But Wait, There's More! (MWL Legal)

Spark Agency is Tier 1. It just is. I'm kind of just waiting for folks to figure it out.

This is my attempt at a more straightforward type of Spark. It's done really, really well. What I've discovered after a long time messing with it is that, perhaps unsurprisingly, effective Spark play really boils down to one thing- Ads, baby.

Ads. 18 of them bad boys, all pulling the brilliant double duty of slowing THEM down and speeding YOU up. Allow me to encourage you, friend, to run this deck and fearlessly do the stupid little double rez thing, activating that Launch Campaign at the end of your turn, and then strategically rezzing something else during theirs if it doesn't look like they'll hit a Pop Up Window or Special Offer.

Your rez timing is key, and to be clear, it is art, not science. We all know that there's no deck that can win every time, although I will say that this deck's currently undefeated at two local shops. But winning's not what I live for nowadays.

You know what I live for nowadays?

"I click for a credit, and then next clic-" "I'll rez Launch Campaign"

And then the following turn, after Daily Casts or whatever has gotten them back on their feet.

"I insta-" "I'll rez Pad Campaign"

You know what's even BETTER? Single installs of Product Placement, maybe behind a Pop Up Window if I'm feeling frisky. Boy howdy, this card.

Sure, it can bait them through my double tollbooth remote if I do it right. So can Reversed Accounts, which is brilliant here by the way, but back to Product Placement. See, here's what happens- early on, I'm throwing ads out left and right (did I mention this deck stays rich? Holy crap, this deck stays rich), and eventually they just start to ignore the facedown line of cards. Happens every time without fail. My centrals and one thick remote are iced, and the rest is just endless horizontal ad blitzing.

Until I throw down a naked Astroscript Pilot Program or Project Beale and then triple advance the following turn.

This fumigates people, and they start checking EVERYTHING. That's when I throw down the Product Placement (and this, by the way, is beautifully in theme for the card and it never gets old).

Upon accessing, I gain 2 credits. I'm already pleased as punch about that. They don't trash it, because what would that possibly gain them? So at this point I have an unrezzed Product Placement just sitting there. I'm wary of Bank Job, sure, but most of the time it's fine.

I can go one of two ways with this. Often I'll just rez it sometime that turn, usually after they've clicked for a credit and are about to install something. This is wonderful, because they knew it was there, and it was merely a matter of time before they lost THAT credit.

But a lot of times, I just leave it there. And I save that rez for when it really counts. Like right before they access an NAPD Contracts

See, this deck is all about timing, and what I've seen is that the ad barrage and the slow drip of credits makes people jittery, and it goads them into doing stuff they wouldn't normally do. To top it off? Virtually everything they do is going to lose them money or gain YOU money, and yet cruelly, the agenda composition is as such that they must steal four from you to win.

My adjustments for the MWL? I lost 2 Eli 1.0 and 2 Ichi 1.0, and I replaced them with 2 Archangel, the Flare, and the Mother Goddess. These are more expensive (trust me, non-issue. The money's there, every game), and a little less good at stopping accesses, but based on how the deck's been playing thus far, I think it should fare alright. Plus, those cards are purposely extra-shenanigans, and this deck just surely does love shenanigans.

I'm not a brilliant deckbuilder by any means, and I would love to hear thoughts on additional pieces. The Ice always turns out fine, but if there's any obvious improvements to that side of things, I'd be eager to hear.

In the meantime, piloting this is easy and fun, and it's proven a tough little deck. Give it a go and let me know if you come around to believing as I do- that even if by some strange measure Spark isn't the most resilient Data and Destiny ID, it's sure as hell the most fun.