I'm like a dog chasing cars v2

edit: some tune-ups, removing Begemot and Nga to run Stoneship Chart Rooms and Azimats

Agenda points? What are those? My attempt at making a viable mill Esâ post-bankhar ban. The corp has ~10 turns to score out or flatline the runner before this deck shreds R&D. The funniest part of the deck is that we don't actually want agenda points unless they will win us the game since scoring agendas will just raise the threat level leading us to worry about Measured Response or high powered Oppo Research. Depending on how lucky you are with sabotage (hitting Spin Doctors and agendas) the corp may have real difficulty getting back cards they need or scoring out before getting decked.

This deck has a ton of card draw (gourmand, stoneship, nuka, bahia, raindrops) to mitigate the slightly larger deck size. With all our core damage in this kill meta, we're going to need it.

Ultimately this is a control deck - by deliberately choosing to not run Archives we can save the limited run resources we have (Mayfly/Botulus to hit key Chastushkas or blow up their scoring remote. Tons of trash potential through Bahia Bands, Azimat, Gourmand helps fight asset spam and keeps the corp grounded longer. Once fully set up each agenda steal can earn us 3 Sabotage from Cacophony which makes expensive runs much more worth it

Mill Math

• with Marrow and no hand size upgrades, we can get 7 core damage per game for 14 uninteractive Sabotage procs
• with realistically 2 Time Bomb procs per game, 6 Sabotage
• hitting both Chastushka - 8 Sabotage
• realistically 2 Cacophony procs - 6 Sabotage

With these realistic goals in mind, we can get an optimistic average of 34! sabotage in a game provided we draw well, meaning that if the Corp is running a 49 card deck the game will be over by turn ~12 depending on how much they drew. Could be even faster if you tunnel R&D by manual trash/Gourmand. Spin Doctor will be a 3of in any Corp deck but keeps the relative number of cards in R&D the same even if cards are recurred

Experimented with the virus package for even more uninteractive sabotage but realistically, you can only run ~10 viruses and will need Avgustina Ivanovskaya x3 to ensure you draw her earlier for maximum trashing, which will lead to an average of ~7 Sabotage for a 13 slot commitment. By having Ghosttongue instead we can rely on event/run based econ to make up for lack of Fermenter

Deck Guide

Disclaimer: all important cards are at least 2-ofs, ideally you can core damage your trash-trigger events but barring that you may accidentally trash some important cards that will need to be dug for later. Try drawing with Dr. Nuka Vrolyck or Steelskin Scarring first click to prevent trashing an important card

Fun fact: after you install Ghosttongue, TWELVE of the events are free and the other six are 1-2 credits. The credit demands of this deck are also pretty low: 18 cards in the deck can be installed for free with Bahia Bands after you draw 2 (gambling)

Mulligan for: Paladin Poemu, Ghosttongue, Marrow, Bahia Bands, Dr. Nuka Vrolyck, Time Bomb, Azimat

• Paladin Poemu: helps install everything not an event except for Dr. Nuka Vrolyck and Arruaceiras Crew. Free drip econ
• Ghosttongue: as explained earlier you need it to make every event so much better. Always keep in starting hand
• Marrow: We need it ASAP to be able to hold more cards and enable more core damage. Always keep in starting hand
• Bahia Bands, Dr. Nuka Vrolyck: We ideally want to see our hardware ASAP and set up at light speed so we can begin pressuring the corp

• Time Bomb: it's basically a free sabotage 3 early game and enables earlier reinstalls

  • Azimat and Gourmand are both very strong cards early game as they enable you to slow the corp's engine start while not necessarily hampering your own by tossing creds this deck does not have.

Deck Tips:

• Daeg, First Net-Cat- free counters from Daeg are best used on Cacophony followed by Dr. Nuka Vrolyck. Consider not spending Cacophony at 2 so that Daeg, First Net-Cat can still target it (feel free to Sabotage at 3 counters)
• run first or second click to react to tags where possible. Dr. Nuka Vrolyck 1st click to fish for run events for 2nd click is very strong
• Try to not stack core damage such that we are able to get the most out of the free core damage sabotage.
• Opportunistically trash Spin Doctors to prevent agenda recur. Not totally necessary as the Corp will need to occasionally trash them on their own to be able to use more Spin Doctors
• Early game: get hardware/econ/draw set up. Centrals are weaker at this stage of the game so you can Gourmand/Time Bomb where possible. Prioritize ICE and econ with Gourmand. If high trash cost econ/accelerators for the corp show up Gourmand and Bahia Bands should be prioritized for those instead. Use Mayfly and Botulus selectively to break, you may need to breach remote if the corp is trying to rush. Save Overclock for Mayfly to break into heavily defended remotes with Light the Fire!
• Mid game: get Cacophony/Daeg, First Net-Cat set up. Target breakers/Chastushka over HQ and get more Time Bombs set up whenever opportune - sometimes you can just sit back and wait for the bomb to tick while you set up for the next run. Botulus/Mayfly can help us intermittently breach centrals which is good enough.
• Late game: now with the sheer number of cards in Archives (minus whatever agendas they recur) if you can get at least one Agenda you can charge Cacophony twice with Daeg to push them over the edge or score out yourself. If you try this make sure you have enough creds/cards to survive Measured Response and don't run last click to react to any traps
• Light the Fire! is a one-of in this deck to slow down the corp if they manage to set up a scoring remote, as well as an extra core damage proc
• Playing around Measured Response and End of the Line - keep Stoneship Chart Rooms around if the matchup indicates that flatlining is the corp's strat. Late game, keep yourself to 6 core damage maximum so that after ending turn you can stoneship to bring yourself back to 4 cards to tank at least one hit. This deck is too poor to be able to afford the 8 cred tax.