Iain Stirling: I Know a Guy v1.0

Stirling is a real puzzle, isn't he? On the one hand, his slow buildup seems tailor-made for a Connections heavy deck, but on the other hand, the most impactful Connections have influence costs, which are at odds with his low influence pool. Wouldn't a retired spook have more influence?

This deck tries to maximize the effect of expensive Connections like Donut and the Source to damage combo and Fast Advance decks' strategies. Adding them in takes away valuable influence that could have been spent on better breakers, but instead, let's try to focus on getting strong results from the run over running a lot. Hostages let you get the connections you need. The Helpful AI is link you can tutor for, getting an Underworld Economy going, which, if you're behind in Agenda points, could net you 5 credits per turn, clicklessly. You could theoretically have up to 12 Connections in play, a big windfall if you Call in Favors.

Run carefully with Snitch to suss out the terrain, and break through when only when necessary, and when you're sure you can. Grappling Hooks and e3 help get through heavy ICE, and can help out in a pinch. Interfaces will turn up extra cards and make your runs more efficient.

You really need to avoid being tagged, because some key Connections are 1-ofs to save space. The biggest dangers, therefore, are Midseason and Character Assassination. There's not much to be done about the latter, but if you suspect the former, there are a few measures you can take, and a Hostage should be able to get them in place.

There are very few events in this deck, for two reasons: one, because you're really meant to play Donut ASAP, and two, for the sport of it. Everyone's grumbling about Siphon, FA, and CI one-turn-win decks. Well, this is my shot at making that stuff tougher to pull off, without using Siphon. Let's see how it does.