GrappleWheel Apex

ChrisTheEnby 67

So, this is a deck I've wanted to try at my LGS ever since getting my hands on The Turning Wheel. I feel Wheel really helped Apex out in the virtual resource department, if only because it gives him influence cheap multiaccess for doing what he's trying to do anyway, run centrals to get off Apoc.

Outside of that, the biggest problem with Apex is getting through ice with... his rather limited economy options. If you have your rig setup with both your Endless Hunger and Heartbeat you'll have 1 spare MU... ANd I think I've found the perfect thing to spend that MU on. A little overlooked Criminal program called Grappling Hook.

The basic idea is when you think about it, Endless Hunger deals with end the runs, and Grappling Hook deal with any other problematic subroutines. the problem with Grappling Hook is that normally it's just useless against single subroutine ice. but think about it, most ice that have a single sub are, yep, you guessed it, end the run.

There are still flaws however, Resistor, Apex's arch nemesis, is still a huge problem this deck doesn't answer adequately, however, for those multi-sub ice that does a lot of damage you'd previously have to invest a lot into heartbeat to not die to like Jinteki ice the likes of Janus 1.0 or other big scary bioroids? What about getting around some of those multi-sub Trace ice that Apex doesn't have the money to fool around with? (Caduceus, etc.), or just ice that has a lot of run end subs to break where it'd be cheaper to trash this one card than feed a ton into Hunger? (NEXT Silver in HB glacier springs to mind.) Grappling Hook is worth it's weight in GOLD.

the 2 Retrieval Run have one job and one job only, recur Grappling Hook.

Outside the 2 deck namesake cards, a majority of the influence is tied up in Account Siphon and Diesel. They're needed though, Apex needs the econ and card draw.

The last point of inf was spent on Easy Mark because I thought extra burst econ would be helpful, alternatively it could've been a 3rd copy of Wheel but I wasn't sure.

If I play this deck at league/tourney night, I'll let you know. it's kinda wacky and weird so I'm not expecting a lot out of it. I know DDoS apex is probably better but I don't have that card.

2 comments
18 Jun 2016 Krams

Interesting choice not to include e3 Feedback Implants, since they're regarded as mandatory for both Endless Hunger and Grappling Hook.

18 Jun 2016 tendermovement

Turning Wheel feels too much of a slow-burner to be of much use in Apocalypse Apex. It'll get trashed by yourself often too soon before getting counters to give you multiple accesses. Banking on the counters on the other hand will slow down your game.

I think 1 copy would be enough for when you've already Apocalypsed the corp to the point of the game being irrecoverable for them and want to finish it.