Totally different from Rotom's, I swear (2nd at America)

This deck is completely different from Rotom's list, and this is a 100% original write up.

This is the deck I took to 4̶t̶h̶ 2nd place at E̶u̶r̶o̶ ̶A̶f̶r̶i̶c̶a̶ America continentals, played online this weekend.

PD is a well established archetype at this point, but this list was tested and tweaked pretty thoroughly in the run-up to the event. Most notably 2 Crisium Grids came in to improve the apocalypse matchup, as it was proving tough to beat Maxx without them. Crisium also helps against crim (especially if on Counter Surveillance) and is just rarely a dead card - whether you're stopping Omar, slowing down Conduit or just random R&D events out of Shaper or Zayha. It also trolls the occasional Adam by acting as a Mumbad Virtual Tour that you don't even have to install.

Other choices: 1) I made the tough choice to go down to 1 Spin Doctor and u̶p̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶1̶5̶ down to 14 ice in order to change Ikawahs to Global Foods. I've played extensively with Ikawah and the click tax is relevant, especially when trying to push through a borderline score, but the number of games lost due to having real 3 pointers in the deck was significant. In particular, you often leave R&D open in the early game, and bleeding an agenda is so much worse when the runner can win off of 3 steals.

2) The deck now only plays 1 Void, a significant sacrifice to fit the Crisium Grids. I've seen versions that drop Border Control to retain 2 Voids and the Spin Doctors, but slots become a lot tighter, probably forcing you to only run 12-13 ice. Also, Border Control is so good.

3) The deck retains all the virus hate, a choice which worked out well as the top tables saw a lot of Hivemind Maxx, a traditional good matchup for PD. I also added a cheeky T̶i̶t̶h̶e̶ third Tranquility Home Grid, which gives me money I̶ ̶m̶o̶s̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶i̶d̶e̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶j̶o̶k̶e̶ ̶i̶c̶e̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶a̶n̶n̶o̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶M̶a̶x̶x̶,̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶i̶s̶k̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶l̶o̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶k̶e̶y̶ ̶p̶i̶e̶c̶e̶s̶ ̶s̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶L̶a̶b̶o̶r̶ ̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶s̶/̶A̶p̶o̶c̶/̶A̶p̶o̶c̶ ̶e̶n̶a̶b̶l̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶n̶s̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶t̶e̶n̶ ̶h̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶k̶e̶n̶. To date, T̶i̶t̶h̶e̶ Tranquility Home Grid has been sometimes trashed t̶a̶r̶g̶e̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶t̶r̶u̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶3̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶(̶i̶n̶c̶l̶u̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶k̶e̶n̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶E̶n̶g̶o̶l̶o̶)̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶s̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶u̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶f̶l̶a̶t̶l̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶n̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶P̶D̶.̶ ̶I̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶'̶r̶e̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶e̶c̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶o̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶C̶r̶i̶m̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶e̶l̶s̶e̶,̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶a̶b̶l̶y̶ ̶a̶n̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶H̶a̶g̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶p̶u̶n̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶4̶1̶9̶ ̶f̶a̶c̶e̶c̶h̶e̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶T̶u̶r̶t̶l̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶t̶a̶l̶l̶e̶d̶.

4) Advanced Assembly lines makes for an excellent remote bluff, especially against Apoc. If they don't bite and instead try to land the Apoc, an Assembly lines install before the third run can stop the apoc cold, after the runner has spent significant money. AAL is also nice early game for absorbing the 419 trigger, so I decided to go up to 3 and o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶2̶ still stick with 3 Tranquility Grids, which still feels like it shows up pretty much as often as it did before.

T̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶e̶c̶k̶ ̶w̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶5̶-̶1̶ ̶a̶c̶r̶o̶s̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶w̶o̶ ̶d̶a̶y̶s̶,̶ ̶b̶e̶a̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶4̶ ̶M̶a̶x̶x̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶4̶1̶9̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶l̶o̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶V̶a̶l̶e̶n̶c̶i̶a̶.̶ ̶I̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶j̶o̶y̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶y̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶I̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶R̶&̶D̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶t̶t̶y̶ ̶k̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶m̶e̶.̶ Ugh, don't ask. Maxx carried me.

Thank you to everyone who o̶r̶g̶a̶n̶i̶s̶e̶d̶ organiZed and made this happen, including a top-notch stream, and congrats to D̶j̶a̶n̶g̶o̶ thebigunit3000, the overall winner. Thanks to o̶s̶c̶l̶a̶t̶e̶ osclate for countless testing games with this deck, and for blowing up my board countless times.

published by AlwaysBeRunning.net