italiano gangster - 1st & undefeated @ Bologna CO 2022

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Repartition by Cost
Repartition by Strength
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
(copied) italiano gangster but without the scary bit
Jinteki Prickles
italiano gangster copy
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koga 3002

il guiot giusto ti punta il ferro, che fai?

Italiano Gangster is a relatively unknown NA Dota 2 player. My brain keeps bringing up his name for some reason, so I just had to use it.

This is the wonderful RH list that carried me to 1st place @ Bologna CO last weekend. It's not meant as an ugly mill deck, though some of their tools are also here and Maxx often hates you - it's meant as a way faster deck that can close out if the runner isn't careful about both cards in hand and money. Sometimes you end up taking your time, but it's mostly due to the runner not wanting to run into Kakugo or Mwanza or being busy drawing and giving you some breathing room.

Some cards notes:

  • Mwanza:

    I decided to play this card the night before the tournament, along with Snares, because I didn't really feel the impact of La Costa + Bio Vault. I figured it was gonna be nice with Punitive as it creates 10/15 credits swings by itself, while helping the runner steal Bacterial (and eat a Snare while they're at it). I realized it often functions as a defensive upgrade for centrals, as the runner tries to avoid the server because they're afraid of dying, meaning you get to hide agendas or other trashables because of it.

  • Bio Vault:

    I'm not super sure about this slot, but it should be something that helps you win the game. I thought it was gonna be nice considering Deep Dive is a card, but could just as well be a Gene Splicer to get to 7 more easily.

  • Fairchild 2.0:

    I'm a big fan of this card in this meta. I think it's a great taxing ice, as it has great numbers against the most popular breakers around. It suffers greatly from Amina, but it's quite rare and I didn't face it at all lately. You have the next ice here to punish that awful breaker anyway. Don't forget credits matter a lot in Punitive decks.

  • Mind Game:

    Almost nobody plays this, but it's pretty great..? I rez it for 0 and the runner has to almost always break for 2/3 to avoid potentially facing an Anansi or some other more taxing ice while being redirected.

  • Sadaka:

    Many Shaper lists don't run painting abilities or AI. This deals with Caldera / Guru by itself and can often trash DJs, Beths and TTWs in other matchups. Always solid.

Overall the deck performed amazingly well, going 7-0 on the day. The games featured 2 Snare kills, a 6-0 timed win and a bunch of Punitive kills. For some reason killing after a Bacterial steal seems way easier compared to an Obokata, because the runner is forced to steal and you get to draw 7 to get both econ and the second Punitive you're often missing. The day overall was just great, I missed seeing all my friends for so long and I couldn't be happier being there. The win is just icing on the cake.

11 comments
21 Jun 2022 Council

Very nice, though I wonder how you'll win against runners who sit back while you score 2 agendas. How do you establish economic advantage over this?

21 Jun 2022 ayyyliens

Mwanza HYPE

21 Jun 2022 koga

@ayyyliens :D

@DonLoverGate I think criminals might be the ones that can do that best and they're also the ones I have the least amount of info about. Thing is, if they get filthy rich they can deal with Punitive, but they still have to crack your remote to steal Obokata. Even if they do manage to get rich, it's also likely at the cost of many cards in their stack, as most of their econ is event based. I'm not saying games are easy - they never are - but you might consider focusing on something other than Punitive against them. If they manage to get lots of drip early, protect their Caldera forever and all that, well, maybe they just drew very well :)

24 Jun 2022 Saan

Hey, this is actually pretty cool! I was playing a similar list out of Palana for a bit, but I like the fact that you can only do just 6 agendas rather than having to have an awkward 7th.

28 Jun 2022 Menghini

Love the deck, Koga! Another suggestion for the Bio Vault: perhaps a Voter Intimidation to (maybe) get to trash another resource?

30 Jun 2022 koga

@Saan thanks! I didn't even consider Palana to be honest, having 6 agendas just seemed a no brainer for me. The higher chances of you finding the good cards in your deck also isn't nothing, especially with the Bacterial draws.

@Menghini thank you! An earlier version of the deck had Voter in it, but I decided to play Sadaka instead. The main issue I see with it is that the runner has to have an agenda in the score area, which isn't nothing, but let me know how the deck feels with a bunch of variations ^^

1 Jul 2022 maninthemoon

Looks really good, congrats!

8 Jul 2022 lopert

Would you play Neurospike as an alternate wincon for runners who wait for you to score 6 before acting? Seems like you could do decently by going IAA->AAA-> Score, 2x Neuro

8 Jul 2022 koga

@maninthemoon <3

@lopert I think you could, but you'd have to rethink some parts of the deck a little bit, maybe even change the overall shell. Dedicating 2/3 slots to Neurospike seems like a lot, especially considering you might want La Costa as it helps that plan even more. Bacterial surely helps find the pieces you need, so the agenda suite is probably at least very similar. Maybe try that out in Saraswati with a few traps around too? Making the runner eat a 3-adv Cerebral Overwriter might just basically ensure you win either with Obokatas or a single Neurospike.

8 Jul 2022 lopert

I gave it a bit of thought and tried to fit them in and I couldn't really get over how bad iAA AAAing something would feel. I think Gene Splicer is a smoother fit for the 7th point.

8 Jul 2022 lopert

I take it back once again haha. Gene Splicer seems bad because it costs just as much as a 5/3 to score, and still takes 2 turns. At that point I think it's better to just play the agenda and win, or the runner takes it and then has to deal with punitive.