Surgical Tools (Theorycrafting)

So, I want to give a big shout out to @Finnbarre for the original decklist (which should hopefully be in the derived by section when I'm done here.)

I really like the idea of this deck. I like the idea of single, big runs that can be done on the cheap with the stealth suite. What I didn't like, however, is how much Gang Sign ended up sometimes working against me in the Jinteki (especially PE) match-up as well as its limited use in the Haarpsichord match-up. So I swapped some things around.

I wanted to keep Gabe. It makes sense to keep Gabe rather than go for Andy in my mind just because, again, it's the 'single, hard runs once per turn' concept that drew me to this deck in the first place. I also like him thematically. To help the match-ups, though, I had these changes:

Removals

-Running Interference

-Planned Assault

While Assault ended up being really helpful in digging out my Inside Job when I needed it, I found very little other use for it. Running Interference makes a good sort of ghetto Blackmail or Inside Job in and of itself and allowed for early game pressure, but I found them inconsistent and never found myself really getting them when I needed them.

-2x R&D Interface

This one was a hard choice, but with the other choices, I think it will make for a more consistent deck all around. These had to be removed both for influence and because I wanted to keep the deck's card count light. This ultimately means less pressure on R&D since the multi-access is now gone. There are some changes to make up for this later, though...

-Corroder

Now that I have some influence freed up, I don't really need Corroder. While it's nice as a cheap way to keep the corp honest with their Wraparounds, I generally am not hurting for money to install its replacement.

Additions

+BlacKat

This one is an experiment to tie in with the removal of Corroder above. Since I removed the RnDIs, I have a ton of influence to play with. This essentially lets me run for free using my Cloaks. I would've loved to throw in a Dyson Fractal Generator to go with it, but alas. It's doubly nice since if I have an overabundance of money, I can just use that to break subs if I run into a surprise Wall of Static or something at the end.

+2x Fisk Investment Seminar

This is the replacement of the RnDIs for me along with the following card. This works across the board and synergizes very well with the HQ Interfaces I'm already running and forces the corp to make some decisions that can put pressure both on Archives and HQ while not really needing to put much pressure on R&D. It isn't a full replacement for the goodness that RnDI would provide, but it ends up being a more consistent way of putting pressure on the corp to drop cards. It's especially nice against Snares as a buffer before running HQ. Additionally, hey, it's also more cards for me to hopefully dig out what I need late game when I really don't want them scoring agendas. That means Logos won't be tutoring for me at that point.

+1x Utopia Shard

This has quite a few different uses, one of which - of course - is emptying a hand. Ideally, you'd get it out early and pop it sometime during mid-game. Whether you'd do it right after a Fisk or not depends on the match-up, but it can put a lot of sudden pressure on Archives and force them to blow a Jackson earlier than they wanted. It can also empty a hand of Snares if you suspect someone's holding onto them - that or a SEA/Scorch. Either way.

+1x Film Critic

So many uses and easy to fish out with Logos. Midseasons protection, tax-evasion (Fetal AI, NAPD, Future Perfect psi games, etc,) Haarpsichord snubbing. It's great. You also have protection against people who may strongly disagree with the Critic's opinion with Drive By checks.

+1x Inside Job

The loss of Planned Assault means I do have to add an additional Inside Job (and thus increase the deck count by 1) in order to increase my chances of seeing this when I need it early. I considered added a second Emergency Shutdown as well, but decided against it. Ice ends up only being truly threatening if I'm seeing a lot of Doc Browns on the board combined with NEXT or Swordsman.

The changes do remove that R&D pressure, but I'm hoping the consistency, safety and additional options they provide me make up for it. Any recommendations are always welcome; this is, after all, just theorycrafting!