Haarpsichord Studios: Psycho Beale 2.0

akonnick 2081

I have missed playing NBN Psychographics decks and I think they got a big boost with Explode-a-palooza. With that and NAPD Contract, you have 6 total agendas that create significant Corp tempo and money advantage that you can leverage into a Midseason trace. Then, you ultimately win with a giant Psychographics (or 2 smaller ones) to over-score out Project Beale or a singleton Market Research. While I love AstroScript as much as the next NBN player, I really want to experiment with this agenda composition and this seems to be the best thing to support the all-in Psychographics win condition. The rest of the deck is money, draw and cheap ice that is designed to be cheap to rez and in many cases continue to swing the money advantage in the Corp's favor.

Haarpsichord seems to be an ID that helps prevent downside risk of giving up agendas while you assemble combo pieces to win on the spot. In that sense, I think this ID can be equally supportive of a Scorched Earth deck and a Psychographics deck. I'm looking forward to seeing other takes on the ID and would welcome any feedback as I start testing this out.

10 comments
7 Aug 2015 Mechanoise

I love the variance in this deck compares to the typical NBN affair, and hats to you for trying an NBN deck without AstroScript Pilot Program! Make this Meta Changing! ;)

The biggest threat to this deck is Film Critic...but then again...if you're intending on laying that amount of tags on someone you could just trash it....

I'm sorry, I have no real feedback or constructive criticism right now. All I have is hope this does well :) Love the experimentation.

7 Aug 2015 whirrun

Very cool deck, completely different to my version which uses Kitsune to score it's huge Beales. I'm loving this id as it's finally got me to play NBN. If film critic is a thing, a couple of Data ravens and a snatch and grab seem like good ways to either get moe tag pressure or take it down.

Is pup the best use of influence? I'd be tempted by a one of Shinobi with this much econ, but I am a little janky at times.

7 Aug 2015 akonnick

@Mechanoisethanks for the comment and I'll do my part to make this real so we have some more choices when sleeving up the yellow cards. I agree that I'll be curious as to the impact that Film Critic has. I think this deck certainly can play fast enough to put together enough money to win before the runner can get set up, but we will see. I'm just as excited as you are to leave AstroScript at home for a change and give some other cards a chance to shine.

7 Aug 2015 akonnick

@whirrun thanks for your comment and just checked out yours as well. While I initially wrote Haarpsichord off when it was revealed, I've come around and agree there is something cool there. I am also very curious how much of an impact Film Critic makes and whether the best decks actually make room (I don't think a singleton copy is enough to worry about, so would have to be more than one for me to care).

I don't have Data and Destiny yet (some others in Atlanta brought it back from Gen Con), but I'm actually going to try out some number of Special Offers as it is just one sided money advantage. I got the Pup idea from others in the group who played it in their The World is Yours decks and it was great. It is basically Pop-Up Window 4-6 being cheap to rez and draining more money out of the runner than it costs you to rez on the first encounter. If I cut some number of Pup for Special Offer, you could just swap some number of Green Level Clearance for Blue Level Clearance.

I have an irrational love of Shinobi, but I'll be saving that gem for my new Making News deck once all the toys from Data and Destiny come out :) Thanks again and keep me posted on any thoughts as you keep playing Haarpsichord!

7 Aug 2015 FarCryFromHuman

NAPD Contract doesn't seem as worthwhile in Haarpsichord Studios. The runner can only steal one agenda a turn anyway, so burning agenda slots on agendas that protect themselves just doesn't strike me as the right way to go. I'd think two more Market Research and maybe a Character Assassination would work. Once Data and Destiny comes out there's a ton of great agendas in there that deserve a shot in here.

8 Aug 2015 Veste

I want this to be awesome, as I love NBN and all the fun paths to victory their faction creates, however, Film Critic is just killing these types of decks. Midseason Replacements, and basically all of Jinteki is going to take such a hit from that card. Maybe throw in a Snatch and Grab to try and prevent that pesky card from doing work?

8 Aug 2015 akonnick

@Veste if Film Critic does end up being a thing (which I honestly question long term), I totally agree that Snatch and Grab is going in the deck. I think Clot is the bigger threat in terms of being more widely played, but could just as easily make the Cyberdex a Snatch and Grab or swap the Anonymous Tip for a Snatch and Grab. Appreciate the comments!

10 Aug 2015 Wookiee

I feel like Data Raven replaces Datapike. It's still 4 to rez. It still effectively has "pay 2 or ETR" (and also costs a click most of the time) that can't be broken. And Data Raven means that, if the Runner is playing Film Critic, you still have a way to get them tagged so you can nuke the Film Critic. It doesn't have the hard ETR that Data Pike does, but it seems like the upsides make it worthwhile.

6 Sep 2015 CrimsonWraith

@akonnick Won a GNK tournament with a close variant of your deck, should show up in the "Inspiration for..." decks on this page. Main changes were Errand Boy over Pup and running 3x Snatch and Grab.

The Errand Boys helped further the credit gap between yourself and an aggressive runner, really meshes well with the Pop-up Windows, Explode-a-paloozas, and NAPD Contracts. You do have to be selective in choosing when to rez, and obviously avoid rezzing if the Runner can insta-Parasite it.

Snatch and Grab is a must with Film Critic everywhere. Worked well for me even when Film Critic wasn't on the table though, also killed a loaded Kati Jones and a turn two Professional Contacts.

I tried AstroScript Pilot Program repeatedly, and it didn't really fit in with how I was playing the deck. I've played tagstorm decks before with lots of tagging ice, where you can reliably use Psychographics on Astros and maintain fast advance as a viable back-up plan. I felt like this deck was much more all-in on Psycho Beale, and I won most games only scoring 1-2 agendas. With that playstyle, Astro is a blank 3/2 and you want the agenda suite that you're currently running.

8 Sep 2015 akonnick

@CrimsonWraith Thanks for letting me know and congrats on the win! The Snatch and Grabs make total sense and I can only imagine the look on people's face when you played it (much less more than 1). I like the Errand Boy and might try some number combinations between that, Pup and Green Level Clearance. I like the card draw option, but my newest build of this deck is going to try some number of Special Offer, which further helps with getting the money lead.

Glad to hear you tried with Astro. While I never actually tested it in this particular deck, it just didn't make sense to me either given what the deck wants to do. Thanks again for the comments and definitely keep me posted on future changes as you continue to play it.