Diabolos Ex Machina v0.1

So Apex. I really want to make Apex work because I like the idea of a monster in the datascape that just eats data. This is my first draft attempt at trying to make him work despite him being considered probably the weakest of the three new IDs in Data and Destiny. I'll go by this category by category. This is going to be changed since I saw things that weren't working, but just for the sake of having a history and getting some more feedback, I thought I'd toss this up for right now.

As a general overview, this Apex deck is designed to attack remotes. I think there are ways to make multi-access work, especially with a virii-oriented Apex deck (my next project,) but for right now I wanted to make a deck that makes single, strong runs. When making this deck, my goals were to make sure all of the cards had use, but 95% of them were also 'unnecessary' and could be used as facedown fodder to feed the AI. Some of the decisions may look goofy, but stick with it.

-Events-

Levy felt like a requirement for how much you'll be eating through your cards in this deck. You do run the risk of losing it if you have to emergency-trash Hunting Grounds to save yourself from a surprise Snare or something, but

Apocalypse is mostly there for funsies or as a nice reset button during a glacier grind. There are very few times you'll actually see yourself really needing it or getting to use it (same issue as Notoriety,) so it also ends up pretty good fodder.

Dirty Laundry and Sure Gamble are both decent ways to make some money and can also serve as fodder when you don't need them anymore. There aren't too many things in this deck that cost money, but due to e3 Feedback Implants and being able to beat traces, having some sort of economy is helpful.

Infiltration can also serve as ghetto economy if you need it, but it's mostly there for to check for traps and, naturally, be used as fodder. It's not as good as a Drive By, but I didn't have the influence for it.

Uninstall is there purely for fodder. You can do some dumb shit with it like uninstalling your SMCs before running into an Archer, but they're mostly there to om nom.

Quality Time is there for draw, obviously. Once you have enough cards, though, you can just feed it to the maw.

Kraken is there to support the 'I only want to run their scoring server' thing. This punishes them for thinking they have a scoring window and trying to make a move on you. It also punishes them for trying to naked-score as well (Jinteki shell games) by forcing them to remove something from a central. Free R&D accesses are always nice.

Prey is also there to support the 'I only want to run their scoring server' strategy by taxing the corp. Their Archer might get your Endless Hunger, but you'll eat their Archer in turn. That's not a good trade for them.

Mass Install is there to get all of your Harbingers out. Or your Leprechaun+Hunger+Harbinger. Or just use it as fodder, whichever.

-Hardware-

Clone Chips are absolutely beastly in this deck. Whether it's recursion for your Hunger or a Harbinger when you really need to break into a server after losing one or the other to a Wisp or something, Clone Chips really end up stealing the show here.

Dyson Mem Chips are there primarily to be fodder, but helpful fodder that help get your SMCs out.

e3 Feedback Implants are a near requirement for this deck. They shut down Enigma silliness. They shut down Archer. They essentially make a lot of the scarier ice for this deck a lot less scary. They will not save you from things like Chum->PUW, though. They won't save you from Kitsune or Data Raven either. I'm still trying to figure out a way to avoid tags, but for now it's just a matter of eating them and playing it. You have a LOT of built in damage avoidance due to...

Heartbeat. Heartbeat giggles at your Scorches and Traffic Accidents and other silliness. Once you get a big spread of cards for Apex to eat, you have a big safety net. They can Closed Accounts you and trash your resources, but they can't kill you. Trashing resources might be an issue, though...

-Resources-

Always Be Running was chosen to try to circumvent some of the issues with 'problem' ice like Data Raven. It's a HUGE tax, but since you only ever really want to make one big run per turn anyway, this combined with e3 ends up being a very strong combination.

Hunting Grounds is -amazing.- It completely shuts down things like Komainu and Data Raven's tag tax. In other situations, it also makes for an awesome emergency set of three tokens to eat if you need to break into something or save yourself from a surprise Snare.

Wasteland is decent drip economy that helps fuel e3. It can be used as fodder later on if need be as well.

-Programs-

Endless Hunger is your only actual icebreaker and it's a big one. Since you can break subs in any order, any ice that has ETR is pretty much a dead card. There are very few ice that actually exceed EH's strength and the ones that do require some sort of conditional or a lot of pumping. It doesn't prevent you from eating to absorb damage you can't break, though!

Harbingers are your reusable food. Clone Chips essentially can double as a Harbinger as can SMC.

Leprechaun is there to offset the cost of Endless Hunger and allow you to keep SMCs out.

SMC is there to help get Endless Hunger in if it isn't and to get your Harbingers in otherwise. If everything is in the heap, then they make decent enough fodder.

That's about it as far as the deck explanation goes. Any feedback is most welcome, of course. I'm still seeing if maybe I should replace Always Be Running with Faust and taking advantage of that Leprechaun more. I'm not sure yet, though.