For the third iteration of my Spark Agency deck, I mostly wanted to take the prior version (which felt pretty solid to me) and make it Most Wanted List compliant. I had three Astroscripts, two NAPDs, three SanSans, and an Eli, so obviously I had work to do.

Having said that, most of that work was pretty clear: I had an Adonis Campaign and an Eve Campaign, and I wasn’t feeling either of those, so that freed up 5 influence. Replacing the Eli with a TMI gave me one MWL influence and one regular influence, too. So that took care of the Astroscripts and the SanSans; I replaced them with Explode-A-Paloozas, and I was all set. Or at least all set for MWL compliance; Turnpike hadn’t been doing me any good, so I replaced it with a Tollbooth.

And, honestly, I like the new version better. There’s a reason why I didn’t like the expensive campaigns, TMI is good if you can rez it when the runner is broke, and while it’s nice if the runner can’t steal NAPD, the credits from Explode-A-Palooza has been extremely useful a couple of times.

Spark Agency, v. 3 (a.k.a. Deals Galore!)

Spark Agency: Worldswide Reach

Agenda (10)

• 3x AstroScript Pilot Program ☆☆☆
• 2x Explode-a-palooza
• 1x Global Food Initiative •
• 3x Project Beale
• 1x 15 Minutes

Asset (10)

• 2x Daily Business Show
• 3x Jackson Howard
• 2x Launch Campaign
• 3x PAD Campaign

Upgrade (7)

• 2x Cyberdex Virus Suite
• 2x Product Placement
• 3x SanSan City Grid ☆☆☆

Operation (6)

• 2x Biotic Labor •••• ••••
• 2x Hedge Fund
• 2x Sweeps Week

Barrier (3)

• 1x TMI
• 2x Wraparound

Code Gate (8)

• 1x Archangel
• 2x Enigma
• 3x Pop-up Window
• 2x Tollbooth

Sentry (2)

• 2x Assassin

Other (3)

• 3x Special Offer

9 influence spent (max 15-6=9)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Data and Destiny

My NetrunnerDB description:

A pretty basic fast advance core, though I can’t claim to be a fast advance expert, and I probably play this deck more slowly than is wise. Spark Agency helps keep the runner poor through the card ability and their desire to trash assets; and sudden infusions of cash (Special Offer, Explode-a-palooza, etc.) mean that I can rez expensive ice more frequently than I’m used to when playing NBN, or that I can blow money advancing agendas. And the upgrades give possibilities for misrepresenting servers as holding agendas: it’s always fun to have your opponent blow a scoring window on a two-upgrade server that earns you a couple of credits.

I’m not at all sure what to do next; it seems pretty solid, I’ll bring it to a tournament this Saturday and see how it does.

I liked the second version of my Sunny deck quite a bit more than its predecessors; so my next goal was to get it down to 50 cards (from 52) and to speed up my draw.

I added a third Drug Dealer, to speed things up. I thought about adding Modded, but that’s a click and a play for three cards, which isn’t a lot of efficiency; I decided to try out Mr. Li, on hopes that he would get the key cards early. I’d been flush in economy, so I got rid of the third Modded (The Supplier takes care of Hardware, and I can afford to pay for one of my icebreakers out of pocket) and my Dr. Lovegood (early in the game I can sequence things to avoid the Drug Dealer tax, and at the end of the game I’ll have a 3-5 credit drip even without Dr. Lovegood, which is more than enough). That’s neutral on cards and influence; to slim down to 50, I got rid of one Plascrete and one Datasucker.

Here’s the result:

Sun Supply (a.k.a. Sunny, v. 3)

Sunny Lebeau: Security Specialist

Event (7)

• 2x Dirty Laundry
• 2x Modded •• ••
• 3x Sure Gamble

Hardware (9)

• 1x Plascrete Carapace
• 3x Rabbit Hole • • •
• 2x Security Chip
• 3x Security Nexus

Resource (27)

• 1x Adjusted Chronotype ••
• 3x Daily Casts
• 3x Data Folding
• 3x Drug Dealer • • •
• 3x Earthrise Hotel
• 2x Globalsec Security Clearance
• 2x Jak Sinclair
• 1x Mr. Li ••
• 3x Power Tap • • •
• 3x The Supplier •• •• ••
• 3x Underworld Contact

Icebreaker (6)

• 2x GS Sherman M3
• 2x GS Shrike M2
• 2x GS Striker M1

Program (1)

• 1x Datasucker •

24 influence spent (max 25)
50 cards (min 50)
Cards up to Data and Destiny

One of my coworkers had the bright idea that we should start playing each others’ decks; and I like this deck and have learned enough about how to play it that I figured I should write up notes on it. I’ve put them on NetrunnerDB, but I’ll put them here as well:

This deck takes a while to set up, but once it gets going, it’s almost unstoppable: once set up, it’s common to be able to break into any server while making a profit over the course of the turn. I haven’t taken it in its current form to any tournaments, but my guess is that it’s still a little too slow to deal with a good fast advance, but it’s a lot of fun.

