Chop Cam Apex

I've gone 6-1 over two GNKs with variations on this deck now. It's surprisingly good.

edit because a few people actually took interest in the deck I guess I should add a write-up.

Mulligan for Chop Bot & nothing else. I'm not sure what weird matchup or how excellent a hand would have to be for me to keep without Chop Bot. It is this deck's Wyldside.

The engine: use spy cam at the end of the corp's turn to trigger Reaver + Wastelands, then Chop Bot a facedown card at the start of your turn to draw 2 (one for Chop Bot, one for Reaver) & trigger Wastelands. If you draw a conspiracy breaker, you usually want to facedown & chop it to get it in your heap at a profit. The engine is like old school Noise in that it produces clickless cards & credits every turn.

Apex happens to have enormously powerful hate cards for a number of matchups. It is extremely good against net damage or Brain Rewiring decks. Double Hunting Grounds helps against NBN. Shadow Net is surprisingly relevant (15 Minutes, News Team, Shi Kyu, Standoff, Project Kusanagi, etc) against shenanigans. I used to not play Prey in Apex at all but it's become excellent as ICE got better & the disappearance of Parasite lead to the return of low-strength ICE like Komainu & Kakugo.

Some nuances: the order of your Apex/Chop Bot triggers vary by turn; if you have no facedowns or Harbinger, use Apex first, otherwise try to use Chop Bot first so if you draw something you want to facedown (e.g. a conspiracy breaker) you can. Always use Apex if you have a useless card in hand as the facedowns are fuel for later. Remember Reaver triggers on trashing corp cards (e.g. if you Prey an ICE). Sometimes you want double Reaver while you're setting up, to find all your Wastelands, but when that leads to too many cards you Chop Bot the second one. You can a) choose which ICE to Prey, b) don't have to break all subroutines on it, & c) can do stuff like Hunting Grounds the on-encounter, then trash HG to get enough facedowns to feed to Prey.

Only one Apocalypse?!?

Apex has a better board state than most corps, turning it all facedown is typically a mistake. Apoc is a fine emergency plan if everything goes wrong but that's it. Literally the only time I've played it with this list was after a turn one where Haarpsichord installed three naked remotes. Honestly, the apoc is a flex slot that could be something else (3rd Prey, a current). I know, I know, I'm no fun.

Also, Endless Hunger just doesn't do enough and is a very awkward fit for a rig that includes a 1MU console and a utility program. I don't think it's worth a card slot for the very few situations where it'd be usable.