Hammer Party

Sysp 1259

"Love it!"

"Cool deck"

"Interesting deck"

"What the hell was that? :)"

Rarely have I played a deck that is so oppressive when it has set up that still gets such positive comments from the opponents after the ggs have been exchanged.

This deck started off as a bit of a gimmick a couple of months back but ended up being quite well positioned as the metagame shifted after Quorum and Daedalus Complex. As it is now, it is actually quite strong and is a hard counter in certain matchups, especially because of the duo of Film Critic (So. Many. Midseasons.) and The Source (which slows down never advance and fast advance to a crawl, allowing the drip economy to work).

Most importantly, it's a blast to play!

Why Kim?

For the link primarily. However, since Kim's ability together with Scrubber and Bhagat pretty much guarantees some kind of value with a single HQ run each turn, this is your primary plan while making sure that remotes are locked down with The Source and drip credits.

So it's an Oracle May deck then?

Yes. 39 resources. 6 heap breakers (so you get somewhat happy when they are trashed). May away.

And Off-Campus Apartment?

Yes. 25 connections. The Hammer throws quite some parties. Street Peddler with heap breakers and Apartment is fairly awesome.

How does it play?

Mulligan for May and/or Apartment. Draw and set up your drip economy. Snipe early agenda attempts and must-trash assets with DDoS, might as well hit HQ a couple of times if you can while DDoS is active. Get The Source and Film Critic up. Overdraw with Apartment / May / Peddler the heap breakers into the bin (keep some in hand if you suspect Ark Lockdown). Set up The Source and Film Critic. Protect everything with Fall Guys. Trash and remove stuff with Kim / Scrubber / Salsette Slums. Camp away while dripping in credits. Grind em out with Bhagat or The Turning Wheel if needed.

If I want to modify it, what are the last cards in?

Guru Davinder and Political Operative were the final two additions. They are obviously quite good if your meta has a lot of PU or RP.

I tried Aaron Marrón for quite some time but it was rarely better than New Angeles City Hall and quite the anti-combo with Film Critic. I think adding another NACH is the way to go if you fear tagging (especially vs Railgun) since it combos so nicely with Film Critic.

What about Scarcity of Resources?

Makes you very sad. :( Luckily not that popular at the moment. Try to still draw with May for the 2 creds but play very few resources (Kati is still good) and play more aggressively. Your best bet is to DDoS to try to get an agenda to get rid of it if Scarcity hits early.

Best Defense?

With all your draw, you usually have more Fall Guys than they have Best Defenses. If you lose your apartment in the mid game, you are not completely dead. The deck works ok with just a minimum of drip, especially if you still have Kati.

How does the future look?

Bright! Red Sands looks great for the deck. Daedalus brought The Archivist which is awesome in the deck. It looks like there are more connections coming, especially for Anarchs so good times. Paper Trail will probably not be a thing.

If Skorpio becomes big after Terminal Directive it's a little bit more iffy - relying on heap breakers is obviously a problem then but on the other hand you are playing a deck that is really fast with setting up Film Critic so Hunter Seeker is less of a problem. Might have to add additional heap breakers to combat this.

I'm not convinced.

Let's be clear: this is not the next T1 deck. But it is way better than it initially looks on paper. Try it out, I think you'd be positively surprised about the gameplay, the decisions you have to make, the short setup time (for a drip deck) and how many decks you completely hose.

Thanks for reading. Any feedback is as always much appreciated, loved the discussion in the comments for Criminal Adam!

34 comments
14 Mar 2017 Laxen

Love it!

14 Mar 2017 Rhyme

Cool deck

14 Mar 2017 mcbeast

Interesting deck

14 Mar 2017 gejben

What the hell is this?

14 Mar 2017 RavnR

Adore it!

14 Mar 2017 RavnR

Why Kim?

14 Mar 2017 esutter479

I am impressed! One thing, though...are WNPs a possibility in the future?

14 Mar 2017 Tozar

I know it's not a resource, but the potential of Calling in Favors almost warrants the include.

14 Mar 2017 Tozar

Have you tried Raymond Flint to combo with Archivist?

14 Mar 2017 BizTheDad

Looks like The Archivist is the only link card you have to turn on Underworld Contact. Did you have issues finding one before the other?

15 Mar 2017 raphaeln

I know it's 2 influence, but this deck seems to scream for a Donut.

15 Mar 2017 Sysp

@esutter479 Don't know if you need Wireless Net Pavilion since it implies tagging. If you are worried about tagging I would probably add another NACH instead in the same slot.

@Tozar Yeah, Calling in Favors is tempting. It's hard to include non-resources without making May less and less good though. Don't know if more econ is what the deck needs. I used to run 2 Emp Strikes and 1 Same Old Thing for a while after taking the plunge and cutting that as well. Maying a heap breaker is a little sad but is not worse than drawing a card early. Maying an event (especially one you payed influence for) just makes you wanna cry.

I haven't tried Flint actually, but it's not a bad idea. Archivist usually fires either no times (often the sign of things going really well for you) or once so it's not huge value with Flint. The expose effect is interesting though and works well with the clunky breakers / against Mushin etc.

