Summary:

This is the deck I piloted to a 1st place finish at our NGN Priority Run Tournament and 2nd place at our 1st Atlanta area store championship. I went undefeated with this deck through both tournaments, so I highly recommend it for anyone who likes the threat of fast advance with the punch of strong trace ice and Tollbooth that you don't get from the standard NEH lists.

I know that the world seems to have moved on to NEH in full force. I assure you that this deck and ID are plenty viable for those like me that love NBN, but don't want to play a "glass cannon" archetype. Enjoy!

Agendas:

I think everyone can agree that this agenda suite is pretty much the "best" for any NBN fast advance archetype. Nothing special here.

AstroScript Pilot Program - The best agenda printed. The great thing about this deck is that if you can score one early and then defend a 3 point Beale score, you only need to get a partial Astro Train to win. My most common path to victory is to score an early Astro, establish a remote and score a 3 point Beale and then score a Beale or Astro from hand for the win. This can happen pretty quickly and I believe is a big part of the deck's success.

Project Beale - Aside from the Ice suite, the biggest boost you get over other NBN lists is that Project Beale becomes a 3 point agenda rather than a 2 pointer that you can fast advance with a Biotic Labor or SanSan City Grid. Over half of my games have been won with 3 point Beale's protected by Ash or just tempo installed at the right time behind a Tollbooth or another piece of Ice after a Closed Accounts. I install, advance, advance nearly every Project Beale along with every NAPD Contract to make them look the same. Most opponents assume the agenda is an NAPD and don't want to go broke getting into your remote and trying to score it. Be aggressive with your Beale scores - even if you know the opponent may be able to get in. Most players are worried about going broke on an NAPD if it means they give up an AstroScript.

NAPD Contract - I've won plenty of games scoring these, but most NBN players know that this agenda is as much about creating tempo when your opponent pays to steal, which allows you to score an Astro or a Beale. When you put this in even a 2 ice server protected by an Ash (which starts at trace 6), most players just let you have it. Take advantage of that and again make sure you don't worry about the reality that when you look at someone's credit count, they "could" get in. Playing this deck is often about putting runners to the test as they can only afford to challenge so many remote installs.

Breaking News - While having an agenda you can score from hand to win the game is certainly great, I love this agenda because of the synergy with Closed Accounts. There is no better way to break an opponent than rezzing a SanSan, scoring Breaking News and using Closed Accounts. You are left with a point, a rezzed SanSan and a broke opponent trying to figure out how to rebuild. Even if you have to go to low credits to make the play, it is almost always worth it. Also, this play is equally fun if the opponent is playing Kati Jones and you blow up a loaded Kati while the opponent has the Breaking News tags.

Asset:

Jackson Howard - Aside from the obvious reasons people play this card, this deck allows you to keep Jackson on the board (if you want to keep drawing with him) if you protect him with an Ash or RSVP (my personal favorite remote server). I usually leave him in the scoring server knowing that I'll almost always have enough operation economy cards to shuffle back in when it is time to score. I don't want to give the opponent a place to Security Test for free, so I rarely leave him out in the open after the early game.

Upgrade:

Ash 2X3ZB9CY - This card is an MVP in this deck and is frankly one of the main selling point of playing this versus an NEH list. The HB glacier decks play him for a reason: When Ash is on the board protecting an agenda, you know you can keep you opponent out if you can outmoney them or keep them from getting through the server twice. Making News lets Ash's trace start at a 6 without investing any real credits and this is huge. If you have a half decent remote server and some money (which this deck has a lot of), it is very difficult for runner economies to challenge a remote with Ash without going broke. Considering that most players at this point are trained to run against NEH and want to protect against you scoring AstroScript, they will often give up on a remote with Ash instead choosing to focus on central servers to try and snipe the AstroScripts. This gives you the opportunity to uncontested 3 point Beales and NAPDs without any fear. It is also worth noting that Ash is a high priority card for shuffling back into the deck with Jackson Howard. Runners are afraid of letting you have an Ash, so having to trash multiple Ash's (and SanSans) is all part of the tax this deck imposes.

