In Too Deep v0.4

dtelad11 964

5 comments
8 Feb 2015 Oisin

Interesting to see Grail Ice out of ETF and not the more obvious The Foundry: Refining the Process. Have you thought of trying a single Excalibur?

9 Feb 2015 dtelad11

I tested Excalibur in this and similar decks before and decided that it's rarely worth the deck slot outside of Jinteki: Replicating Perfection. I guess I could try putting it on the IT Department remote, but that's a bit too narrow in my opinion.

10 Feb 2015 krystman

Fascinating deck. So many questions! Why Corporate War? What is Efficiency Committee for? Why just 1x Subliminal Messaging and Successful Demonstration?

Also, I noticed that all your Sentries are breakable with Mimic. Have you considered a stronger Sentry like Sagittarius to force a stronger Sentry breaker?

10 Feb 2015 krystman

Oh and is Executive Boot Camp in there just as an Asset tutor or are you actually using to to rez stuff?

10 Feb 2015 dtelad11

Thank you for the questions! This is an IT Department (ITD) lock deck. My goal is to Install ITD, boost it to 6-7 counters, and use it to defend both centrals and a scoring remote.

Corporate War is a bit of an experiment. It's riskier than NAPD Contract or Project Vitruvius, but given the relatively light economy the credit boost from scoring it is significant. I'm still not sure it's the right choice compared to the safer options.

A scored Efficiency Committee allows me to install ITD and immediately get it to five counters, often locking the game for a couple of turns. I usually try to score it as early as possible, even if I risk getting it stolen. Early on, a Lancelot and a Paper Wall are often enough to stop the Runner for two turns.

I actually removed Successful Demonstration for a Levy University in my latest version - I'm testing to see whether it helps smooth some Grail consistency issues (you really want a Galahad early on, I'm willing to pay the 3 + 2 for it). As far as economy is concerned, the nine economy cards, plus Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future (EtF), Corporate War, and Executive Boot Camp (EBC) seem to be enough. You will often get ten or more credits out of the EtF ability.

The Sentries are indeed Mimic food. Architect is amazing throughout the game - an early fire gives you two credits and a click, and afterward it's immune to Eater/Parasite and still costs Mimic 2 to break. Guard works well with ITD, since they cannot bypass it with Inside Job or Femme Fatale. Lancelot is part of the Grail suite. If I do see a Mimic, I would often install, rez, and boost ITD twice - that will allow me to get all three of these two strength four, locking Mimic out.

EBC usually gives me one or two rezzes before I trash it for the tutor. I might keep it longer if I suspect Blackmail, Vamp, or against Leela Patel: Trained Pragmatist. It's most often used for Jackson Howard or ITD, though.