Chairman Hiro's Escape Pod

WELCOME TO THE CYBERNETICS DIVISION! The Pioneer of First Class Panic Room Technology!

Runner got you down? Always invading your personal space? What you need is the new Escape Pod (patent pending) from HB. The runner will think twice (maybe) the next time they come snooping when you hit the trusty self-destruct button and escape to safety, destroying any intruders and protecting you from harm - that's the Cybernetics Division Guarantee!

So this is actually an idea I had when the ID came out and thanks to being drawn this ID in our latest Random ID Jank tourney RandomNet #3 I thought it was definitely worth revisiting. It's Cybernetics Division with its reduced hand size so it has to be a kill deck, but I'd argue this one is rather unique. The setup is to use Chairman Hiro in a server, rez him at the end of the runner's turn, to force the runner's hand size down to 2. With those tasty two points on his back, or just the squeeze put on by the restricted hand size, the runner is going to try and sort him out. When they run on the Hiro server, you let them all the way in and in the last paid ability window before access, you rez the Self-Destruct, trash the whole server, ejecting Chairman Hiro to safety, and hit the runner with the killing 3 net damage (provided you can win the trace). To ensure this happens, a Harvester should be the innermost ice to ensure that 2 cards in hand for those pesky runners that like to draw up before they run. A corporate troubleshooter can help ensure the Harvester subs fire and Tech Startup is included to help fetch Hiro - he enjoys those investment opportunities!

This server can be started with the classic Breaker Bay Grid + Adonis Campaign combo - this is pretty standard out of HB so the runner won't see it coming. BBG also means that the Hiro and Self-Destruct rezzes are free, helping you win that precious trace.

The NEXT ice suite is included here because it's cheap and effective - this isn't ETF here! There are also Popup windows to help with the economy and a cheeky Fenris which you should only rez if you can land that brain damage - that'll teach the runner for face-checking when they're not prepared.

If the Escape Pod fails to kill the runner, or Hiro gets stolen then you could try and score out. Sales Team is again a crucial money card for this non-ETF ID, but seriously if you're not killing the runner then I don't think you're playing the deck properly :)

Sadly on the day, I didn't get to press the Self-Destruct button and detonate the runner. I was agenda flooded in 2 of the 3 games and the other I was facing an Iain running Drug Dealer, Public Sympathy and Faust as their breaker. That being said I was ready with a Corporate Troubleshooter and the NEXT Gold but they never ran my scoring remote so I went for the (boring) points win.