Too Big News Deal (4th of 20 @Seattle CO)

This is a modified version of Too Big Two Deal (2nd [3-1], and 4th [3-1] @Vancouver CO). See the original post for more details on the decks core gameplay and objectives. See this post for information on the meta call card changes.

I substituted the following cards for the current meta:
Cut:
- 1x Big Deal
- 1x NGO Front
- 1x Government Subsidy
- 1x SDS Drone Deployment
- 1x Magnet
- 1x Mavirus

Added:
+ 3x News Team
+ 1x Mausolus
+ 1x Audacity
+ 1x Global Food Initiative

The reason for these changes centered about the deck faltering to Esâ Afontov: Eco-Insurrectionist which has been quite dominant in the meta, while still feeling solid into the Hoshiko Shiro: Untold Protagonist matchup, and not anticipating any Shaper, or tag me decks at the CO.

News Team is the main spicy change to the deck this time. The idea is that by having a BOOM! threat, especially if you score a Project Atlas with any counters they'll have to take them as negative points delaying the game, which also still trigger via Archives and is particularly relevant to Esâ Afontov: Eco-Insurrectionist. Note: if you have a Project Atlas with two counters you are threating BOOM! even when in archives so long as you have one Spin Doctor left.

The delay of game here with News Team, and Global Food Initiative is mostly meant for Esâ Afontov: Eco-Insurrectionist, as those games within testing were still close, but didn't have enough time to grind out a win.

Removing the 1x Big Deal is unfortunate, but from testing any Big Deal play vs Esâ Afontov: Eco-Insurrectionist felt like almost a guaranteed game loss, and the other matchups still felt strong enough without it that repurposing the influence to tech against Esâ Afontov: Eco-Insurrectionist was the meta call for this CO.

Removing 1x Magnet was a call for repurposing influence since the Hoshiko Shiro: Untold Protagonist matchup felt alright. Not too much more to say here.

Removing 1x Mavirus was a meta call anticipating no Shaper for the CO. Although, got somewhat punished by 1st, and 3rd unexpectedly bringing Lat: Ethical Freelancer.

CO Results:

DDS:
Round 1: vs Michael [Win]
Played vs Hoshiko Shiro: Untold Protagonist. The matchup feels alright, and nothing of too much to note.

Round 2: vs Eric | Whiteblade111 [Loss]
Played vs Lat: Ethical Freelancer. Wasn't anticipating any shaper. Scored out a Project Atlas with 2 counters, but got followed up with Pantograph triggering a Conduit install and 4 runs on R&D. Disappointed no News Team were hit during the game, as with the Project Atlas counters it would have helped slow down the game. However, instead 3 agendas were hit within the one turn triggering 3 more Pantograph triggers and the game was basically over from there.

Round 3: vs Alex [Win]
Played vs a Maw Hoshiko Shiro: Untold Protagonist. Again the Hoshiko matchup feels alright, and again nothing too much to note.

Round 4: vs Eli | ThatsNoMun [2 for 1 on runner side, so no corp game]

Cut:
Round 1: [Loss]
Got agenda flooded early vs Esâ Afontov: Eco-Insurrectionist. 4 out of the first 8 cards were agendas and an early Legwork hit HQ stealing 5 agenda points early. Was able to claw things back and stabilize with the News Team as desired, and almost won on time, but bad agenda ordering caused the last Regulatory Capture to get sabotaged, rather than scored, leaving a game loss with only 2 cards left in R&D.

Round 2: rolled runner and lost, placing 4th in the overall tournament.

Overall thoughts:
Going into the tournament I was rather concerned about this decks placement in the meta, with rush Esâ Afontov: Eco-Insurrectionist being a pain to deal with.

I never had a News Team get hit before the cut, nor did any Big Deal plays actually happen within this CO. Most of the games were won simply with Audacity, Regulatory Capture, Hostile Takeover, and slow scoring behind some ice. I think the Big Deal is still a worthy inclusion, but it does show that the bare bones of outfit are still strong on their own.

I do also think it is worth keeping a Mavirus in the list, and not completely discounting Shaper from the meta.

Overall, after testing within another competitive event I think it still has a solid place; although, more than likely not a deck to take 1st's with ATM, as once I was in the cut vs 2x Lat: Ethical Freelancer, and 1x Esâ Afontov: Eco-Insurrectionist I didn't have high hopes for a 1st unless I got lucky. Happy with the 4th/20.

Thanks to Abraham | maninthemoon for putting on the CO, Eric | Whiteblade111 for supplying the CO kit and pushing for it to happen plus judging, and Sam | Radiant for judging as well.

Special thanks to all the members of team Muntal Bost for playtesting with me as well!