Lightly Tapping into Harmony, 2-2 @ SC Berlin

nimzowitsch 92

This is the runner list I've brought to the SC Berlin yesterday and came in 7th out of 12 players, winning against PD (to time and luck) and Pālanā, losing to CtM and Sports.

Reasoning behind deckbuilding choices:

  • Tread Lightly in Tao is really good, as you can always put unrezzed ICE on the remote. So your first plan against anything that wants to score out in a remote is: Money up, get an SMC down, Tread Lightly. Rinse and repeat, after putting annoying ICE on centrals. This and three PAD Taps in a 40 card deck with good card draw is sometimes all you need.
  • No Boomerang. First versions of this list had up to three copies, but with breakers that efficient you will not spend a click and two credits later anymore.
  • Dirty Laundry over Overclock. While the latter is really good with SMC, you'll usually want to pop the SMC on a Tread Lightly run. And Dirty Laundry can be easily played for just an access, three creds and a card draw with Aniccam, while Overclock has a tendency to clutter your hand.
  • Docklands Pass + Imp creates a nice package for pressuring corps that rely on combo pieces or FA tools. And of course the pass alone is nice for stealing those agendas the corp is to afraid to jam until they can afford to rez ICE again.
  • Mad Dash, because it wins games. Admittedly, there are not a lot of synergies (e.g. Stargate), but near-infinite Imp is enough.
  • When the timing is right, drop Conduit (+ Contaminate).
  • Harmony AR Therapy was added due to grinder matchups. It's also really nice to comfortably overdraw with e.g. VRcation, because you know you can always recur the most useful pieces later.

I think the main problem on the day was the just two copies of SMC. The game against Sports could have gone differently if both of them weren't in the bottom four cards of the deck. You rely heavily on pulling an Imp in that matchup.

The game against CtM was tough, Misdirection + Imp help, but I just felt to poor all the time to contest the board. But then, I don't really feel comfortable against asset spam and surely made lots of piloting errors.

2 comments
8 Nov 2021 Bl4nk3t

Going Ika + Simulchip / Harmony AR Therapy as backup seems to be the right sentry choice for Tao. Imp as HQ pressure is a good choice for Tao and getting Contaminate to refill it (and kickstart Conduit) is genius!

Did you get your moneys worth out of the PAD Taps ?

8 Nov 2021 nimzowitsch

Ika can be a little annoying when there are a lot of Drafters around, but apart from that it's amazing and at least we can move them out of the way ;-).

I think the PAD Taps were worth it, especially if the corp trashes them. This list and maybe shapers in general are not the fastest, so slowing the corp down sounds worth three slots and influence. If not trashed, they were a solid one credit per turn against CtM, amazing against Palana especially if you get to install multiples, and ok against Sports as well.