MAD BASS Ob (2nd place at No Land Beyond CO, 2-3)

This is my take on the Biotic > MAD > BASS > Boom! combo. Most other lists I have seen run few agendas and focus on recurring Drudge Work and playing slowly until they draw into the combo. My approach is the opposite: this deck loses when the runner is able to find tech cards, so playing quickly is better even if it means giving up points. Previous and better versions of this deck have run 3x Malapert Data Vault so that scoring agendas serves to tutor your combo pieces.

I brought this list because I have been crushing people on JNet with it and suspected it would not hold up in a more competitive environment. A CO is lower stakes than Continentals, so I figured I might as well try it out. This deck did not win a game after round 2, which largely confirmed my low opinion of the deck.

However, this specific version is in a really awkward place. It has minimal ice, a concession to needing to run more eco and tech cards (Trust Operation/Best Defense). This on average slows the list down because you're less likely to have the gear check ice you need to score some early agendas. Which also means agendas are more likely to accumulate in HQ with your combo pieces and that cards like Malapert and Rashida become worse.

I'm not really sure how to fix these issues. If you cut BD, then you lose to any Shaper careful enough to install one of their three Stoneships. Trust Operation is necessary to kill through the common Citadel Sanctuary. If you cut the Malaperts, then you're probably better off going the low agenda density, Drudge Work route.

After having tested various versions of this list on JNet since MS released, and despite the very high win rate in that environment, I have come to the conclusion that this list is just not good enough right now. Its a bit too slow and gets destroyed by tech cards. The prison Ob looks better. I will not be bringing this to Continentals.