Not quite there Loup for Gateway-only meetup Fargo 3/1/25

Anarch is the runner faction I understand the least, So when I had the rare (for me) opportunity to play with people who were neither

1. so much better than me that I don't even learn much from losing, nor
2. people I'm actively teaching how to play,

I decided to expand my horizons a bit. I played this five times at the meetup, lost twice because I got stuck and left the Corp some mile-wide windows to set up/kill me, and won twice in large part because of the Corp player's shuffling (one mulliganned a critical number of agendas to the top of R&D, one the bottom of R&D). The first game of the day is in dispute (he thinks I won, I remember him winning).

As an overview, I had fun with the deck. I really like the way Carnivore interacts with Loup's ability, and I had more than enough card draw to feed it. I think I overdid it on the viruses, mainly because I wanted to get as much use out of Cookbook as possible. I realize I'm 3 cards over the minimum, and that was because of a last minute decision to put the 3x T400 Memory Diamond in there because I knew I would need more MU space to maneuver. I don't think an excess of programs is the main problem with the deck; there was only one game where I got all my pieces set up, but it was surprisingly fun putting together runs with random pieces as they came up, including putting down the odd Mayfly without disturbing any ticking viruses. The limiting factor generally wasn't not seeing the pieces I needed, but not having enough money to use my pieces for runs. If I were to iterate on this deck, I think I'd try:

• +1 [Creative Commission](/en/card/30020)
• +1 [Overclock](/en/card/30029)
• +1 [Jailbreak](/en/card/30028)
• +2 [Smartware Distributor](/en/card/30033)
• +1 [Carmen](/en/card/30015)
• -1 [Tranquilizer](/en/card/30017)
• -2 [Wildcat Strike](/en/card/30002)
• -1 [Echelon](/en/card/30025)
• -2 [T400 Memory Diamond](/en/card/30031)

Yes, not down to the minimum, but not any more bloated (plus I need to feed Carnivore, right? Right.

Some notes on that:

Tranquilizer seems nice, but I was facing multiple Weyland Consortium: Built to Last decks running 3x Pharos having tons of money. So much so that rezzing it again for 7 might not be a problem, at which point I'm looking at a 10 strength barrier (able to reach 10 strength partly because my deck is so slow) when with three virus counters instead on a Botulus I could just break the subs and get through. Also, it's 3 influence. I need to import Killers, money, and card draw (at least some), and as a 1-of, multiaccess with Docklands Pass is better.

Wildcat Strike: maybe it's a skill issue, but I find it hard to play this card when it's not obvious that I need one of the Corp-chosen options way more than the other. It seems like one of two great things can happen when you play it, but what if you've got a plan? Smartware Distributor feels bad to set up, but when I think of how much clicking for credits I did in those games, I think it may be worth it.