Charlie's Angels

When you get The Angels together, they sing. They really do. They can dance, they can seduce, and... they can get what they want, when they want. They got where they got, because well, they are Independent Women.

Lights go out - Three silhouettes enter, and move to the middle of the stage, walking with confidence; one leg elongated in front of the other with the surety of a panther. *Record scratches - Independent Women by Destiny's child starts playing, disco ball drops, and a psychedelic array of sparkling strobe lights throbs to the beat - violet, orange, and lime. A microphone on a cable falls down to the face of the middle figure, and she starts to utter the opening lyrics. The crowd starts to settle, as peoples attention is pulled to the three women on stage. Waiters bring drinks, and party snacks to tables. The room is starting to heat up, while the bar tender shakes and rattles cocktails, all the while sweating and motioning to the bouncer to keep turning the cooling down.

Bam! The room goes black for a moment. Then in a blinding flash, a beam cuts the hot air like a dagger; a spotlight pointing directly at the lead vocalist, illuminating in all her gorgeous stage glory, the foreman of our Angles, Ele "Smoke" Skovak. And in her smooth, but husky tones, as only a pack a day vaper can do, the lady with mysterious tribal tattoos reminiscent of early 2000s Earth, tells the crowd...

"All the women, independent, thrown your hands about me". And the crowd, the crowd goes wild!

So as you may or may not have guessed by now, the three stars and reason behind the deck name are - Smoke, Katy Jones, and Beth Kilrain-Chang. Smoke is an obvious pick, as this is a stealth deck. Katy, well we all know Ms. Jones really can fly in the big bucks when you need it, whether you draw her up first, for setup, or later as a nest egg for those big icy servers (which are making a comeback after the latest MWL). Finally Beth. Beth is there as support, she is the third angel, and no matter what's going on, she's there, and she's always doing something. And when she isn't, that's likely because there's nothing to do, so that's a good thing. As the deck takes a few turns (less than you might think) to setup, if the corp starts building money, Beth starts to make Smoke's life that much easier, with creds, cards or clicks. Beth is never the reason the deck works, of course, but shes always there, and she tends to keep a corp on its toes as well.

As for the rest of the line up, well I'll take you through the important inclusions.

The Gauntlet doesn't see much play more broadly, but what's so great about Charlie's Angels is they are dangerous, and they'll get what they want, from anywhere. The Gauntlet let's you have additional HQ accesses. Any corp worth their salt will thrown one ice in front of HQ. And in this deck, that's it really, because once your stealth rig is up, the more they ice, the more you see. Throw The Turning Wheel in, and your getting even more bang for buck. The extra 2 mem is also worthwhile in this deck, as you'll need it.

Temujin Contract, even after the MWL 1.2, is still great. It's now costed as it should, so you can only slot two in. However, as you can make a run for next to nothing, this is just money for jam, especially when throw in with a Dirty Laundry over a poorly defended HQ. These cards come more into their own, as the game progresses, and you've got your cloaks up. Kati Jones, Daily Casts, and Beth all help as the slow burn econ. Net Mercur, triggers next to every turn, and builds up a nice pile, especially against more rushy style corps who force you through cheap ice, which you'll break with Smokes cred.

Film Critic and New Angeles obviously work hand in hand, against both Jinteki and NBN. NACH also doesn't suffer from MCA Informant like Aaron, but that's neither here nor there, as MCA will be planted on our offsite studio instead. Aaron could be slotted (and I had previously), and may make a return. Time will tell.

Political Operative is there as our friend to deal with Caprice.

RDI and the Makers Eye of course mean you can dig deep into R&D when needed. And when Smokes rig is up, only the craziest levels of ice will stop the Angels, and then, you can engage the Turning Wheel tokens with support from Guantlet to pivot to HQ, or simply remote lock the corp.

Asset spam can be a difficult match-up, where your limited run economy serves you well. Archives Interface is there to deal with the dangerous assets you trash, or get rid of Friends in High Places if its been used already. Archives interface was chosen, because of how easy it is in any game for Smoke to access servers once she's setup, so that is always there as a threat. Salsette Slums may be a better inclusion; play testing will tell.

Blackstone is an underrated stealth breaker in my opinion. It isn't amazing, but it's not garbage either. Starting at 3, means your flying through gear check, and anything up to a wall of static. Higher strength barriers will cost you a little, but at strength seven for one pump, only the biggest of the baddest will slow you right down; and not forgetting Blackstone keeps its strength. Also, glacier is back.

Dagger and Refractor. Stock in trade stealth breakers, that do their job.

Dai V. Yeah, not my favorite AI breaker in the world. It's here to deal with an unexpected loss of one of your other breakers, and when you thrown in System Seizure, it thankfully keeps its strength; turning it from inefficient (for an AI), to half way decent.

Cloaks, Lockpicks, and of course, Net Mercur for your stealth creds a plenty. Not forgetting Smoke herself always throws in as our leading Angel.

Levy is only there to bring back the econ, and survive against a thousand cuts. Only useful in some match-ups, but can save your life. Net Shield is really there to blunt the Bio-Ethics Association attacks, so you can race in, trash those bad boys, then Archives Interface them out of here. SMCs bring Netshield out straight away, so that does buy you time.

I've had quite a good run with this deck generally, definitely winning more than losing (back of the envelope, I'd go 70-80%). I always feel like I've got options, and once she gains momentum, the Charlies Angels really can get what they want, when they want it.