Salem Security

Thought experiment on an anti-SVA deck, based off the conversations had in Stimslack.

SVA Mill's low interactivity is notable: when executed properly, it doesn't actually have a window of opportunity for the corp to exploit. No programs are laid down, except as a backup plan; no resources are installed until its combo turn. All it does is steadily accrue the key cards needed to go off, and then mill the corp for 30+ at once.

The most recent version is even immune to Scarcity of Resources from impacting its math, thanks to cheap 0-cost currents to lay down on its combo turn.

However: "key cards" is, as it happens, also the key word here. If it is unable to acquire the necessary cards, it's unable to go off. So if we're able to decisively attack the runner's hand before the combo turn and deprive them of the necessary cards, we should be able to rein it in. But can we do that and still have an adequately functional corp deck at the end of the day?

Denial Strategy

There are a number of possible solutions to the SVA puzzle, but a lot of them are painfully silver-bullet in function. Genetics Pavilion, for instance, actively prevents the runner from exploiting BOB to get the combo turn off -- but there ought to be plenty of ways to shoehorn in asset-trashers anyhow, on top of not affecting runners that are okay with only two additional cards a turn -- or fewer.

It also necessitates that you dip into asset-oriented strategies to support it -- which, in turn, is an uncertain fate given rumors that both Estelle Moon and Friends in High Places are on the upcoming MWL update. Not to mention that slots for specific hate cards are tight anyhow.

A more direct hand denial approach would generally not be safe either, given the wide range of available recursion cards for the Runner -- except, of course, if you're playing Skorpios Defense Systems: Persuasive Power.

Which is where Ibrahim Salem comes in.

Salem's disruption strategies, aided by what is now an ubiquitous Kala Ghoda Real TV core originally pioneered by smoons, may be the answer we need. Their lack of runs and interaction is deadly, allowing the corp to leave the TV running all game and snoop out what's coming. With a few more cards (notably: Blacklist and MCA Informant), you also gain influence-free access to Salem's Hospitality and Ibrahim Salem himself.

Now you have full knowledge of their hand, how close they are to the combo, and the ability to stomp flat their win condition for two credits. Or so the theory goes.

Resilience

Of course, the criterion here is that this is a functional deck even if it isn't facing SVA Mill. And I think it has the core competencies. At the end of the day, SVA or no, it's still a Rigshooter. Blacklist stops conspiracy breakers that slip through your Kala Ghoda TV net, MCA Informant knocks out annoying Connections that bottom-line other Runner strategies, and anything else you can luck out by a few good Underway Renovation advancements.

The econ base should be pretty sound for a 44-count deck too. Advanceable ice makes up the majority here, supported by Dedication Ceremony for a one-click three-advancement activation. That means you give Mass Commercialization plenty to work with -- which, if it comes down to it, means you ought to have the econ support way, way, way later in the game to just make a really effin' big Fire Wall and Colossus combo to lock them out of the scoring remote.

Additionals

This is, of course, my first draft at an SVA "answer" of sorts. There is conceivably some slot space you can budge around for other key cards -- I'm thinking Macrophage and/or Cyberdex Virus Suite may prove necessities in the face of Aumakua and other viral shenanigans. The decision to leave out Hunter Seeker, too, may be a bit of a mistake.

But all that, in turn, rather depends on how the meta shakes out by Worlds. And, most importantly, how the next MWL update pans out. While I suspect that nothing here will be affected by it, its effect on the viability of other decks has emergent impact on everything else.

So it goes with competitive metas.