Russian Potatoes - Worlds 2017

i have been really into the potential unleashed identity since it first came out. capitalising on the uncertainty of the runner and carving up their decks have always been really attractive lines of play for me. however, i think they only became viable paths to victory when recursion effects were largely removed from the game. now the 2-for-1 net damage ability provided by PU often functionally removes cards from the game and very few runners are going to be using levy to get them back.

cut to this worlds season: i don't want to play some boring degenerate CI nonsense but i also can't play my old favourite, yellow kill. i sleeve something very similar to this list but with Nisei MK II instead of Braintrust. i have some moderate success but games go on much longer than i like. @el-zilcho suggests i drop the niseis for braintrust so that i can make better use of the Shipment from Tennin and punish the runner for not running. this unlocks everything for the deck.

at this point, i realise that the deck (as i have built it anyway) is best-suited for rushing hard, increasing uncertainty, and exploiting runner imprudence. you rush out agendas, IAA everything to make it look like Obokata Protocol, and Shipment out a 3/2 or House of Knives if the runner ever gives you a chance. you can imagine how this plays out. once they realise you're on shipment, they have to successfully run once per turn. there are Kakugos everywhere, archives is filled with Breached Domepieces, and running at all invites errant Neural EMPs. once you're on 5 points, they have to run anything in the server, and they'll usually spend their entire turn preparing to run in and not die to the Snare! you've installed for them. the ideal win con is to score out or force the runner into doing something silly and killing them with Punitive Counterstrike. however, the incidental secondary win con provided by potential unleashed is, of course, to mill your opponent into an inevitable win. if you try this deck, i encourage you to focus on the rush and to play with some bravado. there are better builds out there for late game grinding.

i brought this deck to worlds and felt fairly confident in it. i figured i'd be the only person on potential unleashed and that the only jinteki would be AgInfusion. boy was i wrong! it turns out others had similar ideas with regards to unleashing potential. that said, others seemed to have less rush-oriented decks and so i thought i'd share my list and playstyle so that you can upset and agitate the players of your meta. my performance on the day of was less than stellar, as it turns out, with this deck going 4-2 in swiss. i did not make the day 2 cut. nonetheless, i still feel confident about the deck's potential and i think it's a fun and fast twist on jinteki kill.

some stray observations:

-Ben Musashi would be preferable to Hokusai Grid but it doesn't fire against Salsette Slums so it had to go.

-some have speculated that Feedback Filter is an auto-win against this deck. not so. it will save the runner from losing key pieces or getting decked too quickly but it also usually means they're too poor to threaten effectively or to not die to Punitive Counterstrike. i haven't found it too problematic.

-i was originally on 2x Shipment from Tennin but going to 3x is what really made the deck work (in addition to the braintrust). you need to have one in hand constantly so that you can punish the runner for sitting back. bonus: if you install an obokata and the runner doesn't run, you can double-shipment and advance for a one-turn score. :') this happens more often than you'd think.

-a runner on both Hunting Grounds and Ankusa has blanked almost all of your ice. that person deserves your respect and admiration.

let me know if you have any questions about my testing or deck construction! shoutout to all the Toronto meta for helping me fine-tune this heinous deck and @Cod for the deck name suggestion.