Reina Roja's Draining Machine

I like this version much, much better than the previous one :)

Again, a couple of comments: - I'd go for one Darwin, one Crypsis for increased flexibility. Darwin really sucks for ICE with multiple subs, Crypsis is worse for high-strength stuff with one sub (Especially since you're running datasucker and bishops). Both are viruses, so you can tutor for them with Djinn.

• Would love to see one Nerve Agent in here. You won't use it every game, but if you need it, it should be there for the Djinn tutor. I'd drop the third Pawn for it, two Pawns ought to be enough.

• I might be tempted to switch SoT for Deja Vu. Economy-wise it's essentially the same, but SoT is useless if you get Midseasoned, and Deja Vu lets you recur Parasites like no tomorrow. Which is the better card will be ultimately decided by how your deck flows, though. If holding a Deja Vu until you need it turns out to be a problem (because you need to hold a lot of other cards, for instance), then SoT is the better choice.

• Still would like to see a third Deep Red, but don't see what to cut for it - probably one Xanadu or something.

Overall, this version looks to me much more solid than the previous attempt, likin' it :)

Hey, thank you! I just love how precise your hints are. What do you think about the economy? I feel like it's gonna be a pain in the ass, but I really don't have any ideas on how to make it more solid. kati doesn't seem a solution to me in this particular deck. Will consider the Nerve Agent and will definitely swap for Deja Vu, which is gonna partially solve almost ANY problem more efficiently, even though it does not patch any of them completely.

NP, man :) I just see you struggling with the same problems I've been solving in the not-so-recent past (to borrow a bit from League of Legends terminology, Whizzard is my "main"), so I thought I'd share some insights.

With regards to economy: One thing that is unexpectedly better in practice than I thought it'd be in theory (at least for Anarch decks) is Armitage Codebusting. It synergizes extremely well with Liberated Accounts, much much better than Kati Jones does. The thing is: if you have Liberated in hand, and are at a minimal credit count (like, 1), Armitage Codebusting will get you to those 6 credits in one turn... so, on the second turn you can drop Liberated, drain them thrice, and are sitting happily on 12 credits. Kati, on the other hand, will take you three turns minimum (as you have to charge her twice, then take the money). This is usually too big of a window of vulnerability, at least for me.

What to drop for it, though, I don't know - I would probably lose at least one Kraken, maybe even both (since you're going for Deja Vu, you'll blow more stuff with Parasites).

One more thing is making me a tad uneasy about this list, and that's the fact you're only running one Datasucker. You might get away with two, but one is too few - if you lose it to random damage, or just get hosed by draw (I've played games before where I drew 30 cards, and yet both my Djinns and all three Datasuckers were in the last 10), too much of your deck stops working pretty much completely.

Darwin without cyberfeeder is going to be starving you for cash. And no surge for darwin is terrifying. I'd much rather go with a full breaker suite to keep the datasuckers (which you need 2, better 3 of). Datasucker is super strong, and ups your run efficiency. With as bad as anarch's draw efficiency is, having two low efficiency aspects feels bad man.

I would shore up which plan you're going with and go from there. Destruction and derez feels like a job for wyrm and crypsis (breaking and trashing right there in 2 cards). But you're too light on econ for this....

I like having cyberfeeders to reduce the costs of runs, and install viruses (2 means free parasites!). To this end, Deja vu is crucial to getting gross amounts of parasites. Gross amounts of parasites mean lots of datasucker tokens. I wonder if Grimoire would be a better addition, since to me it seems like you want to use clone chip for parasites rather than Caissa. Unless you want to go with deep red and focus more on caissa programs.

To utilize the already included Deep Red better, I would run 3x knight instead of darwins, and use crescentus to derez post breaking the ice. Knight will be a high value trash target, so pawns will be put to good use. The good thing about this strategy is that if the ice was rezzed for you to use knight on it, then its a 'go-to' ice for the corp when they're low on cash (which is the goal with rook, xan and reina right?). So they're less likely to trash the ice wearing the knight :P

Unless I'm not seeing the style of this deck correctly, I think theres some changes that could be made in regards to focus/flexibility, reflected in my thoughts above. I could offer some suggestions, but I feel like I'm missing the purpose of the deck.

Finding econ in anarch sucks too doesn't it?

I dunno what everyone's deal with "econ in anarchs" is - just run 3 each of Sure Gamble, Armitage and Liberated Accounts... done. You don't even need Kati, she's just a nice bonus.

None are permanent like Opus or Contacts, or even Desperado.

So you run 9 slots of econ, 6 of which are resources? And you want to know why its an issue?

