Technically Correct(the best kind of correct)Hayley*1st@2SC

ZiNOS 435

The art of playing multiple cards as fast as you can giving you money at the same time, with the use of the Technical Writer.

After a lot of tries with various Hayley builds, this is what I have come up with, running a good streak in the current SHL (edit: currently 17-3) and being able to have answers to almost everything.

This deck tries to emulate the power of PPvP Kate. There is a lot of economy, you draw like crazy, apply pressure from the start with an SMC out, but since you lack all the events, you have to slow down and make a rig, drop the interfaces and then go for the Lock.

Card Choices:

Economy

The economy engine is based on 10 cards. Technically on 7 but almost always the first SMC will fetch Scheherazade. So you have 1X Scheherezade 3X Aesop's Pawnshop and 3X Technical Writer. Everything installed will either net you a cred from Scheherazade and/or counters on the writers. You want to install many things ASAP so you install, use Hayley's ability to install more, use Aesop and repeat. Take care only to the fact that the trashing of a face up #Harbringer will trigger your ability at the start of your turn, rendering it off for the turn.

Harbringer is preferred to recurring credits and Chameleon tricks used in other lists just because it can be used multiple times, netting more money.

It is not unusual for this deck to hover around 20 credits with some money more on the writers.

Breaker Suite

The breakers were selected because they are the most efficient ones and since MWL came out, Snowball was the only choice for a Fracter. It may seem silly at first but it is only a little more expensive and sometimes you get to laugh at the barrier walls raised by Weyland.

Utility Cards/Meta Choices

Kati Jones is here for the Glacier Match up, Clot for the FA one (and can be installed from hand via Hayley shenanigans), Film Critic for the various agendas you do not want to encounter and Sacrificial Construct for the random trash/Markus Batty/Power Shutdown. If FA in more prominent then a 3rd RnD interface may seem prudent, if net damage is more prominent, a 2nd Levy will do the trick. Plascrete Carapace is what it is :)

And Notoriety is there against Foodcoats and for extra style bonus. Can be substituted for any other meta card.

Really strong deck IMHO but needs a pilot that can evaluate the opposing deck and pace his/her game accordingly. FA proves to be the most difficult match up but sometimes you have the Clot and it cannot go away :). And then you lock them.

31 comments
10 Feb 2016 Rookofkings

Im concerned about Scheherazade the program is vulnerable from power shutdowns, i know you wont install your breakers on it, but the clots, cache and harbringers still though its risky for 1cr outcome

10 Feb 2016 ZiNOS

@Rookofkings You have 1 X Sacrificial Construct and 3 X Harbinger. Any of these 4 can be sacked for the Power Shutdown. Even a Self-modifying Code can do the trick. Try the list and you will see that you are safer than it seems. I, for one thing, almost always install my breakers on Scheherazade and never have problems.

Try the list and comment again if you still have the same problem.

10 Feb 2016 ZiNOS

And most of the problems that you state as fearfull of getting trashed are fed to Aesop as soon as possible.

10 Feb 2016 Brighteyes

Also, you don't really have to worry about a Power Shutdown unless you are playing against a deck that is likely to have one in there. Which most Tier 1 decks, currently do not. If you're a smart player, when you see a weird deck that could in theory have it, you can play a bit more carefully.

10 Feb 2016 Greek Geek

The best part of this deck for me is Aesop's. While Technical Writer is an amazing card sometimes you are going to pull one of them in the last few cards of the deck or when you will be fully set up. Even then it will probably be a good choice to install him for the 3 credit's gain at the beginning of your next turn. Click for 3 credits is a nice trade off especially if you get to intsall another useful card on the same time.

I still think it is a bit slower than PPVP Kate (the fastest deck on the game TM), mostly because you trade your early game advantage for the late game, but really if you manage to get to the there fast enough there is almost nothing to stop you.

10 Feb 2016 Saan

Consider Earthrise over Quality Time, especially in a Hayley deck that runs Aesop's. First, you can use it for a double install, so that's nice. Second, you can sell it to Aesop's when it's on its last charge. This effectively makes it 1c for 4 cards, as opposed to 3c for 5 cards that Quality Time provides. It's a slower draw, since you only get 2 cards at a time, so it depends on how you want your cards. I tried it and liked it, but you might like Quality better. I just thought I'd mention it.

I kind of wish there were room for a Lady or two, but with it on the MWL it's hard to fit in. Snowball makes me sad to play. I don't know where you'd find the room, but Modded would be good here, since a good chunk of the icebreakers and hardware costs 3+.

Either way, good luck =) I want to see Haley do well.

10 Feb 2016 Chounard

Have you had problems with selling Harbinger to Aesop getting in the way of Hayley's ability? It's the main reason I haven't used the card in my list.

10 Feb 2016 Greek Geek

@Chounard How so? Why would selling Harbinger to Aesop's trigger Hayley's ability?

10 Feb 2016 Chounard

@Greek GeekIt counts as an installed card so it triggers, but it doesn't have a type so you can't install anything else.

