Easy Mark for Days

Not bad, I have a Geist deck also using Spy Camera and they are fun to use. I hadn't thought of Cortez Chip that's a neat idea. Not sure I fancy going to be a normal break suite though - once you're out of counters on Rex or out of Faerie recursion you're going to struggle to get past code gates and sentries. I still love Cloudbreakers but accept they take up room. Oh yeah and after my last night where I never saw more than 2 Tech Traders at once, I'm finding room for #Hostage pronto!

Also if you're printing money, is Desperado really needed? What about Forger for a cheaper alternative with a trash ability and tag prevention?

The way I see it, with cloud breakers you're devoting a huge amount of deckspace to cards that only do one thing: break ice. With this approach, you're instead devoting that deckspace to money cards with perks.

Desperado: You can never have too much money :) I originally had Forger but I don't think it fits here: you're not using the link and it doesn't give any more MU. The ideal pre-Sneakdoor rig is Corroder, Mongoose, Faerie, Cerberus "Rex" H2 and Crescentus.

RE the breakers, I think you just have to be smart about when and where you run, and how you use Crescentus, Cortez Chip and Inside Job to minimise the number of times you have to actually use them. Once you've shut down an expensive ice with Crescentus, you can time a Cortez Chip to stop them rezzing it again.

Another neat trick is Cortez Chip on the innermost ICE of a 2-deep server, then Inside Job. Classic crim stuff really.

You make a good point with Forger - I have it for the link as well and in your case you don't need it or Reflection for that matter. I guess your multi-access niche is HQ at the end of the day so you're not running R & D very often unless a Spy Camera tells you too. - interesting layout though, certainly I feel my version is going to try to fit Hostage & Cortez Chip but I'll experiment with Cloud Breakers vs Suite Breakers.

Spy Camera's incredible - an in-faction way to threaten R&D is great, and somewhat makes up for the lack of R&D multi-access.

You can also use it for head games - saccing Spy Cam & running R&D makes them assume you've seen an agenda. Make them go broke rezzing ice/sac Jackson to protect a Hedge Fund :)

Ooooo I like playing the mind games, that's evil! :-)

I switched out Desperado for Logos. I used the influence for an R&D Interface. I also went -1x on Corroder and +1x ZU.13 Key Master. This replaced Cerberus "Rex" H2 and allowed for another Mongoose, since we are going for a more "traditional" breaker suite.

Logos is interesting, let me know how that goes!

Having played some more games, I'm not convinced Drug Dealer is worth it - the amount of draw seems fine already, and I'm often dumping cards and burning through my deck far faster than I'd like.

Gonna go -1 Drug Dealer, -1 Faerie, -2 Inside Job and +1 Same Old Thing (losing Levy hurts a lot), +1 Mongoose and +2 Account Siphon. Econ denial seems like the way to go.

You may want to try Wasteland in this. You'd have to free up some influence, but you can potentially get 8 off of a Fall Guy.

Wasteland and Tech Trader....yeah that's my new jam.

Oh shit son, I totally missed Wasteland. That's... interesting. Especially as you can trigger it on the Corp's turn too. Shame it's not a connection :P

The influence is very malleable - Clone Chip pulls its weight for sure, but I wouldn't consider anything essential apart from the Levy.

Sacrificial Construct instead of Clone Chips could be interesting. Less influence, has a ability and would keep your Faeries up longer.

Maybe - my problem there's that it's a resource (so doesn't trigger Tech Writer), and only really interacts with Faerie - plus it can't just be trashed for cash whenever I need it. I like the thinking though, certainly makes sentries a non-issue.

If I was to go with Reflection instead of Desperado, Security Chip could be really nice for a net gain of 5. I love how many options there are :D

Security Chip...didn't think of that. That's a pretty solid choice.

very cool deck, definitely a different take on criminal that feels very playable.

after a few games: spy camera is not enough heat on RND in most games. enough to apply 1-2 ice worth of pressure early, but even with all 6 it's just not very many looks. Since there's zero desperado synergy (downgrading it from "insane" to "just really good") in the deck, I think that's an easy place to make room for 1x R&D Interface by swapping it out w/ Logos.

I know someone said this already, but I think it's worth mentioning again - this is a deck that is always going to want to tutor something, and the hand size doesn't hurt either, considering the number of times I had to overdraw while making tech trader credits.

you are right that drug dealer is pretty much dead weight, the draw in this deck is nuts. I swapped it for the 3rd Political Operative and didn't once miss it.

oh, sorry for the double post but I forgot to mention, I also did the -1 faerie for -1 mongoose, which is extremely solid imo.

Thanks! I'm currently testing Reflection and Security Chip which is pretty good, but I'll give a Logos build a go. Seems a good way to get all the pieces out, and yeah the +1 hand makes it that much easier to become Scorch-proof.

Agree that 2 Faerie, 2 Mongoose is ideal, since you get value out of all of them. Not crazy about Cerberus "Rex" H2. Seems like the best option going, but it still feels like a bit of a weak link.

maybe -1 corroder -2 rex +1 ZU.13 Key Master +2 some-other-toys ? (passport and breach, siphons, gang signs, you name it.) you're right that rex feels like garbage but usually it's... ok.

Or, maybe the drug dealer spot could go to a passport? (thus saving rex tokens for when it's important?)

I don't really like ZU.13 Key Master because it's bad against the ever-popular Enigma, which Rex is at least very solid for.

Passport would be great, but could be annoying MU-wise. For now I just aggressively shut down code gates with Crescentus and make them painful to rez with Cortez Chips, which works. NEXT ice could suck though :P

where is the rnd pressure?

Spy Camera is your R&D pressure and allows some nice tricks (such as bluffing that you've seen an agenda to make them rez ice/waste Jacksons), but I accept it's pretty weak sauce. As people suggested above, you can drop Desperado for another blue console and use the influence for an R&D Interface.

In my Armand build, I use e3 Feedback Implants with Grappling Hook for larger ICE and as for stuff like Tollbooth, the cloud ICE works well enough for me. I like Cerberus "Rex" H2 better though. I love the idea of Security Chip and I think I'll replace my Street Peddlers with them. I don't necessarily like the use of Faerie though. Mongoose is fantastic. With adding the Grappling Hooks, worst case scenario, you hit 2 Neural Katanas or Cortex Locks in a row, but with all of the stuff on board, there's no way it would get close to flatlining. Or you could also just run Deus X. I posted an Armand deck of my own, but I think my new version will definitely be a mix of yours and mine.

Also- I forgot to mention in my first post (because I was stupid enough to click on my own link to double-check the text on a card and lost the first paragraph I typed)- Spy Camera is CRAZY with Replicator. Just throwing that out there.

Faerie's role is to make facechecking safe, which it does great. (2 Mongoose, 2 Faerie is definitely the right mix though).

Replicator sounds like a right giggle, but I imagine it'd give you trouble by overfilling your hand more often than not. Let me know how it goes if you try it though!

I fell like I'd love 1x special order. I'm trying a little different version of this one and it's going well. I've not tested yet the FA match up. How bad that is? U switched a corroder for a Rd interface for help against neh...

I found that Replicator + Bazaar and consumer-grades to power up Technical Writer and feed Aesop's Pawnshop was not as terrible as I thought it would be out of Kate (decklist).

I think that having Hostage and Tech Trader will work better, and the criminal tools will also help to offset the setup time a bit. Batch-installing HQI and cortez seems nice as well.