Argus Security: The (Super) Modern Choice

I really like it, though my main concern would be checkpoint. As you are rolling in bad pub, I think this ice dies not work well as a tax and I would change it to either wormhole or find 2 inf for lotus field. Otherwise I love it :)

I'm running an Argus deck now which is somewhat similar, but has gone a different direction with a lot of the choices...

First, the Agendas didn't feel quite right here. The ID's ability really lends itself to running a bunch of 1 pointers. The agendas most likely to get stolen here (everything but the Hostiles) are giving away a lot of points to the runner. As a runner I'm ecstatic to trade to meat damage for an HRI. But a Chronos? Or a False Lead? That's a lot less interesting. I also found that I was rarely, if ever, scoring the HRIs and getting a big benefit out of them (of course, I wasn't running a SEA Source either). I ended up going with 3xFalse Lead, 3xHostile, 2xChronos, 3xAtlas, and 2xCleaners (13). The Jacksons become so crucial to this deck when you go up to 13 agendas, but dropping down to 10 or 11 really felt like it was nerfing my ID.

Second, yes, I found the BP was killing my ice. The Hostiles are barely worth scoring out (+5c on a score instead of just clicking for 3c). Add in a Fracking or a couple illicit ice and suddenly the runner is getting 6+ or 9+ free credits every turn just for running your centrals. That hurts bad, and good runners will hammer you with all those free credits.

The biggest difference between our decks looks to be the remote plays though. When you're hoping to tax and land tags with ice, or spring the Archer on them, you need to give them a reason to be running remotes instead of centrals. Having only 5 assets in the deck, and none of them being traps, seems like it would end up with you getting your HQ/R&D hammered all game long. Having advance-able assets does slow your tempo down a ton, but it gives the runner a lot more to be doing as well. Things like GRNDLs instead of Investors, DRTs, Shattered Remains, even a Secretary make it SO much easier to open up scoring windows by bluffing out agendas and taxing the runner to get into your remote when there's nothing there.

As far as influence, I think we're pretty close here. the 3xRaven and 3xJackson is a no-brainer here. But, I can't picture myself using up influence to bring barriers like Eli into Weyland (when you've already got Changelings and Firewalls, etc). I think I'd much rather bring in an extra SEA Source (if I felt like I was winning the money race enough), or bringing in Bandwith to make the runner spend more clicks clearing tags (another reason why I like False Lead so much in my agenda suite).

Either way, you're right, this is a REALLY fun deck to play right now (when both glaciers and FA seem to be getting crapped on by O&C). Doing that tag-dance with the runners makes the game very intense and interesting. You may not land very many against top runners, but against lower or mid-tier competition you're going to be burning down their houses more often than you'll be scoring out a win.

Have fun!

@MTUCache

The Cleaners is a viable choice, considering your wincon is usually Scorched. I do hope you know it does not work on the ID.

@scourged Correct. As I understand it, since the runner is choosing the damage (rather than the tag), The Cleaners is not triggered.

That being said, 15-20 games into playing with this ID, and I'm continuously leaning towards taking out the 5/3s for more 3/1s. Even if that meant taking 14 of them and gasp the Government Takeover. :p

(I'm imagining a scenario where I can double-bluff it out as a failed trap and then just leave it behind a single Archer, maybe with a Self-destruct to protect it. Probably a pipe-dream at best, but so far I haven't been much interested in scoring anything but 1-pointers to feed to my Archers... flatlines are 80-90% of your wins.)

@MTUCache

It sounds like the deck you're using may be going for a different play style than this one. I've tried using the ID more traditionally, with more 1 pointers and activating the ID more often, but I didn't feel that doing the tag dance with the runners I normally play was very effective. I wanted to take the deck in a different direction. I see this deck as more of a rush play style with the kill being a secondary win condition. I wanted to use the ID ability as a threat rather than repeatedly triggering it.

That being said I totally agree with your take on my agenda suite. Losing the Geothermal Fracking always feels rough and I will be changing it up with some more 1 pointers. I wanted to include Eli as a way to sap clicks but I agree it has felt more like dead weight than an effective taxing tool. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I'm definitely going to look into changing the deck with some of these points in mind.