Painted Over (Paint it Black v2.0)

famebyproxy 111

Kit, Paintbrush, Gordian, Snitch, and...

...wait, no Blackguard?

Sadly, while once the namesake of this deck, Blackguard has been removed. As much as I wanted the Snitch/BG combo to work in a Paintbrush deck, this particular one doesn't have the econ to get it out when it's needed. More importantly, I almost never needed it, and when I did Snitch was doing what I really wanted...protecting be from nasty unrezzed ICE, and providing me information about what's coming.

It now sits next in my exercise room with a bunch of other dusty, unused equipment.

In it's place comes Dinosaurus, a solid (if less exciting) fit for this deck, especially with Gordian as my breaker. I've also squeezed in some FAOs for a cheap event-based version of what I had Blackguard for...to get ICE rezzed. I even get the side benefit of having some trashed. If I can use 2 out of the 3 in a game, I'm getting exactly what I wanted from Blackguard, but for way, way cheaper.

Streamlined in other places...went to 3x Tinkering because I was never sad to see it, replaced 3x Dirty Laundry with 2x Sure Gamble to improve my burst economy...that's about it.

Thoughts welcome!

4 comments
17 Apr 2014 steevo15

Since you've taken blackguard out, modded doesn't seem to have as much of a purpose. With your econ, having casts and kati, do you really need modded to install the 3,4,5 credit programs? If you've found that it works for you and helps you get your rig out lightning quick, then awesome keep it in there! It was just a thought. You could go the route of -3 modded +3 same old thing to recur your FAO or even tinkerings. Or, if you wanted the econ of modded, but maybe slightly more practical you could go with 3x armitage if you need a quicker burst while kati is being loaded up. Aesop's doesn't really have any targets, what do you plan to use it for? Things like lockpicks are extremely useful because they will be saving you money every single run, if snitch and inti are your only targets for it, then I would say that it's not worth it and you could replace it with a third dinosaurus so that your rig comes out more quickly, or just grab a third sure gamble.

A few thoughts on snitch. Is it really that useful without blackguard anymore? The way I think of it, you will run on a server, Kit's ability will take care of the first piece of ice, once you get to an unrezzed piece of ice, you snitch, then if it's something you can handle you'll continue on, if not you will jack out. Now what will you do with the ice after you jack out? Either FAO or tinker that sucker so that way they rez it and you can paintbrush later. Why not just forgo the run during which you use snitch, and tinker/FAO the ice beforehand? I might be thinking about this wrong, but it seems like snitch would almost slow you down. Like I said earlier, if it works then keep on using it, because I obviously haven't actually played this deck. You could possibly replace it with HQ interface or nerve agent so that way you have multiple server pressure.

17 Apr 2014 steevo15

A few more quick thoughts I came up with. If you think about it, Dino + Gordian is kind of like pulling out a Torch in two parts (9 credits, 4 str). It really just comes down to playtesting but you could try keeping the moddeds, pull out the dinos for something else and replace gordian with torch.

Another idea, and I actually use this in my kitbrush deck, is replacing the snitchs for Knights. Knight allows you to facecheck ice and pretty much know that you can break it. It also helps cut down on click usage for paintbrush. That four deep ice server you suddenly only have to paintbrush two times instead of three to get through it.

17 Apr 2014 famebyproxy

@steveo15

Thanks for your thoughts! Yes, I've found Modded to be quite helpful, especially early on when I haven't had the turns to rack up credits on KJ. It's nice to be able to only spend 1 or 2 credits on an install, and have the rest for your run. I've used it on RDI, Gordian, etc...I find it pretty essential when my econ is slow. I did want to try to fit in SOT, but I'll play with this new iteration a bit first and see how it goes.

I thought about Armitage, but I'm trying hard to avoid spending clicks on credits. When I need money, I usually also need at least one click for PB, and one to run...this doesn't leave me much room to gain same-turn burst credits from Armitage.

Aesop is primary there to make Daily Casts a bit more lucrative. It's definitely not an essential piece. Maybe you're right that a third Sure Gamble would be a better play there....

Snitch is still super useful. As I mentioned, up until now I've been using it but not Blackguard. It's saved me from Program trashing and heavy taxation on a few occassions. To answer your question about what I do after Snitching...that's when FOA or Tinkering come into play. If I can't deal with it immediately, I'll use one of those tools to get around it. It really makes FOA and Tinkering that much more useful, as you don't end up wasting them on things you could've handled without them.

I've thought about Torch instead of the Dino/Gordian combo, but using dino provides me some extra flexibility. First, I can run Gordian solo if I want...if my only option is Torch, then I'm forced to find the credits to install it. Additionally, getting it out Dino is necessary to have a "full rig" setup...if I dont have Gordian on it, I run into MU issues once Paintbrush, Snitch, and Inti are all out (Inti is something I play only when I see a Wraparound, but saves my wallet when it's needed). I might considering dropping in a single Torch in place of a Gordian...though it's cost still makes me leery.

Knight is an intriguing idea...could be yet another tool to solve for the unrezzed ICE issue. The only downside is that it's click intensive without Deep Red. Again, I want to save as many of my clicks for Paintbrush as possible. Something to consider, though - thanks!

17 Apr 2014 steevo15

The thing about knight is that it's really only click intensive once. I found that in my kitbrush deck I'd put it on a server (usually R&D, HQ, or an agenda scoring server) and it would stay there the rest of the game, saving me clicks later when I need them instead of now when I'm taking a turn to set up a few things anyway. Knight is in it's prime when it's on a one subroutine piece of ice that you would need to paintbrush anyway. I've definitely found that knight's two click investment is paid off relatively quickly with the paintbrush clicks you save.