Astrobiotics: Near-Earth Hub Edition

Oh shit, it's the deck we love to hate.

This new ID is freaking strong with NBN fast advance, y'all. Like, we always knew it was good, but the extra draw makes asset economy ridiculous. It means that you'll be throwing out Private Contracts willy-nilly even without planning to rez them because there is pretty much no downside to it - free draw, costs the runner a click and money to run and trash, or you can surge up quick if they try to siphon you.

Combine that with PAD Campaign, Marked Accounts and Pop-up Window on every relevant server and you're quickly up to the 7c needed to Biotic an Astro (or a Beale) from hand - which, as a handy bonus, nets you ANOTHER card from the identity power if you put it in a new server.

Throw in the extra influence and you can run 3x Biotic Labor and all the ice you need - plus one Archer (with Breaking News for food), in case the game gets a bit longer than you'd hoped - and you're Set Up for some serious shenanigans.

I've been playing this deck on OCTGN and I actually feel gross for doing it. There are so many tricks to score agendas; last game I played, I had a scored AstroScript Pilot Program, Breaking News on the board, 14 credits (from that asset economy + pop up windows Everywhere) and Biotic, SanSan City Grid and a freshly mandatory'd Astro in hand. Turn went:

• Biotic (4c)
• Install SanSan on BN, rez (6c)
• Advance BN once (1c) = Score BN
• Install Astro
• Advance Astro once (1c) + Astro token = Score Astro

That's 12creds for a three-point swing to take me to game point AND the ability to score the final Astro (or Beale, or whatever) from hand. I recognise that's not an example you'll see a lot (the inevitable answer is 'What if they multi-siphon you' or some Reina shenanigans) but it's a demonstration of how ridiculously hard this deck can swing into action when you get the money to do so.

To be clear, I'm absolutely not one of those who believes the game's broken or that Astro needs a nerf or anything. That said, if you don't have answers for shenanigans like this in your deck, you're going to have a bad day. Account Siphon works for the early turns, trashing all my assets also works, as does solid R&D lock. It feels weird to waste a Parasite on a pop-up window, but the extra credit it gives me each time has won me multiple games. I also love a self-tagging DLR deck to ruin my day because I have no tag punishment. Truthfully, I lose a lot to decks like this, so I figured building one for myself might help me figure out the weaknesses. Investigations Continue.

Thoughts:

• I could probably chuck the Tollbooths because they're expensive and a bit later game than you really want to get, but they've been useful once or twice - I'd consider trading them out for Shipment from SanSan
• I know there's another version of this deck out there somewhere which runs 2x Biotic and 2x Scorch, and I respect and fear that thing, but I'm not going for that here
• Lotus Field is great because it stops Parasite, which is IMO one of the best answers to FA NBN. It's expensive to rez, but it forces a Code Gate breaker dig and that's just another few turns for you to goof around in. I sort of love it.
• Who actually scores NAPD Contract intentionally? Not me, that's for sure. Put it down to make them spend money, or ignore the damn thing and throw it in the trash for Jackson to save later. I love it. ********ACAB********
• Biotic -> Fast Track -> Install Astro on SanSan -> Advance -> Advance to score. Fast Track can be a dead draw sometimes, but it's also a beautiful combo piece and a special flower.