Fast Advance IG

Doing Something Different

Industrial Genomics was an enigma when it came out, people had no idea how to build an optimal list for the ID. I distinctly remember more than one podcast/commentator saying "so…how do you take advantage of this ability?" But then Industrial Graveyard was created, Bio-Ethics Association made it staggeringly obvious how to build a good IG deck, & the ID stopped being experimented with.

So here's a fast advance IG, because we should not forget that the ID doesn't need to kill to be useful. The Mumbad Cycle, to its credit, gave every non-NBN faction a fast advance tool (Jeeves Model Bioroids, Political Dealings, Mumbad Construction Co.) & while none are as good as SanSan City Grid they're all interesting, flavorful, & fun cards. Jinteki FA has been done before (mostly with Trick of Light) but this is a very different, asset-based beast.

My initial takes on this deck, earlier into the cycle, used 3x Sensie Actors Union as the draw engine to turn on Political Dealings. That route is solid, & uses fewer deck slots in its main scoring engine, but relies entirely on PD to score & I also struggled to find an agenda suite that felt strong. Having both Jeeves & PD makes the deck more consistent & tougher for runners to control, while also making the four advancement agendas manageable.

Scoring

If it's not apparent, here's how we score:

With a Jeeves rezzed, we can 1 install agenda, 2 play Subliminal Messaging & gain a back, 2-3 Shipment from SanSan, gain a Jeeves from three consecutive clicks spent playing operations, advance, score a 3/2.

With Political Dealings, if we draw into an agenda either with Pālanā Agroplex or our mandatory draw, we can install it without spending a click, advance three times, score a 3/2.

With both Jeeves & PD active, we can fast advance a 4/2 (or 4/3!!!) agenda if we draw one. So every agenda in the deck can be FA'd given an ideal board state.

More Words

Since we install into a new remote when scoring, Turtlebacks discounts all the advancing that we do. Since the Jeeves-Subliminal-SFSS combo is already credit-neutral, we can make money while scoring as if we're Weyland. In general, the deck scores very cheaply & rarely needs more than 10 on any given turn.

Unlike NBN fast advance, we don't set up blazing fast & start scoring on turn two. Instead, we want to steadily build remote servers & ice Archives in the opening turns. Both Jeeves & Agroplex are excellent here since they accelerate our setup early while also facilitating scoring later. Often, if a piece is missing but Jeeves is rezzed, the correct play is to spend 3 drawing cards. Overdrawing is less of a concern since it fuels the IG ability & we also have far fewer agendas than most FA decks.

Speaking of which, I think I found the proper use for Improved Protein Source. I've seen people experiment with it in rush or glacier lists, but it gives the runner such tempo in those matchups that it's definitely worse than a defensive three-pointer that costs one more advancement token. This deck maximizes the real advantage of Protein Source: it's the easiest three-pointer to FA, so it can save us deck slots & make up for the truly underwhelming Jinteki agendas available to this archetype. I mean, these agendas are bad, they're almost entirely blank. There's a reason why AstroScript Pilot Program is limit 1 per deck now, FA decks should have to play bad agendas.

Potential Changes

I put this latest list together on a whim but it feels tight. The best change might be swapping some Eli 1.0s for single-influence HB ICE (Viper, Fairchild 1.0, Magnet are the best options) to make room for Daily Business Show, losing Shock!. I also think -1 Crick, +1 Komainu might be better as the Komainu-Agroplex synergy is super strong here & Komainu's downsides aren't terrible (we typically have more than enough money, there's less insta-Parasite around, we can recur trashed ICE with Team Sponsorship).