You want to get out The Supplier as quickly as possible; mulligan if you don’t either get The Supplier or Drug Dealer, and install Drug Dealer as soon as possible as well. (Usually just pay the credit instead of putting it on The Supplier.) Then you want to get as many cards drawn as possible and installed with the help of The Supplier; Earthrise Hotel is your friend (but don’t install it before you have The Supplier), and of course drip economy is good. Also, get out Rabbit Hole when you see it, both to thin out your deck (install all three copies at once, hopefully with a two-credit discount from The Supplier), to reduce the chance of traces landing, and to set up the Security Nexus / Power Tap combo.

During this phase, pay attention to the timing of your beginning-of-turn actions: you’ll be running poor, but the advantage is, many turns, you’ll be able to sequence your actions to not have to pay the Drug Dealer tax. Do only as much running as is necessary to keep the corp honest on remote servers and to make them rez a bit of ice; also, as Modded shows up, you can start getting your breakers out. And definitely get Security Nexus installed, don’t forget that you can use The Supplier for hardware as well. Make sure you use The Supplier every turn; if you have too much stuff stacked up there, consider just installing cheap resources (e.g. Underworld Contact) directly.

Once you’ve got your console, and some money, you can start running a bit more; depending on what parts of your rig, you may use Globalsec to snipe some assets, or you may get free Datasucker tokens off of Jak Sinclair. Also, if you have Power Tap installed, you might be able make a profit during those runs, by forcing traces with your console where you have 6 link.

And then, once the full rig is out, money will be flowing in, Power Tap is even more of a profit center, and you can break into anything. For a fully iced-up server, you’ll need Security Chip; don’t be afraid to use them, just pick your spots.

There’s no recursion, so try to avoid throwing away your extra copies of your icebreakers; you should generally have room in your hand anyways.

I think I’ll take it to the tournament next week in this form. Right now, the two cards I’m most dubious about are Mr. Li and Adjusted Chronotype: I almost never use the former (though it may still be useful when dealing with particularly bad draws?), and the latter is really there more out of loss aversion than anything else, buy the time I’m leaning on Globalsec I can generally live without the extra click.

I’m not entirely sure what to put in its place, though. Something to let me put a little more pressure in the early-middle game, maybe Special Order or Inside Job? Tag defense? Add back in that second Datasucker? Add in a third Security Chip, and don’t be afraid to use it earlier? Multithreader, to let me afford to make runs earlier even with expensive icebreakers? Hard to say…

In the previous version of my Spark Agency deck, I get much benefit out of Team Sponsorship; that was partially my fault, I suspect, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I was feeling Turtlebacks, but a draw, an install, and two credits means that I have to install four more servers for one to break even, and while my deck is horizontal, it’s not that horizontal.

So that gave me five slots and five influence to play around with. Cyberdex had been useful, so I added a second one; I’d seen some games where City Surveillance had been quite annoying, so I threw in a couple of those; and I added two more ads and used up my influence with an Adonis Campaign and an Eve Campaign.

City Surveillance cost too much to rez and to protect, though, and I’m really not built around tags, so I got rid of those, adding in a third Jackson and a second Product Placement.

Here’s the result:

Spark Agency, v. 2

Spark Agency: Worldswide Reach

Agenda (10)

• 3x AstroScript Pilot Program
• 1x Global Food Initiative •
• 2x NAPD Contract
• 3x Project Beale
• 1x 15 Minutes

Asset (10)

• 1x Adonis Campaign ••
• 2x Daily Business Show
• 1x Eve Campaign •••
• 3x Jackson Howard
• 3x PAD Campaign

Upgrade (7)

• 2x Cyberdex Virus Suite
• 2x Product Placement
• 3x SanSan City Grid

Operation (6)

• 2x Biotic Labor •••• ••••
• 2x Hedge Fund
• 2x Sweeps Week

Barrier (3)

• 1x Eli 1.0 •
• 2x Wraparound

Code Gate (7)

• 1x Archangel
• 2x Enigma
• 3x Pop-up Window
• 1x Tollbooth

Sentry (3)

• 2x Assassin
• 1x Turnpike

Other (3)

• 3x Special Offer

15 influence spent (max 15)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Data and Destiny

It went 2 and 2 at the tournament this month; that’s not awesome, and there were too many situations where my ice in particular didn’t feel right. I’m starting to get comfortable playing without much ice if I’m doing fast advance; but I’m not really playing that deck like fast advance much of the time. Also, Turnpike makes absolutely no sense in this deck.

