Hotknives

This is not a good deck, but it is incredibly fun to play, and many opponents have said it makes for tense exciting games.

You may have noticed there is absolutely no ice in this deck. This deck is all about mind games, so be prepared to make bold moves. There's also a 'healthy' dose of luck involved. There's a lot of nuance in how to play, and it is matchup dependent also, but here's some tips:

Probably the most important tip is to discard your Future Perfects, except maybe 1 if you want to score it. They're pretty safe in the Archives, since you have to lose the PSI game, and they're surrounded by traps. Just be careful of Film Critic.

News Team and Shi Kyu count as agendas for the purposes of Philotic Entanglement :)

The best way to play Celebrity Gift is to start the turn with 5, mandatory draw, then draw and play, discarding a card at end of turn. Keeping the runner in the dark about 1 card makes a big difference.

Don't be afraid to play out Fetal AI or HoK. Avoid playing out TFP except with a Mushin. Philotic is a special case, only play it if the runner has stopped running remotes. You can leave it sat there until needed.

Flatlining is the main win condition. Scoring out is not easy, and almost always requires a TFP, which is best scored via turn 1 Mushin. But do try to score out, as the closer you get to winning, the more desperate the runner will get.

If you Mushin an agenda and it survives the turn, it can be beneficial to hold back on scoring it, for ToL shenanigans, and for added damage when you need it. (In one game I Mushin'd a Philotic on turn 1, and it sat there the whole game, until I scored it with 2 cards left in R&D for the win!)

Mushin can also be used to bait the runner into Psychic Fields and Snares!

Jacko is not for dealing with agenda flood. His main purpose is to protect R&D by shuffling Snare in, and sometimes is used to get back Scorched or Cast. If a runner is going for him in a remote, and you have more Jackos left, consider letting the runner trash him if there is nothing you need in Archives. You can use another Jacko to get him back later, along with some useful cards.

Use your HoK counters liberally, any time there's a chance the runner is going to take other damage. Central servers usually, but if they're about to run into a Fetal AI or Junebug, that's good too. NOT Psychic Field.

Final Tip: There are exceptions to everything I have said above. Try to get a feel for your opponent and don't be afraid to take chances!

Possible changes:
-1 Psychic Field & Fetal AI, +2 False Lead
-1 Psychic Field, +1 Cerebral Cast
both of the above, but Ronin instead of 1 Psychic Field

Impossible changes: Adding ICE

Hope you have as much fun with this deck as I have!

P.S. It's called 'Hotknives' because there's lots of fire and no ice. Also knives.