those moments in the late-game where it all hangs on whether they got an agenda into their hand before I established R&D lock. Don't be afraid to trash a Cloak or Magnum Opus to play the Nerve Agent - most of the time, the Sure Gambles and FCCs will give you enough money to function well, and you can always install over the Nerve Agent once it has played its part.

4 comments
4 Oct 2013 Alsciende
18 Oct 2013 fieryseraph

This looks like a video of this deck (or just a few cards difference) in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBHd1WaQbN0&noredirect=1

18 Oct 2013 fieryseraph

This looks like a video of this deck (or just a few cards difference) in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBHd1WaQbN0

30 Apr 2014 Manticore

This is an old deck, but the description is incorrect; it's showing the description of Big Girls Play With Monoliths. If you have a description for this I'd be interested to read it :)