GRNDL, v. 2

As noted in the prior version of my GRNDL deck, I thought I was playing it wrong, and I also needed to fix the ice. Amazon Industrial Zone wasn’t a good idea as Blackmail protection, so I got rid of it and added two copies of Elizabeth Mills. I got rid of PAD Campaign and Shell Corporation, and added in a Capital Investors. And, also I got rid of Corporate Town. And, ice-wise I got rid of Hadrian’s Wall, one Ice Wall, and Swarm, and added in a Builder, two Enigmas, and a Nebula.

Capital Investors was a bad idea, though: I wasn’t going to protect it, and it doesn’t make enough money in the short term, so I replaced it with a couple of copies of Melange. And I got rid of both copies of Builder and added in a Quicksand.

Here’s the result:

GRNDL, v. 2

GRNDL: Power Unleashed

Agenda (10)

• 2x Corporate War
• 1x Government Contracts
• 1x Hostile Takeover
• 3x Oaktown Renovation
• 3x Project Atlas

Asset (7)

• 2x Elizabeth Mills
• 2x Jackson Howard • •
• 2x Melange Mining Corp.
• 1x Shattered Remains

Operation (13)

• 2x Aggressive Negotiation
• 2x Hedge Fund
• 1x Midseason Replacements ••••
• 3x Restructure
• 3x Scorched Earth
• 2x SEA Source •• ••

Barrier (9)

• 2x Fire Wall
• 2x Ice Wall
• 2x Meru Mati
• 1x Quicksand
• 2x Spiderweb

Code Gate (4)

• 2x Enigma
• 2x Wormhole

Sentry (5)

• 2x Archer
• 2x Nebula
• 1x Taurus

Multi (1)

• 1x Orion

10 influence spent (max 10)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to The Underway

I brought it to a tournament; it went 1-3, and the one win was against a new player who mad some basic mistakes that let me flatline him quickly. It was too slow, and ultimately didn’t have a non-flatline winning condition; I did pretty well on money in several of the games, but my opponents reacted appropriately by getting even more money; that, combined with Film Critic, meant that I couldn’t either flatline them or keep them out.

I suspect that I’m not playing it optimally, but I also suspect that I’m building decks wrong: this one feels too conservative, too slow. I’m thinking that I should spend some time playing good net decks, to understand how a good deck plays (following this advice); hopefully that will give me a better idea of what a good deck feels like. (And it will improve my play at the board, too: if I’m losing, then it’ll be the fault of my play, not of my decks!)