Speed Archaeology (7-0 Store Champs, 1st Place)

ScrappySPJ 344

This is my current version of Chris Hinkes' Industrial Graveyard, updated to include the new Kala Ghoda card Museum of History.

I was undefeated with this deck at the Portsmouth Store Championship (also going 4-3 with Leela Patel) to win the event.

Rd 1: beat Jesminder & IG (2-0)

Rd2: beat Jesimder & ETF (4-0)

Rd3: beat Noise & ETF (6-0)

Rd4: beat Whizzard, lost to ETF (7-1)

Rd5: beat Kate, lost to NEH (8-2)

Top4: beat Kate, beat ETF, lost to ETF, then beat Iain Stirling to win the title.

All seven IG wins were flatlines, mostly the usual Chairman / Neural EMP / Ronin kill. A couple of players ran into Snare and then couldn't avoid dying to an installed Ronin and/or the EMPs in my hand, and in the final my opponent ran a four-advanced Cerebral Overwriter as I was threatening the double Ronin kill and I rezzed Chairman Hiro for a negative hand-size flatline.

My opponents seemed concerned that Museum of History would lead to really long dragged out games, but it feels like the opposite is true in this deck. Having the ability to recycle your kill cards gives you the freedom to go for something like a double Ronin kill, knowing that if it doesn't work you can try again. I don't think any of my games took more than 20 minutes.

Museum also takes a lot of pressure off your Jacksons as you can drip Agendas into Archives and then back into your R&D. If you discard one card into an Archives that includes a few Shock your opponent won't be checking if it's an Agenda.

A few notes on my changes to the original:

1) I had decided before KG that I wanted to run 1 or 2 Tech Startup, people don't run all the remotes against IG, and having Tech Startups is like having extra Jackson Howards in your deck (Jackson being the card you always want early with this deck).

2) Because in my experience people don't routinely run unadvanced remotes I don't think you need a full set of Psychic Field.

3) Lotus Field was one of the cards I added to get up to 54. It was there to be reliably taxing against Faust, but this was never necessary and I don't think I installed it all day. This could probably be something else, perhaps the third Museum.

4) Melange Mining Corp is there as a Tech Startup target, usually to recover from Siphons. This wasn't necessary today, but I still think the idea is sound.

5) I didn't play Genetics Pavilion today, but I think it should be an excellent Tech Startup target so I'll try that the next time I play this.

I played the pre KG version of this deck at Brighton Store Championships, and after an 0-2 start won the next 4 matches. That means I'm currently on 11 consecutive flatlines - I really think this deck is that good against unprepared opponents, and at the moment that seems to be everyone.

21 comments
22 Feb 2016 seeds34

Watching this in the final game yesterday was good, your piloting of it made it look easy. The surprise Cerebral Overwriter at the end was a laugh, even while watching I didn't see it coming (I thought it was a second Ronin).

22 Feb 2016 YodaSensei

One quick question: how do you play this deck against any runner that chain Siphon you? I have played a few games with your deck on Jinteki, and I really can't see what to do against those.

22 Feb 2016 wedgeex

I wonder if Sealed Vault would be a good Tech Startup target

22 Feb 2016 fetish

That this deck finishes games quickly is important in the current meta. Almost every game in my 65-min round either went to time or very close to time.

One thought, switch out to +3x House of Knives + 1x News Team for -1x Future Perfect, -1x Archived Memories, -2 other cards? That really powers up the Philotic for later-game kills?

22 Feb 2016 ScrappySPJ

@YodaSensei you just end up clicking for credits a lot. They still need to find Agenda's to win. Endless Siphons are the matchups that are probably the most difficult. One idea I've seen is to play Pop-Up Windows in the deck which can protect HQ in Siphon matchups.

@wedgeex I've played Sealed Vault before and didn't like it that much. Its problem as a TS target is they know you have it, and they know where it is if they want to run and trash it to start Siphoning.

@fetish Playing House of Knives is reasonable, if only because you can score them as a source of damage. But the bonus to Philotic doesn't seem worth it, considering you need to lose two other cards. One strength of running so few Agendas is you can run more kill cards. I can't see any reason to playing News Team - we don't have any tag punishment so all we can do is hope the runner makes the wrong choice. Finally cutting Archived Memories to free up some influence could be correct. With Museums I found AM less necessary. I don't think I played it even when I drew it.

22 Feb 2016 ScrappySPJ

@seeds34 who is this? Tomas? I can't remember who was watching the final I was rather concerned with the game :)

22 Feb 2016 AdamFitzgerald

Hi Simon, what do you do to deal with Keyhole?

23 Feb 2016 fetish

So - this deck is very susceptible to Criminal. It doesn't run enough ICE to protect Archives, and is virtually helpless against No Access effects on Keyhole/Account Siphon etc.

Any thoughts? Criminal is hot in the meta right now.

23 Feb 2016 ScrappySPJ

@AdamFitzgerald Keyhole is just a race. Hopefully you can find one piece of ICE to slow them slightly, then you have to find Ronins / EMPs before they can find 7 Agenda Points AND steal them. This is the one time when you wish you had more ICE and the Lotus Field is good.

23 Feb 2016 Letsaros

So how does it faire against Apocalypse in the mid game? Because with so little ice i can see MaxX: Maximum Punk Rock apocalypsing this to oblivion (by retrival running the archives to avoid access) then next turn run archives once to reset the board state and keep the pressure up.

23 Feb 2016 ScrappySPJ

@Letsaros your main plan against Apocalypse is to snipe it from their hand with Shocks in Archives. If they have Retrieval Run then that's super annoying and you have to accept that Apocalypse is going to happen and have a recovery plan.

23 Feb 2016 magikot

Shell corporation under a mushin'd overwriter is good protection against siphon decks until political operative comes out

23 Feb 2016 saracenus

Apocolypse can be remedied with Hostile Infrastructure. Trade out a Chairman Hiro for it. Also, makes trashing your cards more painful in R&D. I would add a third Tech Startup before Museum. Deck looks amazing as is.

23 Feb 2016 ScrappySPJ

@saracenus I forgot about Hostile Infrastructure. I've never been a massive fan of that in this deck as a tax on trashing but it is the best answer to Apocalypse.

23 Feb 2016 ScrappySPJ

@saracenus I wouldn't take out a Hiro though, he's a source of most of your flatlines.

23 Feb 2016 saracenus

@ScrappySPJ yeah, I get that Chairman Hiro is best slipped in as a surprise, so 2 is probably best. A side benefit to Hostile Infrastructure is that it messes with Imp and the occasional Eddy Kim deck.

23 Feb 2016 saracenus

@ScrappySPJ Also, HI does a number on Keyhole...

25 Feb 2016 NullOperative

Has anyone else here tried swapping those Hedge Funds for Launch Campaign? I've been running that substitution in my (Industrial Graveyard-based) IG deck, and they're nice for a) having a much lower cover charge and b) working well with Turtlebacks and Diversified Portfolio.

27 Feb 2016 Sabin76

Looks like Keyhole might be a problem? I really want to keep it to 54 cards, but right now I'm trying a 59-card build that has HI to combat it, since I'm seeing it a bit.

27 Feb 2016 ScrappySPJ

@Sabin76 If there's too much Keyhole around then this deck might not be good. I've been seeing much more Medium than Keyhole, and Medium is not good against this deck.

27 Feb 2016 AdamFitzgerald

If it proved to be a massive issue then a Crisium Grid on R&D could help. 5 to trash plus whatever grotesque extra IG tax there is.