11 Feb 2016 Brighteyes

@Chounard I hadn't even considered that. Seems reasonable it would work like that, do we have a ruling on this?

@Saan Definitely agree on the superiority of Earthrise here.

@Greek Geek Yep. Aesop is the main economy engine. Technical Writer is just additional economy help that makes the deck more reliable since it meshes so well with the rest of the deck,

I kind of wish there was space for a single Deus Ex. Might sound redundant. But I think PE is making a comeback, especially in Greece. Might sound crazy, but I'd consider dropping Atman for the Deus Ex.

11 Feb 2016 ZiNOS

@Chounard Sometimes the trashing of the Harbringer will get in your way of installing two cards for this turn. You can "bypass" this by using SMC or clone chip to install something during your opponents turn and use the ID ability or trash the Harbringer when you plan to start running or drawing. It takes some planning and sometimes may be a pain in the ass but the nuxt turn you have another target to pawn (the face down card) and the money are so much (combined with Scheherazade and Technical Writer) that I will not consider removing Harbringer.

11 Feb 2016 ZiNOS

@Saan Concerning Earthrise Hotel. It will net you 4 cards for 1 credit if you trash it. Quality Time will net you 5 cards for 3 creds. If the money engine is already set (Technical Writer and Scheherazade ) the extra card drawn is probably worth more than two creds and an action to draw it. If the money engine is half set, Earthrise Hotel seems the more prudent choice. If the money engine is not set at all though (the beginning of the game) and you are missing components, Quality Time will help you find them. So neither is clearly superior to the other one, both have their merits. I will keep in mind every time I play now and I draw Quality Time, if Earthrise Hotel was better in that situation. After some games I think that I will come to a conclusion. Thnx for the proposition m8.

11 Feb 2016 clercqie

Good shout on Quality Time. Without a doubt superior to ProCo in Hayley.

11 Feb 2016 ZiNOS

@Saan Concerning Moddedover Sure Gamble. The targets for Modded are 6. The 3 breakers and the 3 Interfaces. Sure Gamble will give you 4 creds every time. Moddedwill net you 3 creds but will also net you one click that is more valuable than the 1 added credit from Sure Gamble. So in theory Modded seems better. It will not however work after the Levy. Hmmmm i should definitely give a try to Modded. I am not sure it will work but if I switch the 3 Sure Gamble with 3 Modded and add one more R&D Interface , totalling to 46 cards but gaining 3 clicks in the process, then this is something worth trying. Thnx for the heads up m8.

11 Feb 2016 hi_impact

@Greek GeekHarbinger flips over and installs a 'nothing' subtype, triggering Hayley's ability and allowing her to install another 'nothing', which of course she won't.

You can get around this by Clone Chipping in phase 1.1 before Aesops in phase 1.2.

If you've been double installing after selling a Harbinger you may have been cheating a couple clicks out accidentally.

Harbinger is still good in the deck. You aren't double installing every single turn.

12 Feb 2016 wompa164

You should include 3x Astrolabe if possible - it's more valuable when it comes out early and you can feed it to Aseops later.

12 Feb 2016 ZiNOS

@wompa164 If your meta is full of the new NEH horizantal decks , yes this is a valid propositions. Notoriety is for the Glacier deck matchups. So you can easily remove the Notoriety and add a 3rd copy of Astrolabe. Seems like a plan ;)

15 Feb 2016 ZiNOS

Since the 2 armed Ice Feast whizzard deck is forcing NEH FA to rise again, as a Meta call, the Kati Jones or the Noto0riety can be removed and a 3rd Astrolabe added since it can really help in the NEH FA match up. I will remove the Kati since Notoriety sometimes is the last point you need, even against Neh FA palyinx only 1 X Breaking News and 1 X 15 Minutes.

15 Feb 2016 ZiNOS

@Brighteyes Against PE is surely a tough match up but when I play against PE I change my play style 100%. No more mad installs, no more mad card drawing and discards. The card that you fear most is Chronos Project, so either you run everything or you use the Levy earlier than normal. You have to run their servers early, just to see what they are playing and to show that you are not afraid to run. Kati Jones is your friend so you her installed as soon as possible, same goes to film critic that will save you 5-6 net damage from the agendas that you are going to host on her. All the other cards are expendable, you use them to soak net damage. The worst card to face is Psychic Field and Deus X can be king for that. So, yes, if Jinteki: Personal Evolution is so dominant, you can get a Deus X in. But consider not removing Atman. #Atman for any trap Ice can be really good (assuming they are playing Trap Ice of course). Still, all the other cards are also good, only a Sure Gamble or Daily Casts are actually worse against PE. Hmmm tough one, I would re move a Daily Casts if PE is so dominant (or go to 46 since this is also good against PE :P).

15 Feb 2016 Brighteyes

How much do you actually use Atman in this deck? My question is mostly because this deck doesn't have Datasuckers which really synergise with Atman.

