[Startup] Punishment Sphere (5-3 in GLC CO)

It is not uncommon to see patients undergo permanent psychological trauma in the presence of the Sphere, before the nerve stapler has even been strapped into position. Its effect on the general consciousness of the culture is profound: husbands have seen wives go inside, and mothers their children. Dr. Xynan left the surface of the sphere semitranslucent for a reason. You can hear them in there; you can see them. It is a thing of terrible beauty. —Baron Klim, “The Music of the Spheres”

When picking my deck for the GLC online startup CO, I knew there were going to be boats, so I went with an ice-light tempo deck with a Retribution package. I did not properly prepare for the proliferation of Myst references and overprized lunches though, so the "kill their boat" plan didn't really pan out.

In the swiss it merely went 1-2 (I got one game win due to a no-show and the last round was an ID), but in the cut it turned around and went 4-1. I wish I could say it was the perfect meta call but really it was a lot of luck and my opponents making mistakes. But the deck is built to get rich fast and provoke the runner into making mistakes, so it was kind of working as intended. In the semifinals it got the beating it deserved against kevintame's very rich Lat who correctly trashed all my money and hoarded his chart rooms.

The deck itself is pretty straightforward: Install all the money; get rich, feed them a 3-pointer and blow them up. If they refuse to run you score out behind the Tollbooth. If they steal your 3-pointers before you're ready you cry a bit and draw better next time. The original version ran 3x Punitive Counterstrike but I switched one for Archived Memories for some probably good reason I don't remember.

The Public Trail + Retribution combo never really worked out and could probably be more money and ice. Pop-up Window didn't do a whole lot and could probably be something more substantial. Overall, the deck is pretty powerful on its own, but really has no business winning games in the Lat meta. I'll be putting it on the shelf for now.

My other deck was much more fun to play.