Political Trash Fire (Onedefeating Worlds 2020, 162th at 1B)

There is a fifth archetype beyond that which is known to man. It is a archetype as vast as the cardpool and as timeless as infinity. It is the higher ground above glacier and asset spam, between aggro and control, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Jank Zone.

Let me set the scene.

There are three hours left for deck registration. You've been playing around with Asa variants for the past week. You know that they are good, but you don't know if they are fun. You brought one to BLM, and it did fairly well. And now that the cat's out of the bag, everyone will be teching against it. You need something new to play.

So you turn sideways. You play around with glacier, but nothing seems to click. So you try fast advance instead. You've been drinking; Titan completely slips your mind.

And you turn too far. Political Dealings can be good, but visions of Mushin Otoroshi dance in your head. You miss your exit to Unorthodox Drive and find yourself in...the Jank Zone.

I can attempt to defend this deck, but I think that would be a losing battle. Fast Advance? Alright, good archetype. Political Dealings? Spicy, I like it. How about Agroplex and Flower Sermon for extra draw? Sounds like a plan is coming together.

Don't think I can defend Rashidas, so they're out. Trick of Light for FA? Yeah, but I'm gonna need some advancement counters. Traps don't stick around, so how about Ice Wall? That'll be fine.

Medical Breakthrough for more FA, and jamming all the 3/2s I can fit. That last agenda point is a bit frustrating. Gene Splicer? Then why not Otoroshi as well! Might as well Mushin for more mindgames.

Cyberdex in case of Clot, a spicy Audacity for more FA, some Archived Memories to bring back FA pieces...hmm, I need more ways to put advancements on ice.

Akhet doesn't exist in my mind. All I can think of is Oduduwa. And for the rest of the ice? Mostly taxing things, a few ETRs to hopefully score an early Flower Sermon, a pair of spicy Sadaka to snipe multiaccess.

And there we go! What could possibly go wrong?

Everything.

Apparently 5/3s exist for a reason, because 10 agendas is a lot. I think almost every game I mulliganed away a 3-agenda hand, and a fair number of games were won off sick rips on R&D. It's also not fun when your three Medical Breakthroughs show up once the Runner is already on six points.

Also, did you know that Leela is a good card? And having many agendas is not great against Leela? And Leela likes to run Diversion of Funds? Three of them, usually? Yeah, I knew that too, but I didn't expect it to be that bad.

(It was that bad)

Sadaka also fails to fire when the Runners are on Engolo, which is a bit of an issue. And Otoroshi isn't useful if you have nothing installed. And a lot of times, Runners only hit Oduduwa once, leaving it with one advancement which is not great for Trick of Light.

The only game I won was one where I was able to convince the Runner that the agenda I installed was actually the Political Dealings they saw off the top.

In conclusion, I do think the Political Dealings Flower Sermon combo is quite strong; it just relies on scoring a 4/2 first. Agroplex is also strong out of Palana (who knew?), and does quite well with Political Dealings. Just don't include so many agendas next time. Maybe FA some 5/3s? Could work.

There was a deck that was made at the last minute, and in the throes of drunken panic, good cards were left out, and everything fell apart. But this is added: a hopeful note. Perhaps the core engine isn't completely garbage. Perhaps it is only biding its time, waiting for the right cards, the right deck, in order for it to leave...the Jank Zone.