SanSan City Grid: If you want the option to fast advance, this is a must have. While NEH also given you the added influence to get Biotic Labor as well, this deck gives you more protection for your SanSans. Between Ash, RSVP and Closed Accounts, you have more cards that when used at the right time can keep SanSan rezzed and around for a few turns. Even if you only get to use it to score your first AstroScript, that is often all you need. Once I get to the mid game where I have a remote established, I usually throw this down in a remote to force the runner to react. If they leave it, I hopefully get an unchallenged Astro score. If the run and trash, I usually immediately pursue an NAPD or 3 point Beale score if I don't think they can get right back in next turn. Overall, this card is worth playing the full 3 copies even if some are dead draws given the threat it poses to the runner.

Ice:

Pop-up Window, Wraparound, Draco - This is the ice you want in your opening hand. Wraparound is the best early game barrier because if you are playing Noise without Corroder (which happened multiple times through the tournaments), this suddenly becomes the best piece of ice in your deck as no parasite will ever bring this down to size. Even if they get the barrier breaker out, Ichi 1.0 has a chance of sniping a Corroder and turning your 7 strength Wraparound on all over again. Draco punishes face-checking at an early point in the game for a nominal 1 credit cost. Draco is also great Account Siphon protection as you can just spend money to make a huge Draco to prevent the runner from stealing your credits and getting a huge lead, which leaves behind a sentry that their Mimic can't break. This is also a great archives card at 4 strength or more to tax a Criminal runner that is trying to use Security Testing as it eats up the economic benefit of doing so, prevents a net gain of datasucker tokens and leaves them vulnerable to Shinobi if they don't build tokens. Pop-up window is an amazing piece of ice that drains the runner and builds you towards the SanSan rez or Shinobi kill - probably my favorite piece of ice in the game. You also get the added benefit in this deck of creating my favorite server of RSVP in front of double pop-up window.

Eli 1.0, Viper, Ichi 1.0 - This is your midrange ice that will really start to tax the runner. Eli 1.0 needs no explanation - NEH decks run 3 of them with good reason (TMI is our 3rd Eli 1.0 as I will explain). I usually put Eli on central servers as my main source of protection on the server that I'm most worried about being repeatedly run (ie HQ for Criminals and R&D for Shapers). Viper may be the best piece of trace ice in the game as it is only 3 credits to rez for a 4 strength code gate with 2 subroutines that are both fantastic. The free trace credits for Making News turn this into a powerhouse even into the mid game. I am just as happy to put this on a remote as a central. Ichi 1.0 is a fantastic piece of ice as it is out of Mimic's range, gives you 3 subroutines (including a great trace effect) and can set the runner back to the early game if they don't run wisely. I rarely land all 3 subroutines, but frequently land the trace effect which lets me land a Closed Accounts when the runner is out of clicks to protect their programs and can't clear the tag.

RSVP,

Data Raven - This is the most annoying piece of ice in the world for many decks. Resource heavy decks (including my Kate deck) absolutely hate it because the encounter ability means that you need Femme Fatale (to bypass it) or Parasite (to kill it) to avoid spending a bunch of credits and clicks clearing tags. If you are playing Closed Accounts, this ice belongs in your deck. I often put it on Archives to protect against Security Testing but will also just as happily put on HQ or R&D as this may well be a hard end run ice with as many times as it just forces the runner to go elsewhere unless they want to be drained from clearing tags.

Shinobi - This has logged a lot of kills, even when people know I'm playing with it. As a one-of, people can't stop running to play around it or I will just Astro train to victory. That is what creates the opening for it to work. I love to put this on Archives against criminal as they are usually running to Archives because they need money for Security Testing, which means you know they will run there when they get low on credits and can die to Shinobi. This has proven to be a better alternate win condition than I expected and I would never cut it from this deck.