Yet another motorcycle deck (startup)

Diogene 4245

There as been many iterations on the idea. Thanks to HolyMackerel, #endgame, VizirDaud, beatsmd and many other who discussed the idea.

First, the mulligan plan : have a rezeki or at least one card that gives you credits.

This iteration, in the startup format, is to have impactful runs. There is not many things to install on the board, but you'll have many tools to run.

Here are the key changes :

  1. Buzzsaw and Cleaver are amazing in startup, allowing to make runs for cheap. Especially if helped by Ice Carver.

  2. I was struggling for credits all too often, this is why I finally conceded and had to put Sure Gamble in the deck.

  3. The deck was weak to asset spam. Fencer Fueno and Scrubber are there to resolve that. Fencer Fueno will also help with Ganked! and Bellona.

  4. The Class Act is amazing, but still expensive. Blueberry!™ Diesel gave me better and more immediate results.

  5. This is a preference : Tread Lightly could be replaced by Always Have a Backup Plan. I think there are more impact with Tread Lightly.

  6. Dirty Laundry could be replaced by Overclock. But I prefered to have credits that could serve for something else.

  7. I've abandonned the Harmony AR Therapy, because it was too slow to have much impact and because I chose to have a double of all breakers, to prevent being locked out by SDS Drone Deployment.

This deck is very dynamic, it is very interactive and make you feel like you have a tool for any occasion.

Enjoy!

5 comments
5 Feb 2022 #endgame

Cool deck, I think you've made some important refinements. I like the new breaker suite - the Anarch breakers are vicious in startup. I also agree with the removal of Harmony AR Therapy: I pitched it in every game I played because it's so out of sync with the rest of the game plan. Better to go faster and hit harder.

Blueberry Diesel is so slow: click to draw, click to play, get 2 cards with a little filtering. I could click twice for cards instead, and save a card slot or three.This makes me prefer 2x The Class Act, which gives you a surge of cards now and then improves your basic draw action forever. This also means that you can go back up to 2x PPVP.

If you're going 2x of each breaker you may be able to go back to 1x Mutual Favour, since you still have Boomerangs.

Tread Lightly I'm unsure about: my toughest games have been when I'm keeping up with asset spam, whereas glacier I have historically had good economy against. The Sure Gambles help with this, but I think more PPVP would make them yet stronger. You have so many 2-cost things that I think 1x Khusyuk might be a good way to R&D dig to close out games. If you don't think you'll get all that 2c stuff on the board at once (Boomerangs come and go, 3x Rezeki crowds out a breaker, only 1 PPVP) then maybe 1x The Maker's Eye is a good idea?

Bukhgalter makes Overclock a much better economy card than it first appears, allowing you to launder its credits into real credits by smashing into a sentry. In a recent tournament, I was Overclocking into a Drafter on R&D to get 3 credits and an access for zero clicks and a card. I would take it over Tread Lightly, as Dirty Laundry is just so great in Ken. But Overclocking is not unconditionally playable, so I think you want some Daily Casts in there too.

Suggest:

  • Cut:
    • -3 Blueberry Diesel
    • -1 Fencer Fueno ●
    • -1 Scrubber ●
    • -1 Mutual Favor
    • -3 Tread Lightly
  • Add:
    • +2 The Class Act
    • +2 Prepaid VoicePAD
    • +1 Khusyuk / The Maker's Eye ●●
    • +2 Overclock
    • +2 Daily Casts

I see how Fencer Fueno helps against asset spam, and he seems a lot better than Scrubber since you can bank credits to contest Bellona, NAPD Cordon, etc. If you like the above changes and want to keep Khusyuk/The Maker's Eye, I'd consider replacing one of the Rezekis with Fencer Fueno. Given that you are currently on 3x Legwork and 3x Jailbreak, you've got plenty of central pressure. Therefore, maybe something like this?

  • Cut:
    • -1 Rezeki
    • -1 Legwork
  • Add:
    • +1 Fencer Fueno ●
    • +1 Prepaid VoicePAD
5 Feb 2022 #endgame

Also: I notice that many of these decks have evolved away from Tranquilizer. Do you have any thoughts on that point?

5 Feb 2022 Diogene

@#endgame about Tranquilizer. I took it out because it was too slow also. With Cookbook, you put it on your turn and it has derezzed the ice on the following turn. Otherwise, I would prefers to play "Baklan" Bochkin or Emergency Shutdown.

I'm really considering your comment about Blueberry!™ Diesel. To me, you see 3 cards, one of which you will filter out. In that sense, it is just as good as Diesel. I would consider changing them for The Class Act. Since a single install of it could do the filter after. This would also allow the deck to go for a single Mutual Favor.

If only we had Miss Bones in startup. Alas, asset spam, or just trashing asset from digging in centrals is tough. That is why I'll keep the Scrubber for now. But it is true that Overclock could be used for that also. Which is why it might be better than using Tread Lightly. Asset spam is truly the bane of this deck.

But Tread Lightly, when facing a big remote, does a tremendous amount of work in setting the corp back in credits (closest thing to Diversion of Funds in startup). So, it might be a matter of reading the meta and knowing what is more popular. I'll test with the replacement.

Of note, a Legwork could be replaced by a Docklands Pass. I chose not to because I did not intend to run centrals without a card support. But the Khusyuk is pretty neat. If I were to use is, then Fencer Fueno should be replaced by Scrubber, to have more 2 cards.

I'll test more, thank you for your insight, it is much appreciated. Cheers.

5 Feb 2022 #endgame

I realise that I made a mistake: If you try to apply all of my suggested changes, you end up with 4x PPVP. That gives an extra card slot I didn't think we had, and 1x Tread Lightly would be a great fit — as you say, it does great work against glacier.

Re: Docklands Pass: I suspect that forcing it in to add more 2c cards would work in other criminals, but will make this deck worse: it's another click and 2c to install, but Legwork will probably give you a credit and refund the click spent to play it.

Re: Blueberry!™ Diesel: Comparing "draw-and-play Blueberry!™ Diesel" vs "draw-and-draw, in a deck without it": I suspect the chance to draw something interesting on the first is worth more than the filtering on the second , particularly in tight turns.

I will probably take a version running Fencer Fueno over Scrubber, The Maker's Eye over Khusyuk, and no Blueberry!™ Diesel or Docklands Pass to my next game night. Will report back on how it goes.

7 Feb 2022 Satoshi

One thing I've seen runners do is, if they suspect there is a Clearinghouse in play, they throw down The Class Act once it ticks to 6, which lets them end turn with more than 5 cards in hand. This can throw off the corp's plan, e.g. if they were using Hyoubu Precog Manifold to defend the Clearinghouse you have an extra turn after which the lockdown will wear off. So that's some extra utility you get from The Class Act.