Tenmorrhage v2.5 MWL

ivanbarker 666

My updated version of my Ken "Express" Tenma: Disappeared Clone Hemorrhage deck. After posting version 2.4 and getting a bunch of feedback I changed a couple of things around. General consensus and a bunch of testing has revealed that this deck is a hard sell versus glacier and it does best versus a horizontal deck. The deck needed some versatility just in case you get locked out and can't make your runs. I have tried to fix that a bit. As before, I would love additional suggestions!

Changes over last version:

The basic idea is to get rewarded for making runs, which is what you should be doing as a runner anyways. Everything in this deck gives you a bonus for running. With 12 run events and 3x Same Old Thing, Ken's ID is super useful. But his ID is even more useful for the 17 influence.

The influence here mainly goes towards Hemorrhage. The main idea here is to get Hemorrhage out nice and early and start making your runs. You will get virus tokens as a byproduct of those runs. Have both Hemorrhage out, and double your tokens. And then start making the Corp toss cards out. Now the Corp gets to choose which cards they toss, but it's never good for them. You could make them toss 2 cards per turn and break any combos they were building towards. But the advantage here is that they will keep their good cards, such as agendas, in their HQ, or in a server. There are also some good timing combos when to force a discard as well. After you've milled a bunch of cards, Legwork into HQ and steal all the agendas, or hit Archives with a surprise Hades Shard. Or Inside Job into a server. Furthermore, just leaving virus tokens on Hemorrhage is an awesome way to threaten the corp and make them play sub-optimally.

This is a deck about card and knowledge control. Utopia Shard is there instead of Plascrete Carapace to surprise the Corp and cause them to lose their killer combos. Enhanced Vision is included so we can figure out the optimal timing to Legwork into HQ or pop the Utopia Shard. Enhanced Vision is a fantastic card, and when combined with Hemorrhage, it gives a powerful tool to know what to trash, super useful if the Corp is keeping a small hand, or to make a guess as to what is being played.

Some specific card choices:

  • I decided to drop one Account Siphon for a Bribery. Later in the game I found Account Siphon less useful as more ICE went up and the Corp got rich. Bribery is a very versatile card. You can use it on any server, you can pay for it using your Public Terminal, it can be used on an inner unrezzed ICE, and you get a credit from Ken's ability. It's like an Account Siphon coupled with an Inside Job in a way, so I wouldn't spend more than 2 credits on it (plus 2 from Public Terminal). Another use is to get a credit while running. For instance, if there's an open server with Security Testing on it, play Bribery, but pay no extra. You would get 1 credit from Ken, and 2 from SecTest. Could also be useful if someone plays Enhanced Login Protocol. If you want you could swap this out for Running Interference.

  • In the most recent iteration I put in Fisk Investment Seminar. In v2.4 someone complained about card draw, and when you are locked out and unable to use John, then I agree card draw was slow. Fisk Investment Seminar can be used to help that, but it can offer a lot more than just card draw in this deck. In a way it can work as Hemorrhage would. When the Corp's hand is flooded with cards, they will have to discard down to 5 and they will decide what to trash. The timing is key for this card, so only use it when the Corp has a full hand, and if you do, then it's guaranteed that they will discard at least one card. Some key timings are: Use it, and then follow it up with Account Siphon so they have no credits to play any of these new cards. Use it in the middle of the Corp advancing a 5/3 agenda to break their tempo. Use it, and then the following turn use Hemorrhage twice, followed by a Legwork.

  • Retrieval Run is my program recursion in case some of my programs get nuked (People will target Eater or Hemorrhage). Or, it could be used to cheaply install Femme Fatale if I had thrown it into my heap due to overdrawing cards. Cerberus "Rex" H2 and Faerie will also end up in the trash, so you could get those back too. Coupled with Same Old Thing I could use it up to 4 times. And what's nifty is that I would get all bonuses, such as John Masanori, Enhanced Vision, and Hemorrhage.

  • In the end I chose Doppelgänger over Desperado to free up the influence in this post MWL era. I have found that I've missed the credits, however, if there's an open server, the ability to get 2 Hemorrhage tokens in one click is fantastic. If there's 2 open servers and you have both Security Testing out, then it's even sweeter.

  • Public Terminal is being used instead of Prepaid VoicePAD due to the lower install cost to get it set up quicker. Most of the events are run events (8 run events costing money), and PPVP is only more useful for Special Order or Sure Gamble (5 events). But realistically PPVP would only be used maybe 4 times extra over Public Terminal. I include 3 copies to get this out early.

  • John Masanori is a fantastic card for this deck. Providing extra draw for what you are doing already. However, if you get locked out, then this could be a dead card, thus why I include only 2 now.

  • I ultimately went with Kati Jones. I cannot argue against the pure economical gains of this card. It has saved me a bunch when I've been locked out of servers, and so this is my answer to being more flexible with glacier decks, and to restart my economy.

