Insider Trading aka Et Tu Anti aka Blue CI

Let me begin with the origin for this build. I was pretty set on playing either Freedom or Hayley for U.S. Nationals 2019, as I was not really feeling any attachment to a specific Runner. However, in my near daily JNET quests, I played a game against a user named ‘Gorlomi’ (apologize for the spelling), I believe. They were on a Liza deck that thoroughly stomped my CTM kill deck, which will always get my attention. I saw how quickly they were able to lock me out of killing them, and how they could then control the board state at will. The idea of this deck excited me, unnaturally, and I was compelled to build it.

So, a little more than a week before US Nats, I put together a build of what I thought would work and tried it out. Surprisingly, it performed better than expected. Klokotze saw what I was doing (under of smurf, of course), and we collaborated a bit on it. I also brought to the attention of my anti teammates, and discussed it with Whiteblade, as well, as he tried Liza at Crown of Lazers. The anti kids started to put the deck through the testing gauntlet, trying various cards and builds, while facing a variety of matchups, both good and bad. To my surprise, what I was going to bring to have some fun with was being repped by most of my team. We have had our own various pieces of tech to play around with, but played very similar lists.

A few things drew me to playing the deck. First, it felt a bit like old DLR decks. This shouldn’t be surprising, as Liza fits that mold well, and Liza DLR is a fun Eternal deck. The usage of Paparazzi and protecting that while keeping the econ low were DLR staples. This doesn’t have the easy button of DLR, but Stargate can create a nice lock, while helping control damage vs. Jinteki dex. Dummy Box is straight dumb, and can both keep you and your resources alive, while also saving your programs if need be. Second, this deck gave me an old skool Criminal feel I haven’t experienced in a minute. One wants to be very aggressive early, facechecking at will just to force costly ICE rezzing. The deck is a control deck, and the primary aspect of that control is econ denial. The combination of Grant, DoF, Amina, and de-rez, along with running every central will generally keep the Corp low on credits. Smash all money sources you can, usually leaving the weakest alive to feed the PAD Taps. Third, I liked the unfamiliarity people would have with this build. Some would attempt to attack your resources, perhaps not realizing how many are in the deck, and how they are falling right into the trap of the deck’s primary strat. Eventually, they would give up. Kill dex usually have a good out, early, but some times didn’t realize that not only was the window for killing (and usually victory) already shut, but that the drapes were silently closing, also.

Let’s look at a few deck choices and discuss them, quickly:

-Obelus
Whiteblade and I discussed this choice. He preferred a more run-based aggro approach of Paragon. I leaned into Obelus. Once set up, it allows you to really take advantage of the card draw. Not having to waste cards is nice, as it gives one plenty of Dummy Box fuel. Counter Surveilance is more of a ‘glass cannon’ effect, and a deck built around that needs to not only setup faster, but implement the plan before defenses are set. This deck is not that; it is using econ denial and Stargate to control the game, and thus, having a slower console makes sense. Plus, it helps soak incidental damage, mostly from Jinteki decks.

-Stargate
In tandem with what was discussed above, Gate felt good. Destroying ICE/econ/problems in the mid to late game usually sealed in most wins. The ability to duck traps is quite nice. The 2 MU can be a problem, but the classic late game for this deck is to drop the turtle for all 3 reg breakers. By that point, Aumakua becomes redundant, and you have enough money to fuel the normal breakers.

-Tech cards
We tried out a variety of different cards that could help us deal with the problems Liza can face. Hot Pursuit, Emergency Shutdown, Hernando Cortez, Bank Job, Caldera, and more were shuffled in and out of the list. The last one was the one I really regretted not slotting, as there was a fair amount of PE at the top tables. Luckily, I only faced one, in the Swiss. These are the slots where you can modify based on need or meta calls. Some of our group wanted two PolOps, to deal with Corporate Town/Asa/Jeeves/etc. I found it’s also really good versus NGO, as I have seen a lot of pre-rezzing due to Falsified. Combining both into a deck is great, as King Joe was trying that in Val recently, to positive results.

