Honeymoon 2.0 (4th place, Fantasiapelit Jyväskylä SC)

Took 4th place (paired with this runner) in a ~14 player store championship at Fantasiapelit Jyväskylä, Finland. Was top seed after swiss with 3 wins and one timed loss.

The Deck

This is based on an earlier deck with one of each Fragment instead of Mandatory Upgrades and Efficiency Committee. I made the switch because I concluded that

1. ManUp is HB's strongest agenda, and
2. this build often scores three-pointers with relative ease, so why not ManUp instead?

This version performed well enough in testing that I decided to take this to the SC. Still not quite sure if that was the right move, and I will probably return to the Fragment version after Clot comes out.

This is a pretty simple and straightforward deck. Get money, put Ash 2X3ZB9CY and/or Caprice Nisei into a remote, score ManUp, get more money, score the rest. Getting an Adonis Campaign rolling early on is pretty important for smooth operation.

While ManUp is the primary plan, don't get too hung up if you don't see one or don't find the Fast Track. Just score other agendas. An overscored Project Vitruvius is quite valuable, though one token is usually enough against everyone except Noise. Accelerated Beta Test should usually be treated as a blank 3/2, though there are situations where triggering it is the right move. Efficiency Committee can be useful, particularly against virus decks.

If trying to score without ManUp (but with Caprice/Ash), it is quite useful to chain the 3/2s by going IA-AAI-AAA, or even IAA-AIA-AAI-AAA. The runner is fairly unlikely to steal them, so you gain little benefit from doing Never Advance. Even if you only have one agenda in hand IA-ing a 3/2 is a pretty good move. It allows you to overscore Vitruvius, chain agendas if you draw another one, trigger ABT safely if you have a Jackson in hand, or just install an Adonis in the now empty server on the last click (triggering the ID as well).

When scoring ManUp, I've found IA-AA-AAA to work best. The IA makes it look like a normal two-pointer (many will think it's an NAPD), the AA often confuses the opponent (it also leaves you a click free to install something or gain money), and after that it's too late. Don't forget you gain an extra click immediately when you score it. After the ManUp is scored, it's very useful to put an Adonis in the remote as this allows you to score agendas as they come without losing momentum. Don't fight them much if they go after the Adonis, let them waste their resources dismantling your remote. You don't need it anymore.

The ice isn't terribly strong, so stack them high. The scoring remote, HQ, and R&D often end up with 3 ice each. ETRs are prioritized for HQ and remote, tax ice on R&D and Archives (if needed). Eli does quite well on the remote as well, but it definitely should not be the only ice there.

Don't be afraid to trash Adonis while there's money on it if you smell a scoring window, even if you just rezzed it.

Crisium Grid goes on HQ against Criminals and R&D against Shapers (unless it looks like there might be a Vamp incoming). Against Anarchs Crisium should generally be installed on which one is currently less well defended. If the runner trashes Crisium, it's generally best to recur it with Archived Memories and put it back where it was. They trashed it for a reason, and you don't want to let them do what they want to do. If you see a Singularity (and particularly if you haven't seen Caprice), put it in the remote.

If Caprice gets trashed, don't use Jackson Howard to put her back in the deck, there's a decent chance she'll get trashed before you see her again. It's better to wait for an Archived Memories to get her back directly from Archives. In general, it's often better to put an Archived Memories back instead of specific cards. What you need can change quickly, and Archived Memories gets more and more versatile as your Archives grows.

If there are no agendas in Archives, it's often better to let the runner spend their money trashing an installed Jackson than using him to put unimportant cards back, particularly if you have an Archived Memories in hand.

You should generally go down to 4 cards on the previous turn if you plan to play Blue Level Clearance, unless you have something useless in your hand (like a Viktor 1.0 after Yog has hit the board).

If there are no Yogs in your meta, switch the Lotus Fields for IQs, they're as good or better against Shapers and Criminals. While IQ is susceptible to Parasite, it's strong enough that it rarely becomes an issue. Power Shutdown is a pretty good place to put the freed up influence. Alternatively, consider Executive Boot Camp, for tutoring Adonis and Jackson, and for rezzing ice against Leela and Val. Daily Business Show is also a good choice.

The Tournament

I don't remember enough of the tournament to write a detailed report, but I faced an Eater/Keyhole Andromeda, two Noises, some deck I don't remember anything about, and a Spinal Modem/Keyhole MaxX in the double elimination.

The Andromeda game was a close call. He Keyholed four agendas, but I managed to lock him out of Archives, scored my ManUp, picked up a Vitruvius from archives with an Archived Memories, then another agenda with a Vitruvius counter. He managed to steal the remaining two, but after that I won pretty quickly.

In one game I had to score a second ManUp because I just wasn't seeing other agendas.

During the swiss my only loss was a timed loss against a Noise (the reason it went to time was because his NEH had unbelievably bad draws and took ages to win). He got a strong start, milling and Imping many cards and scoring two agendas. Later he got a lucky pick out of HQ and the six points was enough to win the game when it went to time. I managed to score a ManUp and an ABT and on my last turn I topdecked an agenda, but it was an EffCom so I couldn't score it that turn. If the game had not gone to time, it could've gone either way.

In the double elimination game against MaxX I got a pretty good starting hand, but then got flooded fairly quickly and he managed to set up both a Utopia and a Hades Shard. I found one Crisium which I put on HQ (and it warded off what would've been a very devastating Wanton Destruction), but then he stole an agenda from a remote with a Knight because I hadn't found an Ash or a Caprice yet, Keyholed two agendas and stole them with an Archives run, then a few turns later Keyholed a fourth one and stole it immediately with the Hades. The only Jackson I saw is one he Keyholed. I had an Archived Memories in hand, but at that point he had the Utopia shard. I probably should've drawn up first click, AM'd for the Jackson second click and hoped he either didn't use Utopia or missed with it, and installed the Jackson in a remote on third. What I did instead was try to overscore a Vitruvius so that I wouldn't have to gamble with the Utopia, but he won before I managed to do that.