Showing off completed Apex v1.1

gar0u 8

This is my first attempt at an Apex deck.

It obviously takes advantage of all the Apex jank. The rest of the deck is built around unconventional access, including Quest Completed.

If things get tough, Notoriety can add up to three points of "agenda" using the same tech that works for Quest Completed.

I didn't realize v1.0 was over the 25 influence limit by 1. The first time I played it, it did very well (8:0), but it could have obviously benefited from the inclusion of Inside Job. I removed two copies of Feint to make room for Inside Job, and swapped out Hades Shard for Prey to get v1.1 down to 25 influence.

The second time I played the deck, I won again (7:0). Twice I scored a 2-point agenda out of a remote server protected by three ice with Quest Completed. The third 2-point agenda I got lucky by running on the server on turn 4 and picking up a tag--incredibly lucky to dump the tag next turn. Then, playing it safe I scored a Notoriety for the win.

Way too early to tell how the deck will perform, but so far it's looking good!

7 comments
21 Nov 2015 aermet69

This is by far one of the coolest Apex ideas, I've seen. I like the double down on the 3-central access. However, either you had some other cards in the previous deck or there are some choices I simply don't understand. Q-Coherence Chip? I get that you can set up Data Folding this way, but you could also just play 6 money cards. Seems like a lot of stuff for that, and once you trash Harbinger, they all die. Also, Ice Carver? I don't see anything it helps with. Endless Hunger is 11 STR. Sure you might see a random 12 STR piece of ICE and that would be annoying, but unless you face a lot of Stronger Together, I'm not sure what that would be??

I think some card draw and some extra actions would benefit you. Not sure how to get the extra clicks though, without using Hyperdriver (which in turn requires a lot of MU).

21 Nov 2015 tendermovement

In addition to aermet69's comment, Ghost Runner also seems to do nothing as it's used during the run and you don't have anything to use the credits on.

Strangely built but an interesting concept.

21 Nov 2015 StarryVeck

What's Ice Carver doing here? Seems like it only combos with Prey, and you only have one of those...

21 Nov 2015 PeterCapObvious

Have your Q-Coherence Chips stuck around for long?

21 Nov 2015 gar0u

Thanks for the comments, @aermet69, @tendermovement, @StarryVeck, and @PeterCapObvious. It is exciting to get some feedback on my deck.

I started off by grabbing all the virtual resources in my card pool (which is two core sets and one copy of everything else up to Data & Destiny). Then I pulled out anything that looked interesting, and tried to get the deck size down to 45 cards and 25 influence.

The main idea is still non-standard access to agenda via Quest Completed, supported by other cards like Feint, Hades Shard, and Inside Job.

Cards like Ice Carver and Xanadu are just virtual resources that had global applicability. I've gotten them out both games, and they have not had any value, except as something expensive I could trash if I needed it for Endless Hunger or Heartbeat. So they will not make it to version 1.2. In fact, I've needed very little economy, in general.

Data Folding requires Q-Coherence Chip due to the 4MU cost of Endless Hunger, and the combo has a "supercomputer" flavor, but there are probably better cards for the limited economy the deck needs. I also found there there were times that I didn't really need to do anything (if you're not playing against a fast advance deck), so there were actions I could spend just taking a credit.

Lastly, Prey was only added to get the deck size up from 44 to 45 without going over 25 influence.

The deck's current weakness is ice that does not have an "End the run" subroutine. There may be enough protection built into it that this is not a problem, or I may need to add some "trace buster buster" cards. The next version may be 2.0, that hones the central server/alternate access strategy and cleans up these cards that don't have synergy or otherwise add value.

21 Nov 2015 Krams

Common programs to play alongside Endless Hunger are AI breakers (like Faust or Crypsis) or Mimic, which can break some of the nastiest non-ETR ICE for low influence. Also, e3 Feedback Implants helps to break subroutines on ICE that also have an ETR sub. Finally, ABR is a virtual resource that breaks any ICE.

In my own Apes deck, I opted for Deus X and Sharpshooter instead of the above. Especially the Sharpshooter does a great job in dealing with ICE that can hold off Apex. An ETR ICE behind a Destroyer? Not a problem!

21 Nov 2015 Oneiro

Although insidejob is quite cool and can be a big surprise, i think that DDoS is better in most scenarios, because it helps way more to get into all three centrals. Furthermore it is pretty thematic in Apex. I would definitely drop Xanadu and Ice Carver. Another thing that catches my eye are all those "run all three centrals"-cards. I understand that those are your main concept, but i think they are conflicting with each other. The first thing a good corp player will do against apex is to defend his centrals enough to make apocalypse hard to pull off. You are able to get through problematic ice exactly twice and only if they are the outermost piece, or the outermost piece does not get rezzed. A gameplan, where all your main winning conditions require you to spend a whole turn is probably not a strong option. I would almost always rather play an Apocalypse than any of the two other options. I think that Notoriety is pretty cool in this deck, to close out a game. But QC lacks a real purpose. And like most Apex decks Caprice and Crisium Grid completely ruin your day. As others suggested i would try to squeeze in a few A.I.-breakers like Crypsis, Faust or Overmind.