The CI 7-point-turn Vanity Project

ycombinator 789

A New CI, 7 Points-in-a-turn Combo. Wheeeee!

You didn't need those friends anyway, did you? Here's how to get them to hate you!

What's interesting about this deck? It is the CI combo-deck, so you can lose friends playing it. You score 7 points in a single turn. Why is this particular combo deck interesting?

  1. Agenda density. 6/49 cards means that less than 1/8 cards are agendas. These decks need natural protection. The idea is to slot in Global Food Initiative when Data and Destiny drops (-3 PR, -1 PS, -1 EBC, +1 RO, +1 Aggressive Secretary). This means that there is an 80% chance the runner must access three agendas (i.e. 50% of them, requiring on average 24 accesses!) to win. You need two. And you get them in a single turn.
  2. Influence "light". We can afford extra influence for such things because it removes the traditional requirement for Shipment from Kaguya.
  3. You can actually use a Jackson. The combo can fire off and win with only two AD/Jacksons. Slots in the combo can be replaced with cards in hand to make it more resilient to disruption (e.g. Noise).
  4. Clot-proof. Clot doesn't really stop this. The only additional requirement is a SfMM and CVS in hand, and 3 s for CVS.
  5. Leela doesn't matter. All agendas are scored at the end. We don't use Efficiency Committee.
  6. FA options. It has 3x Biotic, so you can install a 5/3 in a remote (e.g. plan B against Noise, or someone who isn't running), and still score it out next turn. If they only have a single 5/3 scored, this means that you can force them to run with the next IAA, then combo out. I want to add an Aggressive Secretary to fake this out as well. You can surprise win versus opponents if you need to score out normally. After scoring a 5/3, you IAA a VP. Biotic to score next turn.
  7. Only two Jacksons needed. There are multiple ways for the combo to go off with only one Jackson in hand, thus removing a significant weakness: we need only a single copy of the combo piece that can be trashed.
  8. Easier to understand. I believe it is easier to understand than the normal combo. There are fewer moving parts. Just lots of SfSS flying around. See Combo II below for easy mode.

A Framework for Thinking About the Combo

Combo I: 3 Jackson, 3 AD, typical combo

Framework for deciphering the combo: 3 initial s are due to the necessary initial actions (install - perhaps with SfMM, PS, AD). So we're at zero s as a starting spot, when the first AD kicks off. So we have 9 AD slots to be allocated. 5 slots almost invariably have to go toward SfSS to advance agendas. This leaves 4 slots for toolbox uses. Possibilities include:

  • Interns to get the 3rd Jackson, or a missing Agenda.
  • SfMM to install the missing cards.
  • Biotic to get two more s.
  • RO to get all three ADs.

Likely allocations include:

  • 1 slot for RO -> Three ADs.
  • 1 slot for SfMM -> Install the necessary installs (4 to 6 required: 2x or 3x Jackson depending on if Interns is needed, 2x Agenda, and CVS if you have to consider clot).
  • 1 slot for Interns -> Get back 3rd Jackson or second agenda.
  • 1 slot for Biotic -> get the clicks for the ADs.

Baseline hand includes:

  • PS
  • 2x Jackson (the EBC is there to improve this consistency)
  • AD
  • Agendas
  • Biotic

The slots are allocated as follows:

  • Invariant -> 5 slots go to the SfSS.
  • If you play fewer than 3 Biotics pre-AD -> 1 slot for for the next ADs.
  • If no SfMM, or no three of 2x Jackson, 5/3, 6/4 in hand pre-AD -> 1 slot SfMM to install at least 3 of them.
  • If clot -> 1 slot SfMM for the rest of the installs (and +3 for CVS)
  • If all three AD are not in hand -> 1 slot for RO.

Example:

  1. Biotic to 5 .
  2. Install Jackson
  3. PS
  4. AD -> Biotic to 7 , SfMM to install missing pieces (Jackson and agendas), RO -> AD
  5. AD -> 2x SfSS, Interns -> Jackson
  6. AD -> 3x SfSS
  7. Advance

If clot's a concern, the the initial Jackson install should use SfMM to install at least a CVS as well. Or it can be installed as an upgrade somewhere the previous turn (risky).

Combo II: Easy-mode 2 ADs/Jacksons

This agenda composition is special in that it enables the win after only two ADs. This leaves only a single flex slot (5 SfSS take the rest). It removes the need for the RO -> AD if you have 2x AD in hand. It also lowers the jackson requirement to two total (thus removing the need for the Interns). The free slot invariably needs to be used to either 1. SfMM out the missing piece (e.g. PR, perhaps with CVS), or 2. Interns for Jackson if you only have one (thus this can fire with only a single jackson in hand). This option is only more effective when you have 2+ AD in hand, so we'll use that as a base. As there aren't slots for click generation with the AD, you need 2x biotic as well. What can we do with only two ADs?

