sbl 21.05 - gachapon loup (3-2 Ntscape SC)

the plan

Pressure the corp early through the id ability, Botulus and Imp. Eventually build up to a late game rig with Knobkierie, Stargate and Consume and lock the corp's centrals. This deck is based on analyzechris' experiments with this style of Loup.

I usually trigger Gachapon at the end of the corp's turn to maximise the number of virus counters. The deck has plenty of targets and never missed during the tournament. Cookbook should be installed as soon as possible as it gives the deck a massive speed boost. Knobkierie is very versatile and can be used in a variety of ways: getting an extra Botulus counter to handle a multi sub ice, becoming a a sort of Pennyshaver with Consume or Fermenter and obviously going impfinite.

what is this good and bad against

You should beat most slow corps. Furthermore with the impfinite engine, Sportsmetal with Game Changer is heavily in your favour. With the Stargate and Imp pressure, you should be good against other combo and kill decks.

Fast HB is probably the toughest matchup. They go fast enough to keep up, Magnet ruins the Botulus plan, Manegarm Skunkworks slows you down and overall the ice suite is resilient to Botulus with 2+ relevant subs the usual.

tournament report

1. Win vs The King on Government Takeover Built to Last. This game was streamed. Corp going slow gave enough time for me to set up and start locking R&D. Stole a Hostile Takeover and a Project Atlas. Eventually The King put a Crisium Grid on R&D to stop Stargate but I got lucky and ripped the Government Takeover.

2. Lose vs doomrat on lose all clicks MCA Austerity Policy Mirrormorph. Tough game where I lost many many clicks. Had a terrible run where I had to handle a Macrophage and then Magnet blanked a Botulus. I also made the mistake of removing Black Orchestra with Gachapon and Engolo ended up in the bottom 5 cards. With nothing to really stop the fast advance I only managed to steal 2 Voting Machine Initiative before losing.

3. Win vs JackMade on NWE Built to Last. Again BtL playing slowish, giving me time to set up and then stargating a Gov Takeover for the win.

4. Win vs Swiftie on 6 agenda murder Sync. Again slow corp, giving me time to set up Stargate lock.

5. Lose vs Tugtetgut on rush Jinja City Grid PD. Very tight and exciting game. Lots of back and forth and pressure with Imps and Stargate. On an HQ run with 3 cards I missed 2 agendas which probably cost me the game. Ended 6-7.

moving forward

Overall I am pleased with how this deck performed. Both losses ended up as close games and there are some matchups where it is simply very favoured. I'll refine the deck some more. The most disappointing card was actually Engolo. Yes it turns credits into accesses but the deck is not that rich, the install cost is massive, the MU is an issue and it doesn't actually break that efficiently. I want to experiment with Buzzsaw as it does handle Magnet and every other low strength code gate efficiently. I would also look into fitting another copy of The Turning Wheel as the combination with Hippo and Rebirth into Omar can be game winning.