Batty on the Brain v1.0

This looks really nice and is similar to something I was working on myself. I slotted a Heimdall 2.0, because the possibility of a Psi game for Brain Damage and ETR is just delicious. I very much like the Subliminal Messaging & Snare! Combo. If you land a Snare!, there's a high chance they're not running next turn while they recover, which of course brings your Subliminal Messaging online.

So, the obvious question is why include Mandatory Upgrades over ABT? Hoping to slow advance one, then use Cerebral the next time?

@MikeJS Thanks for the comment bud :) I I originally had 3xABT in the deck but I think as I felt the number of ICE drop / deck slots become tight I decided to try and, exactly as you say, use the pressure of the deck's tendency to use Cerebral Overwriter as way to slowly advance Mandatory to 2/3 and then score with Biotic if needed.

Being able then to drop Vitruvius and [Self-Destruct Chips] from hand is just too much fun.

I think 1xBiotic could definitely drop for a Melange or another key ICE as it's not really a fully fledged fast advance deck.

Az

@Dydra Yea totally feel you on that one bud. Hopefully with the 5xICE with Brain Damage subs and potentially a Viktor 2.0 with it's Power Counter you can make use of Marcus on your weakness Central and also a remote over the course of the game.

A Marcus on R&D for a Brain into a Snare, oh my please :P

Az

Marcus would be legit insane if it was any ice at all though. As it is he's just very, very good.

I like this! It looks a little light on econ though, I'd worry about being able to keep 4 credits on hand consistently for Snares, especially if you're planning to Biotic out agendas.

@lolpaca Thanks so much for the feedback chief. Yea 100% with you on that. Think a Biotic would be my cut or move to 5/3s and fire in a Melange or Restructure.

Az

I wonder when Recruiting Trip decks are going to start springing up.

Not enough Ice. You're running Subliminal Messaging but not enough Ice to cover archives so they can just run and prevent you picking up.

I think you're better off dropping the Biotics and Subliminals and just trying to Ice up and push things out. At that point ABT comes back onto the table as well.

I'm not convinced Snare shouldn't be Cortex Lock, given how nasty that is with Batty.

It looks alot like my Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future deck going for a sideways approach.

As @Satellite Uplink points out Subliminal Messaging isn't going to do that much it could turn into - 1 click for the runner a turn i personally would drop it for more Cerebral Overwriter's partially as you have nothing else to bluff as an agenda. id also drop Ash 2X3ZB9CY as i feel theirs not enough ICE to warrens it or fits the style really.

I did a very simmilar deck, and I'm always agenda flooded. Your eco will suffer badly too, specially for Biotic Labor. I use only one for it. Right now I'm playing with far less agendas, and a more consistent plan of action using Valley Grid and Neural EMPs.

Hey Az, I couldn't disagree more with everyone saying you need more ICE. I would play this deck similar to a Jinteki PE deck. Up the number of Cerebral Overwriter's to 3 (personally I'd drop the Marcus Battys but that's just me), add some Eve Campaigns and perhaps PAD Campaigns and just go really wide (doesn't hurt the economy either). Don't be afraid to install a Snare! now and again as well as your overwriters, the threat of instant death should keep the runner thinking about whether or not they can risk running any unrezzed remotes and like you said you can always sneak through a Mandatory Upgrades disguised as an overwriter. Lastly (and this may be a little controversial) I would take out the Biotic Labors, they are really hard on the economy and I don't think they do enough for you.

I've been thinking about brain damage HB for a while too - I think there are various potential ways of doing it, but I've not tried all my ideas yet. Tropical Cybernetics Division seems appealing, but I'm not sure HB has enough traps itself to do it, and the Black Tree ID is so strong, HB feels like a poor man's alternative - for the moment at least.

I've been trying out a similar deck to the one above, albeit out of ETF (as usual)... the economy really helps getting some tastier ICE rezzed, with routines that Batty wants to see. My deck is here: netrunnerdb.com

Thanks so much for all the feedback and chat chaps :)

Gave this a test on OCTGN and actually played pretty well. The lack of ICE wasn't a huge issue but the money definitely was. Looking at dropping a Biotic and the Subliminals for Restructures and adding in another Cerebral.

Psy gaming for Brain Damage is awesome, except, when you match and it isn't :P

Az

@Diegofsv - I completely agree. I have been trying to put together a competitive Humanity Upgraded deck since it was released and keep running into problems with agenda flood and/or lack of econ.

With only Adonis Campaign and Hedge Fund for econ (I am not counting Subliminal Messaging for reasons already covered) there really isn't enough econ in this deck - especially with the Biotics AND Ash 2X3ZB9CY in the there.

Has anyone given any thought to running the ID as a regular 49 card deck to add some extra econ and ICE?

I think one problem is that people keep trying to include 3 x Self-Destruct Chips in every CD:HU deck, when in my experience it's much more of a 6-agenda ID. You want to make running dangerous and agendas hard to find, and you can't really do that with 8-10 agendas in a 44-card deck.

@dasher I talked about using 49 cards in my deck (Braniac). I'm using right now and its way more consistent. I will be publishing it later today. To play 44 cards you cant use Self-destruct chips.

@lolpaca - I agree, but with 3x Self-Destruct Chips you can make a 8 agenda deck which I think is acceptable a 49 cards, with the other 5 agendas being 3 pointers.

Have you considered a Valley Grid version?

There's a powerful lockout effect that's actually quite easy to generate in Humanity Upgraded.

Tried various versions of this list last night, tinkering as I went. Never managed to score more than 2 points before getting romped over. Biggest problem was Criminals running Account Siphon, and me never managing to recover financially. Even when I managed to land a brain damage (or two), I still got completely pasted.

Economy was a major problem. I would often manage to fast advance a Self-Destruct Chip with Biotic Labor, but that would leave me dead broke. My solution was to include 3x Shell Corporation. Drop a Cerebral Overwriter and advance it. If they run it, Boom! If not, upgrade it with a Shell Corporation.

However, the expensive (and rather thin on the ground) ICE left me often being R&D locked, and frequently hit into HQ. Silhouette avoided most of the nasty stuff.

Certainly the devil is in the detail here!

@the.jxc Thank you so much for all the testing info bud :) I think so far I have gone 2-4 with the deck with a few changes so definitely not enjoying a good time of it but very fun to play. The hardest match up, just as you elluded to is money denial or hard R&D lock.

@dasher I must admit I think I really wanted the Self-Destruct Chips in there but you may well be on to something. I feel though without them you really need to land a Cerebral to make it remotely a kill deck.

Going to post up a new version of this and also get to playing with a 49 card one. I love the thought of Shell Corp I must say :) I defintiely think there's fun to be had with Batty PSI's for brain but I think the NEXT Gold route may just be more rewarding. Without the biotics this loses it's rush aspect so may get spicy with pushing it more rush style too with Batty to punish early runs.

Az