So: changes ahead! And I have nine cards on the Most Wanted List to deal with. Which could be bad, but the Adonis Campaign and Eve Campaign aren’t really doing me much good; that’s half the difference, at least.

I want to stick with Sunny for a while: I’m not in the habit of getting to know a deck, and I figured my Data & Destiny decks are as good choices as any. But the prior version of my Sunny deck didn’t feel like it was just a tweak or two away from being great, so I figured I would look more broadly.

I’d been ignoring Security Chip; given that there are so few in-faction cards, I figured I should try them all out! I also poked around NetrunnerDB for other Sunny decks; Sunny Taps Out was one I looked at, and in particular it suggested that Career Fair could get Data Folding working in a way it didn’t in the zeroth version of my deck. I also hadn’t thought of using Rabbit Hole to get Power Tap working.

I tried that for a bit, and then I saw another deck (I think it was a Kate deck, actually?) that had The Supplier; I decided to work with that instead of Career Fair.

Here’s the current version:

Sunny Lebeau, v. 2

Sunny Lebeau: Security Specialist

Event (8)

• 2x Dirty Laundry
• 3x Modded •• •• ••
• 3x Sure Gamble

Hardware (10)

• 2x Plascrete Carapace
• 3x Rabbit Hole • • •
• 2x Security Chip
• 3x Security Nexus

Resource (26)

• 1x Adjusted Chronotype ••
• 3x Daily Casts
• 3x Data Folding
• 1x Dr. Lovegood •
• 2x Drug Dealer • •
• 3x Earthrise Hotel
• 2x Globalsec Security Clearance
• 2x Jak Sinclair
• 3x Power Tap • • •
• 3x The Supplier •• •• ••
• 3x Underworld Contact

Icebreaker (6)

• 2x GS Sherman M3
• 2x GS Shrike M2
• 2x GS Striker M1

Program (2)

• 2x Datasucker • •

25 influence spent (max 25)
52 cards (min 50)
Cards up to Data and Destiny

This deck has been hilarious against my coworkers. It’s very slow to get started, but once it gets going, the amount of money it generates is unbelievable. And if my coworkers aren’t thinking and have tracer ice out there, it’s just absurd: e.g. I remember one game where there were two copies of Viper in front of R&D, and I could start my turn making a click-free run that netted me 8 credits (I only had two of my Power Taps) in profit plus a Datasucker token.

Like I said, though: it’s slow to get started. I spend quite a while doing very little in the way of offense, just building up my rig, and against a fast advance opponent that’s enough time to win the game. Then there are maybe two turns where it feels like a normal deck, and then a switch flips and I have more money than I’ve ever seen and can break into anything. So if I can make it that long, I’ll win; if I can’t, I’ll lose. That means that, against my coworkers, I win, but when I took it to a tournament, I went 2-2 with it (with one win on time), and I felt lucky that it had gone that well.

I’m going to stick with it and see what I can do to improve it: get rid of the two extra cards, try to get in a little bit more draw, see if there’s anything I can do to give me early options. And just learn how to play it better: I do, for example, need to start running a little bit more at the start just to force my opponent to rez cards, and to at least pretend a bit that I’m not just going to sit back for turn after turn.

The initial version of my Spark Agency deck did quite well. Which, I guess, isn’t a big surprised: I’d been playing a netdecked fast advance deck before then, so I’d gotten a better at playing that style, and building a deck with those same capabilities but with econ attack and some horizontal assets mixed in turned out to work fine.

In fact, I left it alone for two or three weeks: the only thing I was sure about from the early playtesting was that Adonis Campaign wasn’t the right choice: I wasn’t going to defend it, and it’s too expensive to rez just to cost the opponent a credit. I was pretty sure that a straight up swap with Launch Campaign would have been an advantage, but I mostly wanted to get my deck down to 49 cards instead of do a small tweak. Also, I kept on forgetting to use Team Sponsorship, but I wasn’t yet convinced that that was evidence that the card was a bad fit: it still seemed like a good idea to get advertisements out of the trash.

