Quetzal Zer0es in on HQ

Severijn 541

My own variation on the Clan Vengeance anarch deck, which recently won in Berlin. This version is borrowing some spice from Snowscoran's Zer0 Regrets list.

The plan of this deck is essentially to blow up HQ through taking chunks of meat/net damage and popping a timely Clan Vengeance.

By Any Means, Mad Dash, Stimhack, Zer0, Net-Ready Eyes and Titanium Ribs are the ways that you deal this damage.

Fisk Investment Seminar is the sort-of multi-access that you play in this deck. You flood HQ early on, or re-enable your Clan Vengeance if the corp tries to play without cards in HQ.

The spice added to this deck is Synthetic Blood. I'm not sure whether the economy works out, but I do admit that this is nice with Zer0. This used to be Diesel in older builds. I personally like how this allows me to draw cards on my action turns.

I am not a fan of relying on Levy when I do not really have the money required. Trope can recycle the key cards if needed. I doubt I really need this either. The deck seems to win in the first cycle. The game is probably lost if you need to go to a second cycle of the deck.

My plan against ice is conspiracy breakers with DDOS (for by any means turns). Stim hack and Net-ready Eyes round out the anti-ice package.

As a call-back to classic anarch: This deck doesn't make much money at all, but it is certainly enough to keep it running. You do not have the luxury to try and break big ice though, so choose your runs wisely.

Performance-wise, this deck has been quite the success. Few corp decks are built with this deck on their mind, and even fewer can survive without an HQ. It has been winning quite consistently. I wonder when my meta will start to adapt to this deck.

5 comments
15 Jun 2018 Snowscoran

Nice deck and thanks for the shoutout :) I tend to agree with you on the Tropes, in most cases the game will be decided before they really make a splash and you shouldn't really need to install more than one. Still, using them to recycle Fisk is a very powerful play if you hit the late game and they try to play around CV by not having an HQ.

Frank also feels a bit odd to me since it only triggers off meat damage, of which you have but two sources (NRE/Ribs) unless you run into corp sources. Do you really feel it's necessary considering how fast CV builds tokens with Zer0?

DDoS for BAM turns is a really good call.

Overall some great ideas here :)

16 Jun 2018 Severijn

Thanks for the kind words! As for the meat damage: I actually have 6 sources. Mad Dash and By Any Means also have the ability to deal meat damage. I have found that to be sufficient to proc Officer Frank in a reasonable amount of time. I will admit that getting the meat damage form Mad Dash is not as intended, but in a pinch, it is nice to have the option available to me.

As for whether he is really needed: Since I have 6 sources, I do feel that Officer Frank can act as a poor man's Clan Vengeance. It gives me further redundancy to have the CV effect a couple of extra times in the deck, even if they are weaker and unique on top of that.

16 Jun 2018 Snowscoran

You're right, I missed a couple sources. On Mad Dash, I used to fire it to farm meat damage back before Zer0 was a thing, but these days I just include it as a 1x and almost always use it for the extra point attempt. BAM, in my experience, tends to generate enough CV tokens in its turn that the extra Frank trash would mostly be superfluous. I do see the appeal in using Frank as a weaker CV 4-5 but it's a bit too inflexible for my taste.

16 Jun 2018 deleriad

I like this. I was sceptical of Officer Frank but it seems you could either use 2 of her as CV 4-5 and ditch the tropes or keep the tropes and ditch Frank.

I would be tempted to ditch the tropes and 1 of the synthetic bloods in order to add 1 laamb and 2 Hacktivist. I feel like it's easy to get gear-checked and Laamb is almost an AI for her but I do worry about the MU. I have in the past added a Spinal Modem because it really helps with the expensive bin breakers and occasionally gets you a bonus clan token. I feel that 46 cards in a self-damage deck with no recursion is not the end of the world.

If keeping the tropes I would swap out Frank for 2 Hacktivists. I feel if you keep both Snythetic Bloods you are far more likely to get decked and get good value out of your tropes. I have found though that if you rely on just Clans that it takes a long time for them to show. They seem to be very shy cards. That said, you are already forcing the crop to empty HQ in preparation so the clans can do the job even when they're not there: in which case you live or die by your ability to siege the remote or farm R&D.

18 Jun 2018 Severijn

Laamb is an interesting card for sure, but it's also expensive. I would need a bigger economy potential in the deck, but it certainly is a nice card in Quetzal.

If I reduce the number of copies of synthetic blood to one, it will be a very unreliable card as to when it shows up. I do like the idea of just cutting the tropes and make my first cycle more devastating. For certain, it would be nice to have a current in here. Thanks for the tip!