Battyshop - 1st at Derby

RotomAppliance 2932

This is the updated Blue Sun which I took to 1st place at Derby. Compared to my Sheffield / York list, I changed the defensive upgrades to Batty, and rejigged the ice and econ package slightly to fit. The 3 Sapper were brought in to really lean into the rigshooting aspect of the deck, and proved excellent on the day. The highlight was using it to trash D4vid on a Batty psi game, ensuring a Chiyashi flatline. The funniest moment was in the Grand Final, where Wu stimhacked into HQ turn 1, fetching two Rezekis, only to have one promptly trashed by an accessed Sapper. It had a couple of similarly entertaining moments in testing also. My jnet version of the deck replaces one Sapper with a Tithonium, which also plays really well with Batty.

I think this version provides more game against Surfer Wu and other Shapers relying on Leprechaun, as program hits can buy enough time to close out before the lock becomes serious. I'm still iffy on the Wu matchup in general, but haven't played enough games to know for sure.

The deck went 5-0 on the day, beating 2 Wu, 419, Hayley and Adam. 3 scoring wins, 1 Punitive flatline and one net damage flatline.

6 comments
8 Sep 2019 Cpt_nice

Nice deck! You didn't miss City Works Project?

8 Sep 2019 RotomAppliance

I've not tried it in this list, so I don't know. I think both SSL and SDS are very strong agendas, and the fact they work whether scored or stolen is a big selling point for me. They can also be mistaken for NGO Fronts and vice versa - I don't know whether I want to give up all of that just to have an agenda that's sometimes easier to push through. I've seen City Works used in 8 agenda Blue Sun, so it's probably just personal preference.

9 Sep 2019 b3ar
  1. Wouldn't Tithonium be better than Chiyashi here? Then you could also include two Daily Quests.

  2. Sometimes I don't draw an Agenda when I want to rush or have a scoring window. What do you do in this situation?

  3. Would you consider Digital Rights Management to help in situations described in 2? What would you cut for it? Marcus Batty or Chiyashi/Daily Quest?

  4. Do you have any general advice on strategy with the deck.

Thank you, your help is appreciated.

9 Sep 2019 RotomAppliance

I'll do my best!

On 1. Tithonium has excellent synergy with Batty, but makes for a worse Building Blocks target, which is the biggest reason you're playing huge ice in the first place. Using Building Blocks on Tithonium is feasible, but only really gives you as much value as Hedge Fund, using it on Chiyashi gives you a better deal. Also, Tithonium is great if it fires but not a very taxing presence otherwise, whereas Chyiashi is super painful to run through repeatedly.

2 / 3. It's annoying when it happens, but every deck is vulnerable to it to an extent. I think I'd cut Chiyashis before touching the Battys, but currently I'm not tempted to change the influence spread. Fast track is also an option, but this deck does not have to rush out in order to win.

On 4. General strategy, I see it as a deck with several prongs of attack. You'll get some Punitive kills, but don't have to despair if that gets turned off. Batty, Sapper and SDS Hunters provide a good rigshooting angle, but again you don't have to tunnel vision on a pure lockout - just using it to slow the runner down and open up scoring windows can be enough. When the runner runs a server with Batty in it, take a moment to consider all of your options for which sub you're trying to resolve - sometimes it's end the run, sometimes trash a program, sometimes a sneaky net damage hit, especially if they're Stimhacking. I was guilty of not doing this in the Grand final, though in the end it didn't matter as I lost the psi game.

The deck can play a brisk game and score out quickly, maintaining tempo with SSL money or slowing the runner down, but don't assume you have to win inside 8 turns if the game doesn't look that way. You have a robust economy, some of the best ice in the game with Border Control and Surveyor, and 3 Marcus Batty. You can establish some absolutely ridiculous servers and win in the lategame too.

Using Afshar on the remote is fine even though it has better numbers on HQ - sometimes what you really need is a gearcheck to help early scores. You can always bounce it back and put it on HQ later if necessary, but against Shapers you might not even be icing HQ at all.

That's about all I can think of. Beyond that, just have fun I guess. Set yourself a challenge for number of loaded Leprechauns you can shoot, it's fun and pretty effective in game too. Good luck.

27 Sep 2019 Kralle

@RotomAppliance how about film critic have you thought about putting a under the bus in or Elizabeth mill

29 Sep 2019 rattkin

@RotomAppliance, do you feel like there's a need for additional taxing in current meta, in form of Scarcity of Resources or Reduced Service maybe?

Was the 1x Preemptive Action useful? Sure, you can recycle Building Blocks, Battys and probably some econ, but given it's just one copy, how important it was to your games?