[Startup] Truth or Dare - 3rd place Ashes to Ashes

Nothing gives me a rush like installing a card, advancing it twice, and seeing what the runner does. In a way, I think this condenses so many interesting things about netrunner. It’s a game about bluffing, about risk assessment, about reading your opponent. It’s a game as mathematical as it is full of heart and mystery and high stakes. So let’s play truth or dare.

Reading your opponent is key to this deck. It’s essential. IAA any card and see what they do. Does the runner check every remote? None of them? If they don't go after IAA'd cards, put Ronin up and leave it there. Sneak out Superconducting Hubs. If they run everything, put every Urtica Cipher and Snare! into their path. The key is to get to 5 points ASAP, because once you hit that threshold, the runner must check every remote, for fear of it being a sneaky 2-pointer or SanSan City Grid.

The concept for this deck started with Urtica. Even without advancements, it’s tempo neutral for NEH to install one, and it sets the runner back a click and 2 cards if they run it (and 2 creds if they trash it). That’s an excellent investment.

But what do we do with a failed Urtica on the board? Well, we always need a safe place to install our SanSan on the board to FA our agendas next turn. Even if the runner knows I’ve just installed a SanSan (which they absolutely must trash), getting it from underneath a 2-advanced Urtica means it’s going to set them back four cards and 5-7 creds, at a much lower investment on my end. Vladisibirsk City Grid can up the stakes on this even more, dealing 6 damage instead underneath Urtica.

Now that the runner knows we have Urticas (or suspects it), slap a Beale on the board and advance it twice. It’s surprising how often the runner will let you get away with this, and having 3 points up in the early game makes the end game utterly oppressive. In swiss, I won a game due to a Beale I openly advanced 7 times. It's worth it, just for the thrill.

To start, flood the board with econ – Tiered Subscriptions, Marilyn Campaigns, PAD Campaigns. We just need enough money to fuel our wanton IAA shenanigans and rez our expensive FA upgrades. Keeping centrals open/lightly defended will encourage the runner to poke, wasting time. Runners tend to over value an open R&D, and trashing any assets is great for you, to keep them down on econ. They’ll also need to draw up to make sure they don’t die or lose their important pieces to Snare!

If I’d change this deck, I’d swap Whitespace with Enigma. We always have the money to rez it, and the facecheck is a bit meaner. Less Regolith Mining License and maybe a Reversed Accounts or two might help as well, since Regolith is a bit slow and almost always a dead draw.

Your toughest matchups are Chisel Hoshiko and Loup. Spinning back trashed Gold Farmers is not ideal, but sometimes it has to be done here. You must purge Imp tokens as soon as you can – you only have so many SanSans and precious little ice. If you suspect Stargate, start stacking R&D with ice, because you will absolutely lose otherwise.