Trolling the Moon

bubbathegoat 605

This is a neat little deck I've been having some fun with, and the theme of trolling the moon holds together pretty well (between AstroScript Pilot Program, Heinlein Grid, and Melange Mining Corp. as central cards). If the corp has enough time to get set up, this deck forms some formidable glaciers that the runner will struggle against, or at least some of the most obnoxious Trolls they have ever seen.

The main combo is Troll guarding any server with an installed Heinlein Grid while Surveillance Sweep is active. The runner will have to win the trace against the corp, or end the run, since losing a click costs them all of their credits. Troll doesn't even have any subroutines, so there is nothing to break, the trace just happens. So long as the corp has a pool of credits available, the runner will have to boost to outspend the corp, while the corp giggles at the runner's dwindling credit pool.

Installing Ash 2X3ZB9CY is a very solid boost to keep agendas safe in remotes, since the runner will struggle to get through Troll with enough credits to also hold off Ash's trace. I've made a runner spend over 30 credits to steal a Project Beale, which left enough of a scoring window for me to score 2 agendas afterwards.

AstroScript Pilot Program chain is old-school trolling, scoring out Agendas by Fast-Advance when there's still one safe in an impenetrable scoring server, just because. Global Food Initiative is the nicest way anyone has ever trolled; food feeds everyone but point-hungry runners. 15 Minutes is trolling. The runner stole an Agenda? nah, let's just take that back. Project Beale can be scored to cap-off an astro-chain, but the bonus points come from 13-advancing it to score the entire game on one agenda (warning, this is advanced trolling and may result in flipped tables).

Keegan Lane with Data Raven is trolling. Breaking the runner's rig when you don't need to isn't very nice, so make sure you do it every chance you get. Setting up a Data Raven with a token can let you install Keegan anywhere, and break anything at the worst possible time. I think this deck could benefit from some Product Placement to bluff extra Keegans and troll a little harder, but I never tried it. Sweeps Week would probably be the card to swap.

So this corp needs a pile of credits at all times, so where to get them? Melange Mining Corp. in a scoring remote, alternate turns of building and econ until the corp has a sufficient credit advantage over the runner. PPVP Kate and Magnum Opus runners can keep up with the credits, but most other runners will fall behind. Interns are very important to recur Melange Mining Corp., Keegan Lane to keep his troll chain going, or any parts of the combo that the runner manages to trash. Most of the time Jackson Howard is used to recur econ, but it is generally best to leave 1x Melange in the archives for Interns to target.

3 comments
16 Dec 2015 bubbathegoat

I forgot to mention, Dracō is a pretty strong ETR Sentry with a pile of credits and Surveillance Sweep. Even better if you know what killer the runner is using and set the strength of Draco just out of reach (e.g. 1 for Ninja and Switchblade, 2 for GS Shrike M2, 4+ for Mimic).

The tag that gets added into the ETR effect elevates it to trolling.

16 Dec 2015 Krams

Keep up the Dracō love! Such an underrated ICE!

I really like the decklist. Surveillance of the Heinlein Troll nicely combined with Keegan Lane tag punishment. At first I thought it was a bit light on ICE, especially ETR, but I guess the Sentries can bring real stopping power fast enough. I wouldn't know what to improve, it's all packed so nicely!

16 Dec 2015 bubbathegoat

Dracō and News Hound are the main ETR ICE, with the Heinlein Troll as the major run deterrent. Data Raven can end a lot of runs too, but it's main role is to combo with Keegan Lane.

Resistor is the gear-check piece/tag punishment ICE.

With Surveillance Sweep, Archangel fires a lot. It's good anywhere, but I like it in R&D or HQ to punish runs.

This deck depends very heavily on Surveillance Sweep and the Sol ability; hold onto duplicate Surveillance Sweep in HQ unless you know the runner isn't running Employee Strike. Luckily between 3 copies of the current in this deck and NBN Fast Advance, there is generally an opportunity to recover quickly.