[14] Days without a Gold Farmer Ban -- 5th of 35 At Ysengrin

Has anyone noticed that the 2021 SU Art for Tollbooth is the Gateway into GameNET? I love that! Anyways, this deck ruins lives.

The Strategy: The current Startup format is HIGHLY driven by central pressure -- all three of the new runners benefit from early central pressure in different ways, and it is incredibly difficult to win a game playing "solitaire" with the limited carpool. GameNET strongly disincentivizes early running, as it is how it makes money, so I anticipated it would be a profitable endeavor. To make sure the runner runs, the deck run high risk high reward assets (SanSan, Daily Quest) that the runner wants to trap ASAP. Public Trail and Retribution then bring the punishment. A few details below:

Agendas: Bellona is a must, Beale and TH synergize with SanSan well. I chose Send a Message as the last agenda as I wanted only 8 agendas and it synergizes with Tollbooth well, but looking in retrospect Vulnerability Audit is a much better option.

Operations: 3 Retrobutions is a must, as without it there is no reason the runner shouldn't go tag me. RLC was an attempt to have both Econ and a Fast Action strategy (RLC to Install SanSan and gain a credit, then Install Advance Advance) in one card. I used it almost exclusively for draw though, as this deck really depends on getting an early Daily Quest or SanSan. Running 2 Sprint and 1 Biotic Labor is higher variance, but both cards are better.

ICE: Gold Farmer is evil -- there is no way it taxes fewer than 2 credits (Inside Job = 2, Boomerang = 4, Corroder = 4, Cleaver = 3). For a 3 credit ICE, that is so good. Tollbooth & Afshar are the strong end the runs; I like Afshar because I'm typically using retribution to target Decoders. F2P is necessary to force out a killer. Funhouse is probably the weakest of the set, as it's blank when the runner goes Tag Me.

This deck went 3-0 in the tournament, beating an Az, Zahya, & Hoshiko. The last game relied a lot on end game variance, however. I think this deck needs touch-ups, but it is a fun tournament pick in general.

Cheers!