Baseline is:

  • Three of (Jackson, Jackson, 5/3 and 6/4)
  • 2 AD
  • PS
  • 2 Biotic

Options:

  • Invariant -> Play 2x Biotic
  • Invariant -> 5 slots for SfSS
  • If no SfMM, but two Jacksons and other moving pieces in hand -> 1 slot for SfMM
  • If only a single Jackson in hand, or no 6/4 or 5/3 -> 1 slot for Interns.
  • If clot -> 1 slot for SfMM (requires SfMM, 2 Jackson, CVS, 2 agendas, PS, 2 AD in hand).

Example:

  1. Biotic up to 4
  2. Biotic up to 5
  3. SfMM -> 1x Jackson, two of (Jackson, 5/3, 6/4)
  4. PS
  5. AD -> Interns/SfMM for 5/3 and/or CVS, 2x SfSS
  6. AD -> 3x SfSS
  7. Advance.

Getting PWNed less by Noise

This combo is a little resilient to Noise. Not much. But it isn't "insta-lose". Just "probably-lose".

If you can score out using the 2 AD/Jackson combo (i.e. you have those combo pieces in hand), then you have a few slots that you can use for chaff. If it gets milled, you can still go on. Typically, in each Jackson/AD round, there is a single event that must get played. If they mill that, you lose. So you have a 2/3 chance of surviving for a single mill. If you have the ADs in hand, and you Biotic enough at the start, you can continue even if he mills all three cards from a use of Jackson.

Example with gratuitous (unrealistic) in-hand assumptions to make the point:

  • 3 AD
  • PS
  • 3 Jackson
  • 5/3 and 6/4
  • SfMM
  • 3x Biotic

The sequence:

  1. Biotic (up to 4 s)
  2. Biotic (up to 5 s)
  3. Biotic (up to 6 s)
  4. SfMM -> Jackson, Jackson, 6/4
  5. PS
  6. AD -> SfSS, SfSS, SfMM -> (5/3, Jackson, CVS)
  7. AD -> SfSS, SfSS, either SfSS or SfMM from step 5 if it was milled
  8. AD -> SfSS, SfSS, SfSS
  9. Advance

That's 8 SfSS. 5 are required. Thus, you can deal with 3x instant-speed mills. If two of the mills hit the SfMM in 6. and the SfMM in 7, you also lose. To assemble the hand requirement for this combo, see the replacements in the first section when Data and Destiny come out: multiple reclamation orders are instrumental. For each combo piece lacking in your hand, you can lower the rescilience of the combo, by using one of the SfSS slots for the comparable action (< 3 Biotic? -> Biotic via AD, < 3 AD? -> (RO -> AD), < 2 Jacksons? -> Interns, etc...).

Awkward notes

Ditching cards from hand. You really need to ditch your Shipment from SanSans from your hand. Also your Reclamation Orders, and Interns. Find something to use them on, or discard them aggressively due to versus hand-size disparities. This is not a deck that wants to shoot up in credits. You're drawing a lot. I used to have a Reuse in there to enable me to discard the SfSS, RO, and Interns. That was too unreliable, however.

If you can't ditch the SfSSs, then you can replace them with Biotic Labors in the AD, then play them from hand. However, this raises the cost of the whole thing by 4 per SfSS in hand. If the combo needs to go of right now, it is a clutch option for the rich corp.

Scoring out versus smart opponents. When you go above a certain credit limit (12 ), smart runners will often stop running, thus preventing you from PSing. This leaves you only with the option to do the combo when you're out of cards in R&D, which isn't an option against Noise. So sometimes you have to just score out. Use your ETR ice to push the 5/3 first. Then push out a VP IAA, with Biotic AAAA to win. This only really works when you do it quickly, or when they don't think you can win the second turn. If they score a lot early, you're pretty distraught as you can't feed them a 5/3 (better: GFI with D&D coming out) to make them run.

Changes when Data and Destiny arrives

As said above, GFI means that there's an 80% chance (they score a GFI) that the runner will need 3 agendas to win. You only need 2.

2 comments
6 Oct 2015 b4ralai

sorry mate, i didnt understand why leela cant bounce the second scoring agenda

6 Oct 2015 ycombinator

You score the two agendas on different turns. The second one is not out when the first is scored. The board state after the second AD has to be 1x VP + 1x rezzed Jackson. Score the VP, use jackson, use AD -> 2x SfSS, 2x interns/SfMM, then advance, score.

Key: You just have to do the two scores on different ADs.

BTW, I've since found that you can -1 SfSS, and you're fine to get some influence.