False Pub

Diogene 3864

Bad Pub is really bad. It makes passing the ices cheap. But Roughneck Repair Squad slow down the corp sooo much. So I went at the NBN bank and got myself Exposé with Increased Drop Rates.

Increased Drop Rates give a nice choise, get rid of bad pub or take a tag. On top of it, it even continue its effect when in Archives, making runs in archives helpful to me.

The combo is nice here. Bulwark, Checkpoint and Trebuchet let you get back 3 creds from the ID, making them cost 3 creds less. The bad pub would make them not too costly to pass after. Then you get rid of bad pub and those ices are VERY strong. Bulwark without bad pub will cost 7 creds for Paperclip. Most runner will let you fire Checkpoint, unless they do not have 3 cards in hand. And often, it is easier to let Trebuchet fire than paying for breaking it.

The other spicy things are Snare! Digging this Outfit will be painful.

Since I can get rid of bad pub pretty easily (1 card in 7 does that for me), I chose to use a lot of bad pub ices. Checkpoint in Snare hurt a lot. Because this has one scoring remote, Project Junebug makes for a nice and nasty trap.

The rest is the usual Weyland way : Dedication Ceremony for City Work Project, Mausolus and Exposé (this can let you get rid of a whopping 4 bad pub).

Preemptive Action let you bring back the Snare (and anything else). Keeping R&D stocked with Snare (better if the runner knows about it) make for good protection.

11 comments
10 Nov 2020 Krams

I really like the deck, though I don't like Checkpoint :D
It's save to bounce off for TTW and typically, the runner will just let the trace fire...
Either you boost and they just jack out after the encounter.
Or you don't boost and the ICE is a mere 4 tax without a breaker.

I get that you can remove the bad pub and therefor get a 4 taxing ICE for just 1 of investment, but a deck with so few ICE and so much money could afford to invest in something nastier.

Also, Border Control imho really shines in a deck with big, taxing servers. This deck has only 5 big ICE and if you spread them over HQ, R&D and the scoring remote the tax is kinda lame, even if you make them run twice.
I'd suggest to replace it with Akhet, which synergies well if put in front of Exposé, Junebug or CWP or, in absence of anything better, can slowly load up other advanceable ICE like Mausolus or more Akhets.

10 Nov 2020 Diogene

@Krams This is a good suggestion. I will try it with Akhet, which does synergise well.

Here is what I liked with Checkpoint. It is cheap, as you've mentionned, for the Outfit. It is pretty taxing for the rez cost. And it gives a choice : break for an absurd price or take the trace, which should cost less. Usually, runner will take the trace. Sometime, they won't defend the trace, which is pretty good. Basically, the reason for the include was the tax to rez ratio.

This deck is not that rich, because Too Big Too Fail cannot be used if you have more than 10 creds.

If I had slots to spare, I would use Sub Boost, to get an ETR sub on Checkpoint. Even making Checkpoint a Barrier would still make it crazy expensive to break (7 str!!, cost a whopping 6 creds with Paperclip).

Akhet is such a good ice for Weyland. It even becomes immune to Hippo with 3 advancements. There is a lack of ice in this deck, but... slots.

Side note : so far, I've rezzed Bulwark only once, for some reason, it always comes late or the runner doesn't run the server with Bulwark on it.

Funny part, the first reason for all the bad pub ices initally was to force myself in getting to understand how to work with bad pub. It failed on me. Now, because I can get rid of the bad pub, I'm able to run this ID. And half my games were won by flatlining the runner. So, there might be something else to experiment around.

Now, let's see what Akhet can do for me :-)

Thanks for the comments and the suggestions. Cheers.

10 Nov 2020 Krams

@Diogene This is my current wip with Akhet.

11 Nov 2020 Diogene

@Krams I saw your list. Very strong. How did it do in your tests. I also notice that you "only" have 3x Exposé. In my test, with only 3 cards to remove bad pub, those cards where not coming early enough for me. But Exposé can remove a lot of bad pub at once. I'm curious out it went for you. I'll try it on my side alse.

Thanks for sharing your deck.

11 Nov 2020 ShinMuteki

@Krams Why no Border Control in your deck ? Not sure about Checkpoint. The rest is quite well built.

11 Nov 2020 Diogene

@Krams I saw your list. Very strong. How did it do in your tests. I also notice that you "only" have 3x Exposé. In my test, with only 3 cards to remove bad pub, those cards where not coming early enough for me. But Exposé can remove a lot of bad pub at once. I'm curious how it went for you. I'll try it on my side also.

Thanks for sharing your deck.

