Death by Portals

NOTE: This deck is a work in progress and has changed after almost every game I've played with it. I'm very open to feedback, but I'm well aware that this is not an optimized deck by any definition.

Summary:

When trying to build a new corp deck I started looking at cards that I really wanted to build a deck around. One that really stuck out to me was Encrypted Portals, an agenda that is just begging to be put in a deck with only code gate ice.

I knew right away that I wanted the Whirlpool, Chum, into Cell Portal combo to be a win condition and I started building around that as well. Other strategies like advancing ice with Tennin Institute: The Secrets Within and shell games with Mushin No Shin and traps only seemed to clutter the deck, so they were removed.

What's left is a deck that is designed to build a death trap and force the runner into it by uninstalling decoders and plugging holes elsewhere with taxing end-the-run ice.

How to play:

The goal is to get the Whirlpool into Chum into Cell Portal trap set up on a server that the runner really wants to get into. That may be R&D for shapers, HQ for criminals, or a scoring remote. This doesn't mean you have to go the whole game waiting for a Cell Portal before you install anything protecting that server. Midori will give you the flexibility you need to change that inner piece of ice from an Enigma into a Cell Portal only when necessary. If your triple ice server goes untouched for most of the game out of fear, Akitaro Watanabe should be placed when the trap is ready so that you can kill the runner with about 7 credits or less (1 to rez Akitaro, 6 to rez Cell Portal twice) when the runner gets desperate.

The bane of this archetype is Gordian Blade, Torch, or Yog.0 with strength boosting. You should be checking the heap for trashed or discarded decoders, installing Lycan or Will-o'-the-Wisp on servers that you know will be run, and naming decoders that you know are in your opponent's deck with Targeted Marketing.