Custom Replacements

Use the incredible HB economy engine to power up a Midseason Replacements and then use a combination of Biotic Labor and Psychographics (recurred via Archived Memories or Project Vitruvius counters) to fast advance your way to victory.

Custom Biotics: Engineered for Success often (and rightly) meets with two main objections: why not Engineering the Future and why not whatever faction you're importing your cards from?

• Engineering the Future is amazing and its economy is sorely missed (especially while fast advancing, as it gives you a credit for the agenda install which is a big deal) and while there would be room to run Midseason Replacements and Psychographics in EtF, there wouldn't be room for anything else. Jackson Howard is as vitally important to this deck as he is to any fast advance deck, as he both draws you into your agendas and protects you from the flood you can encounter when running so many of them. On top of that, Pop-up Window is amazing in Midseason Replacements builds because of its 2 credit spread for the cost of nothing. Going with Custom Biotics: Engineered for Success allows us to take our main tools plus those incredible supports, whereas EtF would make us hurt the deck to take them along.

• There is plenty of reason to stay with NBN for a Midseason Replacements fast advance deck, and I'm not arguing that that's not a good idea (I mainly run NBN: Making News, so I know how good the synergy is). There are three reasons why HB is well positioned for it, though. First, the asset economy. Asset economy is great with Midseason Replacements because it generates good cash flow while taxing the runner. If they come to trash your assets, they're lowering their credit amount and thus both slowing them down and putting them in a worse position with regards to an incoming Midseasons. Second, HB has a great ICE suite. Taxing ICE like Eli 1.0 and Viktor 2.0 are in faction, while Rototurret provides a good sentry end the run with a terrible threat to the reckless runner. Additional larger threats like Ichi 2.0 and Heimdall 1.0 can hurt the runner as a surprise and then gracefully switch to tax. Finally, HB has Biotic Labor in faction, which is often imported into NBN fast advance decks anyway because of its strength. You don't have to have anything on the table; just money in the pocket. Because of Biotic Labor and Archived Memories, I have 6 effective fast advance operations in this deck and even more if I can overadvance a Project Vitruvius with Psychographics. This makes the HB fast advance more versatile and able to use the cards it draws, rather than wait for the right ones to come up.

This isn't an original idea, but playing with NBN midseasons has made me take a look at it and it's a lot of fun. I'd recommend giving it a try if you like Midseason Replacements/Psychographics fast advance but miss the ability to play real ICE.