[STANDARD] Mind Eater (2-1, 15th August AMT Americas)

zhansonic 29

This is a cross between my earlier NANPC SF Regenesis Sisypyhus deck and the Cloud Eaters + Mindscapings in the recent Empress AgInfusion list to back up the tag threat. It plays pretty similarly to its predecessor, and that most of that writeup still applies.

Card notes

Flex slots are 3x vs 2x of Attini and/or 3x vs 2x of Saisentan, and Predictive Planogram (even though I think pred plano is really really good) and 1 Mavirus, if you're feeling confident.

Mindscaping is great to have if the Runner eats 4 or 8 tags from a Cloud Eater, and ok to play in its other mode. Unfortunately, no runners ever took tags, and I drew 1-2 Mindscapings in my first 10 cards for all 3 games. It's a little underwhelming to play in its first mode, and I was only on a low credit total once, but it does let you get back in the game with 2 credits: Mindscaping for 4 credits, click for credit, then Hedge Fund or Hansei Review to get to 9 or 10. Unfortunately, HQ is often populated by a 1-2 Regenesis, 1-2 The Holo Man, 1-2 ICE for Tatu-Bola(s), and possibly a Helheim Servers, which makes hand slots really precious and it makes it hard to hold 2 Mindscaping to kill from a Cloud Eater. I think this combo is too wombo, sadly.

2 Mavirus is really necessary - there is so much Leech and Aumakua running around, it can really mess you up.

Cloud Eater - I think I have to cut you simply because the runner can choose to take tags instead of dying, and the Mindscaping threat is too hard to maintain when you're holding 2-3 other combo pieces in your hand. Anansi is better in every way if you don't have tag threats. Maybe program trashing is nice? Never had it happen. The valiant do not hesitate.

Possible includes

Anoetic Void - In testing, I found that Anoetic Void dies to pinhole a little too easily, and ICE is generally a better tool for securing your centrals and the remote (if you need to do a remote pivot). You also need cards in hand to protect the Regenesis in HQ, to turn on the Helheim threat, and for Hansei Reviews.

Snare! is always a good include, and I think a 1x or a 2x would be great if you can find the slots. This deck is also always rich enough that you can afford the 4c.

Front Company could be fun. Haven't tried it.

Moon Pool - In testing, I tried an idea with more remotes and Moon Pool instead of (or in addition to) The Holo Man, but moon pool is just too awkward. It has to survive for a turn, you have to have 1 or 2 agendas in Archives plus the one you want to Regenesis, and the agenda you want to advance also has to be installed, or you have to let it sit for a turn. You also can't trash agendas from HQ if you're scoring a Regenesis that turn. Ugh!

Punitive Counterstrike - I think the punitive RH idea with 3x Bacterial Programming, 3x Your Digital Life, and 3x Punitive Counterstrike is a little more consistent and definitely stronger of a deck overall. I tested that deck, and I don't like playing that deck with Regenesis much, because if the runner steals a Regenesis (and it is easy - you often have 1 or 2 in HQ, and they get stolen out of R&D like nobody's business) then you can't feed a double Bacterial. That problem would be even worse in this deck - killing off a Regenesis or a Sisyphus Protocol steal is really hard. This tournament, I found myself with 5-6 points in Archives consistently and no Spin Doctors to fix that problem (in each game, 2 Spin Doctors in the last 10 cards of my deck, and no Spin Doctors in the first half of my deck), but I think that's relatively unlikely.

Mlinzi - I cut this card because it's only relevant if you have two of them and the runner is tanking a lot of net damage. It's a great Sisyphus target, but kind of underperforms otherwise? Maybe. Need more testing. Cloud Eaters took their place in this deck, but I never rezzed a Cloud Eater in the tournament. Mlinzi and Attini have the unfortunate honor of being midrange, mediocre ICE in this deck where you usually just want Anansi if you have it, or Saisentan if you need early ICE.

The Tournament

Game 1 vs Ish on Esa - this was a tough game for both of us, but it was tense and fun. The first Regenesis was halfway through my deck, and I lost it to sabotage, and the second one popped up with < 10 cards left in R&D. Ish was digging hard for Marrow, and it was just not showing up. One turn, Ish had 9 or 10 cards in grip, and no Marrow. My early draws were also a little awkward, but nothing too bad. Around halfway through the game, Ish found Marrow and I found the second Regenesis, and we finally started playing netrunner. It came down to my last 2 cards in R&D guarded by a single Anansi and 2 runner cards in grip and 1 in stack. One was a Hedge Fund (untrashable) and the other was the last Regenesis. I had a naked The Holo Man, so if I drew the Regenesis, I could score it that turn and win. If I didn't, barring sabotage, I could possibly still win the turn after with an empty R&D. So Ish had three lines: try to blast through a triple-iced Archives to steal the 8 points there, go trash my Holo Man, or try to steal the last Regenesis from R&D. Ish went for the R&D line. Unfortunately, Ish forgot that Laamb only makes ICE a barrier for the encounter, not for the run, and I threw Ish into Anansi again with Sisyphus Protocol, and flatlined.

Game 4 vs cablooshe on Bankhar Mercury - this one was streamed on the NSG channel. I wish I made a better showing here, but I drew 5 out of my 9 agendas in the first 20 cards (not unlikely) and 2 out of my 12 ICE in the first 20 cards (a little more unlikely), and no Spin Doctor, which made this a game about managing my agendas and sweating bullets when the Cupellation came down. This deck is so dependent on drawing your cards in the right order, and it's very fragile if you lose a Regenesis (very easy to steal, another of God's little tests). I was just a little too slow here - I scored a Regenesis Sisyphus, but cablooshe cleverly identified Archives as a soft target with Agendas, bounced an ICE off Archives with Hermes and ran the now single Anansi with an S-Dobrado, making the Sisyphus repeat irrelevant and stealing the last 3 points. I should probably triple ICE archives if Hermes is in the picture. I also really wanted Spin Doctors this game to manage my agendas overflowing in Archives, and didn't find them. Oh well, that's netrunner.

Game 6 vs mily2155 on reg Hoshiko - finally, an acceptable sequence of draws! I was able to pull off the Regenesis Sisyphus, and mily2155 died to a Sisyphus Anansi on R&D after playing a Finality. It's likely he would have won if he survived and accessed 4 cards - Anansi told me there was a Bacterial Programming in the top 5 cards, and he was on 4 points. It seems like even with 2 other breakers, Echelon stacks up a little unfavorably against Anansi (and Mlinzi, if it was in this deck) - it costs 6c to break each, and 9c to break Cloud Eater. But with K2CP Turbine, it goes down to 3c / 6c, which is a blowout.

My runner deck was a Lobi Orca Deep Dive Kit, and went 0-3 due to getting outpaced by Asa/PD, and a major misplay by me in game 5. Thanks Droid for running a smooth online tournament!

2 comments
26 Aug 2024 Council

Love this - I was toying with a similar idea (but nowhere near as developed) before settling on AG for Sisyphus delivery.

26 Aug 2024 zhansonic

@Council Thanks! I really like how Empress Ag feels - not having to protect Regenesis or Holo Man makes it easier to keep the Mindscaping threat online, and not having to run Holo Man gives enough influence to run better ice and a better glacier - you’re not as precious with your HQ cards so it doesn’t feel bad to trigger Anoetic. Also, once the Sisyphus is online, we can use Ag to force the runner to hit the same scary ice, so you don’t need Anansi on all your centrals. I really want to play around with scoring Sisyphus honestly, because Regenesis decks are just so fragile.