Boomer Café: Food For Your Maw 🍽️ [1st, Colorado S CO]

This updated iteration of Boomer Café went 4-0 to take 1st at the Colorado South CO at Elysium Games (with my opponent conceding the finals due to time).

You can see a (partial) stream of the deck in action here.

It killed my soul to cut Juli, who has incredible synergy with both Café and Nuka, but the tempo hit of install is rough in such a fast meta, and influence is tight: Pinhole and Bones are vital to not losing certain matchups, and Revolver might be the only playable non-whale killer in Shaper right now?

Our spicy tech is Maw (replacing the otherwise excellent Aniccam). The Café, plus our 6x not-Stimhacks let us cheat it out for a measly 0-3 (sometimes with a free trigger as the cherry on top). Maw does tremendous work against every archetype in the current meta, with Burner applying additional HQ pressure; both of which have the additional advantage is ignoring trash punishment.

The current build is a bit of an experiment, swapping 3rd Cafe and 2nd Aesop’s for 2x Spec Work, aided by the support of a solo Prepaid (which did a surprising amount of work, often installed with fake credits, and/or recouping the investment by pawning in the late game).

Kind of on the fence; the Specs did Work (🙃), but they were also often awkward if we didn't find Coal soon enough, or after we had Pawnshop down. I'd say those and the PPVP are all flex slots, and could safely be any mix of additional Café's, Nukas, Aesops, or Stoneships.

The current meta has generally swerved away from Engolo, but I've been liking it in the decoder slot, given that we often aren't paying full price for the install. It's strong for guaranteed accesses in the early game, and a safety valve against running out of bullets and Pelangi counters.

Surprisingly, the card I've been least impressed with is the SMC. In theory it rounds out the odds of accesses in the early game, but I just haven't needed it much. I'll probably cut it for future experimentations, likely for more draw (Nuka / Stoneship, or maybe an Into the Depths, since Boomerang can guarantee access, either fetching a breaker, or a Nyashia (which can trigger immediately on an R&D run!), or a quick 3-4 profit.

I could also make a case for another utility program (and Spec Work target, maybe Slap Vandal, Propeller, or 2nd Nyashia).

Muse is reasonable in the slot, especially when we get discounts on the install, but if I need it to get a real breaker I hate having Muse stuck, where we can't pawn it for value.