Chicka Chicka Boom! Boom!

Stonar 302

Since rotation, I've been trying to replicate the playstyle of Fake News. The problem is that with runners on infinite econ options like Magnum Opus and tag protection like Misdirection, tagstorm out of anything but CtM is a really tall order. I kept iterating on it, but with no Restructured Datapool, the question kept coming up - how do I force the runner to run?

What about a crazy idea? Tennin Institute: The Secrets Within! It was kind of a joke at the time - "What if I just imported the Consulting Visit/BOOM! package into Tennin?" I threw a decklist together, tried it on jinteki, and it won. And kept winning. And it's a lot of fun. So, I iterated, and you have this list, which I brought to Worlds. I think I went 3-2 on the day, and one of the losses was just agenda flood.

Core Strategy

This is a deck with a lot of play. It's got fast advance with Trick of Light. It's got a viable kill option with Hard-Hitting News and BOOM! It has never-advance and glacier with Marcus Batty, Tennin Institute: The Secrets Within, Nisei MK II, and "Clones are not People". In any given situation, you need to be looking for one of those lines, and going for it, but be willing to switch as needed. But the default should be "If they run, Hard-Hitting them, if they don't, set up a never-advance score."

The net damage is also an important part of this strategy. With runners taking every scrap of econ they can find, you're never going to win from taxing it out alone. The ice suite is almost exclusively about taxing clicks and credits. Kakugo forces card draw. DNA Tracker is expensive to break, or taxes even more clicks and credits for the facecheck. Chiyashi can end the game outright if you win a Batty psi game, and is expensive when you decide to break it. And finally, Cobra and Colossus can open massive scoring windows in conjunction with Batty.

The Tech

This is a versatile deck, so you need some tech against a lot of things.

"Clones are not People" - Runners that have too much setup can crumple to this card when you have Consulting Visit. Never-advance a 3/2, Tennin counter, Trick of Light, Consulting Visit -> Clones Are Not People turns into an easy 3 points. When you're trying to go fast, it's often your best option.

Best Defense - Sacrificial Construct and Misdirection are everywhere. While the former's not as important as it is in most decks, you can occasionally fast advance a 3/2 onto the board, but you need to clear Clot first. Also good tech against tag-me runners. Kill their Obelus, and you're in really good shape.

Closed Accounts - Runners that have money but don't know what you're doing will often stumble into a Snare last click, run through a colossus, or let themselves get Hard-Hitting'd but not clear all the tags. Not many runners can recover well from this one.

Voter Intimidation - I expected to see more Smoke on the day than I did. This card shuts down the crazy efficiency of Net Mercur. It does other stuff, like kill Beth or Turning Wheel or Professional Contacts, but its primary goal is clearing Net Mercur.

Tech That Didn't Make It

Breached Dome did really well in testing, and I think cutting it was a bad idea. That much more tax is that many more clicks the runner spends drawing. It protects archives without needing ice (which this deck isn't heavy on.) And it's one more asset you can drag a runner through a remote to check. Deckslots are tight, though.

Enforcing Loyalty is a great card with Consulting Visit, but not enough people are on cards that can be trashed easily.

Ark Lockdown would work fairly well in this deck - kill Clot and heap breakers and the like. I think it's fine without it for the meta that was Worlds, but in a different meta, it might be a better call.

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