CR Asa v12 (SOCR4)

Another Calibration Testing deck out of Asa Group: Security Through Vigilance! Not feeling surprised yet? Read on...

This was my final version of my Asa deck for the Stimhack Online Cache Refresh 4 (SOCR4) tournament. As you can see in the title, I went through many rebuilds to get to this point, and it still has flaws. I, like many others, saw the power of Calibration Testing out of Asa and wanted to try and see how many FA 3/2's I could make!

The FA Plan: Biotic Labor and Calibration Testing can score a 3/2 out of hand, or even a 4/2 if you have money and both at once. If I can score an Elective Upgrade, all the better (see below: Glacier Plan). Sadly, this build needs more than fast advance to win. I didn't overadvance Vitruvius as often as I could have, and that was a mistake.

The Glacier Plan. Building a remote to house MCA Austerity Policy, Calibration Testing, or Melange Mining Corp. is usually enough incentive for the runner to go get it. Basically you're dragging them through that remote because the risk of leaving the Assets/Upgrades is too great. On the other hand, I love playing the fast game of install-advance-advance behind a single or double ICE server, so basically anything that gets shoved into that server is forcing a run. Plus there is a new play out of Asa: install-and-Asa-install (a 2nd ICE? Ash?), advance, advance. Ikawah Project, the fact that it exists, forces the runners to run a click earlier than in the past, just to leave that click open for the steal. NGO Front is a cheeky glacier 1-of include; it tends to draw out the run. I just included 1 because I would not want to have multiples in my hand or have to try and pull off the same trick twice. Distract the Masses is a good glacier card for flood. I think having 2 is the right amount. Before Down the White Nile was released, I had to spend influence to have 2 Whampoa Reclamation in the deck, basically serving the same purpose.

Warroid Tracker: It's so rude, and often installs without an extra click. Either it can bait a run on its own, or punishes a runner when they go get that MCA/Melange/Calibration.

Economy: The economy ended up a little light and if I felt confident about the other elements of the deck being consistent enough I would change things around. Green Level Clearance feels like a 'weak' economy card but I often found myself trying to play fast and loose, letting my credits dip low. I feel like Green Level Clearance is a good way to 'defend' HQ. When you need 'blanks' in your hand, you can hold on to it, and when you're ready to push, you can pop it to regain the card. If I were a more patient player, these might be IPO's again. Ultraviolet Clearance, I thought I would need in case I empty out my hand using all the Asa triggers and need more steam. It rarely came up because my ICE suite started to lean to the expensive side when all was said and done.

ICE: My ICE included a few silver bullets, some surprises, and some cards I thought would be good CR replacements for common taxing ICE that do well. First of all, only some of the ICE include true end-the-run routines; the barriers, Enigma, Rototurret, Conundrum and Tollbooth. The cheap ones are to get my early jump on the game, possibly stealing that turn 3-4 score if I can pull it off. The Asa install can also be a way to earn yourself an extra credit EtF-style in these situations. As for the other ICE, Ichi 1.0 is still a good facecheck once the runner has programs and is an annoying late-game addition to a server; Viktor 2.0 is my bargain-bin Fairchild 3.0. The facecheck doesn't hurt as bad, but clicking through or paying through it is a decent tax. My biggest 'surprise' ICE is Loki, which I thought to include because one of my favorite ICE in this style of build is Rototurret. Rezzing a Loki, naming Rototurret, is one of my favorite plays with this deck. I also love copying Conundrum or Ichi 1.0 for 4 subs. It's just a lot to handle for a 6 credit rez. I expected just about everyone in CR to run Aumakua so I tried to make sure I had enough AI hate in 2 Wraparound and Conundrum. Miraju is to foil Indexing, or if I don't think the runner is on Indexing I will put it on HQ if I'm feeling like I need to stall.

Efficiency Committee seems like a strange agenda to include as a 1-of, and I can agree with that. I just found that there were times I wished I could just have one more click on those purge turns, or Melange turns, or Ultraviolet Clearance turns. Other games it just becomes 3 more credits when I need it. Shrug.

Last but not least, Archived Memories is a good card for what ails ya.

Asa is a new ID, and many cool combinations are still on the horizon. I'd love to hear feedback and become a better player and deckbuilder.