I was on Emergency Shutdown, but eventually went over to Baklan. It’s a fun card, is another resource for Dummy fuel, and most importantly, doesn’t require an HQ run. If you have too many HQ reliant cards (DoF, Leg, Embezzle, Hot Pursuit, PolOp, and many more in Crim), a stalwart defense there leads to a lot of dead cards in the Grip. I decided to cut back on those, going back to only 1 Leg and no Shutdowns. Baklan takes time to build but can really help when faceplanting. Also, he creates a quandary for Border Control. If they don’t pop it before you encounter the ICE, you can then de-rez and walk through (usually in a remote scoring situation) safely. Fun card, cool art from limnrix.

Citadel and Data Dealer were my other tech cards. The former was added partially as a joke. Anti started to tech against ourselves, adding in Self Growth Program into Argus decks. I decided to join in on the gag, and added a ‘fourth’ Paparazzi, as they can only bounce two cards to hand. In truth, it provides more than that. It can help you control tags, as well. If facing suspected High Profile Target/Boom decks, keeping tags low early is good. Also, it helps fight Psychographics. Data Dealer was added not only to gain econ, but to remove problems. In the NBN matchup, killing any potential EOI target is key. Eliminating agendas can also help v. PE, as Philotic and Sting can really create problems. Finally, eating SSLs add to the austerity.

-Econ
PAD Tap and Rogue Trading are very crucial, for the deck is not filled with money. Protecting those becomes a priority, based on the board state. Remember, denial is the key, sometimes at the price of also falling into poverty. The efficiency of the turtle usually really helps to offset this. Having permaPADs is a real thing, though.

-Matchups
The main predator is a kill deck, usually centered around HPT. I did get BOOM!'d by allofthemarbles on turn 3 of out SSO, which surprising. I Gated very early, and saw Punitive and Consulting Visit, which were to be expected, but did not think there'd be the BOOM. If expecting those, try to not hold more than one tag early. Clear them, or don't run centrals. Generally, we mull for Class Act, to get the defense combo set up ASAP. A Caldera include would have been nice #jonwasright. Attacking econ is key, and we tried Ms. Bones out to help with that, or just Aeneas, but neither were quick nor impactful enough. Extreme program trash, such as out of Jemison, can be very nasty, and almost led to me adding Bankrolls to throw to Dummy. Phat ICE can suck, especially the anti-AI ones (Bulwark, Chiyashi). Komainu and Psychic Field are REALLY bad. If you suspect the latter at all, such as in IG, do NOT really run facedowns nor Falsified them. Embezzle could be an include, especially if you're really worried about Psycho. Usually, that's a one-of with no CV to find it, though.

My run at Nats was:
BYE
Sweep samrs on Liza/Asa
Swept by allofthemarbles on Wu/SSO
Sweep jakuza on 419/RP
Sweep greyfield on MaxX/PE
ID with stonar

Beat stonar on Val
Beat whiteblade111 on Argus
Lost to Spaceice on Gagarin
Lost to whiteblade on Liza

This Liza finished 3rd/6th/11th/15th/27th/34th.

Want to close by noting what a fun weekend it was. There were 6” of snow on the ground when I left Wisconsin, so just facing 70F and sun all weekend was a treat. I really enjoyed seeing the city of San Francisco, as always, despite my newly torn meniscus. Mad props to Swan and his crue really killed the tournament. Not only did they have a full three days of ANR set up, but they also coordinated some sick after-tourney events on both SAT and SUN. Seriously one of the best overall tourney experiences I’ve had.

Finally, a list of people who helped make the weekend better, in some way, in no order (sorry if I missed you):
my lovely wife and daughter, anti kids (webster/cranked/ctz/ajar/dashakan/paranoid/dien/samrs/jdeng/sirris), Kwang, murphy, StephenE, joseki, melissa, tyrell_corp, whiteblade, jakuza, tmoiynmwg, bruno, stonar, ran, bblum, alexis, kysra, icecoldjazz, Robbie, rotage, swan, wes, jay, CryptoGraham, KTM casters