[startup] Big Blimpin' Code Gates

Satoshi 450

This is an RH glacier / prison deck capable of locking many runners out, which I have played many times on jnet now. Cable carnage once destroyed me with a deck kind of like this a few months ago, and I've been tinkering with the idea since.


What is still good in the Tsakhia "Bankhar" Gantulga/Endurance meta?

Restoring humanity has enough money to pay for all this stuff, and goes well with Nani and Anoetic Void.

Additionally, Nanisivik Grid is extremely good vs. Esa sabotage builds.

The general idea is to play slow and put fat ice over centrals, while trying to land a Regolith Mining License behind Palisade or Magnet. They can't get their boat counters if they can't make successful runs. The first Nanisivik Grid grid goes over Archives, and the second in a scoring remote. Tollbooth usually over HQ vs. crim and anarch, or R&D vs. shaper. It's also good to put Tollbooth over Archives sometimes.

Usually it's okay to put smaller ice over the scoring remote, like Magnet and Palisade. If you have both Anoetic Void and Nanisivik Grid there, this is likely enough stopping power to break the runner. Note that void can put ice from hand facedown into archives just in time to trigger nani grid. You can also trigger nani grid just to hurt them and then void to end the run.

There is 1 Rototurret which can sometimes be game winning if you can trash their fracter or their Matryoshka using Nanisivik Grid.


I will sometimes trash Send a Message using Hansei Review even with no near term plan to cycle it or score it. If they steal an early SAM but this lets you rez Tollbooth early over a central, that can be enough for you to take control of the game and shut them out. (Anyone remember SSL Endorsement?) Interestingly, sometimes its correct to use SAM to rez a Magnet and take care of a Botulus that's giving you trouble.


The final prison state involves 3 nanis and a void over all 4 of your servers, so that you can end the run no matter where they run, and you are no longer even vulnerable to Pinhole Threading. Even if you only manage to lock down three out of the four servers this way, if you have a Nisei MK II counter, you can still use it to cancel a Pinhole Threading run.

Don't be afraid to use the Nisei MK II counter if it will leave them broke and cancel an important effect, like Into the Depths or Finality.


I find that I can usually win pretty convincingly vs. popular Esa and Sable decks. Esa usually just can't get into Archives, and Sable can quickly get taxed out by Tollbooth etc. if she's on Cat's Cradle.

Captain Padma Isbister: Intrepid Explorer is also made very sad by Tollbooth over R&D.

My most convincing losses have been against fast-setup turbine decks, (which can still lose if you get a Nisei counter quickly enough) and a René "Loup" Arcemont: Party Animal deck using Cezve and Endurance piloted by TheBigUnit3000.

1 comments
19 May 2023 Oddball

I like big Codegates and I cannot lie. You other Runners can't deny!

Fun deck. I love that you got Nisei MK II to shine.