šŸ”„ Thousand Batsā„¢ (WORLDS 2020 - 28th of 294)

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FireRL (aka xFWx FIREBIRD) 1052

šŸ”„ Thousand Batsā„¢ Argus šŸ”„

Could also be named 'This Awful Argus Deck', 'Non-Standard Argus', 'Prison Argus' (not really, but its victims sometimes say so). However, this deck is named after 'Thousand Knives' because of the constant pressure on the runner's mortality. I like to explain that it's similar to 'Thousand Knives', but instead, these are batsā„¢ because:

  • they're not very subtle...
  • and I'm proactively doing it to the runner.

The batā„¢ name idea was derived from Wake Up Call batā„¢. Thank yous go to all the Seattle crew for helping me find the literally perfect name, and all while getting battedā„¢ by it over and over again. ā¤ļø

The inspiration for this deck actually came from a deck (aptly named 'The Panopticon') that I played against a long time ago on jnet playing a bunch of hurtful cards... Thank you as well to its author Dead Drop (and the beautiful write-up & GIF)! https://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/48006/the-panopticon

The strategy is to fork the runner with batsā„¢ until you rush them out or until you batā„¢ them into the ground. Key aspects:

  • the agenda suite. Half of them MAKE you credits; the other half deliver you more batsā„¢.

  • build a treacherous remote batā„¢ with typically 2-3x ICE to play slam and jam with your batsā„¢. This also works on R&D against Stargate, just remember to protect the ICE from Hippo and anarch will cringe against the rest.

  • all of the ICE hurts to encounter and most have high strength. The rest are Border Control batsā„¢.

  • Paperclip is in every color of runner deck, so who needs barriers? Plus, it's more fun when the wall is spiky.

  • the runner will assume you have Hard Hitting News batsā„¢ (unless you're in a tourney cut). Too bad for them. Go fast and put them in a tourniquet. šŸ¤•

šŸ”„ When I first played against 'The Panopticon', I gleefully copied the list as close as I could recall, and have played it very regularly since. Over the months, the deck's theme has mostly stayed the same, but there were plenty of intriguing card choices (batsā„¢) that are not in this current version. This deck certainly has some history:

  • Bryan Stinson & Economic Warfare batā„¢ - ugh... I know... money...

  • Chiyashi batā„¢ - with all that Bryan Stinson money, what else do you want? Also, great AI batā„¢ and tremendous barrier bat-checkā„¢ back in the day (especially out of Weyland, king of 'End the run.'). When I became more hungry for influence and less rich, I instead employed Conundrum batā„¢ for a bit. #freetheturtle šŸ¢

  • Show of Force batā„¢ - prior to Broad Daylight batā„¢, this was (other than just another way to batā„¢ the runner) a great way to secure a flatline alongside an Urban Renewal batā„¢ or other batsā„¢.

  • Corporate Town batā„¢ - runner has lots of friends? Oops... they just got the batā„¢.

  • Formicary batā„¢ - the ability to rez this when and where you want to can create terrible situations for the runner. I KNOW there's something out there that this could do even more work with, but until it's dug up, the best consistent use I've found for it is piling them underneath the Surveyor batsā„¢ (without having to pay for the install and meanwhile guarding something else).

  • Roughneck Repair Squad - for a while, I tried playing with some tools that could remove bad pub because some runners dealt with the pain and just kept coming. I couldn't justify anything quite efficient enough to slot. This was the closest thing since it makes money as well.

  • Assassin batā„¢ - the sudden large threat of being both a Destroyer batā„¢ and an AP batā„¢ can create lots of opportunities. The unique aspect of the sentries (and all ICE) in this deck is they're not order-dependant much. When Assassin batā„¢ is the innermost, it still poses a threat to flatlines.

  • False Lead batā„¢ - ever since it came back into rotation, I played with at least 1x. Fear of Hard-Hitting News batā„¢ alone is great, but also amazing when combined with all of the other batsā„¢ in this lineup to create lots of various flatline opportunities. Not to mention, another 1-pointer for the Argus batā„¢.

  • Standoff batā„¢ - the deck traditionally has had 1-2x as another opportunity to jam something in your nasty remote batā„¢ (or even in Archives). If they steal, you get an Argus batā„¢ trigger for 0AP. If you score, you get a pseudo-Green Level Clearance or have a standoff and they batā„¢ their own stuff (and as a result, now they have less Fairchild 3.0 batā„¢ fodder), AND either way you will now rez an Archer batā„¢!

  • Anansi batā„¢ - during testing for Worlds, I swapped a couple for my Fairchild 3.0 batsā„¢. This led to LOTS of new exciting flatline opportunities with the other batsā„¢ (most specifically the Ganked! batā„¢ and Snare! batā„¢... or if they Boomerang or Inside Job it).

