Secretary Barrier To Entry - IQ Games Centre SC - 1st Place

IQ Games Centre Store Championship, Huddersfield UK. 1st after Swiss and Champion after cut. Beat a MaxX that went through their deck three times before eventual lockout, Hayley box if tricks and the inevitable Whizzard. Lost one game to an unfortunate Legwork for 6 points, and another because I'm an idiot and had Jackson in hand and not on the table. Otherwise, performed strongly through this and previous Store Champs.

Corporate Sales Team

Another iPhone sir? I thought Hopper was good in the spare agenda slot, but this is bonkers. With the aid of some transactions and an Eve, I managed to go from zero to 22 credits in two turns in the final. Reduces the impact of advancing a card and gets you to the Hedge Fund sweet spot quickly - it's like an untrashable Eve.

Aggressive Secretary

Runners can (and will) get in anywhere these days, if they want to. They can recover quickly too, but this gives you a scoring window. Killed a Faust + loaded Datasucker one game, a 6 Strength Study Guide + SMC in the first round of the cut. The loss of key cards and the credits to break into a remote normally give you an opportunity to push something else out.

Blue Level Clearance

Whizzard is about and relying more or less solely on asset economy is not ideal. The extra draw and credits together feel like getting an extra free turn, helping you find an Agenda, Jackson or something else you want, while making cash. Also good for recovering from a low credit count into Hedge Fund range.

Caprice Nisei

Either run two Caprice or zero. One is not an option, what's the point in cloning someone to only use one?

Vikram 1.0

Quite a lot of people are underwhelmed by it, but Vik is baddass. It doesn't really matter that the first subroutine it often blank, it's good without it. One game I managed to land two brain damage on an incautious runner, and that severely hampered his hand size for Faust.

While we're talking ICE, where the eff are the barriers...?

We can't afford both Eli 1.0 and Architect since the price went up, and there's no way we're ditching Architect. Other barriers are pretty weak sauce in comparison, and talk of "gear check" isn't as relevant in a Faust-dominated meta. Most people install fracters anyway, just to be safe and sure of getting into server, so happy days - they've wasted some money and clicks.

Sentries are super-taxing, so having plenty is a good thing, and as luck would have it there are plenty of in-faction code gates that really rain on Faust's parade (also out of Yog range, just in case). Criminals struggle with code gates on remotes too, and if you're lucky they're playing Peacock, which is an appalling breaker. Shapers can be more of an issue, especially as Gordian Blade appears to be coming back (sometimes with Net Ready Eyes) - but they tend to struggle against the Sentries.

Your ICE is taxing. It's unlikely they'll keep people out, so accesses are coming your way. The goal is to make those accesses cost as much as possible and use Caprice in your remote to get agendas pushed through. Sometimes there'll be Account Siphon or other HQ issues, and Caprice is needed there. I won one game by winning four Caprice games in a row in a risky push for Food, but that won't pay off every time... ;) Don't be frightened of sticking Breaker Bay grid or something else on centrals to make the Runner worry about landing their run events or Keyholes.