SYNC: Tag Punishment From All Angles 2.0

This is the updated version of the original list I posted at the release of Data and Destiny after lots of my own testing as well as other SYNC enthusiasts in the Atlanta scene. SYNC is one of the most fun IDs I've ever played as you often times just get to sit back and watch the runner beat their head against a wall fighting through your tags, traps and agendas that can't be scored. Many of my wins with this deck result in a score of 7 to -2 - how many other decks let you do that?

The list hasn't changed much from the original, but I'll post my key learnings here about how I've learned to optimize SYNC.

*Runners are typically smart enough to not float tags at any cost against SYNC.

I originally ran a set of Scorched Earth, but learned quickly that runners were super cautious against SYNC and would never end the turn floating tags. As a result, most games resulted in me holding onto Scorches too long and ultimately pitching them. Not a great way to spend all of your influence. It was challenging to land Closed Accounts for the same reason.

*You need an agenda suite that punishes the Runner for being passive.

I originally played 3 AstroScript Pilot Program, 3 Global Food Initiative and 3 Quantum Predictive Model. The Astros and QPMs have been amazing and belong in every SYNC deck. Astro is essential because it forces difficult choices: Does the Runner go through a Data Raven to see if you just installed an Astro or do they sit back and wait? Quantum Predictive Model is just so annoying for the Runner and is honestly one of my favorite agendas in the game right now. I can't tell you how many times I've put all 3 of these in Archives behind a Data Raven only to go from 2 to 5 points and then win the game next turn with a second Astro score. While Global Food Initiative has been great at giving you a way to quickly close out the game while reducing the Runner's ability to make it to 7 points, 3 kept feeling like too much as you only ever want to score 1 of these. I ultimately decided to swap for 2 Breaking News and a 15 Minutes. 15 Minutes is kind of like the fourth QPM in that it represents points in your deck that the Runner can't steal. It also helps you close out games where you just need to land that one final point and can score it from hand. Similarly, Breaking News gives you a way to proactively deliver tags to set up a Closed Accounts and The All-Seeing I. I usually just leave these unadvanced behind a Data Raven and maybe protected by Keegan Lane. Runners often just let it go not wanting to take a tag and lose a program and they ultimately pay a much greater price when their economy is in shambles. The Biotic Labor also gives you the ability to set up the Breaking News score from hand followed up with a Closed Accounts or The All-Seeing I. I've been much happier with this agenda suite and can't see making any changes at this point.

*You want cards that punish running.

News Team, Keegan Lane, Archangel, Data Raven and Gutenberg are all exceptional cards that are cheap to rez and punish runner aggression. The biggest innovation was to add Snares - while I wasn't getting many Scorch kills, you get a lot of random Snare kills. The fact that it does damage AND lands a tag can be huge. Many times, a Runner will run through a Data Raven to check a remote card leaving enough clicks to clear the Data Raven tag. They rarely read Snare and end up not having enough clicks or credits to clear both tags. As I mentioned in my original deck write-up, Keegan Lane has been huge in setting up scoring windows. You just make sure you have a single Wraparound or Little Engine, trash the corresponding breaker and install your agenda. The additional Clone Chip influence from the NAPD list makes Keegan even better as you will likely see a lot of Shaper decks cut to 2 Clone Chips and other factions reduce or cut them entirely.

*You need cards that force the Runner to run your servers.

This is probably the biggest thing that I quickly realized and you will see that reflected in the card choices. Data Raven and SYNC's ability are a lot less good when the runner just installs an R&D interface and runs once every few turns. You want to have cards that you can constantly jam in a remote and make the Runner check. Snare, Breaking News and Melange Mining Corp all reflect this and have been significant upgrades. Biotic Labor was included to get the early AstroScript Pilot Program score, which in turn forces a sense of urgency on the Runner to try and run R&D to find the next copy before you do. While I've seen some SYNC decks that try to go bigger with Psychographics, I've found that plan really inconsistent and much more difficult to set up given that Runners are typically prepared for it, play passively and build up money and don't want to float tags against SYNC. You could add Midseason Replacements, but this deck doesn't really have the economy to support it.

Overall, I've really enjoyed this deck and encourage you to check it out. I haven't seen any cards from the Mumbad Cycle that I would consider swapping for, so in all likelihood this will be my SYNC list of 2016. Comments and questions are welcome as always and thanks for reading.