One of my coworkers was playing an Apex deck, and I was more vulnerable against that than I would have liked: Apex can attack both aspects of Tollbooth just fine, and Wraparound is also no problem. But I didn’t want to focus too much on that, either.

Ultimately, I decided that the big experiment that wasn’t working was Rebranding Team / Media Blitz. Yes, having more assets marked as advertisements is useful, but I don’t have that many non-advertisement assets, and chances are some will already be out before Rebranding Team comes into play; and if my goal is to cost my opponents money, then most of the time NAPD Contract will cost them more money than Rebranding Team would. And, without Rebranding Team, Media Blitz is useless; and, again, it’s not at all clear that Media Blitz will hurt my opponent more than it will cost me, even if Rebranding Team is there.

So I got rid of both copies of Media Blitz and replaced three copies of Rebranding Team with two copies of NAPD Contact (adding to the one I already had). That put me at 51 cards, so I had to get rid of two more to make it legal; I got rid of Adonis Campaign for one, and that freed up some influence that I could use to replace my third NAPD Contract and my License Acquisition with a Global Food Initiative. (I was sad to see License Acquisition go, but not sad enough to want to ditch something else.) That put me at 49 cards, with one influence to spare; I used that influence to swap one Wraparound with an Eli 1.0, and I also swapped my second Tollbooth for a second Assassin. (I’ve really liked how Assassin plays; and I’d doing well enough scoring without a particularly well-defended remote, whereas putting an Assassin in front of a central can really mess up my opponent.)

Here’s the result:

Spark Agency, v. 1

Spark Agency: Worldswide Reach

Agenda (10)

• 3x AstroScript Pilot Program
• 1x Global Food Initiative •
• 2x NAPD Contract
• 3x Project Beale
• 1x 15 Minutes

Asset (12)

• 2x Daily Business Show
• 2x Jackson Howard
• 3x PAD Campaign
• 2x Team Sponsorship • •
• 3x Turtlebacks • • •

Upgrade (5)

• 1x Cyberdex Virus Suite
• 1x Product Placement
• 3x SanSan City Grid

Operation (6)

• 2x Biotic Labor •••• ••••
• 2x Hedge Fund
• 2x Sweeps Week

Barrier (3)

• 1x Eli 1.0 •
• 2x Wraparound

Code Gate (7)

• 1x Archangel
• 2x Enigma
• 3x Pop-up Window
• 1x Tollbooth

Sentry (3)

• 2x Assassin
• 1x Turnpike

Other (3)

• 3x Special Offer

15 influence spent (max 15)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Data and Destiny

I like it, and it’s been doing well. I can keep my opponent off their game, I can either run horizontal economy or make them spend money trashing that economy. It’s low on icebreakers (once you get ignore the six advertisements), but it’s got enough to slow them down and I’ve got enough money and tools to be able to score agendas without much protection. (I don’t like rezzing a San San knowing that my opponent will trash it next turn, but it turns out that I’ve got enough money to make that work.)

I imagine the next tweaks that I make will be on the ice: e.g. I’m not convinced Turnpike is a great fit, or that I need three copies of Special Offer. And I’m tempted to add in Launch Campaign and/or more copies of Product Placement. We’ll see how the new version does.

The initial version of my Sunny Lebeau deck won sometimes, but not particularly reliably. If it went long enough, then I could get a fair number of credits at the start of each turn, a free run, and a look at the top of R&D; but it took a while for that to build up, and breaking into a scoring remote, while possible, was a bit expensive. Also, it was at 52 cards, making a bloated ID even more bloated.

So I decided that I needed more money, and that I couldn’t count as much on drip economy. I like the idea of Data Folding, but it’s three credits to install and requires me to keep memory, and I’m not leaning quite so much on cloud breakers that I’m sure I’ll always have the memory. So I got rid of the three of those plus the two Dyson Mem Chips. Also, Power Tap didn’t seem to quite be pulling its weight; I used that influence on a Security Testing, since that would dovetail well with Jak Sinclair.

