The Mason/Heinlein Dream

PenguinToast 9

This deck is built around Mason Bellamy and Heinlein Grid. We need to be able to punish the runner running last click since Heinlein Grid can't fire if they do so, so we tag them with either Data Raven or Prisec, then punish with either Closed Accounts or The All-Seeing I. NGO Front has been useful only for money thus far, as we don't really care about baiting runs.

Agenda Suite

  • 3x Ikawah Project - Great at protecting itself, especially with an Enhanced Login Protocol up or in a server with a Strongbox on it.
  • 3x Project Vitruvius - I've found that never-advancing this is often better than over-advancing this, since there aren't really any critical cards that you'd want to get back from archives. The only time when I've found counters on this useful are when I have or will have agendas in archives; then the counters are great for saving them.
  • 1x Remote Enforcement - This is probably better as a Corporate Sales Team, since we neither have big ice nor do we really want to build a deep remote.
  • 1x SSL Endorsement - This is a good agenda; probably the best one to throw into archives if you're flooded.

Upgrades

  • 2x Bryan Stinson - This is a really good card. I've been able to semi-consistently fire it, and when it does fire, you pretty much never need to worry about credits for the rest of the game.
  • 2x Prisec - This is probably the most consistent way of landing tags; it's more or less impossible to stick a tag with Data Raven if the runner knows it's there. Even if you can't get the runner to run last click on this, it's still a decent 3 credit tax on them that they probably weren't expecting. This is great to slap on R&D to deter pokes at it, and great in the remote to punish the runner trying to clear out your precious upgrades.
  • 2x Strongbox - Honestly probably the best upgrade here; if I were to cut any other card I'd want to go up to 3x Strongbox. It makes a lot of your scores nearly guaranteed, especially if you stack these together, with Ikawah Project, or with an Enhanced Login Protocol up.

Operations

Ice

We want ETRs to pull off the Mason Bellamy/Heinlein Grid combo and make an impenetrable server, so that's what most of the ice is geared towards.

  • 3x Fairchild 3.0 - Great on centrals to deter poking, sometimes good on the remote if you don't draw any other ice.
  • 2x Turing - Brutal against decks with AI breakers.
  • 2x Data Raven - Honestly, I haven't been able to stick a tag with this yet, but if you put this on a central the runner pretty much stops running it which is great.

The threat of Mason Bellamy/Heinlein Grid has done much more work than Heinlein Grid itself; I've never been able to fire it off. It does make the runner pretty reluctant to run your remote with 3-4 upgrades stacked in it, though. Honestly, I think this deck would be better off with Heinlein Grid as something else, but then how will I ever live the dream?

The main issue I've been having with this list is the inconsistency; having only 2 each of our upgrades makes it difficult to pull off the dream server at the right time; I've found that I can usually only get a piece or two in before they get trashed. The couple of times I've built the dream server the runner just pivots to centrals and usually wins off that, so I've found that Data Raven on centrals is often better than on the remote.

2 comments
13 Jul 2018 Rodge

It's a nice idea for the deck - but I'd see the Prisec being entirely unnecessary. I appreciate you're trying to land the tag, to fire The All-Seeing I. But dropping those would allow you to get up to 3 of your important upgrades.

13 Jul 2018 PenguinToast

@Rodge You're probably right - it's possible that this entire list would be better without the whole tag/tag punishment package, but then I'd feel bad when a rich runner runs last click into my remote and clears everything without getting heavily punished. Also it's really funny to land tags because no one expects it out of HB.