Painter Esa - 9th @ Philippines Megacity, 6th @ Whimsy CTK

This deck is built around using Chromatophores to convert ice into barriers so that your Begemot can interface.

This was first suggested to me by miracleMira, lunari, and profwacko after I played against them with an Esa that was using Carmen, Buzzsaw, and Leech to deal with sentries and code gates. I made an initial version that used 2 Urban Art Vernissage to reinstall Chromatophores in case I placed it on a barrier, plus 3 Lago and 2 Buffer Drive for card draw as a replacement for 3 Nuka. Apparently, CyberspacePanda had the same idea.

He shared his version which used 2 Simulchip to reinstall Chromatophores, 2 Fermenter which could be used together with Simulchip to recur Chromatophores from the heap, and 3 Lie Low for card draw. I thought it was much better so I decided to use his version and just make some changes to fit my preferences. The biggest change I made was replacing 3 Lie Low with 3 Wildcat Strike and using the extra influence for 1 Chromatophores and 1 Buffer Drive.

I went 0-3 with this at the Philippine Megacity and 1-3 at a Whimsy CTK.

I think the deck is fine and it just needs a better pilot lol

Game plan: Try to trigger Esa's ID ability two times during the early game. Don't be too scared to take core damage without Marrow, sometimes you just need to take the core to slow down the corp. Don't keep Begemot and Chromatophores in your opening hand, but try to draw frequently enough so that you can get both of them (or at least just Begemot) around the mid game.

Always keep: Marrow

Mulligan plan for scoring decks: Bankhar, Chastushka, Begemot

Mulligan plan for asset decks: Ghosttongue, Bahia Bands, Fermenter

Mulligan plan for kill decks: T400 Memory Diamond, Steelskin

Thank you to profwacko for organizing Megacity, FreeRice for TO'ing Megacity, lunari and LuciusFelimus for the amazing alt arts, and CyberspacePanda for organizing the CTK. Thank you as well to Kiriel, Quarkinator, Blysfool, jrda25, miracleMira, and smolgrump for the great games and conversations. Special shoutout to profwacko for inviting me to play Netrunner late last year and getting me into this amazing community!