Looping Loup

This is the deck I brought to the 2023 Australian East Nationals. I won 1, lost 2, and tied 1, so probably not very good.

It is a deck I've been dreaming to play since Buffer Drive was first revealed, and it's become "viable" with the release of The Automata Initiative (particularly Strike Fund and Audrey v2). There has been virtually no testing, so maybe the idea is sound.

The goal is to reach a point where you can thrash a Steelskin Scarring or a Strike Fund during your turn or the Corp's, drawing or gaining money for free, then bottom the card with Buffer Drive. If your stack is very small, the card will be recycled soon. The Class Act helps drawing the good cards sooner. The cards can be trashed while breaking ice via Audrey v2 or playing discounted cards via Patchwork. Audrey v2 is used during the Corp's turn. I found it useful to recycle a card during the Corp's turn when I know / expect that I will overdraw next turn or if I want to save a card that I drew too early (such as Labor Rights).

The deck is then built to draw super fast with Steelskin Scarring, Solidarity Badge, René "Loup" Arcemont: Party Animal, Dr. Nuka Vrolyck. Free influence meant that I was able to import The Class Act which I really love in this deck. I am not using the usual suspects (Gachapon, Moshing) but that's because I don't like these cards; I probably should.

I don't hesitate to play Steelskin Scarring and Strike Fund early with the goal of bringing them back with Labor Rights later.

Overall, I found the deck very unreliable, especially with only one copy of each standard breaker. I was always scared that a Mavirus purge might destroy my Audrey v2. Also, while we are playing a 40 cards deck, there are at least three pieces required to start flying (Buffer Drive, Patchwork, and Audrey v2) and there will always be one missing.

I played against two Asa (1 tie, 1 loss), 1 PD (win, but with lucky accesses) and 1 PE (loss but I could not draw my Buffer Drive, but would it have made a difference?). Maybe more econ such as Scrubber or Imp would have helped.