15 Feb 2016 ZiNOS

@Brighteyes I do not use Atman a lot, only for specific matches. Against RP it is used to negate Excalibur and Crick, against PE to negate trap ice, against NEH FA to negate either Little Engine (and turn it into a profit), Archangel and Tollbooth (the worst ice to face n this deck). Surely, not a lot of uses but surely uses that save you a lot of money. And is always a safety switch for any random net damage, discard and stuff. That's all actually :).

15 Feb 2016 Brighteyes

You make a very convincing case with Little Engine, Archangel and Tollbooth. And I'll further add Assassin to that list.

23 Feb 2016 ZiNOS

The changes I made up to now are the following:

.Since a lot of NEH FA is out, -1 Kati Jones, +1 Astrolabe. In case BS is running rampart as anti-faust tech, maybe Kati will return. .Since both Snowball and Gordian Blade gain bonuses until the end of the run, I removed the Notoriety (always found the agenda when I was making the 3 runs for Notoriety) and added 1X Escher in order to group the barriers and the Code gates together, for more efficient braking. Mixed results up to now, time will tell.

23 Feb 2016 ZiNOS

The changes I made up to now are the following:

.Since a lot of NEH FA is out, -1 Kati Jones, +1 Astrolabe. In case BS is running rampart as anti-faust tech, maybe Kati will return.

.Since both Snowball and Gordian Blade gain bonuses until the end of the run, I removed the Notoriety (always found the agenda when I was making the 3 runs for Notoriety) and added 1X Escher in order to group the barriers and the Code gates together, for more efficient braking. Mixed results up to now, time will tell.

23 Feb 2016 bubbathegoat

I've been testing with this list for a little more than a week now. I would like to highlight how powerful the econ engine out of this deck is. It comes up with money consistently every turn, and banks big reserve on Technical Writers and Kati Jones. Kati is very helpful in Glacier matchups, but not always necessary for rush or FA. If you don't see much glacier, ProCo or Baby might be better.

I had been using Corroder, but I'm switching back to Snowball. The deck has enough money to support the more expensive breaker, and the HQI is definitely needed, which I had foolishly cut.

My favorite tale from playing this deck is: I am on 6 points, running econ waiting for Blue Sun to install an agenda to close out the game. BS knows what's coming and is bottling up agendas in HQ (this happens a lot, HQI is valuable).
BS OAI's a Curtain Wall on HQ, in front of 2x Hadrian's wall.
I clear off Technical Writer and Kati to run HQ. Break and Trash OAI. SMC for Atman 7 to set up repeat runs on HQ until I hit the agenda I need (btw, Snowball would have just been plain better than Corroder here too.)

Overall the deck is a lot of fun to pilot, I highly recommend trying it out!

24 Feb 2016 ZiNOS

After some comments from @bubbathegoat, on Stimhack, he proposed a 3rd Clone Chip in place of a Harbinger.

This is what I answered and it proves him correct :D. So I will take out one Harbringer and add a 3rd Clone Chip.

"Harbringer is 6 credits, a CCed Cache is 5 credits-1 for the install of the CC in the first place. If technical writers installed =2 then it evens out, if Technical writers=3 then the CC is better.....hmmmm OK, I will try the 3rd CC. I am sold :)"

28 Feb 2016 Rubenz

Hey, really loving the deck but missing the private workshop bs. I'm thinking of including two instead of the Kati and notoriety.

But since I'm still a newb I wanna make sure I'm not missing anything. Is the workshop somehow badly positioned at the moment or doesn't work in the deck?

Thanks for your help :)

29 Feb 2016 bubbathegoat

Most of the installs are pretty cheap, so the personal workshop doesn't necessarily give lot of value. It would allow more installs to work around the timing of selling Harbinger to Aesop, so that may be helpful if you think you are missing too many install triggers.

I'd advise Escher over Notoriety, as @ZiNOSmentions above the breakers in this deck really combo well with the ability to rearrange ICE to the runner's interest.

My brother piloted a variant of this deck to top 8 in a 42-player field in an SC today, so it is a very excitingly strong deck that isn't anarch.

29 Feb 2016 ZiNOS

As @bubbathegoat already replied, Personal Workshop will work with the more expensive cards, not with the cheap ones. If you feel that some econ is lacking though, @Rubenz, you can always try replacing Kati and Notoriety with 2 X Modded, for use with the 4 cost cards that you have in your deck. The only problem being that most of the times, if you play Levy AR Lab Access, the Modded will be useless in the second pass of your deck.

Play the deck , enjoy the deck :)

14 Mar 2016 Fabregus

I love this deck. I love ZiNOS.

In the last 3 tournaments (the only ones i used this deck) i have a 2nd place (GNK), and 2 SC won! Record is 14-4 if i am not mistaken, and it could be even better should i be more careful.

My last build was the initial decklist above with +1 clone chip, -1 Harbinger. Notoriety locks the game far too many times to be ignored imho. I even score it early with some NEH decks.

15 Mar 2016 Chounard

I've been playing a slightly modded version for awhile and I really love it. I've been seeing a ton of horizontal corp decks that are willing to grind out the long game with Museum of History. Now I'm trying out a Paricia to search for with SMC and so far I'm really happy with it.