Reina Siphon Control v0.7

CJFM 2270

Got 4th place this last weekend with Reina / NEH combination -- Green Lake Games Store Championship. My NEH failed me, dropping 3 games over the tournament, while my Reina only lost 1 (to NEARPAD) in a close match. After Swiss, I was sixth place with prestige, and then lost to Andy in top 8 (sending me to losers) and then to "D1en's" Leela (piloted by James P., not D1en) to put me at 4th. It was a great tournament: one of the best I've participated in so far.

This deck is a beast. A gross, fun-hating, wreck-your-shit beast. People do not remember Reina. Once they play against this, they will respect Reina again. It is Anatomy of Anarchy, but has legs, it doesn't NEED to Account Siphon over and over - sometimes you just need one. It pressures with efficient breakers (Corroder and Mimic, D4v1d for backup with Parasite for annoying things). Crescentus, however, is amazing in this deck, and it plays all the tools it needs to use it effectively. Vigil helps draw cards when you get a siphon lock, meaning you effectively are MaxX, but better. The deck wins about 60% of the time on Medium digs, but I'd won several from grabbing agendas from HQ. It wrecks the traditional decks right now. Everyone thinks you're playing Keyhole: you don't give two shits about Keyhole. You're just going to build your board and wait. You will gain a billion dollars with Day Job and Liberated Accounts, pressure centrals and remotes, and then, when the rocket has been armed, locked, and loaded, you can land your siphons, drop a Medium, and RND lock them out of the game. Frequently, I won off a 6-8 RND dig. Frequently, people play Crisium Grid, thinking it matters. It's annoying, but it is beatable. Once I lost my Eater to a Swordsman, but got another one. Swordsman is awful. Stop playing it.

The matchups during the tournament:

Titan Transnational Trick of Light - Win

Industrial Genomics "Untrashable" - Win

Nisei Scorch - Win

HB: ETF "Mandatory Upgrades" - Win

N.E.A.R.P.A.D - Loss

NBN: NEH (Standard Fastro-biotics) - Win

HB: ETF "Mandatory Upgrades" (same player as above) - Win

How to play the deck: If you've played Anatomy of Anarchy, it's similar. You want to establish a siphon lock. It takes practice. You can lock yourself out if you go siphon crazy too early and don't build your board. Draw aggressively: my first three turns I draw around 6 cards, usually. (Draw, Draw, install, install, is common first turn. Sometimes it's Day Job, but I like to save that for after I trash huge Assets). Shape your hand. Liberated Accounts is great to help. Get it on the board pre-Siphon and start using it to install stuff. Datasucker is great to see early, and I might start running more aggressively if I do see it. Draw until you find your Siphon, but in the meantime, you can drain their cash with Crescentus + Eater. The synergy is stupid, and people will tilt when you start doing it.

Happy to answer questions about the deck. If I'd won my last NEH game, I would've been in the finals with my friend @pandapersona, who ended up taking the tournament down with Gagarin and Exile! Is it the year of Exile?

7 comments
23 Feb 2015 jawe

You never ran into MU problems?

23 Feb 2015 CJFM

Not once.

25 Feb 2015 Hockmanm08

This deck is legit. Played it some tonight, and when you grab the corp by the horns it feels amazing watching them struggle to get you off.

One off Vamp is so clutch.

27 Feb 2015 jawe

Played this deck now three times and really like it.

Haven't played anarchs in a while so I need a lot to learn.

But there is one card in specific I had no idea how to deal with and that was Lotus Field. This card totally destroyed me and it is played quite regularly in my meta.

Any suggestions?

27 Feb 2015 CJFM

@jawe The only concern is if the opponent gets Crisium Grid/Caprice and Lotus field on HQ, then life becomes difficult. If that happens, you need to dig to find Spooned (or just be content to never get in). If Lotus is on RnD and you accidentally face-checked it, your plan is either Siphon HQ, run RnD and break with Eater (derez the ice with Crescentus or Spooned). If Lotus Field is on a remote, your only way to get in is to not challenge that remote until you can safely Siphon + Vamp + Run derez +run again.

Lotus field is annoying, but it's beatable. In the last tournament, against the Industrial Genomics player, there was a Caprice on HQ, Lotus on one of the centrals (I think it was rnd) but just a Wall of Static on HQ. In this situation, the Caprice is the most difficult thing to deal with. The way to anticipate dealing with Caprice is to leave ice unrezzed, say over RnD. Get your medium going and then force the rez. Managing the corp's money is important, and Reina should be able to do it throughout most of the game.

Just as a note: when I started playing this deck (like really testing with it) I was constantly running too aggressively early on. You don't really mind if the corp can build up ice. Upgrades (which are rarer) can be a nuisance; go trash those right away. In about 80% of games, by the time you get going, a corp will not have enough cash or time to install a Caprice, rez it, and rez a Lotus Field.

One final note: I have an article on this deck that I'm really hesitant to publish because it is doing very well, but that is somewhat because the corp doesn't know you're not Keyholing (or playing a ZU).

Just as a comparison: what was your particular Lotus Field moment like?

27 Feb 2015 Hockmanm08

If you felt you had to add another Spooned to combat it what would you drop? I haven't run across this issue yet so not sure I'd consider it. Gonna run this deck at the store champ event this weekend. Will through up on update on how I did with it.

28 Feb 2015 CJFM

@Hockmanm08 I had a second spooned in an earlier version, but I used it so infrequently. I might take out a datasucker or plascrete (if you think no scorching will happen). Best of luck in the tournament!