Punitive CounTyrStrike (5-1 Worlds 2020)

Brought to you by the depraved and cunning mind behind Project Vacheron comes the tried-and-true combination of HB and surprise Punitive Counterstrikes.

Well, mostly. I've been playing Punitive HB since late 2014, but this particular incarnation is a modified version of a list given to me by the wonderful Jakuza, which was inspired by syd7's NA Continentals winning Asa.

I made a few modifications to the list provided to me by Jakuza: replacing a Biotic Labor with an additional Marilyn, swapping out some of the ice suit so that I could include my BELOVED SON, and going to 21 agenda points to just focus in on the MCAAP and Punitive plan.

The general plan with the list is to lay down some iced remotes to set up for Fully Operational value, and adjust your ice placement depending on what econ cards you end up drawing (asset focused, multiple VLCs, or jeeves click-for-credits turns). The biggest friction point in any given game is knowing when to just go for some Project Vitruvius scores to try and force the runner to either make themselves vulnerable, or allow you to get PVit counters going which can set you up for 3x punitive plays or repeatedly pulling back MCAAPs.

There's a lot of strange maths that ends up happening when it comes to multiple Punitive plays, especially against Runners that either guess what's going on or manage to spot a Punitive in centrals. Taxing them out as much as possible is important, but so is being willing to hold back a Fully Operational to suddenly surge your credit pool before playing two Punitives.

The list only dropped one game all day (I ID'd the final round) and I feel I held my own pretty damn well in that loss as well considering my 4 agenda opening hand into an awkward mulligan!

And before anyone asks why on earth I'd play Tyr: I rezzed him 4 times and he was relevant every single time! My son is big, beautiful and by far the best Large Ice in the game. Working as intended!