Bioroids on Sale!!!

Xanshi 199

Introduction:

When this ID was initially spoiled. My first thought, this card can probably replace Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future if used properly.

A second read to ID's ability made me pause a bit. It needs a bioroid ice. This matter because HB has sorta move away from using bioroid ice. Ice like Architect, Turing and Magnet have made us look away from bioroid ice.

Luckily for me, somebody made a fantastic bioroid deck aptly named Robocop. I decide to use it as my basis for my deck.

Description:

The core idea of the deck is take advantage the ID's ability to discount bioroid to made it easier for you rez an expensive bioroid ice. No question the core of this deck revolves around Brain-Taping Warehouse and Surat City Grid. The discount these two cards can bring along with the ID's ability makes a fantastic combination. Sometimes it forces the runner to use click in order reduce the discount.

The deck conceptually is a perfect fit. I simply cannot just copy the deck and change the ID. The obvious problem is the ID's influence, tweaks are needed to make the deck function.

Changes:

1) Influence Cut

With 3 less influence to work with. I prioritize which card are more useful to me. With Jackson Howard and Eli 1.0 being non negotiable. It was obvious that i had to cut my influence from Surat City Grid and Global Food Initiative.

2) Way too many Region Upgrades

The first problem i encounter is that, i want my Surat City Grid installed to maximize my discount ability. This severe limits the usage of Breaker Bay Grid. I understand that Breaker Bay Grid is use to rez Eve Campaign. In the end, i simply cut Breaker Bay Grid in order to make space for issues i will mention after this one. Eve Campaign was also cut and replace with a cheaper option in the form of Launch Campaign.

3) Currents:

The deck hinges on maximizing the use of the ID's ability. Employee Strike make a strong case for me to use Enhanced Login Protocol to protect my ID. Plus it taxes them hard so certain bioroid ice cannot simply bypass by using their .

4) Economy:

The first time i was playing Robocop. My biggest problem with the deck, i was using way too much to gain some . It simply slowed me down considerably. And didn't like it felt so slow for a glacial deck. Decide to cut some card to make room for some economy cards. The obvious choice is to go for Hedge Fund. But i decide against it, because the card cost is simply too high.

I decided to go for Lateral Growth, because it had a lower card cost. Even if it gives out less . It still a solid card due to click compression. Also added Peak Efficiency for a solid mid game economy card.

5) *ICE composition:

I will admit that I love having 3 Heimdall 1.0, 3 Heimdall 2.0 and 3 Janus 1.0 on the board. I done several times before. But the road in order to accomplish that is simply way too hard.

So i've reduced the number of copies of the big 3 ice to make room for some code gate ice. Viktor 2.0 simply won't do. With the number of runner deck that uses high to combat trace centric decks. So i've turn my eyes on the Fairchild Ices.

So that's all the change i made to the original Robocop deck. Try it out and see if it something you would enjoy playing.

Thanks! Have fun and keep running!

8 comments
17 Nov 2016 lunchmoney

Thanks for the well written thought process that went into your deck design. So much better than, "tis is mah dek, its grat youll luv it". (I shuddered writing that).

17 Nov 2016 internet_potato

Very cool. This ID is an interesting puzzle to me. I think that you are on the right track with leveraging it to turbo-charge the Brain-Taping Warehouse / Surat City Grid combo: the fact that your ID synergizes with either card in isolation is a really good sign.

When I've played this ID as a plain glacier build, the main issues that I ran into were:

  1. Early siphons wrecked my game plan. You don't need a lot of to get your glaciers built, but you need at least enough to get the first bioroid rezzed. Unlike ETF (where the ID gives you real money), I found myself hovering around 2-3 credits for much of the game.

  2. I found it pretty click-intensive to get the ice installed (and somewhat costly due to stacking them 2-3 deep). Difficult to balance that with keeping your econ afloat. Lateral Growth seems like a great idea here. I could also see Interns pulling its weight (since the ICE install cost is ignored).

  3. As mentioned above, it doesn't cost much to rez your ICE, but you get discounts rather than real credits, so I ended up around 2-3 credits most of the time. Peak Efficiency seems like a great way to bounce back. I would love it if Successful Demonstration could work, but I think that with few surprises, the runner is going to mainly have successful runs.

  4. The general lack of surprise in ICE means that the runner has a very strong late game. I think that Ash 2X3ZB9CY is probably the best bet for closing the game out, but Rumor Mill may complicate that without more and cheaper currents to shut it off. I might even go for Domestic Sleepers as a way to clear Rumor Mill.

