shaper bullshit (5th at worlds)

This is a rush deck. It goes faster than the runner boat, but it can be a little bit of a glass cannon. Extract is wildly complicated and after every loss I always realized a better line with it in retrospect. Pinhole is the best tech card against it.

5-3 on the weekend. Runner list here.

Oh, edit to add - jdeng played this list too and was 4-1, but coinflipped to play runner for both his 241s, so between us both, the list was 9-4.

Edit 2: The latest version of the deck plays -1 hedge, -1 magnet, +1 afshar, and +1 mavirus. After parhelion of course you're on your own. 4-0 at PAX by the way.

Card choices

This is basically a blend of all the best ideas from my conts list, vacation cruise (for the special offers), and pinsel's build (for the skunkworks combo).

This is not a glacier deck -- tempo is everything. You do not have time to score GFI (if I did have seamless, I would be using it for atlas counters) and stavka is always worse than the smaller sentries (by the time its trash is good, the +5 is irrelevant vs boat).

Special offer is the deck's lifeblood. It defends both centrals well (by getting spin), and skilled runners will always boat it (or even pay 5 with engolo, which is ridic for a 1 cost ice). I would not cut one for a seamless.

Magnet is the 1 flex influence, which we put last minute over the second mavirus - not because BC eating botulus is hilarious (it's win-more) - but because it is 3 vs engolo. We also considered DRM for oaktown, but it doesn't work turn 1 with envelopment and can't fast advance. The rest of the influence is non negotiable as long as boat is not banned imo.

Sapper is essential, because BC needs to fetch all 3 types of gear check. Sometimes its access ability also gives free wins - foilflaws trashed a turn 1 reaver in COS and I trashed tf34's yusuf in the swiss.

Owl is there because its subroutine is better than sapper's vs paperclip (which was not relevant on the day), and so mavirus can get something when you already have skunks out (which was).

NGO was a last minute add, because your atlas counter plays need that uncertainty (jdeng's idea, and it really ties everything together). It can also stuff stargate by shuffling when the runner thinks you can't.

We cut masvingo (ok, but became worse than sandstone as we cut the other 2 w2ws for ngo), mausolus (bad for same reason as stavka - optional ability is not relevant late vs boat), and wake up call (slows the deck down too much).

Extract. It defies words. Play reps and you'll see.

Play advice

Mulligan for turn 1 {oaktown or rashida} behind {BC or envelopment}. Hostile will do in a pinch. Vs criminal, change gears completely and glacier up.

Run the manegarm formicary combo whenever possible. Get it out with mavirus on your own turn to maximize ob fetches (except if like, you already have one rezzed and need the second to beat pinhole).

Never put special offer in front of envelopment. If envelopment dies without a fetch, you lose. Skilled players will force a BC pop then go pass env same turn, so extract it much sooner than you think you need to.

Notable games

If you saw the game I lost on stream, all I can say in my defense is that we did not know about freedom, and if we had anticipated his kind of hq pressure, a 3rd afshar would have shored up the matchup a lot (replacing, honestly, the third hedge fund - which I discarded often). What I can say in the deck's defense is that I drew all 3 extract that game and played 0 of them and that was for 100% sure not optimal.

Instead let me use this space to memorialize the game that should have been streamed: jdeng vs sokka (apoc lat) round 5.

• Jason rushes out hostile + atlas counter behind envelopment;
• feeds sokka an oaktown in same remote to tax out boat, then an NGO to force a second boat install;
• has audacity atlas to score up to 5, but knows apoc + stargate lock is coming, so plays spin + BC to delay;
• still not playing audacity, puts special offer into spin to shuffle back spent BCs on the apoc turn;
• still not playing audacity, puts BC + w2w after apoc to fade stargate and then to draw past stargate;
• plays audacity to 5;
• from 0 cards in hq (audacity requires 3!), w2w draw, return w2w to hq, mandatory draw azef, and atlas counter for audacity up to 7.

When I played sokka in winner's semis, he had turn 1 rigging up + endurance, which is the literal only play that beats turn 1 oaktown + BC, and the game was over on the spot.