Galactic Ice deck, final version

Backfilling my Netrunner decks, here’s the final version of my prior corp deck, where I tried out the galactic ice from the most recent big box:

galactic (49 cards)

Weyland Consortium: Because We Built It

Agenda (10)

• 2 Firmware Updates
• 2 Government Contracts
• 3 NAPD Contract
• 3 Project Atlas

Asset (6)

• 1 Edge of World **
• 3 Jackson Howard * * *
• 2 Melange Mining Corp

Upgrade (1)

• 1 Cyberdex Virus Suite

Operation (14)

• 2 Beanstalk Royalties
• 3 Hedge Fund
• 3 Punitive Counterstrike
• 2 Restructure
• 1 Subliminal Messaging
• 3 Trick of Light *** *** ***

Barrier (6)

• 3 Asteroid Belt
• 3 Ice Wall

Code Gate (5)

• 1 Lotus Field *
• 1 Quandary
• 3 Wormhole

Sentry (5)

• 2 Archer
• 3 Nebula

ICE (2)

• 2 Orion

I’d tried out Because We Built It when the card first appeared, and it had failed miserably; it seemed like time to try it again, and this version is playable but not great. (It went 1-3 in the last tournament I played in, and that’s not at all surprising.) It’s slow; once it really gets going, the servers are strong, but it frequently doesn’t last that long, and the first few turns in particular can be brutal. Sometimes the Punitive Counterstrikes land; there’s also a good amount of program destruction possibilities, and Firmware Updates helps me feed the Archers. (Actually, playing the deck has gotten me perfectly happy sacrificing a two-point agenda to feed an Archer in the right situation.)

In previous iterations, I had some of the assets/upgrades that help with advanceable ice; Satellite Grid really wasn’t worth it, and while Constellation Protocol certainly had its moments, I ultimately decided that I needed money more. (If one of my coworkers didn’t have such a virus-heavy deck, maybe I would have left in one Constellation Protocol and ditched Cyberdex?)

I am a big fan of Ice Wall: it gives you a bit of defense in your first few turns while advancing the galactic ice. And Trick of Light is an absolute key card in this deck: I usually hold off on using it until I’ve got an agenda scored, but once I’ve got two points, using one to score a 3/2 agenda out of hand and then using two to score an installed but unadvanced 5/3 agenda is great.