Titanium V1.1

Jashay 716

I was quite the fan of the original Uncorrodable deck by CrimsonWraith, (here) but at the same time I felt that it suffered slightly from inconsistency. If they sniped your Will-o'-the-Wisp from R&D or HQ, it made things much harder. If you didn't draw it, also a massive pain.

I also felt it struggled with actually firing destroyer subroutines; the ubiquity of Sharpshooter and Faerie often meant that you couldn't quite land the punches.

However, I feel that the packs released since the original deck have slowly been furnishing answers.

Changes

Shell Corporation has been unceremoniously dropped and replaced with Private Contracts. The Root was dropped for a second Mark Yale. Reclamation Order was dropped for Blacklist. A single Interns was dropped for Aggressive Secretary.

The Identity

Titan Transnational is great for this setup; the extra influence allows you a lot more flexibility than GRNDL, although the early economy suffers slightly for this. Blue Sun would also be a solid option, especially given the crazy economy it can pull off, but I prefer the synergy with the Agendas.

Agendas

Hostile Takeover is a fantastic agenda, and good for Archer. Project Atlas is likewise excellent, particularly with this ID; a tutoring 3/2 probably ranks up there as the best agenda in the game. Everything else is money, and has been chosen for the synergy. The only 'maybe' was High-Risk Investment, but I have been suitably impressed. Two agenda counters means that Runners will frequently try not to build up money (except perhaps on things like Kati.)

ICE

There are less barriers than in the original deck, as I felt it was better to keep your option open. Specifically, I put in Lancelot and Wormhole in place of some barriers, and switched some more for Galahad. This allows me to use some barriers as destroyers, and also use my code gates as destroyers.

However, the nature of the Grail ICE means that you tend to hold some in hand. This means that the ICE density is pretty low. I am considering squeezing in another Wraparound and perhaps a Swordsman to hate on AIs. The influence gets a bit messy there, though.

Money

Hedge Fund is pretty much an auto-include, so no surprises there. 70% of my agendas can turn a profit, and Mark Yale can add a little extra on top. The man is a credit-generating machine once you've scored an agenda, so I have no regrets about adding a second.

Shell Corporation was terrible, so I've dropped it. The deck does fine as soon as it scores, but you need money early to get everything rolling. Shell Corporation was absolutely no use there. The only times it did anything useful was when I bluffed it as a Will-o'-the-Wisp. I considered Private Contracts or Capital Investors as replacements, but went with PC due to the higher trash cost. Sometimes you need to install it naked, and it has a far better survival rate.

Bells and Whistles

Blacklist. Glorious, glorious Blacklist. It was exactly what this deck needed. The main problem with breaker-bashing is when they just use a Clone Chip or Deja Vu to get all the things back. It makes your life so much harder. Blacklist stops it all dead. It messes with a lot of decks, and putting it with Will-o'-the-Wisp behind a Barrier is a great Catch-22 once you've started sniping their breakers.

Everything else is geared towards breaker-breaking. Will-o'-the-Wisp is the primary there, with Power Shutdown acting as an occasional backup. It will usually end up sniping some cheap bit of Hardware instead, but it does do work. Interns can bring back the Will-o'-the-Wisp, Blacklist, Corporate Troubleshooter, etc. I'm still debating if it was the right idea to drop down to 2 Interns.

Corporate Troubleshooter is there to make the destroyer subs land. Firing an Archer fully, or a Galahad with double Lancelot, will give you all the time in the world to score while they scramble for replacements.

Aggressive Secretary is there to bluff as an agenda; it also fits the theme of the deck to a tee.

The Future

I'm still not sure I've got the early money right, but it's certainly more reliable. Not sure what I could do to improve that.

Eater being a thing, it is tempting to tweak the influence to include a third Wraparound. I would probably do that by dropping a Lancelot. I would also like to put in some more Barriers to compliment the theme, but Wormhole has been pretty damn glorious, so I would be loathe to drop it. Everyone assumes it's an Ice Wall or something, then BAM! Code Gate Destroyer!

I wouldn't mind finding a way to wangle the third Interns back in, either. A third Blacklist for consistency would be fantastic too.

Thanks for reading! Comments, criticisms and suggestions are welcome!

4 comments
17 May 2015 Softman25

I can't help but agree with the fact you need more money. If you don't draw into it, you're not in a good spot, even with Yale / Hostile cash.

Looks fun, I only ever bothered screwing around with ToL Titan - it's nice to see it used in another context, especially with grail stuff!

17 May 2015 DrunkenGineer

Do you really want 3 Geothermals? You could switch the agenda composition to 3 HT 3 HRI 1 Geo to increase the chance of getting a Takeover early.

17 May 2015 Jashay

@Softman25: It'll be even more fun if I can get the economy right! It's not a million miles away, but perhaps Beanstalk Royalties might be better than Private Contracts for a quick injection early on. I tried Restructure for a while, but getting to 10 was such a hassle.

@DrunkenGineer: I find it hard to ignore the absurd amount of money a single Geothermal Fracking can generate: If Mark Yale is about, it's more profit than fully tapping both Private Contracts. But it's a very good suggestion; early money, and an extra Archer trigger. I'll have to give that a try, thanks!

5 Jul 2015 Friff14

Have you considered adding Oaktown Renovation now that it's out? I'd rather have that than fracking.

Also, my favorite card in these builds is Chimera. With a Chimera you can basically choose what to snipe with Will-o'-the-Wisp.

I'm liking blacklist. I want to try this one soon.