Double X (v. 1.2) (Power Nap Combo)

A few small but important changes, following the suggestions proposed in the previous version's notes. The all-in combo version is still fine, but I'm starting to see the advantages of a safety valve, and this version follows that strategy.

/Change Log

1 Lucky Find, 1 Lawyer Up -> 1 Day Job, 1 Levy AR Lab Access

As suggested in the last version draft, LARLA is a perfectly acceptable addition that sacrifices a bit of the deck's pure power for consistency (and reduced volatility - finding yourself short on the right mix of credits and clicks because, e.g., your Power Naps were all at the bottom of your deck). Now, if you get to the bottom of your deck and you don't quite like your configuration, you can cash out for a big pile of credits, rebuild your deck, and start over. Alternatively, this allows you to separate your "getting cash" period from your "Amping Up" period, which also reduces risk. Day Job is less inefficient in MaxX decks than others because she doesn't need to decide entirely between drawing cards and gaining credit, so it fills in nicely. More than one would be too debilitating.

1 Keyhole -> 1 Wanton Destruction

Also mentioned in the previous version as a possibility. Cutting a Keyhole also has the added benefit of disguising for a bit longer exactly how you intend to win, which may keep the Corp from stacking R&D too cautiously - and if they do, Wanton Destruction becomes your tool for winning the longer game. In that way, it synergizes well with LARLA, by letting you play more thoughtfully and try to land several hand-crippling blows in a row, rather than go for the big blowout Keyhole turn. Cutting a Keyhole works because ...

1 Deja Vu -> 1 Retrieval Run

Ah, yes, a minor heresy. Retrieval Run actually performed quite nicely in testing. Not only did it save the deck a couple of credits and a click over Deja Vuing a program back, but one nasty problem the deck kept posing was difficulty holding all the cards it wanted to keep as well as its safety-valve Deja Vus - I often had to discard a Deja Vu because I didn't want to lose clicks on the big turn trying to maintain flexibility. Retrieval Run and Same Old Thing work better not only because they treat your trash as a resource, but also because they don't put cards into your hand and thus clog it up. When you Retrieval Run, you don't need an extra click to deploy the card to get down to 5 in hand, and Same Old Thing sits patiently on the board waiting to be used where Deja Vu fills space. (Also, it makes it easier for cheapo me to avoid getting a second core quite yet. :P) And adding a second Retrieval Run also makes it easier to go...

2 Eater -> 1 Knight, 1 Mimic

As noted previously (h/t @Him), Swordsman is a real drag for a deck built around Eaters alone. The addition of a second Retrieval Run gives the deck additional consistency that permits it to run a more diverse breaker package. Knight is there for those situations in which the problem is one big (but not too big) piece of ice, where Eater works much better against a couple small pieces. Mimic is there for Swordsman, though it could really be anything.

Sample Game

x = credits

Hand: Keyhole, Deja Vu, Same Old Thing, Power Nap, Lucky Find

Turn 1: trash Power Nap, Eater, draw Joshua B. Draw a card - Steelskin. Play Lucky Find (11x). Play Steelskin (10x) - Retrieval Run, Steelskin, Lucky Find. Trash Eater, Keyhole, Lucky Find, Joshua B. Hand: Steelskin, Retrieval Run, Deja Vu, Same Old Thing, Power Nap. 7 cards in trash.

Turn 2: trash Deja Vu, Knight, draw Amped Up. Play Steelskin (9x) - Steelskin, Retrieval Run, Lawyer Up. Play Steelskin (8x) - Queen's Gambit, Same Old Thing, Singularity. Play Same Old Thing. Play Same Old Thing. Trash Queen's Gambit, Singularity, Lawyer Up. Hand: Retrieval Run, Retrieval Run, Deja Vu, Power Nap, Amped Up. 2 cards in play, 14 cards in trash.

Turn 3: trash Frame Job, Keyhole, draw Frame Job. Draw a card - Levy AR Lab Access. Draw a card - Sure Gamble. Play Sure Gamble (12x). Play Deja Vu for Power Nap (10x). Trash Frame Job, Levy AR Lab Access. (You can always save an SOT for it.) Hand: Retrieval Run, Retrieval Run, Power Nap, Power Nap, Amped Up. 2 cards in play, 19 cards in trash. 19 cards left in deck.

