#4.3 Heap-to-HQ

I'm liking this list a lot. You've made a number of choices that I am curious to see the results of. I think Freelance Coding Contract will do a lot of work for you. Aesop's Pawnshop is the only issue I'm seeing now; I'm not sure you have enough food for it. Your worthwhile snacks are:

2x Clone Chip (negating its use)
2x Plascrete Carapace (when at 1 token left)
2x Daily Casts (when at 2 left)
2x Motivation (dead draw after the first, munch on it)
1x Oracle May (same as above, but for 1 less)

And then any program that has outlived it's usefulness, but if you didn't get work out of it you are probably still eating it at a loss (Chakana, Datasucker and Parasite being the exceptions -- barely). I don't know if this is an issue, but it's worth thinking about.

With 2 from The Toolbox you could do Underworld Contacts, but that would require the most expensive card in your deck (also untutorable and only at 2x) to set off.

Your feedback is much appreciated! :) Indeed, there's not much for Aesop's... Except for the utility of being able to trash (to reinstall) an Atman or Femme Fatale while preserving credits. But I suppose I would rather Same Old Thing a Scavenge for that. So, I guess it's not of much use. I should keep it in mind for future revisions and add something else for economy. Infiltration can add a few important credits early, or a much needed expose later. Dirty Laundry gives another credit but is sometimes hard to use - and I'm already depending on runs for Retrieval Run. Underworld Contact is intriguing but my other main economy is already depending on two different cards (Oracle May being 2x).

I could also +Daily Casts +Same Old Thing (the latter to be used for Sure Gamble for example).

I could also +Daily Casts +Same Old Thing (the latter to be used for Sure Gamble for example).

This.

I played this deck a couple of times yesterday, no time to play corp however.

I had a LOT of money, most of the time. Which is a good thing since it can drain fast when I use Alpha or Omega.

I did not have all too much tutoring, meaning my one-of programs that can really help me or pressure the corp (yesterday: Datasucker and Nerve Agent specifically) aren't always available. Using Diesel and Oracle May I'll be drawing a lot of cards so it shouldn't take too long to get a few ice breakers (including Atman) available from grip or heap - meaning I can probably keep my Test Run + Scavenge for when I need a good virus... That's going to be something to remember: playing with what I get, making sure to save up tutoring for what I need.

If I'd change anything at this point, I think I'd want another Datasucker, I could easily trade it for Parasite (making it easier to get through with Atman - parasite is most usefull to kill low strength ice, and Alpha/Omega gets through those easily). Also, I could take a third Oracle May for consistency. I played a game yesterday where my 3 Motivation was in the bottom 10 cards. Very frustrating.

Trying this more on sunday, gotta get some skills so I don't have to be ashamed of myself in the tournament in two weeks :D

Parasite for Datasucker seems like a good trade. I was worried about you being able to get in consistently enough for tokens to pile up because Alpha and Omega force the corp to put out taller servers, but it seems like accessing wasn't an issue as you really wanted your Nerve Agent.

As for play, I think you are totally right, play with what you get and save your tutors for when you really need them. Say, when you know a run against a central is going to succeed and you can pull out a Datasucker.

I really am curious how Alpha and Omega played out for you; do you think they are worthy includes? Also, I realize Wraparound is going to be a huge issue for you since it is a common card in tournaments. One Inti should keep it from being an issue.

Well, I met two quite diverse decks. One was some kind of "trash whole deck, jackson howard, loads of events and clicks and advance->win in one turn". I don't know all the cards, but I think you've seen the kind of deck I'm talking about :P So a few low strength ice on top of a few central servers there made and Alpha or Omega very useful to get wherever I wanted. And that's when I wanted the Nerve Agent.

The other deck I played against was a glacier deck with Tollbooth and Enhanced Login Protocol everywhere in addition to loads of HB ice. Running against that was a pain and without motivation I didn't have a stable economy, had a few rounds mid-game when I'd spent all my money on two Atman and some mediocre runs. Only got to play one game against it though, and that was when I really needed Datasucker (my Atman had strength 4 and 5 :P).

I think I'll have to try more this sunday. Hopefully against more players, different decks. Though, I keep thinking that Alpha and Omega are only two of the tools I can use to get in - Femme can work wonders as well, etc, but without tutoring it's more like Alpha and Omega are two of the tools that I might have to make use of to get in - along with an Atman.

Are you overdrawing and playing FCC to go back down to 5 and a ton of ? You should be able to tutor everything you need out of your heap, not your stack, plus draw more. With this deck you actually want to chuck your expensive breakers and then install them via Retrieval Run and the like. At least, I thought this was how you wanted to play it?

Also, every guide I have seen about playing with Atman says if you have two out, they should be at 0 and 4. I haven't played with the card much myself, so I'm not sure how true that is.

Yeah, that is how I want to play it ;D I draw a loooot. I can't always sell my programs into my heap, but I figure it's still worth drawing. Sometimes I draw so much I almost enter a kind of philosophical state, and start to question what I'm actually waiting for... :P I figure I'm waiting for enough stuff in my heap and grip to get two-three breakers up (probably including two atman) and a virus or two. I didn't get a second core set so I'm playing CyberSolutions Mem Chip instead of the second The Toolbox - but I didn't yet have the money to install them or the need to install a fifth program.

It's hard to balance running vs. installing. Without running, I don't know what to install. If I run without installing, I risk dying (always sooo very scared of net damage and the corp trashing my resources). When facing the glacier yesterday, running was so expensive - mostly because of Tollbooth, and most of the time I didn't even have the clicks to run. Oracle May = one click per round, that I don't want to skip too many times; Test Run + Scavenge = two clicks; Same Old Thing = two clicks - most of the time I wont have many click-effective rounds at all. And vs. Bioroids and especially Enhanced Login Protocol I need to conserve clicks when I want to run. Maybe it would've been very different if I hadn't met HB...

Atman at 0 and 4 is what I've seen too. Didn't know it was THAT universal. But it kind of comes down to datasuckers I suppose. A lot of ice is around 0-1 or 4-5 I think. So maybe that's where I should plan on placing my Atman, and rather than having Alpha and Omega I could get something to specifically break the stronger ice...

It'd be sad to see Alpha and Omega go but you are probably right. They just really aren't good past early game, and are too expensive to install during that phase. Poor guys.