Journalists don't take drugs v1.0

Introduction

Fancy having 6 turns? Why not Stim Dealer, first one is on the house!

This deck is built around setting up Stim Dealer and quickly gaining an economic advantage with Magnum Opus to finally blast the corp with Vamp and Keyhole before your brain turns into a pulp.

Valencia's ability complements a slower, more 'setting up' style of game play very well. Having that Blackmail threat hanging over the corp will force them to play more carefully giving you time to get your stuff out. Sure, they'll probably still get some points in but just keep calm and install Turntable to grab anything juicy they might have sneaked through :)

One thing to consider while setting up is when to install each consecutive Stim Dealer. There are three possible setups here:

• 6/6/6: 1/1/1 brain setup - gives you consistency, but is a bit weaker since you're never at your full potential.
• 5/6/7 : 2/1/0 brain gives you one power turn and one weaker turn. This setup is most preferable - it gives you more opportunities to oppress the corp with Keyhole and Wanton Destruction
• 4/7/7 : 3/0/0 brain should be avoided. This setup makes you have two power turns and one very weak 'withdrawal' turn when you receive 3 brain damage. That makes it very hard to manage your grip and you can die if you forget to finish the previous turn with at least 1 card in your grip

We're getting some Public Sympathy for our addiction which keeps us alive long enough to become a threat to the corp.

Overall this deck is surprisingly powerful, probably not tier 1 but more consistent than many popular janky decks. It's also a lot of fun to play.

I've had some very close games, often winning with little to no cards in my deck and a pile of brain damage on my ID.

I'd really love to use Origami instead of Public Sympathy but I haven't found a way to squeeze more for it. Initial version of this deck ran Beach Party and Duggar's but it was slower and less consistent. Running Gene Conditioning Shoppe also turned out to be too inefficient.

Some Tips

• Wanton Destruction is crazy powerful in this deck, once you're set up you can easily clear the corp's hand and maybe still have a click to access those archives
• Remember to use your Paige Piper but keep an eye not to run out of 'health'!
• Don't hesitate blowing Blackmail on Howard as he is the arch-enemy of Keyhole decks. If you see him in a remote - just snipe him.
• Similarly, if you see the corp installing an upgrade in HQ have Blackmail ready to snipe that Crisium Grid
• Cutlery (Knifed, Forked and Spooned) are mostly for support against HB and Weyland who can rez ICE outside of runs. HB will almost certainly get something in with Accelerated Beta Test. If they manage to get something that's expensive to break - just kill it.
• Think carefully if you want to resolve Wyldside or Stim Dealer first during your 'withdrawal'. One time you'll want to protect the cards you'd draw (because you're still setting up), other times you'll want to draw first and take brain damage later to reduce the risk of losing something important from your grip
• Wyldside will give you that extra turn since you can draw first, take fatal brain damage second and still have your turn before you brain goes poof
• Blue Sun is a tough cookie to shut down since they can bank a lot of credits quickly and easily recover from your attempts to Vamp. If you want to vamp them be sure to destroy any ICE they rez on HQ - otherwise it was all in vain...

Hate

• The corp getting Architect or Turing with their Accelerated Beta Test will make your day miserable. Both can be played around, but they will stay on that table to taunt you
• Blue Sun will screw you over by picking up that Curtain Wall to gain 14 credits
• Caprice is Caprice

Winners don't take drugs ;)