  • 3x Broad Daylight batsā„¢ - for a while, I was leaning harder into the bad pub and the flatline options. More bad pub = more death by Daylight batsā„¢, so enjoy some more; play Too Big to Fail to batā„¢ harder and faster.

šŸ”„ There are lots of ways to turn other cards into batsā„¢ with this beautiful machine. Once you've harnessed the batsā„¢, you'll never want to play softball again.

Thousand Batsā„¢ lost 2 games at Worlds 2020:

  • YukonCornelius's Gnat Fear The Masses mill deck. I got milled after rush-scoring 5 points and drawing 25 cards into my deck with all 3x Rashidas and not finding a third agenda to score.

  • 3Jane's Sunny good stuff deck who dodged my Wake Up Call batā„¢ prior to me using it on their Security Nexus as a test subject by playing White Hat.

šŸ† The Thousand Batsā„¢ play of the day: Hoshiko suffers 4 meat damage from Wake Up Call batā„¢ to keep their Citadel Sanctuary alive. I then score a Broad Daylight batā„¢ and relentlessly drain those batā„¢ tokens every turn. Prior to the final turn, Hoshiko plays a card out of hand with their fully loaded Poemu going to 1 card in hand. I then Broad Daylight batā„¢ forcing the use of Citadel Sanctuary. Hoshiko thinks they're safe until they find out that I have a Neural EMP batā„¢ waiting for them.

Additionally, Thousand Batsā„¢ scored out against another Hoshiko, scored out against an Apocalypse mill Fisk, earned my runner a 241 win against good stuff Leela by scoring out, and also earned a 241 win from my runner.

Leading up to Worlds, I made a lot of last-minute revisions due to Leela being so meta-strong, tough to beat, technical issues (looking at you Formicary batā„¢ for telling the runner you were hiding somewhere unrezzed), and flex-batā„¢ slots:

  • removed Formicary batā„¢ for unsportsmanlike conduct with the runner. (If you didn't already know, jnet ability window has been notifying the runner that you're making a decision to potentially rez a Formicary batā„¢)

  • replaced the 1x Standoff batā„¢, 1x False Lead batā„¢, and 1x Broad Daylight batā„¢ with 1x Global Food Initiative batā„¢ to reduce agenda-density against Leela.

  • took out Assassin batā„¢ for another Surveyor batā„¢. (Cheaper to rez and maintaining low number of tracers)

  • took out additional Wake Up Call batsā„¢ because criminal often doesn't install much these days. (If it was an anarch/shaper meta, I'd pack 2-3x)

  • added a High-Profile Target batā„¢ due to now having 8 tagging batsā„¢ (up until very recently, there were only 4 tagging batsā„¢). Believe it or not, Thousand Batsā„¢ is successful without the threat of Hard-Hitting News batā„¢ and BOOM! batā„¢ / High-Profile Target batā„¢.

šŸ”„ HOME-RUN PLAYS:

  • Neural EMP batā„¢ following up a Wake Up Call batā„¢ or Urban Renewal batā„¢ (or any other flatline options). āš¾ļø

  • Using Helheim Servers batā„¢ on HQ to give them the Snare! batā„¢ or Ganked! batā„¢. āš¾ļø

  • Using Wake Up Call batā„¢ to batā„¢ their console... and also programs. āš¾ļø

  • Using Wake Up Call batā„¢ to batā„¢ their Citadel Sanctuary (or other flatline protection options) (ahhh the days of Film Critic getting the batā„¢). āš¾ļø

  • Using Border Control batā„¢ to stop an Urban Renewal batā„¢ trash and then also following it up with a Neural EMP batā„¢. āš¾ļø

  • Using Fairchild 3.0 bat-checkā„¢ to deliver a brain damage instead of ETR (causing even more fear of batsā„¢) and then watching the runner jack out on their own. āš¾ļø

  • Using Trebuchet batā„¢ to deny steal/trash, and then allowing the runner to suffer from accessing Snare! batā„¢ or Ganked! batā„¢. āš¾ļø

  • #1 HOME-RUN PLAY: rez 3x Archer batsā„¢ and ETR for the remainder of the game watching the runner play credit clicker. šŸ’ø

4 comments
16 Oct 2020 koga

I never play Argus but this... this is something else. Also, description is clearly 10/10. Congrats for being the best Argus this year!

19 Oct 2020 FireRL (aka xFWx FIREBIRD)

Thanks @koga! I'll claim that title gleefully šŸ˜Š

10 Nov 2020 Sanjay

This write-up is SO DANG good.

I don't think it got the attention it deserved.

10 Nov 2020 FireRL (aka xFWx FIREBIRD)

Haha thanks @Sanjay! It probably didn't help that I tried to keep it off the radar until the tournament šŸ˜‹