Satellite of Love (2nd Place DracheNäscht, 3-1)

For the DracheNäscht Winterturnier 2019 Random ID tournament, I drew Sync from the ID pool and this is the deck that I built and took to 2nd place (15 players total).

The deck relies heavily on getting a Daily Quest up and using the credits to HHN and kill the runner if they dare try to stop you building even more $$$s or scoring out, depending on the order the cards come in.

You can play a single remote glacier if don't mind trashing the DQ to score an early SSL or you have Pre-emptive to shuffle your key pieces back in(DQ, HHN, NGO). Equally running two remotes is completely viable if they can't find the pieces they need to contest and you are drawing into the Ice you need for a second scoring remote. In such a case, you can jam another DQ in the second remote while you dig to find more agendas to score, getting 6 credits at the start of each turn for doing nothing and keeping the runner guessing about what kill pieces you have in hand.

Card choices:

• NGO Front: the game nearly always goes to 4 points for you but getting the final 3 is hard. NGO lets you tax the runner out in the remote to create a scoring window. Holding onto a Pre-emptive until you can get an NGO in the bin to shuffle back is a very valid play and running only two NGOs is a wonderful way to keep the runner looking for the third.
• Rashida: This offsets the risk of not finding a DQ in your opening hand to allow you to find one in the first few turns. Turn one you nearly always want to set up a remote with either Rashida or a DQ.
• Navi: this deck is weak to Shapers once they set up because there just isn't enough Ice to tax the remote and also secure R&D. The Navi gives you a way to limit that and is still relevant for limiting Turning Wheel, Pelangi, SMC, Datasucker or Logic Bomb runs.
• Pri-sec: I started this deck with 3 copies but eventually found that one was all I needed. Putting this in the remote alongside the Daily Quest or an agenda goes a surprisingly long way in Sync.

Possible changes:

• None that I can think of. If you have any suggestions I would be very keen to hear them :)

Round breakdown:

- Round 1 vs Vesper (The Foundry: Refining the Process)

Vesper got off to a strong start but his money dried up towards the end while I was still rolling in DQ credits. R&D had been very kind to me and kept agendas from both of us while giving me lots of time to set up and eventually score out without too many problems.

- Round 2 vs Oggbonaion (Reina Roja: Freedom Fighter)

My only defence against Apoc was 2 x Crisiums and smart play, both of which I failed to find in this match. Nicholas outplayed me very impressively and while I certainly made a few mistakes that he was kind enough to point out to me after the game, I think my reliance on keeping DQ on the table and having a good credit lead on the runner to execute my plan made this a terrible match up for my deck.

- Round 3 vs b3ar (Khan: Savvy Skiptracer)

b3ar took an early Degree Mill but I NGOed him onto an 8 strength Surveyor that killed his tempo. His Bukhgalters must have been feeling shy that round because they refused to come out and R&D kept me safe while I scored out.

- Round 4 vs Hihachu (Ken "Express" Tenma: Disappeared Clone)

I got near perfect draw against Ken by turn three - DQ ticking away in the remote with a HHN, Boom and Archived Memories all in hand. Hihachu finished turn 4 on 5 creds after having whiffed R&D while I had 12 in the bank and 3 at the start of the turn to pump the HHN trace and kill with Boom the following turn.

Conclusion

A huge thank you to @met4 for organising the tournament and letting me stay with them; to @lukenukem for the incredible pumpkin soup and testing games leading up to the event; to @cablecarnage for the deck advice and tips that ultimately turned my weak-ass deck into something that did pretty well; and to all my lovely opponents throughout the day. I can't wait to come again next year :)

Note that all the above thoughts and comments are in the context of the limited ID tournament - top 16 and any IDs played more then 2-5% at Worlds were all removed from the pool.