Info Assassin A.K.A. Spicy Sync (24th @ Cleveland Regionals)

I'm a special snowflake, and all my decks have to be snowflakes too. I like the control aspect of Sync, but I don't like being laser-focused on the 24/7+BOOM! combo. So I took the Sync of the Summer and added a bunch of cards I liked. It went 3-2 at the Cleveland Regionals on 7/29/17, giving me a comfortable afternoon in splitsville.

Strategy

Packing more Ice and Money than standard Fiery Info, the aim here is to be able to pressure the runner by scoring and to surprise your opponent with spicy cards. It's more interesting to me than just trying to score out 2/1 agendas and get a 2-card combo, although I'll admit it isn't as competitive as the Sync decks you may have seen this Regional Season.

Card Choices

• Vanilla lets you rush out early points to get the pressure on.
• Gutenberg was not great when everyone ran D4v1d. Now David isn't around. Shuts down Medium, Keyhole, and Equivocation runs.
• Reality Threedee whaaaaat?!?! Yup, R3D made me between 10-20 in each of my games. I'd say it's a dead card in the Whizz match up, so expect to see it post-rotation. It's steady income and great tag punishment.
• Sherlock 2.0 whaaaaat?? Yup, Sherlock is a beast in Sync, with a punishing mid-game facecheck and a taxing cost to break. Was terrific guarding centrals. Should probably be an Archived Memories unfortunately.
• Universal Connectivity Fee whaaaat? Yup, UCF is a card most people do not remember exists. It's amazing when they float tags. Tag-me Eater decks can't get into remotes behind it. It's really good behind Ravens and Gutenberg.
• Character Assassination whaat? Yup, you gotta get rid of those resources somehow. They might let you have it with an Aaron on the table just to get counters, the fools. Too many targets these days between Aaron, NACH, Beth, Mercur, and Moose.
• Enforcing Loyalty what. Yup, with all the money R3D, Pop-up, and operations get you, you might be able to fire this off, kill a NACH (or Aaron, or Moose), and then land a crippling HHN. If I were to do it again, I would find room for a Lizzy Mills instead of this.
• Crisium is good in virtually all match-ups. Try it out. Put 1-2 in every corp deck. Soak up its glory. It's great always all the time.

Games

Round 1: Greg (Parasite Kate)

Rushed out an Astro. His money was intolerably high, and he was killing all my cool ice with Parasite. Was looking for a Breaking News to score with the Astro token to land a Closed Accounts. Eventually felt cornered and threw the match trying to score out of a remote I knew he could get into. I should have turtled up behind all my cool ice. [LOSS]

Round 2: Stephen (Smoke)

Rushed out another Astro. Build a formidable remote and left a BN on the table for a few turns until a Boom showed up. Advance, astro counter, click click boom. [WIN]

Round 3: Justin (Run Event Andy)

I absolutely should have mulliganed for Sweeps Week and MCA against Andy. I regret keeping that hand to this very day. Moose was keeping him 2-5 above me, so I couldn't land Loyalty or HHN. He started setting up an R&D lock with a Maker's Eye and a bunch of Same Old Things. I only had a Gutenberg on R&D, which he was paying 4 to get through with Faerie or 7 with Mongoose. I should have installed a Raven in front of it to make him use up all his Aaron counters, but instead foolishly put it on the remote. My luck ran out on his 5th Maker's Eye run. [LOSS]

Round 4: Chris (Siphon Clans Alice)

Really enjoyed having so much ice against a runner who hits centrals so hard. Between Raven and Gutenberg it was really hard for him to land Siphons and Wantons. He had plascrete down, which I eventually smashed through when he went tag-me. He didn't see any Counter Surveillance, but I didn't see another Boom or a Jackson. Ultimately scored out behind Data Ward. [WIN]

Round 5: Dave (Kate)

Had a great opening hand with ice, money, and HHN. He dirty laundried and I landed an HHN on turn 3. Boom on Turn 4. [WIN]

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The field in Cleveland was very competitive with a few Net Celebs (Ben Blum, Kenny Deakins, Dien Tran, Josh Wilson, Max Williams, and Austin Mills, to name a few), the coordinated outfits of the Pittsburgh Meta, some impressive beards, and a Princess Space Kitten appearance. Thanks to all my opponents for great games!