Exile: Dumpster Diving 2.0 (Post NAPD List)

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akonnick 2081

You can nerf my Clone Chips, you can make me take a hard look at including Lady, you can even make me reconsider splashing for my singleton Parasite, but you just can't keep a good streethawk down.

I've been playing the core of this Exile deck for the past few months and decided to post as it may have just gotten better following the NAPD Most Wanted List. Not because Exile got any better (or any Shaper for that matter), but because the best Corps just got slightly worse. Addition by subtraction. If you bring a Tier 1 down to Tier 1.5, we may now be on equal footing. Lots of the best decks just got thrown in the dumpster and that is Exile's home turf :) At least that is the theory. The only card that I lost altogether that slightly worries me is Clot, but we'll see how we fare in this brave new world.

The core of the deck is fairly simple even though the deck looks slightly all over the place at first glance. Your economy is the now fairly well known Cache recursion/Aesop's Pawnshop powered up by Scheherazade and Sahasrara to passively net you tons of money and free cards from Exile's ability. Technical Writer has been another awesome card for the deck as you drop one early and are doing so much installing that the credits passively pile up for when you need them. Even if you draw one late, you just install it and sell to Aesop's and effectively turn it into an Easy Mark. The final piece to the puzzle that I toyed with for a while is the singleton Magnum Opus. This is basically your long term burst economy. I tried lots of different options, but all of them led me to specific turns in the game where I just wanted more credits for a key run and no quick way to make that happen. With 3-of Diesel, Self-modifying code and Test Run, it is very easy to find in the early game. You also have Leprechaun to take some of the sting off the memory cost (you don't need to host it on Leprechaun to make the memory work, but it certainly is nice).

The win conditions are R&D pressure through the 2 R&D interfaces and Imp, HQ pressure through Imp recursion and repeated runs once you Parasite the HQ ice (the Corp rarely heavily defends HQ against this deck as they have to shore up R&D and the remote to have a chance). It is also very easy to lock down the remotes if the Corp doesn't have heavy upgrades established as Femme Fatale (made better with all the Test Runs), Atman, Lady and Cyber Cyper give you hugely efficient answers to challenge a remote whenever needed given the piles of money you'll have access to once you get the economy set up. If the game goes long, you have Levy and a Same Old Thing to reshuffle your deck and go to town with a fresh batch of Imp, Parasite, Lady and all the recursion you could ever want.

I will be the first to say that this archetype takes some practice to get used to. There is a lot of upkeep and deck manipulation that you constantly have to keep track of in addition to the fact that your rig is constantly changing. Once you get the hang of it, you are left with deck that gives you access to all the best Shaper tricks, a very click efficient economy and lots of free card draw. Time in the post NAPD Most Wanted List meta will tell whether I need to shuffle a few things around to make room for Clot if the fast advance matchup ends up being too lopsided, but I'm happy where the deck is given the influence hit that Exile took from the list. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.

2 comments
1 Jan 2016 konoharaven

The MWL threw a wrench in my plans to play Exile for the store champs season, but after a few days, this is the sort of list that I want to tinker around with. I do have a few questions about a few of your choices here.

Originally, I was going to comment that Magnum Opus was too intensive, but thinking about it some, I'm realizing that you really don't need to host it on Leprechaun, since you can drop Leprechaun whenever to hold your Self-modifying Codes, or just turn into one extra . I really like that choice now.

Why Film Critic? I haven't found that NAPD Contract was too expensive to steal before the nerf, and after the MWL, I predict that NAPD Contract will make even less of an appearance. Is there any other reason not to score agendas as fast as you can grab them?

I only see Femme Fatale as your killer - I'll concede that you also have 2 Atman, but all three of those breakers are fairly expensive to bring out. Are you planning on rushing to Test Run -> Scavenge the Femme as fast as possible? Even if Architect takes the nerf, I still worry about running into sentries without a killer. Is there room to fit in a Mimic? As an aside, what do you use two Atman for? I found that one is usually enough in most match ups.

Is the singleton Quality Time working well for you? I'd found that with 3x Diesel, as well as draws from Exile's power and Symmetrical Visage, I found everything more or less fast enough.

All in all, I think I agree with you in that the hit corps have taken will let Exile compete on an even field, and I also think that with the hit to both AstroScript Pilot Program and SanSan City Grid, Clot isn't necessary, since you have good RnD and HQ pressure here.

2 Jan 2016 akonnick

@konoharaven thanks for the comments. Totally agree with you that the Napd list has forced some hard choices, but I still think exile can compete for a store champs. To answer your questions:

  1. Your point on the memory is spot on. I initially didn't have opus in the list as I assumed the memory wouldn't work, but the leprechaun helps a ton as you can fetch with smc In pinch and host late game smcs, imps and atmans at worst.

  2. Film critic is mostly a meta call for the flood of replicating perfection and midseasons decks that I have to play against. While you can't reliably find it with just one copy, I has stolen me many a future perfect or nbn agenda that would otherwise get you tagged to hell. I don't actually like playing film critic but I left it because I think both those Corp archetypes are going to see even more play in a post napd list world. If I'm wrong, this card could easily be something else.

  3. Test run/scavenged femmes do come early and often with this deck. While I agree that using atman for the big sentries has a high initial cost, this deck makes a lot of money and you can typically face check with impunity. With all the recursion, there isn't much to be afraid of and I am typically very aggressive at challenging remotes because of it. The long term rig of this deck is ridiculously efficient and the money you save on code gates and barriers pays for the atmans. I used to play two lady and swapped for an atman for some additional flexibility if I get into a pinch, but agree that you Only ever install one in most games. I played a mimic at one point but ultimately cut and decided that atman at 3 or paying with femme was a concession I was willing to make for architect.

  4. In my plays with this deck, I honestly found that the diesels weren't enough at times with all the one ofs that you want to assemble as fast as possible. When I had more influence, I even tested with inject to draw and put programs the heap. I cut down from two quality times to one and have been happy. I think visage would work fine as well if that is working for you and would be a good substitute.

Best of luck with your deck building and please do let me know what you settle on - always love collaborating with fellow exile fans.