Notorious Ken (In Progress)

You might want to look at Express on a Fast Track to Notoriety, which took me to the double elims two years ago (so the tech is old) before flatlining on an overeager run into Shinobi with low credits against Jesse (@DonutTaganes) Marshall.

@ODieNice. It looks like we had a similar idea. Why did you go for opus? I felt I could get better upfront econ from run events and security testing seems to be enough recurring. Also, I've never understood Indexing. I've played it and heard of others playing it but it seems too cute unless you're using it to combo. I'm using the influence for I've Had Worse because I want to dive servers not caring about the consequences. It has the upside of just being a slightly worse Diesel.

A couple of reasons led to choosing Opus vs Security Testing alone. Firstly the latter works best with Desperado to net 3 credits, and only so long as you have a server open to runs. I wanted to use Doppelgänger instead, and so Magnum gave as much as ST, multiple times a turn if need be. Also if you float tags from a Siphon the Opus isn't vulnerable to trashing.

In practice this led to occasional MU clog, when you need to make a tough call on what to trash to be able to make a remote run to cut off a scoring opportunity. Crypsis can replace any of the central-only breakers, so long as you have money to power it.

I wouldn't underestimate the power of Indexing. Even if you whiff on Agenda, you still gain valuable information - knowing and programming the next five cards of the Corps game plan is strong. And there's nothing to say you have to do the scoring run in the same turn. Burying and tracking the Agenda at four and five, building credits while you know the opponent isn't going to get to the cards, in preparation for the Maker's Eye on two turns, can wreck them. Jackson and, these days, DBS can mess with that equation of course.

My reasoning for leaving out Opus is that I don't want to be clicking for money. I want to threaten the corp constantly. Maybe if there were cards that better interacted with just making successful runs instead of accessing.

I can't justify Crypsis. It consumes actions instead of money and while it can break through everything the ice I would need it to break would be late game ice and if they want to do that then I can Inside Job or Grappling Hook and hopefully eat a subroutine that isn't that bad. Like Shinobi? Grappling Hook is a great way to force your way through it. That or Faerie.

Indexing still feels too cute for a deck like this. You want to use it to setup a Maker's Eye run but is too easily thwarted by Jackson's. So I don't want to bother trying to play around it.