Trials of Vulcan 1.1

My first refinements to a Foundry deck that I've been messing with for a while. The original was loosely based on the Roid Rage deck, although now they only have 10 non-agenda cards in common.

The basic plan remains the same, in that it uses synergy between The Twins and The Foundry's ID ability to generate kill opportunities. However, I have opted for what I believe to be a more flexible approach. In the early game you should be throwing down the smaller NEXT ICE and Architect, and then use Merlin, Grim and NEXT Gold to kill rigs and runners. The overall aim is not som much the kill, as using the threat of the kill to generate scoring windows.

Changes

The econ was pretty poor in the last version, and I found that Wormhole was requiring a little bit too much setup for the potential payoff. I dropped 3x Wormhole, 2x Blue Level Clearance and a Restructure for 2x Grim, 2x Sweeps Week and 2x Blacklist. Adonis Campaign was also switched for Melange Mining Corp.. I'll run through the 'whys' in more detail below.

The Agendas

3x ABT, as they are a 3/2 agenda with an ability that has almost no downside in The Foundry. (You can trigger the ID ability to shuffle cards back into the deck, negating the possibility of discarding valuable agendas). 3x Project Vitruvius; not only are they a 3/2, if you overscore them you can use them to trigger The Twins as many times as you have tokens. (The Twins trigger in Step 3.2 of the run, and discarding sends the runner back to Step 3. There is then a Paid Abilities window in 3.1, wherein you can use a Project Vitruvius token to return the discarded ICE. At Step 3.2, The Twins trigger again, and the dance continues!)

Beyond that, Hades Fragment offers the chance to replenish the tutorable ICE, discarded agendas, or what have you. Eden Fragment could help with building ICE towers, and Priority Requisition is a nice way to save some money and trigger the ability. Mostly they were just 5/3s to keep the count low.

The ICE

Triplicates of everything except Grim. NEXT Bronze and NEXT Silver are early ETR ICE that self-improve, and Architect is helpful for setup and taxation, and is also conveniently indestructible.

NEXT Gold and Merlin are for stabbing. Merlin on its own can cause 4 net damage when you tutor one into your hand, and kill with The Twins when you discard that tutored one. NEXT Gold can kill, and can reset rigs. Sure, no-one runs without some sort of destroyer protection, but with the possibility of The Twins... are they running two at the same time?

Wormhole was dropped partially to free up some influence, and mostly because it wasn't especially useful. The occasional uber-combo moment could only really occur with a decent-sized NEXT Gold, and it was useless in the early game. Grim comes in as a replacement, giving me a solid Destroyer that is super-nasty with The Twins. Only two of them, though; I needed the space.

The Support

Technically, I would not call this a kill deck, but that might be because I am pedantic. I can only kill the runner in a limited number of ways, and I cannot attack them off turn. The idea is more to create scoring windows; the threat of extreme spikiness and possible death is simply an efficient means to that end.

The Twins are just so good in The Foundry due to its ability to search out the redundant ICE. Whilst you can use it with Bronze and Silver, I would only do so in a pinch ( i.e. when it saved me from a massive R&D dig, Account Siphon, 3-pt agenda steal, etc.). It works best with the more powerful ICE, particualrly if it would be prohibitively expensive to rez 3 of them.

Corporate Troubleshooter seemed vital, as both of the primary attackers, ICE-wise, are STR 4. Troublesome, but not insurmountable. Also a prime Atman spot. Landing a single NEXT Gold can win the whole game, so making sure it lands is paramount. An interesting one was boosting Architect in some cases; I could often reinstall the trashed Corporate Troubleshooter for free, and get another install in the process.

Ash 2X3ZB9CY is there because the aim of the deck is still to score out. Ash works to protect agendas, but until revealed it can also be The Twins or a Corporate Troubleshooter meaning the runner has to step carefully. Also hilarious when they cannot trash your The Twins after running the gauntlet.

Jackson Howard draws cards, protects fallen agendas, and can shuffle Twinned ICE back into the deck for more delicious stabbing.

Blacklist is a new addition, and so far it's looked nasty. It invalidates a large number of common cards, like Deja Vu, Clone Chip, and Same Old Thing, and ensures that anything you break, stays broken. It also obliterates MaxX fairly single-handedly. As an knock-on effect from the cards it Silver Bullets, it makes Shaper Sharpshooter or Deus X recursion nigh-impossible, removing some of their best tools for dealing with this deck. It also gives Lady recursion a severe kick in the teeth, especially since NEXT Silver will frequently require 2-3 tokens to break.

Everything else is money. Blue Level Clearance was dropped for Sweeps Week, which is just far better. Adonis Campaign was swapped for Melange Mining Corp. at the last moment; it really forces the runner to go trash it, which means running my potentially spiky servers. If they don't, I just keep racking up the money.

How to Run

Your starting hand should include one of either low-grade NEXT ICE if at all possible. Architect is a nice bonus. Money is essential.

A bold starting hand would involve Merlin, money, and The Twins. First turn kill combo, if they're daft enough to run it. But for the start of a longer game you want to churn out the smaller NEXT ICE, so that when you do rez a NEXT Gold it's already super scary.

Then you need to get your combos set up to the best of your ability, and really rack up the money. Merlin-Twins needs 8, NEXT Gold needs 10, so make sure you have enough. You'll also need even more for Corporate Troubleshooter.

Whenever possible, stab the runner, especially if you have a scoring server set up. If you can hit them for 4 damage, and they spend a turn drawing up, that's a turn you can score in. If you trash even 1 or 2 programs, that's another window.

Don't be afraid to fling assets and upgrades down for fear of them being trashed; with the ICE-tutor ability and a bit of card draw you'll soon see the next copy. Also, triple Architect and Project Vitruvius with Hades Fragment means nothing really stays gone.

Issues?

If the runner can perpetually out-econ you, you will likely be in trouble, as the combos are high-cost. I don't know if it's worth including Snatch and Grab as an anti-Kati mechanism, but it seems a little too limited in scope.

Eater combos are particularly annoying, as there isn't any ICE that it cannot break for 4 or less. I'm debating whether Crisium Grid is needed, or whether I should simply hope that damage and Blacklist are enough to cover it. What to drop for the potential Crisium Grid, too? Space is tight, and influence tighter. Perhaps making the Sweeps Weeks into Beanstalk Royalties, and dropping a Melange Mining Corp. and something else? Bah. Tricky.

The ICE-thinning ability will mean that the deck is slightly more vulnerable to R&D digs than normal. Take this into account with your defences in the later game.

ICE destruction affects the NEXT ICE badly, but there's a whole bunch of recursion here, so it's not too much of an issue. ICE destruction suffers if they cannot recur Parasite or use Same Old Thing on their Cutlery, so drop Blacklist.

Grim could almost certainly be Ichi 2.0; I want to avoid another ICE at 4 for Atman-based reasons, so Ichi 1.0 is out, and Ichi 2.0 might just be slightly too expensive. I'll give it a run out at some point, for sure.

Thanks for reading! Comments, criticisms and suggestions are always welcome!