ReAnimate My Will To Score (2nd @ 8/24 AMT)

Disk Elemental 179

The Thesis

This deck has assets, but it is not an asset deck.

This deck plays shell games, but it is not a shell game deck.

This deck rushes, but it is not a rush deck.

This is a true-blue Fast Advance deck in the vein of old school AstroBiotics.

The Plan

"Place 2 advancement counters on a card in the root of or protecting this server. If you have not installed any cards from HQ this turn, instead place 3 advancement counters on that card. Use this ability only once per turn." - The Holo Man

It's simple.

  1. Use Epiphany to install agendas and Holo Men from the top of RND or use Restore to install them from Archives

  2. Click funny yellow man

  3. Score

  4. Repeat

It's just that easy.

Make it even easier by using a combination of Federal Fundraising, Open Forum, and Cohort Guidance Program to manipulate the top of your deck and contents of archives.

The traditional weakness of fast advancing is the associated cost. Using something like a Biotic or a Bass to fast advance an agenda costs you 3-4 credits on top of the credits spent on advancement, while rarely providing short-term benefits to offset the tempo loss. That isn't true for this deck. Provided you're getting full value, Holo's click compression 'costs' 1 extra credit compared to advancing normally (3 adv counters == 3 credits). That efficiency means FAing six of your nine two-point agendas nets you credits.

Add that to the ridiculously efficient Planogram-Rashida-YDL NBN econ base, and you've got a deck that's always threatening a score.

"Scoring Window? Is that the thing you're watching me through while I score?" - The Holo Man, probably

The Line

I'm not going to go through every line, because there are simply too many. This one is the best way to illustrate the exact kind of shenanigans we're capable of.

Scoring Stoke the Embers with No Board

Prereq: 1 Epiphany Counter, Restore, Stoke or Holo in Archives, and Stoke or Holo in top three of RND

Credits Required: 5

  1. Click Epiphany, install A or B (2 clicks, 5 creds)

  2. Restore, install the other one (1 click, 4 creds)

  3. Get a Stoke trigger, revealing it, putting a counter on itself, and gaining 2 credits (1 click, 6 credits)

  4. Rez Holo (1 click, 4 credits)

  5. Click Holo, putting 3 counters on Stoke (0 clicks, 0 credits)

  6. Score Stoke, gaining 3 credits and a free counter (0 clicks, 3 credits)

The Runner Experience - t.Average Runner Experience

The Core Cards

  • The Holo Man - The beating heart of the deck. Naked install him, put him behind ice to move later, discard him, leave him on top, it doesn't matter. No matter where he is he's advancing your gameplan. If the runner trashes him, they're -2 creds and you're +1 Epiphany counter. If not? You're 2 points closer to gg.

  • Restore- Installing a card from archives for 1 credit means that trashing Holo doesn't slow you down, binning agendas keeps HQ clean and sets you up for next turn. Holo is the wincon, Restore is what makes it all possible. Just keep the secondary text in mind, restoring a Holo or a Stoke at the cost of removing one of them from the game can be dangerous down the line.

  • Stoke the Embers - The agenda that ties it all together. When installed from RND or Archives, this card is a 3/2 that pays for its own Holo cost. +2 credits on install allows you to Holo from 2 credits, and +3 credits on score sets up the next score. I've yet to find a reliable use for the free advancement counter from the score trigger--that consideration is why I've included Mestnichestvo. I think the first person to figure out a good way to leverage that counter will take this shell to the next level.

  • Cohort Guidance Program - I originally ran a single copy of this card, in favor of Marilyns and other more generic econ. That was a mistake, this card is absolutely amazing. The first mode provides passive income (remember--we only need 2 credits to score a Stoke), enables Restore without needing to overdraw, and helps draw through Fundraisings. The second mode allows you to score out a facedown Offworld without relying on Holo or enables 3+ point Beales.

  • Post-Truth Dividend - I debated two of these or a Headline, and I'm convinced I made the right choice. A 2/1 gives you a path to seven points that doesn't involve overcharging a Beale or getting a fourth Holo activation, and has niche uses proc'ing Amani or Powers.

  • Federal Fundraising - This card shouldn't need much explanation, especially not here. Gives you information for Epiphany, protects you from incidental RND access, and provides card advantage.

Is This Deck Good? Has Epiphany Been Freed from the Binder?

Uhhhh. Results are unclear, ask again later. What is clear is that this deck is a lot of fun.

For an actual answer, I think it depends on your meta. If it's rife with Clot and Swift-Lat, then no, bringing this deck is actively throwing. Otherwise? Yeah, I think so. This deck is fast, resilient, and capable of operating on extremely thin margins. Other than multiple Deep Dives or repeatedly Imp'ing the Restores out of HQ, there's not a good way for the runner to really interact with what you're doing. Your assets aren't critical, the deck assumes that you'll never untap with a Holo Man on board, Amani converts scoring into interaction, the runner's econ barely matters, and (almost) anything the runner does to stop you converts into tempo in the form of Epiphany counters.

This is not the most correct version of the deck, but it's also not incorrect. I look forward to what the future holds.

9 comments
26 Aug 2024 zhansonic

What what! Awesome deck and writeup. When I first played against this on jnet I thought, what a neat idea. Great to see it developed and deployed. :P

I'm excited to play around with this shell. It seems very robust. Open Forum is such a clever include. I wonder if there's room for a tag punishment sub-theme, maybe even with Mindscaping.

Congrats on the placement!

27 Aug 2024 Chuftbot

You are singlehandedly keeping NBN fun, and good on you for it.

27 Aug 2024 Council

Love this

27 Aug 2024 jan tuno

you're so good at deckbuilding! thank you for this

27 Aug 2024 harmonbee

after losing against this twice at AMT, I still don't really know how to beat it. congrats on your incredible deckbuilding and play!

27 Aug 2024 Disk Elemental

Thanks for the kind words all!

@zhansonic I considered it, the original version of the deck played Mindscaping x2 for the topdeck manipulation. It ended up being too click-intensive to work the way I wanted it to--Spending a click setting up the Epiphany install requires an on-board Holo or Agenda.

A tag punishment subtheme is a possibility, the problems with that are twofold.

First, Runners know what modern NBN is about, and aren't floating tags the way they used to. (That's actually what I'm relying on re:Ping, they'll spend a click and 2 clearing the tag which gives me a little bit of space).

Second, tagging is expensive. Since we can't rely on floated tags, if we're gonna have the punishment cards not be a dead draw, then we need proactive tagging options of our own. Trail is 4 and Oppo is 7 if we want to make something stick. This deck's econ is here for a good time, not a long time, I don't know how sprinkling in a few expensive (but not game-winning) plays affects its momentum.

If you think you've got an idea, give it a try!

29 Aug 2024 Varren

I have been trying to make Epiphany work for a while, what a cool build!

Have you thought about Arella as an include at all? Can have some fun shenanigans with a holo manned stoke the embers to score out a Beale in the same turn. Probably too janky but fun nonetheless.

29 Aug 2024 Disk Elemental

@Varren Arella could be interesting, there's already a hint of that play-pattern with The Powers That Be, exploring actual agenda chaining further is worthwhile. My concern is that she pushes you into having a dedicated 'scoring remote', which is contrary to the deck's ethos that everything is disposable and scoring servers are assembled just-in-time.

Worth trying!

31 Aug 2024 shaneros

This is such a fun deck to play! Thanks for sharing it with the world.