11 Nov 2020 Krams

IAAing Exposé behind an Akhet can often net 3 bad pub removal, which is seriously strong.

Best thing I did once was removing 5 bad pub with a single copy, which is quite bonkers. Burnt a Dedication on that, but was totally worth it. (IAA'd and the runner didn't run, so I popped it in my turn with Dedication.)

Generally, Exposé and Dedication are my top priority for Preemptive.

11 Nov 2020 Krams

I'm currently thinking about getting rid of Bulwark. Maybe replace it with Border Control as @ShinMuteki suggested.
And I'm still unsure about Checkpoint.
So bottom line is that I can handle less bad pub removal by simply generating less bad pub in the first place.

Seems to go against the identity, but Hostile, Too Big To Fail and Trebuchet are still reason enough to play Outfit.

11 Nov 2020 Diogene

@Krams I saw that you got rid of Colossus and Bulwark in favor of Border Control. That is a sensible thing and I think it will make the deck stronger.

I tested the 1st version with Colossus and Akhet. I understand the point of Akhet, but I find it hard, tempo wise, to put token on Akhet, to make the token placement a sure fire. I'll test some more with the new version and really push advancements on Akhet. Currently, I still feel that Bulwark can put a immense dent in the runner plan. It is like a Chiyashi, but so much cheaper for Outfit. But replacing it with Akhet is very good, cheaper and provide added benefits (at the cost of tempo).

Finally, in my test with your first version, I found 3x Expose to be good. While I still like Increased Drop Rate for the archive trigger, Expose will remove more bad pub in a more sure fire way. There is something to dig here. I must say that even with the 3x Expose, I've used the Dedication nearly exclusively for City Work Project.

I want to note that NGO was very good there, messing up the runner is always fun.

Still, this archetype of Outfit, with the ability to remove bad pub, is pretty nice. RIght now, I'm thinking of having less Increased Drop Rate and more Expose, with Tech Startup to tutor it (which would allow a A-A-A on it).

With the development on both side, it makes things very interesting. Thank you for sharing your deck.

17 Nov 2020 KoRayven

Hey! I made a slight variant on your deck and have been having a blast with it. Some changes I made:

-2 Roughneck Repair Squad -> +1 Elizabeth Mills, +1 Exposé. Liz was a splash I made on a whim and now I swear by her spot in the Outfit. Seriously, she has been a star. It's surprising how many people forget that Earthrise Hotel is a Location and it is always a treat to trash an Aesop's or Citadel and be paid to do so. Also, I found an interesting strategy with Exposé by rezzing it without immediately popping it. The Runner has surprisingly few options to easily kill it and is often forced to make a decision on how much BP they are willing to let you remove. You can even do this with an overadvanced Exposé to actually deter them from running any servers with unrezzed ice.

-3 Mausolos -> +3 Hortum. Hortum has an immediate ETR, Mausolos does not. There are very few hard ETRs in this deck right now. The AI hate on Hortum cannot be understated either. Though rare in my experience, a triple advance on a central Hortum might be the only thing standing between you and the Apocalypse.

-1 Punitive Counterstrike -> +1 Consulting Visit. I have yet to actually use ConVis since I slotted it in but I am never annoyed at seeing it in HQ like I often am with Punitive #3. The option to ConVis into a TBTF in a pinch is always appreciated.

-1 Checkpoint, +1 Afshar. I wasn't sold on it at first but testing showed Checkpoint really did pull its weight and then some, though in the end I only slotted in one (and I feel that is plenty). I replaced it instead with Afshar because Amina exists and I hate it and it adds another badly needed ETR.

I made a few other changes but those ones are more to personal taste. Thanks for sharing your decklist! It's been a load of fun for me. Cheers!

17 Nov 2020 Diogene

@KoRayven I took up your suggestion. Afshar is very good. I also replaced all the Mausolus by Hortum. For -1 strenght and +1 ETR, it is worth it. And it can be a good AI deterrent.

I think you are right about the Consulting Visit. It serves a lot. I also took out the Roughneck Repair Squad and Increased Drop Rate in favor of 3x Exposé.

Elizabeth Mills did not work for me in my tests. Also, I seems to be struggling recently. Mainly with creds and having a full hand too often (I really dislike uselessly trashing cards). So I am trying new variations with sometime IPO, sometime NGO, etc.

What is working are the Snare, Exposé, Agendas and Ices (with your suggestions).

What need to be remix are the operations, upgrades (none for now) and assets.

This is fun! Thanks you for sharing your observations. They are on point and appreciated. I'll keep you posted.