To Catch A (R+)unner (4-0 | 2nd @ Frozen Summer Showdown)

Your ice doesn't ETR, your agendas are tempo-negative, and your plan B is conceding.

This is fine.

Every runner will, at some point, expose themselves to a kill. They won't run the face down Headline, they'll drop below 8 creds and 5 cards, they'll dirty laundry archives and hit an OT on the last click, etc.

And when they do? You'll be ready offer them a seat.

Game Plan

This is a dedicated kill deck. The concept? Pick an Id that gives money, cards, and a 40 card min. Load up that deck with as much money, card draw, redundancy, and tutoring as you can. The plan? Never not having it. Have exactly what you need to punish even the tiniest of runner mistakes.

Is This Deck Actually Good? Is R+ So Back?

No. But it's a lot of fun.

Play Patterns

• You're here for a good time, not a long time. Scoring out is not an option.
• Draw, draw, draw until you have the kill. Predictives should almost always be used for drawing, Rashida, YDL, and R+ handle your econ.
• Once you hit 10 creds you can (mostly) stop thinking about money for the rest of the game, unless you're actually trying to score out with Holo. Incidental YDLs, Predictives, and R+ triggers will keep you going. Trail + EotL + Hypo requires 6 creds. Mindscaping makes it 7.
• Overdrawing is part of the plan, discard agendas, ice, or holomen if they're not going to be useful in the next turn or two.
• DO NOT let agendas pile up in HQ, that's for cards that actually matter. Discard them, naked install them, Adjust them, whatever, just get them out of your hand. Playing defensively with this deck is effectively one giant game of keep-away. You can't protect your agendas, so they need to not be wherever the runner currently is.
• Don't be afraid of using Public Trail as 'the runner loses 8 creds'. Trails are my top non-agenda priority when it comes to Spins, combine that with a Gaslight and your two trails turns into four or more trails.
• Oppos is an economic warfare tool, it's not necessary for enabling the kill. Use it whenever you think the tempo hit is going to slow down the runner or if you need some breathing room. Big Oppo is worth it when the situation arises, but I've found the deck is able to close out the game before Threat 3 becomes something you can act on.
• Your endgame is baiting the runner into a server with Ping + AMAZE + OT -- Four tags and an R+ trigger for 3 cards, 3 creds, and an agenda point should be enough to win the game off of.
• Ideal first hand is a Ping, two of Predictive, YDL, or Rashida, and a Spin. You're looking for something to protect HQ vs. Crim/Anarch/Burner, and then money/card draw to kickstart your engine.

When in doubt, repeat after me: "Agenda points aren't real and they can't hurt me."

Cards of Note

Oracle Thinktank - The entire reason this deck works. This is not an agenda, it's a trap that gives you an R+ trigger, forces the runner to deal with a tag, and turns on Oppo all in-exchange for one point. A flatline is a win whether the runner has six points or none.

Hypoxia - An absolute all-star. Core damage makes it easy to setup future kills, -1 click makes it more painful for the runner to clear tags. Earlier iterations ditched the Mindscaping in favor of a second copy, which was too inconsistent. If this was 2-inf, I'd play three copies, but at 3-inf it's a one of.

Self-Growth Program - This was a last minute addition intended for the WT Ari matchup, and not much else. I'm still not convinced it's necessary since you can usually exploit the tempo hit associated with an early WT to win. I have used it to snipe a Mercs vs. a tag-me runner, but that's the edgiest of edge cases. Needs more testing.

Attitude Adjustment - Draws cards, gains money, hides agendas, and frees up your Spins to shuffle back Trails and econ. One copy feels like the right number, you don't need this card every game, but when it shows up it shows up.

The Holo Man - Simultaneously incredibly important, and not important at all. The potential for Orbital/Headline kills forces runs by turning every single face down card is a threat. I don't need to use Holo Man, or even install it, it asserts pressure on the runner just by being in the list. Two is enough.

Cards Under Consideration

Sudden Commandment - I'm not sure how to feel about this card. There are situations where it'd be useful, but I've also never needed it, and slots are at a premium. If I was going to try it, I'd cut the SGP and and maybe Piranhas. The deck definitely doesn't want three copies, but I don't know if it's strong enough to be a one of.

Klevetnik - Another contestant for the Piranhas slot. It's significantly less good than it is in Azmari-Reeducation, but blanking Stoneship, Wheels, or Class Act is not nothing.

Cards Excluded

Punitive Counterstrike - I've played a variant using SoM and Punitive, rather than the Mindscaping and Degree Mill, and it's straight up worse. The power of this deck is always having the kill, Punitive is simply too inconsistent.