Would Housekeeping be a good include? Or is money too tight? Nice deck ad congrats on the win. I may sleeve this up and give it a whirl.

@Benjen I think either is fine. Paywall is there as a counter current that has the least impact on my tempo (can be beneficial, in fact), but Housekeeping likely has a similar relative effect by slowing down runner tempo.

I don't think it has any grand synergy with the ID though; they aren't going to pitch anything they're sad to lose to it. For the sake of not hindering my economy, I gave preference to Paywall.

If you try it out feel free to post back with how it goes. Curious to see how this archetype fares for others.

How did you feel Bloodletter performed? I like that it makes the runner use a Datasucker token to break it with Mimic and, at 3 to rez, it requires the runner spend 6 to break with MKUltra. I don't like that it gives the runner the option on what option they'd prefer to fire.

If econ is good enough, Changeling is really good in Skorp. Let's you adapt to what is more taxing or is locked out.

@PurinaBisonChow Bloodletter is extremely well costed. The runner's choice is a rock and a hard place; they do not want either to resolve, especially against Skorpios. I didn't think anyone would intentionally face-plant it, and I was right. Once it was rezzed, the runners always broke it or avoided it, both of which I'm okay with.

@Myriad I don't think I could slot it. The Ice Wall for cheap ETR is too good to pass up, and the Hortum is anti-AI tech. The Sapper and Archer is necessary for Batty, and the Bloodletter hits are also valuable. I'm very happy with how the ICE suite looks on paper, and how it performed.

If I was to try it, I think my initial change would be -1 Ice Wall and -1 Bloodletter for +2 Changeling.

nice deck, I will slot a cobra though.

@guy.brush Cobra and Bloodletter occupy similar space. Having both would be ideal, but I don't think the deck space is there. I'd axe a Bloodletter for Cobra if you were looking to try it in this list. Sapper is valuable as a trap in R&D/HQ, so I wouldn't touch that, and I can't see axing anything outside the ice suite for more ICE.

Do you think this deck would be improved with GFI? Or does it really not need it?

I ask because you probably can save two influence for whatever tech cards you want in your current set up and you have a couple of okay options.

@Myriad Generally, I would not touch the influence, nor the agendas.

The game plan here is to home in on the weakness in their breaker suite, crack it open, and lock them out. Batty (w/ trash sub) lets me do that better than any card in the game (neglecting the niche and situationally useful, such as HS). FiHP lets me get Batty back in play better than any card in the game. Jackson lets me find and recur my Batty and FiHP. The deck wants a lot of other things with its influence, but not more than it wants those three things.

The agendas are all either economy cards (and counter current tools, with HT), or a 3/2 that optionally lets me tutor for Batty. They serve a purpose, and losing them (along with some of the three aforementioned cards) to slot a 5/3 that doesn't help my game plan seems like something I don't want to do. I think I'd consider Rototurret before GFI. Maybe like -1 JH -1 Bloodletter +1 Preemptive +1 Roto or something.

So, my recommendation would be to try the list vanilla and see if you still feel the same. If you still feel like you want GFI, a couple ideas: first, if you're worried about runner currents, you could try -1 Jackson -2 CST for +1 GFI +1 HT +1 Paywall/Preemptive. If you're looking to just lower agenda density, then perhaps -2 CST -1 Oaktown/Atlas -1(/2) Jackson -1(/0) FiHP for +2 GFI +2 Preemptive +1 Cobra/IPO.

@IroncacheThank you for your thoughts. What about the shaper matchups in the tournament? I take it none were on Sac Con? What would be your suggestion to deal with Sac Con/Film Critic? Just use Batty to try and score out? Save the Archer for remote?

Critic doesn't hurt this too much (Batty and PS still function). Sac cons is the problem. If they start getting a board state you can't deal with, Batty for ETR instead of trash.

Note that I haven't come across a board state that I haven't been able to clear; my only play time on this deck is the GNK games. I'm hoping to get more testing in soon. But that's the theoretical plan.

Good to know.

I am still trying to figure out if aggressive play and power shutdown is the best line of play, or if you should be slotting best defense for sac cons and other 0 cost cards.

I also have been toying with Cronos in the deck in place of a 2 pointer. Cronos does a lot of work against Anarch, especially the Opus based MaxX or Frantic Coding builds.

My main concern here is that there's not enough "Trash a program" subroutines for Batty to target. I would consider -1 Batty -3 Ice Wall +3 Rototurret +1 IPO (or maybe Preemptive Action).

Lowering the Batty count isn't right for this deck. I made sure with the amount of Trash subs, but if you find it doesn't work for you, swap Bloodletter for Cobra.

I made do*...

As an addendum, Batty is the driving force of this deck, and, given that he's a one shot (and you ideally want to FiHP 2 of him), you want maximal chance of finding him. 3 in 44 makes that happen fairly fast

Likewise, I usually found Sapper pretty fast and had no issues setting up the Batty trash, but I can understand the desire for more trash subs.

I have played the deck a fair amount and I think that there are enough.

My only suggestion really thus far is dropping a bloodletter for a Wormhole so you have a bit more versatility on a central or scoring server on what sub you hit. You can also bluff as a colossus or a hortum, which is okay.

I also like x1 changeling in the same spot. It can really help with the lockout.

I like the wormhole idea. And Bloodletter is definitely the Flex spot in the ICE.

How've your results been, if you don't mind my prodding?

Its pretty interesting! I haven't gotten enough reps with Wormhole yet, but I think its a great piece of ice for many matchups so I will keep testing.

Thus far, I think the deck is great against stuff that isn't teching against Skorp and even with tech the matchups are winnable so long as you rush hard enough.

The tricky part is not cutting your tech. There are a trinity of tech cards that really shore up your matches and all of them bare mention.

1.) Chronos - This is an Anarch and some Criminal matchups silver bullet. Because this deck is part never advance, it slots in nicely. Early it can lock down some heap breakers by bluffing as batty. Late game you can throw it in a remote and maybe RFG everything the runner was trying to bank. Its good. Not sure how to efficiently fit it yet, but I like it a lot. On the plus side if you cut a 2 pointer to slot two, you may get 3 triggers of best defense in a game.

2.) Power Shutdown - I am actually losing some favor with this one, but its great vs Criminal who don't have as much redundancy in their rig. Sadly these slots will likely get cut down to a x1. I hardly ever play it.

3.)Best Defense - To me, this is a better Power Shutdown most of the time as it can hit Sac Cons, which I have even seen in Criminal decks. This is a shaper tech card, but it has some other fringe application. (It makes the DLR matchup winnable!).

Rush is definitely the right call and I think the ice is almost perfect. I think there are about three cards that can be tightened up, but otherwise it seems good. I plan on taking something similar to a regional this weekend.

Took Skorp to regional and only dropped a single game. I didn't get anywhere near the cut though because my runner game was terrible.

I am beginning to play with cutting Bloodletter for more binary ice. It will seriously stink though to lose the only thing that punishes face check, but it plays well into the strategy of the deck.

Glad to hear that Skorpios worked out (sorry that the runner flubber).

What were you thinking of replacing the Bloodletter with?

Any thoughts on how to play against Film Critic?

@IroncacheMaybe Guard or something? I haven't had much luck with those slots yet. I love being able to punish a face check.

@PilgrimYou got batty. If you are really concerned drop a batty and slot in MCA. I wouldn't advise that though because trips batty is extremely potent.