Test Run Andy, 1st Place at Epic Loot GNK

ekayohlee 1451

Based on Circadia's Same Old Andy deck that won London's Regionals this year. I modified that deck for U.S. Nationals, and it helped me take 18th place there. I haven't played it much since then, but I updated it again with Currents and took it to the semi-monthly Game Night Kit tournament at Centerville's Epic Loot Comics & Games (Cincinnati/Dayton meta). I ended up taking 1st place against two Replicating Perfections and two Core Jintekis (three wins, one timed tie against a Core Jinteki).

Notable changes from the original Same Old Andy include using Passport as the sole Decoder. I needed something to deal with Lotus Fields at Nationals, and its cheap cost really helps with early pressure. If I have to get into a remote protected by a Code Gate, I have Inside Jobs, Emergency Shutdowns, and a Femme Fatale. The deck's success at Nationals convinced me it was alright to cut my Mimic to get one extra influence, replacing it with Alias. After all, I have those same solutions for Sentries on remotes, along with Femme Fatale's Sentry-breaking and Faeries.

I needed the extra influence to add two Net Celebrities so I could deal with Enhanced Login Protocols and a Manhunt deck I expected at the tournament. I chose Crash Space instead of Plascretes to deal with Account Siphon tags, Snare tags, potential Manhunt tags, and meat damage if it came to that. There's not too much Scorched Earth going on outside of Personal Evolution decks in our area (nor Midseasons decks currently), but someone was playing a Stronger Together Punitive Counterstrike deck at the last tournament

The deck has 46 cards because I added the Net Celebrities the night before the tournament, and I had no idea what to cut and no time to test it out. I probably should have cut Kati Jones since I never felt the need to install her during the tournament, but she saved me two or three times at Nationals. I also would have liked to add John Masanori back in for facing Personal Evolutions. Net Celebrity is great for helping make runs efficient, and turning me into a Whizzard-level trashing threat with Scrubber.

If you're unfamiliar with the original, one of the deck's key strengths is the ability to Test Run the Femme Fatale on HQ ICE, Account Siphon, then trash tags in a single turn. Test Run is also handy for recovering a breaker that you might have lost. I didn't use Test Run once during this tournament, but it's come in handy a lot of times before. I've seen a nice variation that also uses Keyhole.

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