BATMAN, BATMAN, BATMAN

inniscor 567

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This is my take on Clan Vengeance in Gnat that I started brewing when he was spoiled. The deck is pretty straightforward - make use of the multitude of hardware in the deck to make money, make accesses, and make chaos.

The main engine behind the whole thing is unremarkably using Zer0 and Titanium Ribs to shape your hand while also loading Clan Vengeance. Respirocytes, Ribs, and Net-Ready Eyes allow your first CV to explode out of nowhere which can catch some decks off guard as they think they may have a couple of turns with their hand. I've often joked that I Levy in turn 5 which is hyperbole, but it's still pretty early. Patchwork helps keep your hand down which often means it's worth 3 credits instead of the 2 it advertises as it enables the Gnat credit gain.

I considered going the Bug route but opted for the current build as it was more likely to combat proactive scoring plans with its multitude of breakers as well as make use of the drip that Gnat is advertised with.

Some specific cards that are worth mentioning:

  • Guinea Pig - This card was Liberated but I found that the time it took to use Liberated meant that I was often unable to fire it. Doing the math on Liberated vs Guinea Pig and since Guinea Pig could be used for aggressive hand trashing if you need breakers in the bin had me choosing it and while I didn't install Liberated almost at all. Thanks to @bluehg for the idea.

  • Notoriety - This one comes courtesy of @CTZ in another deck of his. Notoriety can be a good finisher vs 2 pointer decks and 3 pointer decks (combined this is most decks). It's been low impact so far cause I've won with more points most of the time. More than once I've won the game running centrals for the notoriety requirement.

  • Mammon - This went in because I was finding I had two problems. On one hand if you don't get your breakers installed when you levy you can slow down significantly as you go poking to get things installed or create this awkward middle game scoring window. The other issue was that some decks could make use of breaker removal or mythic ice to lock me out at key moments. Mammon is a fine proactive install which is expensive but also breaks almost any ice you put in front of it.

  • Net-Ready Eyes - This deals damage and acts like ice carver on one type of ice. It saves you 3 credits per surveyor, but also provides value to Mammon if you're relying on it.

  • Severnius Stim Implant - Also courtesy of @CTZ but I use it a little less explosively. Often this acts like a Makers Eye that I can fire on demand.

  • Shadow Net - This was a really recent include that I think I like a lot. It can save you from Malia blanking Same Old Thing (this has happened to me) as well as fixing your game vs a few real threats posed by agendas (e.g. Giordano Stadium, News Team, GFI if you can't empty CTM's hand.)

  • Hacktivist Meeting - This was back and forth between Hacktivist and Router. I opted for this card because it interacts with the general method of hand attrition pretty well including knocking out the corp's ability to rez cards on key turns. I've been recently considering whether I can go Dirty Laundry for CTM but I'm not sure if that'll do much more than just putting my head down and building the damage.

A note on the combo
A lot has been said about zer0 and CV being uninteractive, broken, unfair, etc. I can certainly empathize with the feeling of exasperation when you can't play your cards and the runner can keep removing your options. I think there are certainly problem cards at work in this combo - namely zer0 and Patchwork - and a strong case can be made that these numbers are off and the meta may need to be corrected.

Having said all that I don't think this is actually all that strong. It's obnoxious as it should be. It punishes flood and forces you to be proactive. That's why half the deck is money and breakers. Because the way I lose most of my games is when my opponent keeps their scoring tempo up and forces me to make concessions on my original game plan. This is not only beatable, I think it may just not be that good.

It's also really fun. It forces both players to consider the other player's actions click by click. Paid ability window by paid ability window. It punishes the corp for playing too many combo cards and it punishes the runner for being too greedy.

This is one of the coolest decks I've played in a while. I'm sorry about all the bad feelings for anyone I've played.

3 comments
9 Jul 2018 presheaf

Is NRE really worthwhile over Ice Carver? Ice Carver has a stronger effect, although I guess taking 2 damage is usually good for you.

9 Jul 2018 presheaf

Apart from that, cool deck! Really missing a singleton Synthetic Blood in there, though. Might as well if you're taking damage basically every turn.

9 Jul 2018 inniscor

@presheaf I considered this for a while as the original list had Ice Carver. There were a couple of reasons I ended up sticking with the Net-Ready Eyes NRE installs for 0 (a bunch of cool cards in the deck do) while also providing a source of damage. It's immune to scarcity and tags.

Having said that there were times when I was starting a run without a breaker and I was wishing I was on ice carver. Additionally NRE only affecting one breaker is awkward. This could go back to carver easily.