Mallcop Command: MWL-Compatible Murder

"I wish I could say 'It seemed like a good idea at the time,' but this seemed like a bad idea right from the word go." -Sgt. Schlock

The goal with many Weyland rush decks, and this one in particular, is to try and put the runner in a situation where running and not-running both seem like equally bad options. Argus is well-suited for this, and even if the hits don't do more than tax the runner every little bump in the road that slows them down is good for you.

Scoring is most easily done with Casting Call. That and your ability alone mean that a runner needs to spend almost their entire turn to score safely, often setting them back monetarily as well. A Data Raven or two in front almost guarantees that they either take meat damage and lose their turn, or that they have a tag left for you to play with. I've even had some surprising opportunities to overadvance Oaktown and Atlas more heavily than I'd have assumed possible because the runner felt unsafe taking the tags so early.

Without Casting Call, scoring can be pretty hard against a set-up runner -- feel free to aggressively bluff with assets and Cyberdex to keep the runner coming back for more. Shattered Remains can do wonders not just at removing Plascretes, but also Consoles, Clone Chips, and other useful pieces of gear. To that end, I try to follow an IAA plan whenever possible, though there are obviously times where those aren't worth it.

The ice is mostly chosen to facilitate both an early rush and an eventual transition into a somewhat more taxing deck. Wormhole and Assassin are your only two big pieces of ice, but they're both very effective at dealing with most runners. I usually pay the full cost for Wormhole to avoid tipping my hand, but sometimes it just isn't worth it to wait -- especially if your opponent is fond of Account Siphon.

Negotiator will strike many as an odd choice, but I've actually been pretty happy with. The program destruction sub is nice for Wormhole even if it doesn't fire too frequently on its own, but I've seen a surprising number of runners assume that it's a Spiderweb or an Enigma and end up eating the pain. Even if it just costs them money, the tax can help to slow them down.

Housekeeping and Subliminal Messaging are both worth their weight in the highly-valuable-but-lightweight substance of your choice, especially early on. It may not seem like a big deal, but I've found that getting Housekeeping down even halfway through a game gums up the works of a number of runners -- especially ones that would otherwise give this list some problems, like Noise. Anyone with Faust tends to be unhappy about Housekeeping, honestly, especially with frustrating barriers like Spiderweb to break. Ultimately, the big gain is that it slows the runner down pretty heavily. Subliminal Messaging, of course, takes advantage of that slowdown and gives you free money for every extra turn the runner has to spend replenishing their hand to stay safe from Scorches.

As is traditional for Weyland, you need to advance cards to make money most of the time. GRNDL Refinery gives quite a lot and can often sneak through early on -- even unadvanced it can lead to a sizable payout. Geothermal Fracking is the trickiest money in the deck, because you often will find yourself in need of the money and not wanting to deal with the bad pub. Save it until you need it, but don't be shy about hammering the money button once you're ready to. If nothing else, one use gives enough for two Scorches, which can be nice.

There are some obvious weaknesses in the deck, the biggest ones being tag-me runners and Film Critic. Data Raven and rushing tend to be the easiest ways of handling a Critic, in my experience, but that's also what Contract Killer is there for. Don't be afraid to use him for incidental damage, but try to keep one around until you know if Critic might make an appearance. That, or double stack the Data Ravens.

Tag-me decks tend to be more frustrating -- they turn off Casting Call, Data Raven, and Argus' ability. That said, more and more decks don't want to go tag-me, these days, short of Paparazzi/DLR lists, and those are tricky for plenty of other reasons. With the recent Wireless Net Pavilion errata, though, it shouldn't be too expensive to get trashing if you need to... and Housekeeping has a tendency to make those decks very sad indeed, I've found.

The last potential issue is runners who just have too much money. Most won't, even PPVP Kate would often go broke enough to score out against this list in testing (though I can't say how much was luck in some cases). Some, though, will -- and it's hard to deal with. You don't have SEA Source as an alternate way to tag the runner, so if they can afford to take and clear tags reliably, you'll be in trouble. When that happens, I tend to glacier up a bit and try to hold out, because something usually gives sooner or later... but that's not a ringing endorsement, I know. Take comfort, then, that most runners won't generally get rich enough fast enough to dominate your economy so thoroughly.

I've been working on this deck for the last few months, seeing what worked and what didn't, and this is what I've come up with. It's been revamped a bit for the NAPD Most Wanted List, which mostly involved removing the NAPD Contract for Geothermal Fracking (as the influence is already too necessary as it is).

If you really hate the idea of Bad Publicity, the Fracking could become a Private Security Force to deal with non-Paparazzi'd tag-me runners over time. I'd advise against Corporate War for financial reasons -- though Corporate Sales Team looks like it'll be an obvious swap when Business First drops.

You can also take the NAPD back and drop a Casting Call, replacing it with a Green Level Clearance, Blacklist, or Closed Accounts. I'd only do it in a very tag-me-happy meta, though, and even then I might be concerned.

On similar grounds, you could cut a Casting Call for a good-old Snare or a third Data Raven if your meta is swarming with Film Critics. I don't know that it'd be much safer, but it's certainly an option. I would very much hesitate to do both, though.

If Subliminal or Housekeeping prove to be just too hard to remember, they could become another Beanstalk and either another Cyberdex or a third copy of the other. That being said, I think you'd be much better off training to remember the triggers, as I've had to do, because those cards are much, much stronger than most any replacement.