[2nd, 5th at Warwick H1 2024 CO] girls 2

if girls are so good why didn't they make girls 2

This is the deck I brought to the Thesis Procrastination CO, which I was also running - so it was a bit of a busy day for me!

I went undefeated with this deck (vs DaveSea on rush Ob, Hello on assets RH and Lap on glacier Aginfusion), which when combined with a significantly more defeated Ob got me to 2nd place. @Hello also brought this deck but with minor tweaks and went 2-1, coming in 5th. He ran Spec Work rather than In the Groove, Aniccam rather than Pantograph, Nyashia rather than the third Creative Commission and only one Ika.

Predictably, this is a continuation of my previous Akiko deck girls, which did well at the Nottingham CO a few months ago. Rather than giving the full spiel again, I'll assume you've read the linked decklist description so generally know what it's doing.

Here are some notes on cards which are new to the deck, and my experiences:

• The Imp was swapped to a Cupellation as the original list suggested. This was absolutely correct: being able to pick up a Hostile Architecture and then get a triple access on HQ, a server which is generally less protected because you have so much R&D pressure, is fantastic and won me one game. Pinhole Threading took the remaining influence, which is a card I don't think I need to justify.
• I liked the second Ika, but the two Ika could definitely be a real breaker. The issue is that Carmen breaks Drafter for 4c. Boi-tatá might be a shout but it struggles against Anansi. We have Physarum Entangler for the worst sentries though, so maybe this is an okay trade? Much to think about.
• In the Groove was a last minute addition, which is part of the reason it didn't make it into @Hello's version. AceEmpress and I were making dinner a few days before and I wanted more draw in the deck, so searched for all Shaper cards that say draw on them. The look on some people's faces when I played it was worth the price of admission alone, but in testing and one game on the day it drew me four cards - Muse giving you a double draw is ideal. I don't know if the deck wants a second.
• I feel bad running 49 cards. I don't feel like it's caused noticeable problems, but it irks me lmao

One issue that we've found with the deck is that its early money is not great: once Aesop’s Pawnshop is set up and we've popped an Environmental Testing we're sorted, but before that it's a bit rough. This has lead to slow setup at times, which has been echoed by everyone else in QEH who's played the deck, so it's definitely a point to consider. I was desperately hoping throughout the day to not be matched against Neurospike Azmari because they are able to combo out too quickly for us to respond.

I already tried adding the third Creative Commission to compensate for this a bit, but it didn't feel like enough. Something that @Hello noticed is that Bahia Bands' default modes (the first two) are credit-negative, which is enough of a sell for me to consider cutting it. It's a great card, but I'm not convinced it's right for this deck. The slot might become a Spec Work or two, and then the influence can be something like Fermenter or Miss Bones (bonus: she is a girl).

There's definitely work to be done, but the core of the deck is still extremely solid. The R&D pressure exerted by it is amazing, and weakens the corp elsewhere if they decide to answer it. I'm really happy with it and will keep tweaking it!

This is, I think, the first deck I've built that others have been excited to pick up and have helped me iterate on. It's only taken me, what, eight years? It is incredibly funny to me that the deck that finally clicked for me is because I am hopelessly gay (even during this deck's development I decided that yes, I'm allowed to call myself a woman!) and am hopelessly Shaper.

Anyway, thank you to QEH (Quear Earth Hub, local queer testing group) for iterating on this deck with me, and to everyone who came to the tournament! I will now retreat back into thesis hell.