Chp 6: In Which My Opponent Thinks This Is A Glacier Deck

The Jank:

The goal of this deck is pretty similar to other BSGT decks, except I wanted to work under the constraint of not using the Punitive Counterstrike combo. Instead you use Fast Track or draw to pull and overscore a Project Atlas behind a hefty piece of ice. Ideally you only have to overscore it 1-2, having some combination of Fast Track, Aggressive Negotiation, Midseason Replacements, Psychographics and/or Government Takeover in hand.

You should be playing like a dragon. Sit on your massive pile of credits and trust your big ice to protect your centrals. Build a single light remote for Eliza. You want to make the runner pay to trash her, but it will happen, so don't hemmorhage money to stop it unless you are going to immediately rez something that outweighs the cost next turn.

Next comes the tricky part: you need to bait the runner into stealing an agenda. Likely the runner will already think something fishy is going on, but typically the runner just fills up his hand and takes the bait anyway. He ends his turn happy and thinking you are playing it straight after all, or that he's going to flush out a Punitive Counterstrike for minimal loss on his part.

On your turn, if you were keeping an eye on your money and not hard-rezzing your big ice, you should be able to strip a curtain wall off of one of your servers, play Midseason Replacements, install Government Takeover, and score it out with Psychographics.

The Reality:

Due to the magic of Blue Sun and a number of cards that pull weight as econ as well as their initial purpose, this deck is playable even without the combo, but who wants to go through life half-assing everything?

Notes:

Eliza's Toybox: This card does insane work in this deck. If the runner leaves it unchecked for two turns he's basically leaving a Melange behind a Curtain Wall, plus it's 4 to trash. You can let him stew about this for a couple turns while you prepare your combo or score something out. The psychological factor of this card is staggering. The runner likes to think he's in control of when you rez your ice. He already knows you are running PReq and OAI from your id, and will try to play against them, but I find Eliza is a pretty brutal surprise.

Ice: Needs some retooling. Would love Matrix Analyzers but I don't think I can justify the influence. Eliza's Toybox was almost too good as a singleton, so I bumped her up to 3 to get some consistency out of her, but if influence comes from anywhere that would be the place.

Errand Boy: Really funny to put this on a criminal's favorite run econ target, but we already knew this.

Hive: In this deck, always. Hell, if you feel cocky enough, rez an Archer with your empty Project Atlas. Hive goes back up to full, the runner thinks you took a big tempo hit (you probably didn't), and now within a couple turns you are clicking for 3 via GT and rezzing all the ice in your deck as you calmly look for an agenda to score.

D4v1d: Just like his namesake, he's a total dick. Be wary of SMC as always, but if you think the runner might be packing the sling and need to protect something, use your plentiful cheaper ETR ice and save the big boys for econ.

Criminal Tricks: Not fun to deal with, and they make Guard attractive, but my resolve remains unshaken. Only had real trouble with bypass. Forced rez I can typically afford and then take the money right back if I need it, losing only a click. In basically all stages of the game, criminal drain means nothing to you. Letting in a Legwork at the wrong time can and will cost you the game.

Anarch Tricks: In general, not a real threat. Vamp is the major surprise here; a slow deck might have the money to really hurt you with this. If an anarch is playing slow, you should too. Take your time and rez your big ice. If possible, use Archers to kill something important, but don't go out of your way to do this; anarch recursion will likely bring it right back at a loss for you.

Shaper Tricks: Besides in-run tutoring... what tricks? You end runs. I go for the throat with shapers, trying to score the combo and aggressively rezzing Archers. Nasir, oddly enough, is probably one of the hardest matchups. His players tend to be a crafty bunch. Shaper makes me want Closed Accounts.

Runner hosting cards on your ice? Fuck 'em. You are Powering the Future.