Reality Spike Rush - [86% Win rate]

vreely 85

Overview

Education Spike FTW as fast as possible. The deck is based on Diogene's Endless Drain list, but amped up entirely for speed. It uses massive draw to power the Reeducation combo behind cheap ETR, and will never win by scoring out. The entire plan is to beat the runner to the breakers. It is surprisingly consistent, and dead simple to play.

Stats

  • 86% win rate.
  • 45% of wins in 5 turns or less.
  • 84% of wins in under 8 turns.
  • Earliest win on turn 3.
  • Latest win on turn 10 (not sure how I lucked into that)
  • Average turns for a win = 5.7

40 Cards? Yes. You want speed and consistency. The deck is worse with more cards. Keep it 40.

The Plan

The opening hand can honestly be just about anything due to the massive draw. I do almost always keep a Neurospike since its a combo piece and only 2 of them. ETR + Rashida Jaheem is a good opener, or simply a Hedge Fund for the little bit of econ you'll need.

Setup an Enigma, and a barrier on a remote, get a bit of econ, find the 3 card combo, and win. Base move is to IAA the Reeducation, followed by Seamless Launch, Adv, Neurospike. Outside of Ice rezzing costs, you need 7 creds for the base combo, 6 creds if you're using double Seamless, and 10 creds if needing the more complicated Jeeves route.

Protect Centrals as needed in the standard way, but typically not as the first priority. HQ protection for Criminal is about the only thing I may do before setting the remote. Since there are only 3 code gate ETRs, I almost always save those for the remote.

The Cards

The Options

37 of my cards have never changed. 3 of them can be experimented with. In this posted version they are the Reality Threedee x2, and the Authenticator. I use the Authenticator for central distraction only and possible ID proc, but don't every really like spending the click to install it. Reality Threedee is in there for a tiny bit of passive econ to help with ice rez that rarely gets trashed for 6. Its not even worth the install if there are not at least 2 turns left, so for that reason its a potential trade out. I like it a tad bit better than Tiered Subscription since the bad pub really doesn't matter much. The game is about whether the Runner finds the breakers or not, not out crediting them.

Other things I have tried or considered trying in various combinations are:

  • Tiered Subscription since it was in Diogene's original list.
  • SYNC BRE since its a pseudo-etr sentry, but a tad bit too expensive and slow.
  • Mumbad Virtual Tour as an installable speed bump.
  • Keegan Lane if you want more defense and care to wait for code gate on the inner with ping over it.
  • More IP Block. I only saw a couple turtles, but if they make their way back into the meta, then more of this is a good thing.
  • Herald. I never tested this, but because these 3 slots are worth so very little, I thought maybe it could serve as passive income and/or the very rare adv help on an installed Reeducation. The reason I never tried it is the single cred trash cost.
  • More draw maybe with Lily Lockwell or Daily Business Show, but I never tried them as they seem too slow.

I would love to hear other options if people read this far, though I can't really seeing anything changing much how the deck is played.

Matchups

  • Rielle "Kit" Peddler: Transhuman is probably the hardest, and gave me the largest percentage of my losses.
  • Quetzal: Free Spirit should also be a hard one. I faced only 1 and beat it simply because I got the early Enigma.
  • Adam: Compulsive Hacker is dangerous as probably the best use of Mad Dash in the early game. A very cool loss was a 2 click loss to Adam as he ripped an agenda out of HQ, then Mad Dash for the win. After that game, I always throw something on HQ vs. Adam along with criminals.
  • MaxX: Maximum Punk Rock This deck crushes all versions of MaxX. All of them like to setup like a shaper, and its too late before they matter. I'm 10-0 against MaxX.

The Anti-tech

I am sure there are more than this, but here is what I saw in my nearly 50 matches.

  • Mad Dash should be. However I only lost once to it in the Adam game referenced above.
  • No One Home. In a matchup against Steve Cambridge: Master Grifter he dropped this on me turn 1 to secure the win. Its the only time I saw it. There isn't enough econ to beat this, and the only chance is a long shot... Jeeves out, Seamless, Seamless, Neuro, Nero. Good luck with that. I tried, but the deck has zero staying power designed in it to set this up.
  • On the Lam. I never saw one, but would have the same issue.
  • Stargate should be a problem as well, however I outraced 3 or 4 of these and it never beat me, so maybe its not an issue.
  • Conduit is the same as stargate. I saw a couple hit the table, but it was never fast enough. I'm sure other decks had them that never got them played.
  • Engolo necessitates a 3 ice remote, and is the reason I was playing around with Keegan Lane a bit. Gotta just outrace it.

Updates

I've played a few games now with Herald x1 and Special Report x2 per Diogene's suggestion. -1 Authenticator, -2 Reality Threedee. Special Report is very useful when flooded with cards.

Stealing more of Diogene's changes, switching the Vanilla to Wraparound is the smart play vs. Engolo. However unlike his build, I still think NBN: Reality Plus is the better ID.

3 comments
16 Nov 2021 Kalith

Played it twice and won both games on turn 4. What about Attitude Adjustment for more draw?

Great list!

17 Nov 2021 Diogene

I am so glad somebody is doing a 40 cards deck! Check Special Report, which could speed up even further the deck. Great deck and very inspiring. Thanks for sharing!

17 Nov 2021 5N00P1

Congrats on becoming World Champion, what can go wrong with a win rate of 84%? Sorry 86%!