Fenton Jank-national v3.4

Agendas:

This is probably the best agenda spread Weyland is capable of right now, except I choose to run 3 Hostile Takeover taking my agenda points up to 21 over 11 cards. I choose to do this to make sure I find one ASAP as the credit boost early on and the Bad Publicity that early isn't massively important. Also, having 3 means there's more likely to be one left for the 7th point from a Project Atlas token, and you've always got a card for Archer .

Global Food Initiative is the best agenda probably ever and has buffed Weyland considerably. Titan used to like to run High-Risk Investment because it was such a huge credit gain if you could score it, but the risk of giving the points to the runner on a lucky access was awful. Now, with GFI, they need to steal 4 agendas minimum.

Oaktown Renovation is amazing. It's slightly harder to score, but it has tremendous value in several ways. If you have a concrete scoring window, that's 2 points and 4 you've gained at the same time. If you have a less than concrete scoring window, you can still whack it down, advance it once or twice and see if the runner has a response. This is best if you have another one in hand, or an Atlas, as if they go broke to get in, that's another scoring window right there, and you've still gained credits from it.

Assets:

We go light here. I vary rarely, if ever, leave an open remote. And when I do, 3 of the 4 assets can be removed before the run is successful. So many decks right now rely on open remotes, Security Testing and Bank Job are good ideas at the moment but this deck shuts them off completely.

The assets we do run are the bare minimum for functionality. Executive Boot Camp for any bypassing shenanigans and for desperately finding that Jackson for a single credit. Marky Mark Yale turns Hostile Takeovers into another 4 and the look on a runner's face when you install this in your scoring server, spend 10 to rez all the ice, going "broke," and then popping Marky Mark just before they access to shoot back up to 8 credits, and leaving an empty server you immediately IAA in is priceless. It's classic Netrunner baby.

Melange is a weird one. I have toyed with -2 of this and +2 Restructure but I find the ability to bluff a never advanced Atlas in a remote very helpful. Your Mileage May Vary.

Upgrades:

Ash 2X3ZB9CY is Ash. You need a way to score even if the runner has their rig up and can get in. That's just Netrunner these days. They can get in once, can they get in twice? If they can beat the trace that you boost to 10 with your totaly legitimate Weyland cash, then yeah, tax them out, let them take it, try again next time.

Cyberdex, because getting rid of datasucker tokens after the runner has chosen to encounter the Archer/Assassin is hilarious. Also, someone is going to Clot your Hostile Takeover attempts because they think they're being cute.

Operations:

Housekeeping is so good. Slows the runner down and forces them to keep drawing to find copies of something they're willing to lose before they even think about installing. Less good against runner who run lots of 3ofs like Noise, but still worth it.

Power Shutdown. This card shines early on when the rig is incomplete and you can guarantee a target. Playing it for zero on a Faerie or SMC is delicious (don't rez ice, don't let them pop it, then get rid of it). Playing it for 2 in the midgame to get rid of a corroder they desperately installed to run through a Spiderweb to trash your Melange. It's good. It's 2of-good.

Restructure is card 49. I find running 3 of these is often too detrimental. 2 on hand and always hovering at 8/9. Just the one to turn a good credit lead into a great one.

Now then. Witness Tampering. Real Talk. If you're going to run 3 hostiles for the reasons I outlined above, this card does wonders. Your ICE is taxing- it's not impenetrable. But two BP make it so it may as not even be there. Turns a Spiderweb into 1 credit tax, Enigmas into blank cards, Tollbooth into a joke, the Assassin and Ash traces into mild inconveniences. The Bad Pub needs to go.

"But Fenton, Hostile is a 5 gain. Playing an operation for 4 just to get rid of the BP seems like a waste of time."

And you'd be right. But look at it like this. A Hostile is also Marky Mark money, between 3 or 4 depending on your maths. Also, paying 4 to turn a Spiderweb/Fire Wall back into a 3 tax is cheaper than paying 1 and then 3/4/5 to put another ICE in front of it.

You're Weyland, you need to play to your strengths, and that's getting a lot of money quickly and playing taxing ICE. Hostile solves one of these very nicely but ruins the other. Witness Tampering gives you that advantage back.

Also, Val is an ID that I hear is quite popular these days?

ICE:

Oh Weyland ICE, why are you so terrible? Fire Wall and Spiderweb are your goto barriers. They're not amazing, but they get the job done cheaply and quickly enough to score something out behind. They're not Ice Wall levels gear check, but they're not end game level, Hadrian's Wall level tax. They're just about mid-range enough to rez on turn 2/3 after the Hostile and stack up to tax the runner out.

Enigma is great. It just is. It dies to Yog, but if they use Yog then hopefully Lotus Field is enough of a problem for them to pick up the slack. Tollbooth is top tier ICE and goes in every corp deck ever IMO.

Your Sentries are: Archer. This card still does great work. I really really like not rezzing this on the first run, kicking them out with the Ash 2X3ZB9CY then rezzing it on the second run. Architect goes in every deck. It just does. Assassin is great and really helped this deck out. Caduceus hopefully gets rezzed for net zero after the first trace, and still ends up being a two credit tax thereafter. It's not great, but it's not bad.

Chimera gets a bad rap. 2 credits to keep them out early is nice. It dies to insta-parasite yes, and for the love of god, don't put it on a central. Put it in front of a Melange and just annoy the runner. Get them to spend time dealing with it while you get money and cards and then when they've spunked early tutoring just to stop you getting super rich score behind the breaker they didn't find. Is it perfect? No; it's WEYLAND BABY.

Excalibur usually goes on archives, unrezzed until they Dirty Laundry there for some credits before threatening a remote. It can also go on your scoring remote if you suspect they will trash the ash and get in again. It also stops Medium digs. It's AI breakers only, 3 strength, 2 to rez. It's nice. I like it.

Summary:

So there we have it. No Scorch you'll notice. Meat Damage out of Weyland is weak these days. You need the influence to import the various ways to get it to land, and you can't import them all without crippling your deck in other ways. You could import SEA Source and Midseasons to get around Film Critic and other anti-tagging strats, but that's so much influence and so many cards that do nothing once Plascrete hits the table. It doesn't work. This deck was made infinitely better by forgetting the Scorch strats, putting extra cards in that helped the Titan rush style, and better ICE.

I'll be running this as the Mumbad Cycle starts and hopefully this is the Weyland Renaissance we've all (read: I) wanted.