Silhouette's Revenge (MWL)

KitsuAeryn 296

This update brings my Silhouette deck into line with the NAPD Most Wanted List, and it has weathered the storm pretty well thus far!

Overview
This deck is active and straightforward: Brute force your way into any server you want with a suite of 2-strength breakers. Run early and often to force the Corp to install a lot of ice, and make them pay to rez it several times. Trust me: It'll tax them more than it taxes you.

Strengths
• Don't be afraid to float tags.

This deck comes equipped with four resources: Bank Job (which you'll pop the turn you play it); Mr. Li (which you only need early-game); Security Testing, and Kati Jones . Testing just costs a click to install, so at worst it's a $2 tax to the Corp if they click to trash it. No harm, no foul. You'd rather keep Kati on the board, but I've often contented myself with a big 12- or 15-credit infusion followed by Siphon runs. Let 'em trash Kati at that point if they want to; she's served her purpose.

• You can break everything, and do it cheaply

With 2 strength, $1/break, $1/pump across the board, your suite can and will smash into anything. No frills, no points of failure. You don't have to worry about central breakers, power counters, virus tokens, or other nonsense, and you'll never run out of MU -- you even have 1MU to spare for your Crescentus before you run. You're all set.

• You wage economic warfare on multiple fronts.

With Emergency Shutdown and Crescentus in your toolbox, the Corp has to pay for their nastiest ice multiple times -- all while keeping HQ secured against our ID ability and against Account Siphon. This leaves the other servers much weaker than they should be, which is actually what you want in this deck (we lack Legwork for a reason).

• You already know where their agendas are.

The Corp isn't storing agendas in their hand, because you're a criminal and they fear Legwork. And they aren't stashing them in remotes, because you're Silhouette and you'd see them.

Corp's best option is storing agendas in their R&D... and nobody can afford to keep R&D, HQ, and a scoring remote all protected enough to reliably keep this breaker suite out. Punish whichever option is weakest and never look back.

Weaknesses
• You need Mr. Li, Kati Jones, or Desperado in your opening hand to get the best possible start. Mulligan if necessary.

• Respect your opponent's ability to damage you. There's no Plascrete Carapace to save you, and I've Had Worse only takes you so far. You should be able to avoid most unpleasant surprises with your breakers and your ID if you're careful, particularly since the Corp should spend most of the game dead broke.

• You aren't packing much recursion, and this is a 40-card deck. This doesn't mean you need to win quickly, but it does mean you need to ration your resources. Make sure that every time you draw, it's for a specific reason.

Decision Points

• Influence choices

Corroder and Gordian Blade are reliable, flexible breakers that perform much better than the in-faction options Criminals have available. I've Had Worse gives you burst draw in an emergency and allows you to unexpectedly shrug off some unwanted damage. Retrieval Run gives you a sliver of recursion alongside an easy avenue for installing Garrote, and Desperado is just... necessary.

• Console Wars

I've tested this deck with -2 Desperado, -2 Security Testing, +2 Box-E, +1 Rolodex, and +1 Retrieval Run. It performed ok, but the economy was very, very tight.

• No stealth and no Blackguard

Too many moving parts to make those work consistently, and unlike Garrote, Blackguard's just not worth the price tag. Especially since Desperado easily pays for itself several times over during each game.

Happy Running! Take it for a spin and let me know what you think! I've enjoyed a much higher winning percentage with this than I ever expected Sil to be able to achieve, and I always have a blast running it :)

2 comments
17 Jan 2016 ChrisFerg

I've been loving this deck, thanks a lot for sharing!! Played it a lot on jinteki.net and had a lot of success - especially in a jinteki-heavy meta I really wanted to run a silhouette deck that would also hold its own against blue sun etc., and this seems to be just that! I'm going to try it out in a store championship tournament later in the month :) Thanks again!

19 Jan 2016 KitsuAeryn

Glad to hear you're having a good time with it! Let me know how it fares at the tourney; I'd be interested to hear if you discover any holes worth patching at your event!