Blackout

An updated attempt at the Uncorrodable archetype.

The aim here is to lock the runner out. No ifs, no buts. This deck is aiming for the third way of winning the game as the corp: not scoring out, not flatlining, but the runner throwing up their hands and conceding because they can never access anything again.

To this end, the most important tools are Marcus Batty and Archer. Trashing three programs is an amazing setback if you can pull it off. Throw down a Blacklist or score out a Chronos Project and their game might just be over.

The Agenda

• Underway Renovation has a chance of trashing cards they need before they can get them, might force them to run the Archer before they're ready, and can be advanced endlessly for free with Simone Diego.

• Oaktown Renovation is obviously just amazing.

• Hollywood Renovation is a bit dubious, but some 5-3s are needed to handle agenda frequency. It boosts most of the non-Archer ICE though, and can fast-advance Agenda if you're confident of it being secure.

• Hostile Takeover: you need money and Archer fodder. Done.

• Chronos Project: scored at the right time and it implements the Blacklist permanently.

Most of the other card choices are fairly obvious. Corporate Troubleshooter is a great alternative to Batty if they're not expecting it and don't have to money/tools for a super-strength Archer. Interns recurs Batty or Blacklist. Simone Diego is a bit of a weak point, but I don't like over-advancing Underway Renovation to take my actual credits, and using her with Oaktown or Hostile Takeover is wonderfully satisfying - but she still needs two full turns of use to pay herself back, regardless of how you use her.

Which leaves the one other very surprising card - the ID. Yep, it's a 'vegan' Argus. The principle of Argus here is simply to slow down the runner. There are a lot of Agenda due to all the 1-pointers, and the deck takes a while to set up. Argus stops the runner going all in on multi-access immediately, convinces them you're playing to kill as a distraction, and might even convince a runner to take the meat damage rather than a tag if they end up in a steal-position they weren't expecting...which feeds into the actual aim of the deck. Plus none of the other Weyland IDs really suit the deck, so eh.

The deck had mixed success. Runners have an awful lot of tricks up their sleeves and it's very hard to keep a Blacklist on the board. Archer also has several glaring weaknesses - look out for D4v1d from Anarchs (Corporate Troubleshooter's no help here!), Grappling Hook from Criminals (especially Geist) and Sharpshooter from Shapers. That said, this deck can put a lot of pressure on runners and when it goes well, it ends a game like nothing else.