Shaper: Magnum opus + SG + DL = done Criminal: Siphon + SG + DL + SOT + Kati = done

In a world of NBN now, resources are pretty lame.

@AsteriskCGY: that's true, but the time to return of investment is better, and Anarch tricks generally aren't all that credit-intensive in the first place. The breakers are cheap as f**k, so are the consoles, and the only hardware to speak of actually is a kind of run-based econ not unlike Desperado.

@x3r0h0ur: With said econ package I've never run into money problems myself. Also, unless I'm counting wrong, 3x Desperado, 3x SG and 3x Dirty Laundry is 9 slots as well, and you get less money out of it unless you're able to make horrendous amounts of runs for free (and they have to actually be meaningful - if they aren't, you're just clicking for a credit in a rather roundabout way).

ESPECIALLY in a world of NBN, the Anarch econ engine is pretty awesome. You get good value out of Liberated Accounts even while tagged, unlike Daily Casts and Pro Contacts. You get a return of investment in the same turn or 1 turn later, unlike Magnum Opus.

(also, I'd like to propose that counting neutral cards, especially ones that actually require you to get through, is sorta stupid when debating the strength of economy per faction)

And, let's not forget one thing - you can build a completely viable anarch deck with very efficient running using 0 influence (several different archetypes, in fact). If you really think it's that critical, what's stopping you from "outsourcing" the perma-econ stuff, much like the rest of the world is outsourcing anarch breakers?

While I agree that desperado counting as econ is silly, but dirty laundry IS econ it doesn't matter if your econ comes before or after the run, it's still credit gain. I don't see how 'especially' in Nbn tagging world anarch is any better than the rest. It's just as likely to be destroyed. Unless you install and take 3 times, liberated is a huge requirement and a huge liability. That is a huge hit in tempo to get your economy going. That's my point exactly with anarch you're always sacrificing tempo for economy or card draw. I love anarch, but i feel like they're missing a killer card to address some of this work compression.

Dirty Laundry: disagreed. Since I'm a runner, most of the time I need the econ to make runs. Hence, a card that gives me money for making a successful run isn't a full-blown econ card in my eyes - simply because it's not something you can use to get from a "can't make runs" state to a "can make runs" state. Consider a situation where you get accounts closed. If you have Armitage in hand, you're a happy camper - one turn later, you're back in business. If you have Dirty Laundry, there needs to be a server you can run with 0 or 1 credits, otherwise you're not getting back into business in the time space of one turn.

"Especially" in a NBN tagging world: If your resources have a low estimated time to live, resources that have a faster return of investment are better (because you're more likely to get to the point where you actually have a return of investment).

Unless you install and take 3 times, liberated is a huge requirement and a huge liability

But the whole point is that you CAN install and take 3 times, and it makes sense to play it that way! With PC you can do it, and it's a BAD play ('cause if your opponent is willing to pay 2 credits and an action, you're basically getting 3 cards for 2 credits and 4 actions - that's a bad trade any way you look at it). This is why in a tag-heavy meta, Pro Contacts is worse than Liberated Accounts - they both cost about the same to get into play, but one of them you can get reasonable return out of while tagged/midseasoned/breaking-newsed, the other you can't. I don't really see how this is unclear...

Gotta say though, you've inspired me to write an article about Anarchs and the things that I think most people are missing about them. I'll see if I can whip it into a reasonable shape and get it published someplace (cardgamedb, perhaps?)

reddit

Also, I've not argued once that Pro contacts, is good, or that armitage is bad. My point is that resources on the whole suck more and more with NBN being as big as it is. Sure if you look at LA as pay 6 to lose 4 clicks and gain 12, later 16, then yea its alright. My problem with that is it isn't long term. I understand your point entirely, you're only disagreeing with me on things that I'm not saying....well other than dirty laundry.

x3ro, just wanted to inform you that I found your comment on a Rielle decklist i had posted few days ago, appreciated it, and followed your tips. I think that with them, I built one of the most solid Rielle decks I ever made. If you'd mind to take a look, it's called Rielle's Headlock. Peekay, we met in an OCTGN server lobby yesterday, unfortunately the game started before I could say hello :)

Lemme know when you've got time for a testing session, anyway!

@x3r0h0ur Yeah, I know you weren't necessarily saying those things, you were just saying some of the (things that I consider to be the) most frequently-repeated misconceptions about Anarch... so while I was at it, I just added my points relevant to the ones you didn't say as well :) Sorry if it came out sounding a bit like a straw-man argument.

@Kable Yeah, I realized it was you right after hitting the "Leave lobby" button :) Just add me on OCTGN (same screen name) and I'm up for a testing session whenever I'm on, really.