[Startup] Unethical Space Elevator

cryotube 74

Built and tested for Startup format.

Basic idea of the deck is to do what Earth Station does best - protect HQ and make a single scoring remote that is incredibly prohibitive to run.

Deck milestones:

  • Get out an Archer or Trebuchet (unrezzed) onto the board ASAP, either over HQ or your scoring remote. (HQ has priority) This is important early on in the event that a Send a Message is stolen so we can capitalize on it with an enormous tempo gain even if we lose an early point lead.
  • secure HQ. We have HQ specialized ICE such as Afshar and Winchester that is decently cheap to rez. Enigma and Tithe are decent ICE to protect HQ early on in the event that we don't see any good protective ICE early, even if it's only there to tax the runner. The ID itself makes HQ unattractive to run as well.
  • protect R&D. Since HQ is so unattractive to run, the runner will try to poke R&D for info or just to try to fish for agendas. It's not necessary to overly ICE up R&D, having one or two porous ice to tax the runner is sufficient unless they have an R&D fishing rig. Tithe is very good for this, since the rez cost is so low while also taxing the runner should they attempt to run it without a sentry. Even if they do have a sentry or Boomerang early, the cost to break the subs on Tithe make the ICE essentially pay for itself fairly easily.
  • Develop the scoring remote. Once HQ has been decently protected we can flip the ID to give our remote "financial" protection (we can start putting cards in it and the runner will want to avoid running it to avoid the 6 credit tax.) In an ideal situation we will find Tranquility Home Grid earlier so we can begin development of the remote while still gaining credits/cards. Once a couple of ICE have been set up over the remote (ideally strongest ice close to the server to avoid Inside Jobs) we can begin scoring out agendas that will only serve to increase the tempo lead.

General deck tips:

  • Mulligan for Calvin B4L3Y, Tranquility Home Grid, and Red Level Clearance. We want to accelerate early on and find the tools we need to get set up (cheap ICE, econ cards, early Hostile Takeovers). Calvin B4L3Y is a good Extract target once we've gotten enough use out of him, he can also be rezzed without protection early as he'll still draw us cards if he gets trashed - this leads to 4 cards drawn for 2 clicks if he's trashed on the turn after he's rezzed. Red Level Clearance is essentially a deck-thinning cantrip that gives us 2 credits or 2 cards for no clicks (it earns you back a click if you so desire.) This is very beneficial if we're drawing a lot of cards and prevents HQ from getting flooded.
  • Increased Drop Rates is helpful for reducing the bad pub we get from Hostile Takeover as well as rezzed Trebuchets. It is a good target for Extracts as necessary and serves to protect Archives simultaneously once trashed.
  • Early on it's possible to bait the runner into paying the 6 cred tax to run the remote with our Upgrade cards. This can net you a huge credit and tempo gain
  • Reduced Service can serve as an additional tax once our own econ has been set up, and also serves as a good Extract target early on when we don't have the econ to power it. In the late game the runner has sufficient econ to simply ignore HQ and try to penetrate the remote, and this helps with that. (from a 6 cred tax to potentially a back-breaking 14 credits)
  • this deck has no barrier ICE but runs a lot of sentries, two of which are very expensive to break even with a Killer installed. If you've scored out a Hostile Takeover don't hesitate to rez an Archer
  • Oaktown Renovation and Hostile Takeover are very strong cards to provide much needed econ for this deck, since we don't have room for credit generating assets. Once the remote has been secured you can safely hold Oaktowns to generate credits while simultaneously scoring out agendas.
  • Winchester is really only good if placed over HQ. In the event that you don't see it early, don't hesitate to use it for Extract fodder. If rezzed too early it is also not punishing enough if the runner has no programs/hardware in play yet.
3 comments
1 Oct 2022 CaKnuckleguy

Where we're going, we don't need Hedge Funds!

2 Oct 2022 PreNic

I really like the idea of Increased Drop Rates but I feel like you should have at least 1x of some form of tag punishment, like Retribution. Otherwise, unless the runner is heavily relying on resources, I don't think getting a tag is much of a thread in startup.

13 Oct 2022 zhongliwen

what a interesting idea