  • Eater is the MVP here. It gets you in basically everywhere. And with cards that say instead of accessing, it is super handy. Account Siphon, Retrieval Run, Dirty Laundry, Hemorrhage, John Masanori, installing the shards... etc. it all works great.

  • I am now fairly happy with my breaker suite. The deck really did need Corroder. You could swap the Retrieval Run for another Corroder, but if you do, I would swap the two Cerberus "Rex" H2 for a Passport and a Peacock... but that becomes too diversified.

  • A quick note on Hades Shard. Sometimes you might want to play it to the table. This provides another real threat. When the Corp discards cards due to Hemorrhage, they always realize that you could pop this at anytime, and so they might leave a couple more agendas in hand. However, a more devious play is playing it straight from hand (paying for it) and popping it right away. If you play it from hand, and trash it, there is no window for the Corp to Jackson their archives... so it's totally unexpected and the Corp can't prevent it. People use the Archives as temporary storage, this exploits it.

What you want to see in an opening hand:

What I would like to fit into the deck or change:

  • I would like to fit in Symmetrical Visage to help with drawing to get John Masanori or when I get locked out and have to draw manually

  • Three Steps Ahead has been fantastic when testing this deck with Doppelgänger. With Doppelgänger out, you could potentially get 8 credits in a turn, before any Security Testing, or Dirty Laundry. With all of the tricks this deck has to offer it has the potential to rake in a ton of credits (and you get accesses too). In a way it's like a criminal Magnum Opus. But, it really doesn't help later in the game if you get locked out, and that is why I didn't include it.

  • I'd like to get down to 45 cards.

8 comments
4 Feb 2016 Gaxeco

Have you thought about High Stakes Job and Mongoose in this deck? You can easily cut the faeries and maybe the Dirty Laundry

4 Feb 2016 ivanbarker

Thanks for the comment @Gaxeco! I don't own the data pack yet so I haven't added them, but both of those were for sure substitutions I was considering.

I wouldn't cut all 3 Dirty Laundry, but I would do 1 for a High-Stakes Job. High Stakes kind of scares me with the high cost and unrezzed ICE clause (could be an expensive use if you can't get in), but with Enhanced Vision you can certainty make a guess as to what the ICE is. It would also be good Account Siphon followup when the corp is too poor to rez.

Mongoose seems awesome. I would for sure want to test with that. 3 credits to install is a little more than Faerie though, so early game it might be a bit of a tempo hit comparatively. I'd have to try it to see.

4 Feb 2016 GrantZilla1979

Stacked program trashing is back and it's nasty. I think if you're going to run Mongoose here, some manner of ICE destruction/denial helps.

5 Feb 2016 bmeagle

I have played this deck a bunch, and like it. My only problem is that when Hemorrhage comes up, great. I have had WAY to many go where I haven't seen one, or got it late game. I really would like to try to find a way to tutor for it.

5 Feb 2016 ivanbarker

@bmeagle nice, glad you've been enjoying it. I fully agree about the Hemorrhage not coming up in time. You want it early game to snowball. I've played around with the idea of adding in Djinn to tutor it. You could replace Retrieval Run with it if you wanted to. Then you would have 2 hemorrhage and 1 tutor that could happen early. And it would help with MU. Only problem is that Djinn is dead later game, and if it gets trashed with both Hemorrhage on it, then that'd hurt. But give that a try and let me know if it helps!

Also, after trying it a bunch, do you have any suggestions on how to streamline a bit more?

5 Feb 2016 bmeagle

The only change I made to this version of the deck was to take out the 2x Enhanced Vision in exchange for 2x Passport. I was finding myself getting eventually locked of by servers with enigmas and Anti-AI ice. The Rex would run out fairly quickly. Plus, if I drop the passport, the Corp thinks I am running centrals only and will try to drop an agenda behind a code gate thinking it is safe. I then drop the Rex and run it. The only other thing that I wish this deck had was scorch protection. I am running so often, that I get SEA Sourced or steal something and get Mid seasoned.

I find myself missing the Enhanced Vision a bit as well. This deck is on the cusp of being a great deck, Post-MWL. I think if it was a little more consistent at getting it's pieces out early, it would make that jump to tier one.

5 Feb 2016 ivanbarker

Thanks a ton @bmeagle. I concur, there are a few too many moving parts that are only 2 cards. 3 cards would make it a bit more consistent, but I'm not sure how to beef up those numbers and what to cut.

Enhanced Vision could for sure be cut, since it's not essential and doesn't do anything beyond give you knowledge. I don't really like guessing, but if you are comfortable with guess work, then by all means cut it.

If you wanted to try something, you could:

That should give you 2 of every program type, just in case something gets trashed, plus a virus tutor. And then you could keep the Enhanced Vision, or still drop those to beef something else up. You would have 1 run event less, but that's ok. My only issue with this is that there would be a lot of variation in the programs. You might not get what you need. I dunno. Would be worth trying.

5 Feb 2016 bmeagle

I think my next iteration of this deck will be to just make a simple change of dropping the Bribery for a Plascrete. Then I need to learn to be a more aggressive person at mulliganing.