Street Fighter II: Turbo

Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Repartition by Cost
Repartition by Strength
Derived from
Street Fighter
Inspiration for
Criminal Pragmatics - 2nd Place Store Champs 2015 - Lawrence
Sucker Punch - Lindhska Store Championship
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GreatGreedyGuts 446

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." -Muhammad Ali

Paring this description down because this is a much faster and more reliable version of the original. Let yourself build up credits and board position while checking sporadically (concentrating either on HQ or R&D, if possible, to stop them rezzing ice over both). Don't pull money off of Kati until you need to, but don't be afraid of doing it, either.

It's geared a bit toward dealing with glacier decks locally -- Leela's ability helps pretty significantly against FA and PE. It can be a touch on the slow side, but an early score of theirs can open up a scoring window for you -- at which point you can hammer out some agendas.

Getting Logos out early should generally be a priority, but if you don't see it, don't worry too hard. While useful, it's not absolutely necessary.

I think the biggest thing to grasp with Leela is that you're forcing the corp into click compression. Bounce advanced remotes first, lone ice over a key central second, and ice in the middle of giant servers that'll be expensive to reinstall third. Make them spend money and time to get back into the midgame while you claw at their HQ and R&D to keep them where they are.

If you get locked out, don't worry too much. Use Kati and/or Mr. Li and just let yourself build up the resources you need to get back on your feet. Between your ability, Logos, and a Kati that gets filled to the brim, a durdly midgame is not the worst thing in the world. I've built Kati for 8 turns in a row before, and I'm sure I'll end up doing it again. Most any opening hand with her in it is a good one.

In the end, the boxing recommendation stays strong. Don't let yourself be pulled into their pace. Take your time, go steadily, and make them scramble to match your pace.

10 comments
10 Dec 2014 TheRyanBurke

Big fan of Utopia Shard in Leela.

10 Dec 2014 GreatGreedyGuts

I was pretty skeptical about it at first, but I've come to like it. A bit of extra protection to go along with Crash Space, but not limited to just that. Nice with HQ multiaccess in general, or to use after bouncing ice to their hand when they seem to not have much.

Wouldn't say it's irreplaceable, but it sure is nifty.

11 Dec 2014 moistloaf

is the singleton Unscheduled Maintenance worthwhile?

11 Dec 2014 GreatGreedyGuts

Enhanced Login Protocol is a nightmare, and I'm not looking forward to Accounting either. With Logos, it can be tutored for, preventing bad luck on accesses from leaving ELP on the table all game.

That said, in terms of its ability? Only a little. On occasion if I can bounce two pieces of ice, or they seem to be digging to get more ice, it can cramp their options some or prompt a discard (especially if they're broke). But it's pretty much a silver bullet that I wouldn't run if I didn't have Logos to potentially go grab it for me.

If ELP isn't a big worry in someone's local meta, it could be swapped with a Daily Casts (or someone could cut the Utopia Shard for a Net Celebrity as well if they didn't like it and still needed a current).

21 Dec 2014 DrTall

Thanks for the decklist with the good description too!

Are you usually happy to draw the Interfaces? Or are they in there just to avoid sputtering out in a long game?

21 Dec 2014 GreatGreedyGuts

Depends on what else I get. Usually I like to draw them and want to drop them as soon as I'm feasibly able. I'd go for breakers or econ first, though. They're good for late in the game, but they can also be nice to get relatively early -- an HQI and Sneakdoor combo can be pretty powerful.

But RDI puts in so much work, too, as you say, preventing sputtering out. Letting some degree of R&D lock exist helps greatly with keeping you from just... hitting a wall and being unable to continue scoring. I like the super-aggressive Leela builds, but I prefer slightly slower builds that can theoretically keep going indefinitely -- which Kati Jones + RDI provides, I feel.

21 Dec 2014 #endgame

Have you considered swapping Gordian Blade for ZU.13 Key Master and Unscheduled Maintenance for Net Celebrity?

21 Dec 2014 DrTall

I've been happy with Cerberus Rex instead of a Shaper decoder, but I do think that once you've spent 2 influence for ZU you might as well get the Gordian Blade for 1 more.

21 Dec 2014 GreatGreedyGuts

Net Celebrity is definitely a better current than Unscheduled Maintenance overall, I'd make that swap in a heartbeat. But UM has some situational uses with Leela that can sometimes make it the right play. That's definitely an option.

But I'd probably try swapping Utopia Shard -- much as I love it -- before ditching Gordian. The 1 difference in regular cost might not seem like much, but for a deck that emphasizes regular runs the small costs add up quickly, especially because it makes code gate stacks so much less effective.

If I really wanted Net Celebrity, I'd probably go -1 UM, -1 US, +1 Net Celebrity, +1 Crash Space/Special Order/Inside Job/Account Siphon (depending on what decks you run into most).

Rex is a nice backup decorder, and it certainly does put in a lot of work, but I don't want to rely on it to close out a game. I might give Passport + Rex a shot, but I like being able to bust into remote servers reliably, and unlike Breach vs. Corroder, there's not really anything that Passport does better than Gordian Blade outside of saving influence.

22 Dec 2014 GreatGreedyGuts

To clarify better: UM is better in Leela than it is almost anywhere else, so I can justify it better than I could in, say, Ken. It's not ideal but it's not dead weight either.

It tends, in Leela, to be part of what criminals do best -- making the corp regret less-than-perfect openings... and if they try to score their way out of it, well, that has some use for you as well.

That, plus liking Utopia Shard and Gordian Blade quite a bit, is why the influence is the way it is. The least essential influence is honestly probably Indexing -- but the times when it works are good enough that there'd need to be a mighty good reason to ditch it.