Backdoor Bankhar Steve [NY Showdown 2025]

Played during the New Year's Showdown 2025. Several very close games, but didn't fare well on the final outcomes (this deck ultimately went 0-3), but was likely due to piloting errors on my end as I'm fairly new to the game. The deck applies good pressure on HQ and was fun to play!

I modified Bridgeman's Bankhar Steve:

• I swapped out the Saci and Window of Opportunity package for some Career Fairs, another Boomerang, a Docklands Pass for multiaccess, and a Verbal Plasticity to help with card draw (in hindsight would prefer another The Class Act).
• I swapped out the Shibboleth for Cat's Cradle to put more econ pressure on the Corp.
• Added in one more Revolver

Game 1 - Against Asa Group: Security Through Vigilance
Got 5 early points off of centrals. Asa then started setting up and the game started grinding to a halt. I made a bad face check into a Drafter that gave Asa gas. I set up for a run on R&D with 3 WAKE Implant v2A-JRJ counters but whiffed on the 4 R&D access. At that point I was behind on econ and was just struggling for single accesses and Asa won with an Audacity.

Game 2 - Against Thule Subsea: Safety Below
Early game was okay and was keeping the board state in check. Then a bad face check into a Ping left me floating a tag. Thule then hit me with a Hypoxia and trashed my Tsakhia "Bankhar" Gantulga and I was behind for the rest of the game. Ultimately scored 5 points, but lost to a flatline.

Game 3 - Against Earth Station: SEA Headquarters
Tough game that took 17 turns. Corp rezzed an early Winchester on HQ and had an Archer on the remote, which made contesting the remote challenging. Ultimately was able to get a Emergency Shutdown to derez the Archer and contested the remote. I stole an SDS but had to trash my only program, so no longer had any programs. Game was a 6 points to 6 points. Corp installed a card in the remote, so we're on game point. I run HQ and use Cambridge's ability to give them the option of giving me a Sneakdoor Beta (so I can rerun HQ) or a Boomerang (so I can contest the remote). They give me Sneakdoor. On the HQ access that run, I see an SDS, but have no programs so can't steal (they only have 2 cards in hand). I install the Sneakdoor and run Archives/HQ twice to fish for the 50% chance on stealing the SDS, but whiffed on two runs. Them's the breaks!

If I were making changes to the deck, I'd consider the following:

• Dropping the Career Fairs and swapping in a Pinhole Threadingand another WAKE Implant v2A-JRJ

• Swapping the Verbal Plasticityfor a The Class Act

Overall, very fun event! Huge thanks to maninthemoon for organizing and the players I played against, who were all super welcoming to a newer player.