Who needs Bankhar? (2nd Aus Capital Megacity Championship)

Everyone is on egg. This was my thinking leading up to the tournament. Eggs don’t play ice or at least not much. So Baz was out of the question. I needed a runner with click compression, high credits on click and the ability to trash lots of assets whilst keeping my hand full. Seb felt like the clear choice

Biggest threats you’ll face into egg:

Damage: Buffer drive and Lago can handle all the damage that comes your way. Lago mills through your deck so fast letting you fill your bin with useful programs + connections to Privileged Access back but also draws you cards to survive damage. Often I would start turns at 6 cards ready to run and face check into ice. Buffer drive prolongs the game, on a 58 card list putting back 1 card a turn that’s trashed was huge. It would take forever for the Corporation to mill out my entire deck. Just don’t forget your triggers.

Semak-samun: Why no Bankhar? Because as Anarch we trash the ice we don’t like. Crew + leech was my gameplan going into the egg matchup. We can trash up to 6 Semak-samun this way before an ashen is needed. I threw in a rising tide also if we needed to let one sit on board. I don't regret this and it felt like the correct choice in games where my opponent hadn't gone very wide. Jinteki ice are all about doing damage and Bankhar just lets them keep going. The only ice Bankhar really shuts down well is Semak-samun but also Flyswatter which I didn’t realise would be so punishing in this tournament. In future decks I might throw in a one off Bankhar to reduce this threat but if you are facechecking ice such as an Anemone or Saisentan what does the bankhar really do for you?

Asset Spam: Gourmand is fantastic here, draws you for trashing (basically negating hostile architecture) and can be Privileged Access back for free. This was my go to target for Privileged Access. Otherwise Friend of a Friend gives you the money required to trash assets, you should be recurring these with Privileged Access as much as possible to keep your credits decently high. Solidarity badge and charm offensive also accomplish this and help keep tempo.

Special Mentions: Charm Offensive worked better than I thought it would. It gave me a threat whilst checking archives. It could hit high cost assets off the board like wage workers or hostile architecture and worked wonders into Jinteki decks running Cohort/Hansei review or similar mill for value. It would sometimes only result in a spin doctor to pop for mediocre cards due to the board state.

Ashen Epilogue was never fired in all my seven games. I often discarded it early as it was surely wasted influence in a 58 card list. I primarily brought it for glacier Weyland Matchups but didn't come across any on the day.

Buffer Drive: Buffer drive has a second text. Don’t forget you can buffer drive any card back to the top of RnD which can be your breakers but should always be Privileged Access if archives is open and its threat 3.

Results: 4-3-0 Beating out Pt Untain, Au Co, Pravdivost and Restoring Humanity

Losing to Ob by measured response, and Vale on Au CO x2

A big thank you to my close friend and testing partner Jacob. Without whom I never would have stood a chance especially going into Pravdivost Consulting (my toughest matchup). He taught me to ignore the first 5 remotes they advance.

Thank you to judges, Tom and Evans, for dealing with my shenanigans. I can’t remember how many times I “shuffled” a card to the bottom of my deck with buffer drive.

Thank you Vale for handing me 3 of my total 4 losses, congratulations on your win, you were unstoppable.