@BizTheDad The original deck I did a few months back used to run 3 Access to Globalsec. They stacked so sometimes it was good to draw multiples but often they were fairly useless after the first. When I switched to Archivist I tried 3 but quickly found out that it was too many. 2 seems to be working very well, especially with Peddlers. I'm regularly drawing 3-4 cards a turn in the beginning so the setup is faster than it looks and I'm often through my entire deck at the end of the game. At least you can play out the Contacts to draw without losing too much tempo, the deck makes enough cash with May / Kati / Daily Casts to sustain itself fairly well while in draw - play mode.

@raphaeln I know, right? If Donut was 2 cost and 1 inf, he would probably be in the deck. Problem is mainly that influence is really tight. What I consider the core (3 May, 3 Fall Guy, 2 Source, 2 Film Critic) is 12 inf already, leaving only 3 inf. It's really not about what Donut brings (which can be argued), but what he replaces. Right now, I'm trying out Find the Truth as the last 3 inf, and I could see Neutralize All Threats working very well with Kim too. If you have three influence to spare and can put in any resource(s) that you can, maybe you can do better than Donut?

15 Mar 2017 Smart_Alex

No Siphr therefor must be rubbish

15 Mar 2017 Friff14

Yeah, I like Find the Truth here, because you're revealing most of the cards you're drawing anyway. What else are you putting where you had spent influence?

16 Mar 2017 Sysp

@Smart_AlexI know rite

@Friff14 Find the Truth seems to working well, it's good in the Jinteki matchups too. I did -1 Guru -1 TTW -1 Polop +1 FTT +1 NACH +1 Councilman.

16 Mar 2017 L3C4N

Dr. Lovegood for the Source and draw works just fine in here

16 Mar 2017 Orre

Was fun :D 4/5 viruses!

18 Mar 2017 Sixtyten

Needs more Donut...

18 Mar 2017 Krakow Sam

GET OUT OF THE OFF-CAMPUS APARTMENT! It is TOXIC!

Admittedly easier said than done to land a Hatchet Job through all that link but definitely possible as a corp with good burst econ can easily accelerate ahead of the runner's drip. Don't bring a hammer to a hatchet fight!

18 Mar 2017 Handsome Jack

I remember playing this and using endlessly recurring Financial Collapse. Never felt so good. YOUR MONEY IS MINE NOW

18 Mar 2017 stimmyrobbins

How could you run this deck and not put Human first in it!!!!!

19 Mar 2017 TheBigBoy

With 0 events you gotta rock that DONUT BOI!!

Funny deck.

19 Mar 2017 weepinggorilla

Love this wacky thing. But: What happens when a MCA Informant takes up residence in one of those cozy off-campus apartments?

20 Mar 2017 mike.summers

Those cozy off-campus apartments aren't connections, and therefore are not legal targets for MCA Informant.

20 Mar 2017 rezwits

Why not throw in some Liberated Accounts or at least a 1 of Joshua B. if you already have the Film Critic & NACH combo going? This would make for some killer 5 turn DDoS-ing!

20 Mar 2017 rezwits

^^ 5 [Click] not 5 turn... :)

20 Mar 2017 Sysp

@Krakow Sam Yeah, Hatchet Job is probably the hardest counter this deck has (arguably Scarcity of Resources). Even Archangel from hand / RnD can at least be broken with Black Orchestra.

@stimmyrobbins For thematic purposes maybe :) But it's quite the nonbo with Film Critic and is really only good early (and then it's still questionable value).

@TheBigBoy Was gonna actually respond with some comparison to value of the other 3 cost resources (Bhagat, Ice Carver and Daily Casts which are either econ or a primary win con) and something about having to have Donut early for him to have resonable value (which means playing multiple copies of a 2 inf card). But then I realized that we both know that the card is a complete waste of cardboard and that if he can't make this deck, he probably won't make any deck ever. :)

@rezwits Hey, it's not a bad idea. But I rarely DDoS late game when it is likely I have Joshua / NACH setup. The mid/late turns are usually like: May, load/unload Kati, maybe make 1 run, click for a cred/play a resource. Having another action in exchange for 2 creds might not be worth it and you also have to take something out for him ofc.

21 Mar 2017 gammanet

I remember seeing this deck and found it to be really cool, unfortunately I have been playing Corporate Town so the deck quickly folded without access to resources. I stand my what I said then "Sorry"

still really neat deck

23 Mar 2017 tmoiynmwg

I played a version with Find the Truth at a GNK last Sunday and did not come close to losing. This deck is sweet - thanks for sharing!

23 Mar 2017 Sysp

@gammanet Yeah, Corporate Town is a real kicker. Gotta love when they put "can't be prevented" on cards

23 Mar 2017 Sysp

@tmoiynmwg Awesome, glad you found it fun!

24 Mar 2017 CodeMarvelous

@Sysp Are you interested in coming on the channel to discuss this deck. I am very interested.

28 Mar 2017 AngryKid_IT

Nice deck, congratulations! I love Oracle May, your deck is really fun to play! I allowed myself to use it with the following amendment: -1 turning wheel +1 guru Davinder But your version is already perfect

23 Feb 2021 Raiddinn

Oracle May with 39 resources and 6 trash breakers is just beautiful.