HB ETF - IT Glacier FA

koniu 40

This deck just works. Why? Well, there are 3 ways to win, which helps against all the match-ups.

First of all, there is the regular Fast Advance way - Biotic your 3/2s and Domestic Sleepers FTW.

Then, there is the Glacier way - Ash protects your Agenda's when you have the money and gives the necessary breathing room.

The third way is to put at least 7-8 counters on IT Department, which usually wins the game.

Two things allow for such a diverse deck with no weak endgame options: the existence of IT Department and Grail ICE.

Galahad, Lancelot and Merlin both tax the runner and stop runs, which allows for some great early game plays . Essentially, the runner cannot run the Grail ICE pieces without a full breaker suite. So the early game is the best moment to load some counters onto the IT Dep or offload some money from Adonis. Also, scoring a 3/2 behind a Rototurret and Galahad is never a bad idea.

Actually, it is quite easy to win in the early game thanks to IT Dep alone. If it gets to the mid game, score Agendas with Biotics. Ash helps in the late game, so does the allmighty Jackson.

7 comments
22 Jan 2015 sruman

Money looks a bit tight even with ETF ability. Average ice cost is 4 and with 2 remotes I'd imagine you'll want to put at least 8 ice (maybe 9) for a cost of 32 (36) -- 1 on IT remote, 2 on scoring remote, 2 on 1 central, 3 on other central

Total card money net card costs is 42 credits. By mid-game you can assume to have 21 + 5 + (HB ability - placement costs) so somewhere around 30ish credits. Doesn't seem like much left over for biotics and ash-pumping.

Am I missing something and money isn't really an issue? Perhaps I'm envisioning more ice on server than is needed.

Also, guard seems like a great piece of ice for protecting the IT department, any thoughts on it over Roto's?

22 Jan 2015 koniu

Yup, money can be a bit tight, but the trick is to have only one remote. When you have 10+ counters on IT Dep, you have all the time in the world to build a second one. Rototurret synergises well with IT Dep, so does grail ice. You want to pum up the strenght of the ice which hurts the runner. Apart from that, grail ice is pretty cheap and rarely do you want to play Merlin anyway.

23 Jan 2015 Oisin

You might be able to make more money by replacing the Green Level Clearance with Eve Campaign or even PAD Campaign. Few runners trash them (unless they have an Imp in play), so you don't have to cover them with any ice.

23 Jan 2015 Oisin

I haven't tried IT Department yet, but I also play a FA/Glacier hybrid. IT seems like it would be a cool addition.

My deck list is here: netrunnerdb.com

23 Jan 2015 koniu

Green Level Clearance provides some draw power, which this deck needs. I 've been rather thinking about dropping Ash in favour of Eve Campaign, but I need to test more. Usually playing Ash on a remote deterrs runners even if I don't have cash - they often think it is Caprice.

26 Jan 2015 sruman

It would mean downgrading the ice (although HB has some decent replacements), but how about a san-san inclusion for over 1 of the ash's? The thought is you could drop it in the IT department whenever you get it and if it comes to the last agenda have the option to trash the IT department and score out. May or may not be good in practice, but just a thought.

Also, with IT department and domestic sleepers how about an archer for the tollbooth? I suppose could be too situational since need to have score domestic sleepers first but IT department archer is a pretty good answer to D4v1d since they have to use the whole thing just to get through without brutal damage (I guess you don't even have to use the IT department).

Agree on keeping any card draw you can get since Grail without Foundry can be variable in when you can draw and be able to keep 2 in hand.

26 Jan 2015 koniu

Archer in place of Tollbooth makes sense. I really do not like sacrificing agendas, though. Tollbooth is weak against Femme and D4v1d but every Archer owner cries when he sees an Emergency Shutdown. In general, the question is: can you afford the tempo loss Archer caused? From my experience, Archer can win games, and quite as often it can lose you games. Anyway, Tollbooth and Eli are my two favourite Corp cards and I always go with Tollbooth instead of Archer. I think it's just a matter of preference.

As for SanSan City Grid - it is an awesome inclusion in every FA deck, but Grail ICE take up too much influence to afford it.