Slow Advance 1.3

Waltzard 406

This is the third version of this deck. Its doing better on Jinteki than the last two, so I think I'm closing in on something. Also, its fun to play.

1: Victory Conditions.

There are 7 Agendas in the deck, but to win you need either a Vanity project or a Gov takeover. So you and your opponent are looking for 3 cards in 49. If one is in the opening hand, they can ding R&D for a long time without finding the other. The games will usually be long, increasing the odds of a flatline. Hostile Takeovers and Chronos project don't effect who wins (unless someone gets all 3, which I've never seen in 25 games), so sac them for Archers/Corp town at the drop of a hat. I usually won't sac Gov Contracts, click for 2 is too valuable.

ICE: Wimpy ice for the most part. Quicksand, Spiderweb, Datapike Enigma and Caduceus are all fairly cheap to rez, fairly cheap to break. Ice HQ and R&D and 1 remote, Archives if you suspect a Sneakdoor (ultimately archives anyway). Over the course of the game you will gradually get to 2 or 3 deep on these 4 servers, which will leave the runner paying 6+ credits per run. That's plenty.

You've got 3 tough guys (2 archers and Orion), chosen because they pop programs and take a lot of credits to click through. Surprising folks with these can give you the scoring window. Orion and Wyrmhole also protect from APEX with their "rez someone else's routine" stuff.

Economy: Beanstalk and Hedge fund are boring, but Back Channels is cool. You'll be using it on traps that don't fire. With back channels advances are basically clicking for 2, which is obviously sweet for corp. If someone is drive-by ing don't hesitate to rez a junebug for this.

Assets:

This is where the deck gets weird. The main game plan is that while you are gradually icing up and the runner is building his rig, you are constantly baiting. The deck is based around stinging the runner with traps and scoring your agendas when he thinks they are traps. Let me double down on that. The ice won't usually keep your agendas safe. They will be kept safe because the runner will think they are a junebug and let you score.

Aggressive Secretary: This replaced the cerebral overwriters. Cheaper to fire, and usually a big deal. Even popping 1 or 2 programs is aces, and people generally don't expect Aggsec. Generally you have a scoring window right after an aggsec fires, while they try and fix their rig. Fill it with a Junebug :)

GRNDL Refinery: Sometimes you don't have a Back Channels, and you need money badly. 2 rounds on a GRNDL will give you 16 credits and put you back in the game. If they run after IAA you've lost a turn, but that happens sometime. These could be replaced with Melange, but part of mind games is being relentless. Never stop making them wonder what you are advancing!

Junebug: What's to say? The king of ambushes. 1 influence, fires for 1 credit. Honestly, you'll get a lot of wins because Weyland rarely splashes red. Install, next turn advance advance advance and you have a flatline unless they draw up in preparation of a Junebug. If they leave it alone, push to 6, bluffing the Gov Takeover. If they still leave it alone wait for a back channels to come along. Its rare though, most folks bite at 6.

Shattered Remains: It fires for 1, and it breaks hardware. This doesn't seem deadly, and its definitely a makeweight ambush, but its funny how big of a deal this can be. Fundamentally, the runner doesn't expect hardware to go away. The clone chips suddenly being gone is a very big deal. The Grimoire vanishing can force programs to be trashed as 2 memory are just missing.

Plus, could there be a corp-ier card than a card where your goons go to the house of a precocious young girl and tear apart her stuffed animal? Its too perfect not to play.

Space Camp: Try and get these into archives as quick as you can. Fake a Jackson play early on, or just install them in your trap space and then replace them later. Minor benefit, but costs nothing to fire, and any time they go to archives they have to give it to you again. Remember it can be used on your space ICE.

Snare: Don't be afraid to install this as one of your "last click install" assets, as though next round you'll advance it 3 times. After getting burned a few times some folks start running assets BEFORE you advance them. Snare is for those lucky fellows (as well as the usual lucksack wins from HQ/R&D). Never let on that you don't have scorches for the tag and running into a snare will more or less end a runner's turn, as they remove tag and draw back up.

Silver Bullets:

These are technically assets, but they are not ambushes, and don't work quite like the rest. Broadly, they are for making the runner run when they aren't ready. Less broadly, I just like them.

Sealed Vault: Headlock is a big problem for this deck (can't fire traps with no creds). If you've got your vault out you can watch them syphon, push all the way through all the ice, then instant speed send your money to it. If they go back after the advanced trap/agenda you can let them burn through THAT ice, then trash the vault to suck the money back to your hand. If they don't you waste a click getting it back (or trash it), but its a small price to duck Syphon.

Bonus, if they ever want Syphon to work again they have to go over to it and trash it, and its trash cost is 8. Not so easy to spend when they didn't get the 10 credits they were expecting.

Corp Town:

This one is supposed to stick around, so if you put it in your scoring remote you are commiting to build another when you start trapping again, if the Runner doesn't come for Corp town. This is a self explanatory card. Rez at end of runner's turn and start hauling their friends off to happy new lives in Corp Town. Next turn you'll see a frantic rush to trash. Between Katie's new vocation as Corp Katie and the run you might get a score window after this. If, god help them, Corp down is behind an archer or Orion, and it lives on the board, the runner gets to play without resources. You often win those games.

The Root: This is a weird one, but basically the 3 creds it gives go towards everything you do. Popping it and running it for 2 rounds pay for itself, and if the pushes through your fort to trash it might open up a scoring window. 3 recurring creds as corp. is straight up crazy, and if you can keep it around your economic problems are long gone.

Mulligans: I usually mulligan for ice. I want 1-2 non Archer ice (unless I have the hostile in hand and no agendas). First turn is ice. Next turn economy, after that get trapping. General trap is either install advance advance (faking hte 5/3), or ohter stuff other stuff install (faking Vanity or a 3/1). Mix and match. First one is usually a freebee, as traps aren't really Weyland's style. If its a junebug you might be shaking hands.

Most important rule of playing this deck: Don't get tilted. You are way easier to read when you are angry. Stay calm and keep trapping.

2 comments
14 Oct 2015 mikebialecki

Why not use the Gagarin identity? It seems like a better fit, considering you have very few agendas and quite a few assets.

15 Oct 2015 Waltzard

That's a good point. I'll try Gagarin for the next one.

Also I've got to fit currents in here somehow. Paywall implementation is amazing for a junebug player, because it means that Siphon can't protect them.