Very nice work, I'll be trying out some ideas that are in here for sure. Thank you for sharing this list!

17 Nov 2016 internet_potato

My changes (only 1 game in so far). I won against Nexus Kate, which is probably a good sign since that matchup should deal with glacier pretty darn well.

Econ changes:

I think you are right about preferring asset drip over hedge fund. Launch Campaign seems particularly good when you're playing the never-advance glacier game. Will be replacing the hedges with launches. I think the tempo from Advanced Assembly Lines and Lateral Growth is too good to go lower than 3x on. Peak Efficiency did its job-- I burned 2 relatively early to get back from 1 credit, and burned one late to gain 10 and lock out the game. Solid.

ICE Changes:

I was worried about the lack of ETR in your list (and the fact that it was only on barriers). Ravana 1.0 and Viktor 1.0 are normally free to rez.

I'm not sure about the Janus 1.0's-- I had them sitting in hand for a lot of the game with little hope of being rezzed. I might either swap those out for Fairchild 2.0's, Markus 1.0's, or some non-ICE stuff.

Misc:

This seems a little anti-synergistic with Brain-Taping Warehouse and I needed the slots for the econ changes.

I'll probably shuffle econ a little more and will swap the Janus's for cheaper bioroids or for another Ash 2X3ZB9CY and some anti-Rumor Mill cards. Scarcity of Resources could be good in the meta right now, or Domestic Sleepers (plus, it helps you get to 7).

Really fun deck!

17 Nov 2016 Xanshi

@internet_potato Thanks for the valuable input. I will admit the deck is still a work of progress. I'm glad you found my list to be helpful.

  • Janus 1.0 - I usually rez this via Accelerated Beta Test trigger. If you find too expensive to use. You can swapped it with Ichi 2.0. But i'm not keen on adding more traces with strained economy.

  • Enhanced Login Protocol is added to combat Employee Strike. But at the same time, I was thinking of a ways to slow down the runner from using to get through the ice. One of the first match i had with this deckwas against Adam. e3 Feedback Implants was such a hard card to deal with.

  • I actually prefer using Heinlein Grid than Ash 2X3ZB9CY. First, it's unaffected by Rumor Mill. Second it keeps the runner from using to get through ice. Ash 2X3ZB9CY is a great card. I just don't like using trace in this deck with the economy it posses. But your version has more economy and cheaper ice in it.

17 Nov 2016 DrMarodi

Great deck!

Based on my experience with this ID Ravana 1.0 is such a key card here. I wouldn't run less then 3. It is very interesting that this deck needs some remote thing going on also, so it can provoke runs and rez bioroids. A careful runner will run a rarely as possible in order to prevent the ID fire. I would consider to use Executive Boot Camp to rez ice at the beginning of the runners turn - combining this with Brain-Taping Warehouse is really sweet. In my version the remote pressure is Haas Arcology AI and Thomas Haas...

17 Nov 2016 Soulcow

Cool deck! But how is your economy? I'm experimenting with Bioroid Efficiency Research to be able to rez something like Janus 1.0 or Wotan but ultimately, they are a bit too costly if you can't rez them via Accelerated Beta Test or Priority Requisition - which I'm using, but it slows down the game alot. So I switched to Heimdall 2.0 for now as a bigger, badder ice, but a little cheaper, and the efficiency research to be able to rez sth early.

Brain-Taping Warehouse and Surat City Grid are something I'd like to experiment with, but I still need to buy the packs. By the way, is the discount from Surat City Grid counted together with the discount from your id, or do you need to rez 2 additional cards?

17 Nov 2016 Xanshi

@Soulcow Economy is very tight. It still needs tweaking. But the deck can manage.

I'm no rules expert. I'm not sure about the timing trigger of the ID. But I don't believe you have the opportunity to rez a card to trigger Surat City Grid ability in junction with the ID's ability.

Despite this, the card still has it's use. For example, in a rezzed Surat City Grid server. I rez a asset like Advanced Assembly Lines before the runner spends any . Trigger it's ability to install another card like Brain-Taping Warehouse. Rez it and trigger Surat and rez an ICE at 6 discount. Two from Surat City Grid and four from Brain-Taping Warehouse. And if you have another rez Brain-Taping Warehouse, then the discount becomes 10.

But a rezzed Brain-Taping Warehouse works with the ID's ability.

18 Nov 2016 CactusJack

@Xanshi If you use the ID's ability to rez ICE protecting a Surat City Grid (with SCG already rezzed), you'll trigger it, and chain rez another piece of ICE. Nice deck.