[Startup] Trickshooter OB: 2-1-0 at Pittsburgh Spring GNK

To all those runners sailing around with the Endurance, warping the startup meta: You're gonna need a bigger boat.

I took this the Spring GNK (4/30/2023) at Pittsburgh and went 2-1-0, all against Captain Padme, with all three games going to time. In all three games I believe I was solidly winning as we approached time, and if it was double-sided swiss (we had single-sided) there's a good chance the games would be able to finish, as all my runner games finished early. This deck wins by trashing the runner's rig first, and scoring second, so being ahead at time is really an endorsement of a win. In the tie, I'm pretty confident that if we played it out I would have won (I had achieved critical rig shooting and couldn't find any agendas to score for the last ~3 turns).

We've all heard of Hafrun+Stavka, it's a fun trick but won't win games vs savvy runners - with a killer and Endurance out you can't blank both of them, and then the fun is over. This deck takes rigshooting with OB tricks to the next level, where Stavka+Hafrun is only one of many threats we pose to the runner's precious icebreaker rig. In fact it's usually the last trick, once the runner is out of killers you can use Hafrun to blank Endurance and trash programs with impunity. But this is getting ahead of things, let's discuss how we can get here.

The easiest way to trash programs is ZATO City Grid. It's straightforward, reliable, but also predictable. Running the remote is asking to get programs trashed, and often runners can just R&D lock with Conduit (admittedly OB is the king of breaking R&D lock as you can basically shuffle on demand).

To take the threat to centrals servers, we have Nanisivik Grid. This deck runs 8 sentries, all capable of trashing programs, all perfect candidates for Nanisivik. But only a foolish runner would walk into a Nanisivik while there are face-downs in archives. First they check archives, or pinhole the Nanisivik, there is counterplay right? Right? Wrong. Enter Mavirus. Install it in server 1, bluff it as an agenda (or put it on a central if you fear Light the Fire, but come on be real). Wherever they run, once they commit to breaching, rez and trash Mavirus and pull Nanisivik and stick it right in their face. There is no way to avoid this while running. They can't even check archives without getting hit by it. Situationally you may want to end the run, but usually you are looking for "trash a program" subroutines, ideally targeting killers. Without killers the runner has to be EXTREMELY cautious where they run.

That's fun and all, but how do you get face-down ice in archives? Just over-installing? Discarding? Well, sure, it happens, but OB is also very well suited to trashing face-down ICE. Sure, it doesn't trigger your ID, but it advances your gameplan. So don't feel bad about using Extract, Anvil, and Stavka on face-down ICE that largely existed to bluff the runner before ending up in archives. Speaking of, we unironically run 3x Ballista, when have you ever seen that before? This ICE sucks, but it is great Nanisivik fodder, and is generally pretty decent at doing what we want (trashing programs, ending the run, tutoring 4-cost ICE).

Oh, there's one more way to get ICE face-down in archives. Hafrun. I try to leave a sentry in hand once I hit midgame (it's pretty easy to do in a 20 ICE deck) so that I can Hafrun. Who said trashing from hand was the cost, sometimes it's the whole point. If you draw your Nanisivik and blatantly install in on HQ or R&D, the runner may disarm archives and then go run it, thinking you are out of tricks. Assuming you didn't trash any face-down ICE with Stavka or Anvil, that would be true. Except for the other Mavirus trick. Again, once they commit to accessing, trash Mavirus, pull Hafrun, trash an ICE from hand, and then fire Nanisivik. This deck is great at correcting runners on misheld beliefs about the safety of their runs.

What if the runner sees all your threats and decides to play it slow and careful, refusing to faceplant into sentries unprepared? Well there's one last trick - Kimberlite Field. Given the power of ZATO you are often safe scoring this out, letting you trash a breaker at choice. Again, usually killers are priority number 1.

I hear what you are saying, what about the boat, how do we trash the boat? Don't. Yes the boat is strong, and will cause you to lose games. The best way to deal with it is to destroy its support. A boat alone will run out of counters and stop making successful runs. Don't forget to ICE archives to fully lock it out. The matchup vs Endurance can be a little shaky, it's an aggression card so a strong runner start can be tough for you, but this deck has enough tricks that you can usually land something and start to keep the runner out. Against anyone not running the boat this is a complete blowout. I have like a 90% winrate on jnet, including boat and non-boat matchups. Unless the runner just rips 4 agendas in as many accesses, they will quickly get shot to hell and locked out.

Lets talk about the ICE suite briefly. 20 ICE is a lot, but it is essential to the prison gameplan here. I stuffed as many program trashing sentries as I could, ignoring archer because of all the anti-synerg it has with OB (and it's useless early game). They are the backbone of the deck, don't remove any of them. Don't swap for magnets or pings because you think styling on the runner is cute, it won't win games as much as having a "trash program" subroutine wherever the runner looks. The only chance I would consider is -1 Enigma +1 Anvil, specifically for the Padme matchup, because she can charge Endurance on R&D relentlessly without an Anvil to keep her in check. However, Anvil is quite weak early (runners can and should just run through it repeatedly until forced to build a board), and I wanted a 5th 3-cost ICE to be able to always tutor. Also Anvil doesn't ETR, so it isn't great at achieving lock-out.

The agenda suite is also worth mentioning. 10 2-pointers. Andrej would be proud, this maximizes the number of accesses required to score out for the runner. Yes it means you will need to score 8 points, but so will the runner. Send a Message is a bad idea because 1) It means you lose to 3 agenda steals, yuck, and 2) it is really bad tempo, especially in a deck that wants to keep ICE face down, for the uncertainty, on-rez effects, and Nanisivik potential. The agendas fall into 2 camps - economic and aggressive. Oaktown is the premium economic agenda, with Offworld Office behind it. Kimberlite is the premium aggressive agenda, with Above the Law filling the 10th slot (you could run 1x Azef to try and snipe pinholes and programs from hand, but 3x Kimberlite is essential). This deck doesn't bluff, FA, or NA agendas (above the law excluded), it constructs situations where the runner dare not (or cannot) run the remote.

"When your rig is left in ashes, then you have my permission to die"