Code Gate into the Mind v1.1

Wrecko 494

A new take on an old deck which placed 2nd in a small store championship. I love the irony of winning a Kit mat with a Code Gate deck.

I originally couldn't decide which identity to make this deck with, Nisei Division is ok but not great. I went away from RP as the combo ice lead to fewer servers stacked with more ice, which makes Sundew less viable and it kind of breaks down from there. There is a murder version of this deck with Viktor 1.0, Marcus Batty, Chairman Hiro, Cerebral Cast, etc, that you can also run out of Nisei Division and the ability to keep the runner guessing at the start is nice.

This deck has lots of big taxing code gates with an asset economy to increase the tax along with NAPD Contract. There are very few runner decks that can sustain repeated runs against this deck. Will-o'-the-Wisp and Caprice Nisei provide scoring windows when the runner has money and there are ample scoring windows when the runner doesn't have money.

There are lots of combo dependent ice but Tenma Line makes it work. Even against runners that knew my old deck couldn't make themselves trash Tenma Line. Against new runners, they'll usually just scoff when you rez it.

The old deck was around Order and Chaos so the new additions are:

Bandwidth - I was unreasonably excited when I saw this card because I knew it would be perfect for this deck

Crick - Perfect card for an asset based economy. Maybe should be a 3x.

Lotus Field - Replaced Tollbooth as primary EtR ice.

Turing - AI breaker hate. The high strength of the other ice is the other way to counteract AIs.

Lag Time - These slots were originally Interns but with Crick, I felt I could make the switch.

The agenda mix could change to include Eden Fragment, to help with the towers of ice you are making but the current mix defends itself quite well, which is important for this deck especially in the early game.

Any questions, comments or suggestions are welcome.

19 comments
11 Jul 2015 Dydra

Very solid list, I like it :) Forgot that Turing was a Code Gate too :)

11 Jul 2015 Wrecko

@Dydra Thanks, and thanks for the inspiration to bring this deck out of retirement.

11 Jul 2015 Dydra

I'm wondering though, is there a reason for the ID? Your only PSI is on Caprice and TFP. Maybe the same deck with RP could do even better ( especially since they can't pay the 3 clicks on a remote Turing ) :)

11 Jul 2015 Wrecko

Ya, as I mentioned above, the Nisei Division isn't great for this deck, but there isn't an ID that is strong for this deck. RP would be better for Turing, but lacks the punishment (Tollbooth, Tsurugi, etc) on the centrals that most RP decks have which could just make it a sub-optimal RP deck. Nisei Division doesn't have an established archetype so the runner has to figure out what you are trying to do and often wastes time and effort installing fracters and killers and other silly things like that. I think there is value in that confusion.

Plus everyone plays RP, and I am a chronic champion of the underdog. :)

If one wanted to switch to RP and drop the Mental Health Clinic for Sundew and replace RSVP with Tollbooth. I think that would work.

11 Jul 2015 CommissarFeesh

If you want more reasons to run this in Nisei, maybe sub in some Clairvoyant Monitor? Could maybe go -1 Marker -1 Sensei +2 Clairvoyant? Higher rez cost might mess with your econ though.

11 Jul 2015 CommissarFeesh

On further reading; I'm wondering at the choice of Bandwidth. Is it there just to combo with Sensei/Marker? Given the lack of any tag punishment it seems an odd choice.

11 Jul 2015 Wrecko

@CommissarFeesh Clairvoyant Monitor could work but it has a poor cost to strength ratio and I don't have the complimentary pieces to store advancement counters. It would just be putting in a psi ice for the ID's sake. You could tweak the deck to fit them in but it would have to be a significant modification to be worthwhile.

Bandwidth has a fantastic strength to cost ratio and turns into a poor man's Data Raven when properly set up. It works best behind a Sensei and Marker but it can do work in front of EtR ice or even just Caprice Nisei. The only tag punishment this deck needs is the ability to trash the runner's economic resources.

11 Jul 2015 Yubinshan

Have you considered Unorthodox Predictions? It cascades with itself and with Nisei MK II pretty well...

11 Jul 2015 Wrecko

@Yubinshan I remember when I was originally building the deck, I was looking at Unorthodox Predictions, but I couldn't fit them in. It would be cool to test because the ability would be really powerful with this ice mix.

13 Jul 2015 percomis

You talked about the ID choice, but only between Nisei Division and RP. I was wondering: what about the other IDs? You could go with Biotech and choose Greenhouse most of the time to help with scoring or even Tank if you face Noise/Keyhole decks.

13 Jul 2015 percomis

Also as you run no Jacksons, what do you do against Noise?

13 Jul 2015 Chuftbot

You've got Tenma Line and positional shenanigans, but no Chum?

Maaaaaaaan

13 Jul 2015 beladee

Seriously...Chum is like the best cheap ice ever. Scares runners away early game, taxes plenty for its low rez cost late game. Boosts the next ice. I love me some Chum! I'd definitely recommend 2x Chum in place of maybe 1x Sensei and 1x Marker

14 Jul 2015 cmcadvanced

@percomis, he loses against noise. He loses.

14 Jul 2015 Wrecko

@percomis @cmcadvanced There is virtually no Noise in my meta, so I don't really worry about it. You could drop a Turing and both Lag Times to fit in Mr. Howard, if needed.

@percomis Going with Biotech is a solid idea. I originally made this deck before Biotech came out, but it would allow me to deal with the Noise problem and actually score a The Future Perfect every once in a while.

@Chuftbot @beladee You'll get no argument from me about Chum. I love that card. I have a murder version of this deck that uses Chum, Checkpoint and Shinobi. I guess I had the blinders on and just had Chum relegated to the murder version. That murder version would probably be better out of Biotech as well. I'd rather keep Sensei since it is so good on towers of ice but swapping out Chum for the Markers would probably make the deck better.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

17 Jul 2015 TheRyanBurke

Would love to see this with Tennin Institute instead. All of your assets, upgrades, and 3/1s suddenly look like 4/2s. Include one Trick of Light for good measure.

4 Sep 2015 vor_lord

Now that Chronos Protocol: Selective Mind-mapping is out -- it seems with a bit of tweaking, you could also target key cards in hand (recursion pieces, code gate breakers)...

8 Sep 2015 hedera

@TheRyanBurke: As @Dydra pointed out in a different decklist, this deck wouldn't work in Tennin as the assets provide free runs for the runner to prevent the advancement counter. The ice in this deck needs to stack to be effective.

@vor_lord: That would be a nice tweak. I think the trick would be finding the right balance between net damage and taxing the runner. I think the agenda mix would have to change a bit to accommodate as well.

8 Sep 2015 Wrecko

Sorry for the double post, I commented as one of my friends.

@TheRyanBurke: As @Dydra pointed out in a different decklist, this deck wouldn't work in Tennin as the assets provide free runs for the runner to prevent the advancement counter. The ice in this deck needs to stack to be effective.

@vor_lord: That would be a nice tweak. I think the trick would be finding the right balance between net damage and taxing the runner. I think the agenda mix would have to change a bit to accommodate as well.