Khaumakua - 2nd @ York SC (30 players)

mao 930

What? Khumalo is not good anymore? Wrong!

For weeks I tried many combinations around Chisel and Devil Charm. Definitely a strong combo but they took too much space and they left too few for the draw engine. It felt always a bit too slow, no matter how much I tried to make it faster.

Then after a chat with CableCarnage I decided either to go all-in on the combo or all-out. I opted to change my strategy and to begin from scratch.

 

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So without Chisel what can give me early pressure? Aumakua of course! It consistently speeded up my setup with matchups that before were simply too fast. I had to add Hunting Grounds of course, that nowadays is extremely valuable (Tollbooth, Data Raven, Flush Engram, Komainu, IP Block, etc.) and Deuces Wild that's very flexible and always good to restart Aumakua.

But I still needed a boost for my draw. I decided on a radical approach. I forfeited Pelangi and Self-modifying Code to add a second Imp, Ice Carver (that helps Aumakua and the bin breakers), and most important of all The Class Act. I miss the words to express how powerful this card is. Its impact was enormous: I always almost finished my deck and often found what I needed on time.

Unfortunately, in the final, I found an Azmari that played Scarcity of Resources, Surveyor, and News Hound. The currents game is so unbalanced until Scarcity will remain playable. For a resource dependant runner like this one, it was hell.

It was the weaker one of my decks but it won me some important games like the 2 for 1 to enter the top against Spombo, and in top against the Azmari of RotomAppliance.

Anyway, it's a different and funny list to play. Enjoy!

6 comments
10 May 2020 Kobayashi

Can't wait to see Scarcity of Resources out !

10 May 2020 mao

@Aube88 yeah, I think it's past due time. Currents are so unbalanced at the moment with only Scarcity of Resources and Corporate "Grant" being really useful. They create a distortion reducing the variety of decks that can consistently achieve the first place in tournaments. If there are corps playing Scarcity most of the runners are forced to play currents and the best way to do that efficiently is to play Criminals. Scarcity is one of the reasons, or maybe the main reason, for the disappearance of Shapers from top tables.

11 May 2020 Dazzler

How did it do on the tournament day ?

11 May 2020 mao

@Dazzler good enough. I lost a couple of matches for very small details (like, for example, I drew a breaker that I needed one click too late) and the only matchup that I consistently lost was with the Azmari of the winner that played a combination of Scarcity of Resources, News Hound and Surveyor. Three cards that this deck hates.

But as I wrote in the description it also won me some decisive matches, like the 2 for 1 to access the top against Sportsmetal combo and in top against the Azmari of RotomAppliance that sent me to the final.

24 May 2020 anarchomushroom

This looks so cool. I've been trying to make the Devil Charm + Chisel combo work as well, but I've been trying it in Null instead of Freedom. Do you think in a Scarcity-less world this deck is better?

30 May 2020 mao

@anarchomushroom of course. Without Scarcity of Resources many decks would be much more competitive. Geist, Shapers in general, Khumalo.. We'll see. The currents are out of balance at the moment, with only Corporate Grant being good enough if someone wants to counter Scarcity with another current.