A Code Gate Axident (2nd place, Canberra Regionals)

This deck is not so subtly based on the Axeidents Happen Barrier lockout deck, with the following changes.

• It runs Code Gates instead of barriers.
• For a bit of Spice and face-check punishment, it runs 2x Cobra
• Deck features a singleton Power Shutdown instead of the 3rd Hunter Seeker

It went 3 & 1 in swiss (getting beaten eventually by Kit after getting rid of 3 or her 4 code gate breakers, including a Dedicated Processor Yog) then basically chopped up the top bracket, winning 4 games in a row through a series of Siphon Whizzards, Leelas and Apoc Ayla (the last of which is a horrible matchup for Ayla. Like, absurdly bad :P ) Sadly Whizzard died, twice, in the canonically appropriate manner of getting hit in the face by SYNC BOOM, which knocked me out of the final game

In general, the code gate is less effective at the pure Hatchet + Salems combo because they tend to cost more to Rez than Vanilla's and Ice Walls. However, the ice suite is significantly more taxing and has more poke to its face-checking nature, so it roughly evens out (no one likes breaking a Mauselous and running through one against Skorp hurts because the random Net Damage Ping matters when the card can get removed from the game).

The ice suite is realistically carried off the back of Hortum and Mauselous. Hortum's ability to be advanced vs AI breakers is clutch vs some matchups like Siphon Whizzard or that Apoc Ayla deck that's floating around (though you tend to be good for that match anyway due to Hatchet Job). Meanwhile pre-lockout you can leave your Mauselous unadvanced and keep it porous but super taxing taxing. However when it's time to complete the lockout and seal up everything, it can then be triple advanced for maximum Runner Sadness. Lotus field also gets in there in place of hte Wraparound in the barrier version because it's helpful vs any sort of SIFR + Yog/Parasite schenanigans and means you can sometimes win off the back of a remote with Lotus field if you get rid of their Orchestra

The 2 Cobra's are a bit of a spice choice, but I would generally recommend splashing 1-2 punishing sentries in the deck, whatever form you run it in. That way you add some uncertainty into what breakers the runner needs to install to get into your servers. Archer is an excellent 1-2 splash: this is the kind of deck where sac'ing a GFI to Archer is 100% worth it if it gets you the lockout. I went with the Snek since it has excellent shock value, adds more program trashing and because 2 net damage to the face gives you a purpose to rez it even if they're running without programs (because the damage is simultaneous, you can pick which of the two cards that get net damaged to remove from the game).

As for the Power Shutdown, from experience playing Skorp I found most people go out of their way to play around Hunter Seeker, especially decks like Siphon Whiz that go for the plan of only scoring to get to 7 points using Keyhole (and many, many decks are running Film Critic). As such, found 3x Hunter Seeker unnecessary, though keeping it as 2x is important for having it as a threat in your hand when necessary: you basically only need to/get to land one Hunter Seeker in a game, but usually that's enough to set the runner back or occasionally just flat-out ruin them.

Power Shutdown is very strong as an early anti-rush card I found and usually comes completely out of nowhere. It is another angle of attack too: even if it doesn't get their breakers it usually gets their support pieces like Data Sucker or SMC. It also allows you to, sometimes, destroy a breaker through a Sac Con using the combo of Power Shutdown + Hunter Seeker. A tiny bit of Living the Dream but again it's quite unexpected. Also milling agenda can sometimes set up for beautiful follow up Hunter Seeker hits if the runner hits archives.

Salems is the star of the deck. Whilst Hatchet Job is great and all, don't be afraid to double Salems someone to snipe breakers and Employee Strikes from hand. It results in a strong Negative Play Experience because usually the runner, mistakenly, assumes that their hand is a safe place for The Good Stuff. Tearing Employee Strikes and breakers out of their hand with Salems is the most cost effective means of rig trashing you have available and doesn't exactly have a lot of counter play. Also, playing the first Salems gives you information to accurately land any follow up Salems in subsequent turns.

Also if your first Salems just randomly hits their high value cards then you basically Win Netrunner and can go Just As Planned.

Finally, Paperclip is one of the most effecient breakers in the game, whilst installing and using Black Orchestra is often physically painful to the runner :P

Also it bares mention for the future that, at the time of this tournament, Barrier Skorp was the Flavour of the Week and many people would pre-emptively install Paperclips before running after seeing the ID, which is a fantastic way to get the runner to waste 4 credits to contest the Hatchet Salems Combo.

How do you play this deck

The original deck did a pretty good job summing up how to actually play the deck. Here's my own observations from a tournament's worth of play.

• Make claw motions with your hands while playing this Zoidberg of a deck. This is vital to properly playing this deck and to remind people how seriously you take your role of being Netrunner Cancer.
• Land a series of blind Salem's for maximum Negative Play Experience
• Try not to lose randomly because no one will have any sympathy for you if you lose to random accesses.
• I guess for something useful to add: be stingy with using your ability during the Runner's turn. Don't use it randomly unless there's no consequence to not using it (opponent plays Day Job or something on last click) because it means your ability is off for the rest of the turn, allowing them to then land those Siphons and the like without you removing them from the game.

Have fun and remember that Fun in Netrunner is a zero sum game :P