From Cyborg to Hulkbuster (1st-3-0@"Genova Reborn"13/02/22)

Hoping to catch lighting in a bottle twice, I build a Criminal deck that was good win on RnD and keep the pressure up in the meantime, like I did in the last pre-pandemic event with this Leela deck.

For the breakers, I tried sticking with the same suite, but Engolo / Amina / Bukhgalter / Corroder / Tycoon seems pretty slow for the new fast corp meta dominated by PD / Rushy Weyland.

I decided (and apparently 90% of Criminals with me) to go for the Aumakua with the support cards.

With the turtle you more or less have to include Hunting Grounds.
IP Block is still a threat, and it's followed by his friends Funhouse (Weyland and NBN) and Thoth (a RP+ favourite card). Not to mention Data Loop

[Az Using Hunting Grounds for those pesky, pesky ice!]

Of course this is for the first part of the match.

The intent is to "switch to hulkbuster mode" and install the 1x "real breaker" after the first purge. I'm pretty sure that Paperclip / Bukhgalter / Unity are the optimal choices here.

[It's SHOWTIME!]

And of course the Money. 90% of my matches opens with an installation of Rezeki turn 1. You have the "normal" event suite + the added bonus of the econ from Falsified Credentials (4th, 5th and 6th Sure Gamble, +1 for turtle power). Az installs Telework Contract for free.

[Money?? Yeah, have some!]

The idea is to have your rig always with some Rezekis or Aumakua acting as a cheaper alternative for breaking ICEs:

• Cyborg mode:
  • Aumakua + 2 Rezeki
• Hulkbuster mode:
  • 3 normal breakers + 2 Rezeki OR
  • 3 normal brekers + Turtle + 1 Rezeki

Side note: I know the deck would be stronger if you transform into a Steve deck.
I am a bit more comfortable with the Az discounts, but I think I would do the following to make it so:

• -2 Telework Contract, +2 Liberated Account
• -1 Boomerang and -1 something else and +2 Inside Job

Onto the reports!

Game 1: vs Diegaccio's Argus The game was "tainted" by a public agenda scored as if it was a normal one. We kept playing (even though my opponent conceded) and I still won for timeout 5-4 because of a wheel-maddash (4 accesses). The deck was doing quite good, with a great amount of money produced and the wheel that was charging exploiting a thite in the outermost position of rnd (2 cred with bhagalter, -1 because of the bad pub, +2 because of the bhagalter bonus). Shout out to Diegaccio for the archer on HQ (I was expecting it on the remote) boomeranged to fail a DOF.

Game 2: vs Cetti's Reality+ This game showed what the "good stuff crim" can really do. Strong econ, constant pressure. If the pressure is constant (and you have good money) Aumakua is a really cheap breaker, and the corp has to do something in their turn to react, they normally cannot take the tempo hit to purge. I was stealing bellona from the remote being able to pay 5 no problem, and withstanding HHN the turn after (removing 1 tag with deuces and the other 3 manually).

Game 3: vs Koga's Jemison Strange game, I was aware of the tricks from this deck (the fast advance of jemison but applyed to reverse account -> hhn to tag a 16 cred poorer Runner) that starts with a Stand Off and/or a very big Atlas. Rnd was open and I took my chance running 2-3 times a turn. I topdecked more or less all the agendas from there.

Great place, great people, new faces. My best wishes for the AnR / NISEI Genova community to be stronger than ever! Shoutout to Icon for the set up and Cetti for the added prizes!