Rollin with the Homies - 3rd @ NorCal Regional, 1st in Swiss

This is the deck that I took to the Northern California Regional in Mountain View, going 4-0 in Swiss (1st place) and 1-1 in the cut. Reign and Reverie didn’t have a huge impact on Geist, but DJ Fenris allowed for some really good deck flexibility, and thus this deck was born.

What does DJ Fenris allow here? He lets you call on your homies to help you out! This build is very flexible and has many different paths to take, so which homie you summon depends on the matchup and how the game is going.

Homie 1: Hayley Kaplan: Universal Scholar

This is the most obvious partner for the Tech Lord, as the insane draw allowed by his ability pairs really well with getting an extra install almost every turn. Hayley is great if you find Fenris early, and allows for some really sweet installs with Street Peddler even on the corp’s turn. Even if you get her late, since you have 2x Levy, she’ll pay her ticket on the second time through the deck.

Homie 2: Reina Roja: Freedom Fighter

Econ denial crim is a thing, and Reina allows you to push even harder with that archetype. If you’ve just diverted their funds, or Embezzled their operations, Shutdown their big boy ice or have just been “Grant”ing them a 1 credit tax every turn, Reina will make them pay one more than they want to to rez that first piece of ice. Lean into Maxwell de-rezzes and even the 1-credit loss from Amina is hilarious.

Homie 3: Quetzal: Free Spirit

My fracter of choice in the deck was Tycoon (the only other R&R card), mainly for the stupid cheap numbers on it, making it a very helpful card to see in the early game, or when you have them locked. The 2-credit payout to the corp is less than ideal, but enter Quetzal. She’ll allow you to break IP Block ezpz, or pair with a Bitey Boi to save some tools for later. She can also be really helpful in the Skorp matchup if you happen to somehow get locked out and need to break Tithonium.

Homie 4: Kabonesa Wu: Netspace Thrillseeker

Wu is definitely the back-up homie, but she’s good to have on speed dial. Since you’re playing Pirate, being able to Levy then on-demand grab a Grappling Hook (which you will trash), can be very powerful. Hook is one of the rare programs that you don’t need to have an SMC to make sure it doesn’t get removed from the game with Wu’s ability.

Some other card choices:

Amina is by far the most efficient decoder in the game if you can stomach the install cost. 4 credits to break a DNA Tracker AND they lose 1? Yes please.

Lustig has pretty good numbers against Surveyor, and has the built-in bonus of having a Trash Can. Sign me up.

2x Same Old Thing + 2x Levy – normally I say either run 1 SoT / 2 Levy or 2 Levy / 1 SoT… but this deck just has too many good run events to not include 2 Same Old Thing. Since most of the events are 1-ofs, you can selectively choose which one is going to be the most useful. I played 3x Legwork in one game, 3x Falsified in one game, and 5x Diversion in one game. Plus, you can always feel a little bit safer about having a Levy in the heap.

Overall, I think this is the best Geist deck you can build. It makes insane money, has a very flexible game plan and pretty much no bad matchups. The Pirate suite is so good early, and the real breakers give you a shot in the Skorp matchups or if they are playing a super ice-heavy deck where you need to break a lot of ice.