It's been almost a week since the Colorado Regional Tournament for Netrunner, and I feel I'm still working through what happened. While I don't go into tournaments expecting to crush everyone, I would at least like to see my ideas work. At any rate, here's what I came up with this time:
Consume All Data - 46 cards
Identity: Apex - Invasive Predator
Programs
D4v1d - 2 (8 influence)
Endless Hunger - 3
Harbinger - 3
Mimic - 2 (2 influence)
Hardware
Clone Chip - 1 (2 influence, -1 max influence)
Dyson Mem Chip - 3
e3 Feedback Implants - 2 (4 influence)
Heartbeat - 3
Plascrete Carapace - 3
Resources
Hunting Grounds - 3
The Turning Wheel - 3
Wasteland - 3
Events
Apocalypse - 3
Dirty Laundry - 3
Levy AR Lab Access - 1 (3 influence)
Prey - 3
Quality Time - 2 (2 influence)
Sure Gamble - 3
My theory here is that diversifying the breaker suite should allow Apex to get through more troubling ice. Endless Hunger and e3 Feedback Implants allow you to get through anything that has at least one "End the run" subroutine. D4V1D allows you to deal with high strength ice that doesn't have any "End the run" subroutines, such as Assassin or Turing on a remote. Mimic deals with low strength sentries that don't have "End the run" subroutines, such as Cobra. Plus D4V1D has the added benefit of hanging around once its counters are gone, so it can then be used for Endless Hunger or Heartbeat.
Clone Chip gives you a bit more flexibility, especially if you lose a key program during a run. Plus, it can let you recur a spent D4V1D. Dyson Mem Chip is needed to run the full suite, as the +1 memory from Heartbeat isn't enough to hold Endless Hunger, Mimic, and D4V1D simultaneously.
The Turning Wheel seems promising in isolation. I suspect that this card will be eventually changed with errata so that it only can place a counter from a successful run, but for now, you can run repeatedly into an ice on HQ or R&D that just ends the run to build up counters on this for a massive dig. I'm wondering how well this might work in a Criminal deck that takes advantage of Snitch and Au Revoir to make piles of cash.
Last point I want to discuss is the two copies of Quality Time. Originally, I was using Grifter instead, since that gives me money for running, which feels like something the deck should be doing anyway. I swapped Grifter out for Quality Time to add card draw into the deck. But still, I end up drawing a lot of cards by spending clicks, and it feels like I no longer have sufficient economy for this deck.
General Hospital - 44 cards
Identity: Harmony Medtech - Biomedical Pioneer
Agendas - 18 points
Global Food Initiative - 3 (3 influence)
The Future Perfect - 3
Ice
Crick - 2
Komainu - 2
Lotus Field - 3
Susanoo-no-Mikoto - 1
Swordsman - 1
Wall of Static - 3
Wall of Thorns - 2
Assets
Jackson Howard - 3 (3 influence)
Mental Health Clinic - 3
Shi.Kyū - 3
Upgrades
Ash 2X3ZB9CY - 3 (6 influence)
Caprice Nisei - 3
Operations
Cerebral Static - 3
Hedge Fund - 3
Medical Research Fundraiser - 3
As I have stated on the page for this deck, there is nothing original about this deck. It's the Jinteki 6 agenda deck, just for slightly modern times. GFI takes the place of whatever was being used before Data and Destiny came out (I think it was the Source Code fragments, but I could be remembering incorrectly.)
Ice suite is supposed to be kind of diverse. I went with Crick hoping I could use it to get some key upgrades or assets back. Komainu should hurt the runner, and has a kind of synergy with Mental Health Clinic, since the more cards the runner has, the more it will cost them to get through this. Lotus Field can stop a runner early, and can't be affected by Parasite or Datasucker. Susanoo is supposed to go on your scoring remote, but can be placed anywhere except Archives. Swordsman is a one off to deal with Faust. Wall of Static and Wall of Thorns provide some more EtR ice.
I've gone with Mental Health Clinic instead of other drip asset economy mostly because it's cheap to rez and I don't care much about how many cards the runner can hold. I've also picked Medical Research Fundraiser over Celebrity Gift because I don't have enough traps to make Celebrity Gift worthwhile and I don't care about how many credits the runner has. In theory, Ash and Caprice should be able to defend the scoring server, making the amount of money the runner has a little less relevant.
So those are my decks. Let's get on to how badly I did.
Round 1: vs. Marty
Harmony Medtech vs. Valencia Estavez: 3 - 3 L (milled)
Apex vs. Argus Security: 2 - 7 L
Both of these early games were fairly fast. My early attempts to defend in game 1 were in vain, as the combination of Blackmail and DDoS left me unable to stop an Apocalypse. I was able to rebuild after that, and even scored a GFI. However, he still took the other two, and though I did get two Shi.Kyu onto him, he burned one off thanks to Frame Job. After that, he was able to get Eater and Keyhole out and started burning me down. I can't remember if my Swordsman was just burned, or if I put it onto Archives, thinking he would be sure to run there. I suppose instead Swordsman should have gone onto R&D if I had it. End of that game I had a TFP in a remote, with no money to score it, and getting milled out anyway. Second game was frustrating. I was unable to find my breakers, which gave him the time to rush out 4 points. I did snag a Project Atlas off of R&D, but he was still able to rush out the last of the points.
