Geist to Meet You

CaKnuckleguy 365

Geist is real.

When I sat down to build a Geist deck I was pretty sure it would be pure jank, one off, shenanigan/bad card playing funzie deck. All of that is true still, but all of that jank concentrated in one place somehow coalesces into a functional and moderately competitive deck! I'm no where near close to declaring it Tier 1 by any stretch, but a deck that can essentially say 'Inside Job on any server at any time past turn 4ish' is a deck that with the right skills can be powerful. There isn't a lot of multi-access to be had, so being aware of the gamestate (Corp keeps drawing to find tools? Might be flooded now. Dropping remotes everywhere to tax? Is R&D defended by any ETR at this point?) is the key to winning. Went 4-1 at a GNK with this, and the only reason that wasn't 5-0 was because a turn two facecheck into a Cortex Lock flatlined me. DOH! Also, yes. 48 cards. Sure it can be trimmed to be more 'consistent' if you want. Femme hasn't been installed in a looooong time, so that's a cut. A Forger could get trimmed if you really want.

Card comments:

Drive By - This is the key to not getting hosed by Caprice and Ash, and is pretty instrumental to getting rid of San Sans. Don't cut this, it'll save your breakers for when you know you need to get into a server.

Drug Dealer - Emm. Vee. Pea! Having one is fine. Having one plus a Underworld Contact online? Free draws! Having TWO and two UC's? Go ahead Corp, draw for the turn....I'll do that better! This deck already cycles through the stack faster than most with Geists ability, Drug Dealer turns that dial up to 11. Even if you have to 'pay' the tax, you really won't mind. You run so cheap anyways that 1 cred for a card is a great trade anyways.

Film Critic - It works. Fetals, NAPDs, Future Perfects, anything against Butchershop. It does work. Don't leave home without it because it solves the problems Geist normally has, being poor and unable to justify multiple runs to score problematic agenda. Don't stress about the slow down the double-click to 'score' is, you'll have time when a corp is trying to find any possible way to have a secure server...ever.

Fall Guy - I flip flopped on this until I saw it in action. Sure, this deck runs super lean on cash, but a click for 2 credits and a card is exactly in Geists wheelhouse. I've never left him out to be asset protection yet, but it's an option if you really feel like going Account Siphon-Tag Me while having Film Critic and Drug Dealers in play. You might be tempted to cut him for an even 45, I urge you not to. This is a filter card that replaces itself instantly for a profit of 2 credits.

Forger - This could be Desperado, but then you'll need more Dyson Mem Chips. I felt with the 'sniper run' aspect, Desperado just doesn't hold a lot of value in this deck.

HQI/RDI - These seem counterintuitive to the idea of a sniper runner. Makers Eye and Legwork would be better replacements right? I'm still not 100% on this, but in testing even the threat of multi-access (even a single extra card) sends the corp into even more 'gotta protect' mode, making remotes even weaker. Plus they play a lot nicer with Street Peddler for surprise when you get lucky.

There you have it. Geist To Meet You is real, and does work.

3 comments
18 Aug 2015 esutter479

This looks pretty sweet. :) Geist is one of my favorite Criminals now, and it's good to see new variations have success. You're right about cutting the Femme, and I'd probably lose the Rex, too. Don't need him; Passport is better here, considering the recursion (Clone Chips) gets eaten by the Cloud breakers. I don't HATE Faerie in here, but you can't get a draw from it, and Alias is, at the very worst, at least halfway decent. That brings the list down to 46 cards...pretty good, IMO. :)

18 Aug 2015 jmbostwick

Do you find that you can put enough pressure on Remote servers with the breaker suite you've got? I'm always hesitant to use the central-only breakers for that reason.

18 Aug 2015 CaKnuckleguy

@esutter479 Problem with the central only suites I find is once they are down, corps move to tax out remotes, and the B&E only has so many runs on those. Plus the central-onlys are rather expensive to use over time. Rex is there because it's cheap to use through many common Code Gates as a patch to when Crowbars aren't around. As it stands I dislike having Breach as opposed to a better, all server access Fractor. Faerie is a 0 install +1 STR to all the cloud, and good protection when face-checking early. I'm not keen on cutting them. Femme? Yeah, cut that for sure. Faerie and Shiv get through enough.

@jmbostwick Yes, I can. Between Drive-bys, and threat of Drive-bys, I've had no trouble getting into Remotes. Corps tend to ice up centrals early, rightly so, against criminals. That's the time I need to get enough clouds online (with our without the free-memory extra link) and with enough ready, I can get into most remotes for a single access at any time. That's the key, everything is threatened. Actual Inside Job does wonders saving breakers for later of course. You have to be aware that you can't go running through 3-iced remotes willy nilly, but do your best to pick the right times to run. One 2-3 breaker-used run will quite quickly replace itself by your card draw ability, but two or three of those runs will tax you out. So Drive-By to get whatever upgrade is out, then run once. Or better, Siphon and win the economy race so they can't rez on thick remotes and run again. Both are very valid approaches and corps cannot protect everywhere. It'll be a rare turn after turn 3-4 where you're not ready (or at least appear ready) to get into any server you choose.