Some Things Money Can Buy

Waterpile 248

Still trying to figure Apex out (as most are). Been playing him since Nationals and had fairly decent luck with this build. It's a mixture of a number of builds I've been seeing.

Account Siphon really slows the game down in the beginning if you can land one. Great thing about Apex is that you can float tags pretty effectively without being effected too badly thanks to Heartbeat. You can also use Siphon to get a Corp down to little/no money to Scorch you with.

I think the biggest part of this deck is to land a decent Apocalypse with the fewest cards on the table that you need to play. If you fear the kill, I've used Early Bird to install a spare Heartbeat with Uninstall or play another Heartbeat from hand. Or if there is no kill threat, it can save an important card from Apoc like Endless Hunger or e3 Feedback Implants.

Many of the other 1x includes in the deck allow for greater flexibility that I seem to have trouble with in Apex. Déjà Vu allows the double Siphon run into a remote. Early Bird to save something with Uninstall pre-Apoc. Levy AR Lab Access if you accidentally have to trash something that's unrevivable. Clone Chip to grab back a program after trashing it with EH. e3 Feedback Implants to compliment EH.

The 1x Gingerbread is excellent right now, especially since Assassin is so popular at the moment. Gets through annoying ice like Caduceus, Viper, Ichi.

Keyhole for post-Apoc if the Corp is struggling to recover.

I've kinda come to the conclusion that until Apex gets more card support, there are just some things that are going to make life miserable.

Turing. Basically, don't try to get into remotes. If you see it on a central, Prey it early. Then get rid of the other one with Apoc.

Architect. I really wouldn't hit an Architect intentionally unless you're going to Apoc the same turn (since it won't matter). I'm sure you could fit a 1x Mimic in here for something else, but I've resigned to letting it fire only when I allow it to after the initial encounter.

Draw still seems to be a problem. But hopefully an early Apoc/Siphon can help slow the game down enough to allow the draw up for key cards while applying consistent pressure.

3 comments
8 Dec 2015 iceqs

this deck has a lot of answer to a lot of things which Apex sucks at. But it still sucks - damn that ID is worthless.

To me personally, if a Runner deck lacks drawing tools, it's a bad deck. You cannot expect consistency from a deck without drawing power on the Runner's side. For decks that have tutors, things are a bit more tolerable, but for decks without tutors like this one, I really don't think it will work.

The amount of time I see people struggling to find their key cards with Apex is crazy. 3 copies of Endless Hunger does not guarantee that you will have it when you are using clicks to draw. Then you have all these 1-of events that cannot be recur, so if they come at the wrong moment, they are all dead cards. Then you have things like 1x E3 and Clone Chip. I just dont know how you can find them when you desperately need them. And then what would you do if your Hunting Grounds decides that it's a good idea to installed Deja Vu and E3/Keyhole/Levy/Siphon facedown? The amount of bad situations you end up with from using your own cards are too damn high.

TL;DR: No drawing power = inconsistency. 1 copy of many key cards without recursion is suicidal.

9 Dec 2015 SlayerCNV

Uninstall does no work with face down cards

9 Dec 2015 iceqs

@SlayerCNVhe meant that with Early Bird you can basically have 1 extra click to play before the Apocalypse. He then used the Uninstall to get what he needs back before firing it.