Round 2: vs. Andy
Apex vs. Gagarin Deep Space: 4 - 7 L
Harmony Medtech vs. Nasir Meidan: 6 - 0 W
I play against Andy fairly regularly, so it's interesting to see what directions he goes in. Game one in theory should have been a good match-up for me, but I don't think I saw a single copy of Apocalypse in the game. Or if I did, I installed it face down, thinking another one would come up later. As such, I was unable to adequately deal with the large amount of assets, ended up running out of cash, and lost the game because I ran into an Ash without money. Game two was much better. He went broke installing out equipment, so I put both Ash and Caprice onto the scoring server, and just didn't even bother bringing ice online. Won with two GFIs on this one.
Round 3: vs. Aaron
Harmony Medtech vs. The Professor: 0 - 6 L
Apex vs. NEXT Design: 2 - 7 L
I have no notes on this match, as it put me into tilt. What I do remember is that game one went very badly. He was able to get his setup quick enough that nothing I did mattered. Game two started off poorly. He scored out an Accelerated Beta Test, building up his defenses. I was able to land an Apocalypse after that, but he still rebuilt much more easily than I did. Once again, I believe I ran out of cash, giving him the game.
Round 4: vs. Brian
Apex vs. Near-Earth Hub: 6 - 7 L
Harmony Medtech vs. Ken "Express" Tenma: 6 - 2 W
One again, ended up losing a game as Apex that should have been a good match-up for me. I ended up having to dig through most of my deck in order to find the first copy of Endless Hunger. Before that, I was able to put some pressure onto R&D thanks to D4V1D, since he chose to protect it with Little Engine, which had the added benefit of giving me extra cash. I think I ended up snagging two copies of Explode-a-palooza and one AstroScript Pilot Program, but he got up to 6 points as well. I tried digging for the last one in R&D, but he ended up scoring out a 3 for 2 agenda thanks to SanSan City Grid. Second game was better for me. I was able to drain out his money, and while he was able to nab one GFI, he messed up using The Maker's Eye at one point where he couldn't get in. As such, I managed to score out a GFI and a TFP.
Round 5: vs. Natalie
Harmony vs. Hayley Kaplan: 3 - 6 L
Apex vs. Building a Better World: 7 - 4 W
First game, I was able to get a Cerebral Static off on the second turn, which turned out to be the right play, since she spent the first turn building up money through events. Unfortunately, her deck turned my own against me. She took a Shi.Kyu only to turn it around with Liberated Chela and Hyperdriver. Plus, the moment I started setting up my scoring server with Wall of Thorns, she managed to get out a Morning Star onto a NetChip, making my barriers nearly useless. She then got out a Garrote and a Torch, the latter making my Lotus Fields nearly useless. After that, she took a GFI from me and was able to install two more Hyperdrivers, two more Liberated Chela, and all three of Fan Site, making it impossible for me to win. I decided to score out the one GFI, which gave her the Fan Sites. Her final turn was burning the Hyperdrivers to give herself 10 clicks for the turn, which would let her use both Liberated Chelas if needed. I decided to not even bother forfeiting for the first one. Game two was interesting. I suppose I should have known this was the 6 agenda deck. I did end up having enough time to build up my rig. As such, she was able to get an early Hostile Takeover. After that, I thought I was fortunate to snag a Vanity Project off of R&D, but that ended up being taken from me, thanks to the combination of Consulting Visit, SEA Source and Exchange of Information. After that, I built up counters on The Turning Wheel by running into a Meru Mati on HQ repeatedly, then made a run on HQ hoping to dig out agendas. By luck, the first card I pulled was Government Takeover, giving me the game.
Post-Game Analysis
Thinking on this, I won the corp games where I was able to keep the runner poor. As such, I should reconsider ice to be more taxing. I should also probably reconsider Biomedical Research Fundraiser. Finally, I may want to reconsider Shi.Kyu for something more taxing. Originally, I was contemplating using News Team instead of Ash, but these cards don't seem to have as much benefit now, since there are so many cards people are utilizing that require the forfeit of agendas. As for Apex, I still want to reconsider both economy and card draw. Perhaps I should bring back Chop Bot 3000 for some card draw. Plus, I may need a better form of drip economy. Data Folding might be the answer to that, but I would have to bring back Leprechaun to get the space I need. Or perhaps I should consider Scheherazade to get money from installing programs.
Out of 38 participants, my dismal performance earned me 35th place.
Well, that's all for now. Until next time, I have no snappy sign-out for you.
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