Issuaq Ajankics with Lady Liberty (4th@Linköping H2 CO)

Deck idea: try to make the ID ability work, with Lady Liberty and Jumon!

To do that we employ a mix of cards that allow scoring without advancing, and try to score a couple of agendas that way.

This deck was originally a 54-card mess but was trimmed down and improved with the help of Ed on GLC (thanks Ed!).

In the tournament it did as expected, ie not that great, although not that bad either. It won one match against a runner that was slightly too cautious. It also gave me many really enjoyable moments where even the really good players were confused, anxious and not knowing what to do, or fell into my traps! :) All in all it's good fun even if it isn't that competitive.

Lady Liberty

Lady Liberty does not trigger THE ID ability! We want to use it to try to score Jumon from hand, because that then becomes a way to score triggering the ID.

If we can't (because the runner will trash it), it's still a good drain on the runner's resources.

Using it on a Hybrid Release is, in most cases, a waste of resources.

Triggering the ID

How do we trigger the ID ability?

• Mitosis gets cards with 2 adv. tokens out. That's already enough for Hybrid Release, and can serve as the basis for any of the other agendas. To avoid the installed cards being immediately picked off, we add traps, decoys, and perhaps even ICE using the remaining click after Mitosis.
• Seamless Launch needs no introduction.
• Trick of Light can take counters off of a trap that has been discovered, or from a Mitosis'd card.
• Jumon can, of course, help score most of the agendas on the turn after they were installed (either with Mitosis or simply IAA).
• Moon Pool can place 1-2 advancement tokens on a card, triggering the ability (it can also be used to boost traps right before they're accessed).

Triggering the ability is not the be all end all goal. If we can't guarantee that an agenda will survive one round on the board, we might as well advance it the old fashioned way. Even coming to a position where a single Hybrid Release with ID trigger wins us the game, is good.

We won't be able to protect everything. That's why we use ambushes. A well placed Urtica Cipher, Cerebral Overwriter, or even double-advanced NGO Fronts, will dissuade the runner from running everything. We don't have that many of these, but they will expect many, and if we have a few, their cautiousness can give us the window we need.

ICE

Our main defensive ICE is Ivik. It certainly doesn't keep a runner out forever but it can slow them down a bit. It can be made cheaper with our code gates.

Saisentan is there to kill reckless or careless runners.

Otoroshi can sometimes be used to bluff and get the runner to lose 3 credits and give us 3 advancement tokens, or even to kill them.

Hafrún allows us to keep the runner away from a server one time by rezzing and threatening a nasty ICE from firing (mostly Saisentan or Otoroshi).

Akhet is an all around good and cheap ICE.

ICE should generally be used opportunistically to score early and make it expensive to trash Lady Liberty or just bluff by placing it in front of advancable traps.

Bad matchups

Honestly, most decent runners won't have an issue against this deck. Everything in it is too circumstantial. The only thing that can potentially save us is going really heavy on the mind games and throwing the runner off, and even that needs to be done with a clear plan in mind. And sometimes, it won't be possible because we will draw poorly.

Although 419: Amoral Scammer is probably the worst matchup. Our element of surprise/mindfuckery becomes harder, and also if they're running Cat's Cradle, then our "rez code gates to make Ivik cheap" plan is completely negated.

Potential Tweaks

• Bacterial Programming might be better than Fujii Asset Retrieval. The 2 net damage isn't that impactful unless it's complemented with other relevant cards. Being able to look into the deck and fix R&D is quite powerful.
• Hafrún, even though useful in theory, might be too circumstantial and I haven't really used it in many games with this deck. The runner will just jack out and it's only when they can't run again that it might make a difference. We could replace it with 1x Enigma, possibly a Metamorph, or some other cheap code gate.