NEXT Time Pleb (2nd Place Fun 4 All Store Champs)

A NEXT rush deck of my own design, this deck went 4-1 in Swiss and 2-1 in elimination rounds. The deck is intended to grab the initiative and force the Runner to react to agendas on the table. This allows me more liberty in dictating the pace of the game rather then reacting to everything the Runner does. I'll briefly discuss the deck by section to give an idea of my thought process behind the construction.

Agendas:

I took a relatively standard HB suite of agendas, the question was what 1 pointers to bring. I decided early on I wanted the draws to be consistent so I was going to carry two of one agenda rather than split to try and cover more bases. I discarded Gila Hands Arcology as being too slow for the speedy style of the deck. The real choice became whether to play Chronos or Profiteering, I decided to cut a third Pop-Up window for a Swordsman instead of playing Chronos as a Maxx counter. This allowed me to play Profiteering to help close games. "But wait, you have NAPD isn't that countersynergistic?" I think one of the most important mid-game choices was whether you planned to score another NAPD or not. When scoring a Profiteering this determines your choice to take bad pub or not, but typically the goal is to score two agendas on the board then fast advance a Profiteering and use the extra money to close the game with another Biotic into a 3/2. I did have games where I scored no Profiteering and closed games with double Biotic NAPDs so it can go either way.

Influence:

Trying to squeeze the most out of twelve pips is a challenge, but I think I did it relatively successfully. Jackson Howard is an obvious include due to his draw acceleration and filtering capabilities. I decided early on I wanted Pop-Up Window in the deck to help fill my ICE and economy slots in one swoop and make the NEXT power more consistent. I ended up cutting one Pop-Up Window for the Swordsman to counter Eater decks. I actually didn't encounter any Eater decks in the event, but in testing the Swordsman was highly effective against Anarchs utilizing Eater or Knight. Excalibur is the ICE of choice for your archives. This is added almost solely for Criminal defense. Since most Criminals carry no AI breaker you can effectively neuter Sneakdoor Beta or Security Testing with Excalibur by limiting the rest of their turn if they want to use those effects. Tollbooth was added as the hard defense for a longer game and a decent Beta Test target. I actually fire more Accelerated Beta Tests than not (the higher ICE density helps with this) if they are one of my first two agendas scored or to if I feel behind to gain tempo against the Runner. Caprice was the last addition to the deck, mainly to quickly fill out my remaining pips due to the amount of one influence cards in the deck. I thought originally I might use it to try and score a NAPD out of a remote later in the game, but it was almost exclusively used to delay R&D locks so I could close out games. The games it showed up in it did work and you can always Jackson or Archived Memories to recur it. Despite having a few one off out-of-faction cards, the amount of extra draw in the deck really helps power through to the tools you need.

Ops:

The majority of your econ is in your Ops in this deck. The Clearance suite of cards is perfect for this deck as you really want to gain money and draw through your deck quickly to try and win before the Runner gets to execute their evil plans. Hedge Fund and Biotic Labor were included for their obvious value. I was torn on whether to play a Peak Efficiency or a Successful Demonstration in the last econ slot. I decided to go with Peak Efficiency for the later game value as I need money more when trying to finish the game with Biotic, but I could still see it going the other way as there was more than one game where I discarded it early when a Successful Demo would've been playable. Archived Memories is just a great tech card in my mind. It lets you recall any other trick in your deck as the situation demands, I think it earns a slot easily in many HB decks if you aren't sure what else to add.

Assets:

The Ag Sec was the only non-Jackson asset in the deck. I think it is important to have some element in any deck that you can bluff with. The Ag Sec won me an important game in the elimination rounds by delaying my opponent from continual accessing R&D with his two Interfaces. It is easy to throw it down and advance it to make the opponent think that you're just trying to tax them by throwing a NAPD on the table.

ICE:

The most important thought of your NEXT deck is the ICE. The NEXT ICE is probably some of the best for the NEXT ID (shocking right?). It is relatively cheap ETR ICE that actually carries value into the late game. The elimination game I won to secure 2nd place was won on the backs of FIVE rezzed NEXT ICE pieces with the sixth ready to be turned on for a two cred six strength code gate. The rest of the ICE is chosen for a mix of early scoring ICE (Paper Wall), early punishment ICE (Rototurret, Enigma), taxation (Eli 1.0, Tollbooth, Pop-Up Window), or metagame coverage (Guard, Swordsman, Excalibur). One of my opponents told me after a parictularly close game that he had never been so afraid of a Paper Wall that I scored out two agendas behind.

Strategy Tips:

If you plan on trying this deck out I'll post a few tips below. However, this deck in its current iteration will likely be dead to Clot so I don't know how much longer you will have to exploit its niche in the metagame.

-In your initial install, try and use your cheapest ICE on your remote and the second cheapest on the server you want to defend. You often won't know if you are going to have more agendas in hand until after you draw the extra cards so this is often determined by your opponents deck.

-INSTALL AN AGENDA ON TURN ONE! Your goal is to score 4 points on board and then 3-4 from hand with Biotic. In a perfect game you will score an agenda on turns 2 and 4 like clockwork and then batten down the hatches on central servers. Your preferred third agenda is Profiteering to refill your credit pool and threaten the final score.

-If you score a Beta Test as one of your first two agendas, fire it! I know many players are used to treating it as blank but the ability is very powerful in a deck with a higher ICE consistency and it may allow you to push another agenda out or lock down your centrals. Later in the game firing it without Jackson is risky as your opponent has likely gotten 2-4 points by now (don't sweat it), but you have to make that call based on how much ICE you have drawn.

-Don't be afraid to draw heavily, the reason the deck has five economy cards that also draw and three Jacksons is so you can draw what you need quickly to finish the game. I often power draw and discard extra Profiteering or NAPDs later in the game when they are less useful.

-Later in the game defending R&D will be your priority with the Caprice or Tollbooth. The Biotic Labors are typically safe in hand and you just want to make sure you see the agenda first. You can also convince your opponent you have nothing in hand if you focus your own efforts on R&D which can work in your favor if you are waiting on Biotic and not an agenda.

Closing:

I had a lot of fun with this deck and I hope some of you do too. It feels good to put the Runners on the backfoot for once. A big thanks to my opponents for a great event. See you at regionals!