Turn 4: trash Inject, Day Job, draw Same Old Thing. Still no more Doubles, which is a drag. Right now, a Power Nap would earn you 2 + 7 (2 Lucky Find, 2 Frame Job, Lawyer Up, Queen's Gambit, Singularity) for two clicks, which is a great deal, but not a blow-out, so you want to take stock of how much money you think you might need. Is this a case where speed is better than strength? If your opponent didn't think much of the Keyholes, maybe they've only dropped one piece of ice in front of R&D; at most two. What kind of deck are they playing? How much cash do they have on hand? etc. For the sake of the hypothetical, I'm going to assume I can play a Power Nap now, but don't want to play both, so I'll start by: Draw a card - Power Nap. Nice. Draw a card - Queen's Gambit. Play Power Nap (19x). Trash Queen's Gambit, Same Old Thing. Hand: 2 Retrieval Run, 2 Power Nap, 1 Amped Up. 2 cards in play, 24 cards in trash, 13 cards left in deck.

Turn 5: trash Joshua B, Sure Gamble, draw Mimic. That's probably a dead draw, and you don't have extra Amped Ups, so your ability to go huge is limited. Now might just be the time to play both Power Naps for 11 and 12 credits respectively (2 + 2 Lucky Find, 2 Frame Job, Lawyer Up, 2 Queen's Gambit, Singularity, and 1 and 2 Power Naps) (42x). Hand: Amped Up, Retrieval Run, Retrieval Run, Mimic. 2 cards in play, 28 cards in trash, 11 cards left in deck.

Turn 6: trash Inject, Simgularity, draw Frame Job. Ick. So you're not finding any more Amped Ups, and you don't even have your Hades Shard [as it turns out, the Amped Ups are at cards 40 and 42, and the Shard at good ol' 45]. Is it just better to restart with your huge credit pool? Probably, rather than spending a couple of turns manually drawing to Amped Ups. Unfortunately, you can't SOT a Power Nap and SOT a LARLA in the same turn, but you can start by: Retrieval Run for Eater (39x). Then Same Old Thing a Levy AR Lab Access (34x).

New hand: Singularity, Same Old Thing, Frame Job, Inject, Keyhole. Pretty nice. Last click should be Inject (33x) for Steelskin, Amped Up, Sure Gamble, and Amped Up. Bing! Trash Frame Job, Singularity, and Same Old Thing. Two cards in play (Eater and SOT).

Turn 7: trash Power Nap, Lucky Find, draw Retrieval Run. Two options: try to go off now, which will cost you at least one click and a bit of money, or stagger it across two turns. Let's try going off now for simplicity's sake. Play Keyhole (29x). Hand is Amped Up, Amped Up, Retrieval Run, Steelskin, Sure Gamble. Provided that you don't Amped Up away your other Amped Up, that can get you 5 extra clicks at a cost of 3 credits and your SOT (and your hand, natch), leaving you 8 clicks with Keyhole and 26 credits to go with. Again, this is where taking stock of your opponent's board is vital. 26 credits may not be more than 3 per Eater, and even less if your opponent has NAPDs floating about, though you do have two advantages: you can parcel out your attack plan to not drop all the Amped Ups now (and then, e.g., get some credits with the Sure Gamble if you need more credits and fewer clicks), and you don't need all the Keyholes to win, just however many hit pay-dirt.

The other problem, then, is that you don't have your Hades Shard, so you can't get into the Archives for free if the corp iced up Archives last turn after your Retrieval Run. Of course, they'd have to put an actually-frustrating piece of ice there to stop you, not just something like a Pop-Up or an Eli, but if they did, you'll have to compensate by not going off this turn and just digging for resources. (I'll save walking through that part.)

That, then, looks like a Turn 7 win (albeit with some risk and fiddliness) coming off a bad situation where the previous version of this deck would have likely had some trouble.