I replaced a Clone Chip with an SMC (fortunately, I had one influence that I hadn’t been using): with a big deck, I needed to get cards out of my deck more often than out of trash, so two SMC and one Clone Chip made more sense than the reverse. To replace the drip economy that I’d lost with the earlier changes, I added in a third Dirty Laundry and a third Sure Gamble, and three Daily Casts. Also, with the loss of Power Tap and Dyson Mem Chip, traces were going to be more expensive again; with Security Nexus, that could be a problem, so I put in two copies of Access to Globalsec. And, finally, I got rid of my two copies of Traffic Jam, to bring it down to 50 cards.

That version felt a lot better: I would typically start off the game with quite a bit more cash than my opponent, and with enough ways to make trouble (an early Jak Sinclair and Security Nexus, say) to keep my opponent a bit on the defensive. (C.f. the first stage of Noah McKee’s Plan.) In the middle of the game, though, it would get a bit bogged down: I wouldn’t have a full icebreaker rig out, and the money could go away surprisingly quickly. So I wanted a bit more draw: I added a Quality Time, getting rid of a Mimic to pay for the influence, I added a second Shrike so I would still have two sentry breakers, and I got rid of an Access to Globalsec to stay at 50.

Then one of my coworkers had a deck with Surveillance Sweep; that really scares me, because it has the potential to destroy my econ advantage, so I decided to add back in my two copies of Traffic Jam as current removal. (And as Astrochain defense.) To make room for those, I got rid of both copies of Overmind: I’d been leaning on Overmind early, but with the Dysons gone, I didn’t have the memory to pull it off, and Overmind really is pretty expensive to use. Also, I had yet to use Deus X, so I swapped it out for a Film Critic. (Shrike helps in some situations where Deus X is important, in particular it’s great against Komainu.)

Here’s the result:

Sunny, v. 1

Sunny Lebeau: Security Specialist

Event (9)

• 3x Dirty Laundry
• 1x Quality Time •
• 3x Sure Gamble
• 2x Traffic Jam

Hardware (6)

• 1x Clone Chip ••
• 1x Plascrete Carapace
• 1x R&D Interface ••
• 3x Security Nexus

Resource (24)

• 1x Access to Globalsec
• 1x Adjusted Chronotype ••
• 3x Daily Casts
• 3x Earthrise Hotel
• 1x Film Critic •
• 3x Globalsec Security Clearance
• 3x Jak Sinclair
• 2x Kati Jones
• 1x Security Testing •••
• 3x Symmetrical Visage
• 3x Underworld Contact

Icebreaker (6)

• 1x Corroder ••
• 1x GS Sherman M3
• 2x GS Shrike M2
• 1x GS Striker M1
• 1x ZU.13 Key Master ••

Program (5)

• 2x Datasucker • •
• 1x Parasite ••
• 2x Self-modifying Code ••• •••

25 influence spent (max 25)
50 cards (min 50)
Cards up to Data and Destiny

It’s been doing pretty well? I like the economy; I would say 6 icebreakers feels small in a 50-card deck, except I have three copies of Security Nexus, so it’s really 9 icebreakers. Security Nexus and Shrike are more expensive than I would like, but so far I’ve had enough economy that I can get out Security Nexus without destroying my economy. And the increased economy means that I’m now happy to see an Earthrise Hotel instead of worried—in earlier versions, just playing Earthrise Hotel would use up lots of my money, which would mean that I wouldn’t have the money to install the cards I was drawing, but with more money it turns into a happy cascade.

I haven’t been getting as much use out of Datasucker as I expected; I’m still leaving them in there, partly because it’s good to get active benefits out of runs and partly because, with the tanks, one Datasucker token can frequently save two credits. I’m still not convinced that I need all three copies of Security Nexus, Jak Sinclair, and Globalsec Security Clearance, but they’re all actively helpful and in-faction, so I’m sticking with them for now.

I got Spark Agency when we divvied up the corp Data and Destiny identities at work; I like hurting my opponent as the corp, so it seemed like a natural fit, though looking through the cards I’m actually getting a bit curious about SYNC as well.

When building the deck, I initially went into too many directions. I thought about going horizontal with a bunch of traps and no remote ice; I thought about having a bunch of tags. But when I threw in all the cards that came to my mind, I had close to 100 cards, so obviously I need to figure out a plan and pare things down.

I’ve been doing a netdecked NEH fast advance deck recently; I’m not very good at it yet, which I’m taking a sign that I have a lot to learn and that I should stick with that until I learn how to play it. So I decided to ultimately give up on the punishment / fake ideas that I was floating around, and stick with a fast advance that’s more horizontal because of all the advertisements.

Speaking of advertisements, I only included one Adonis Campaign and no copies of either Eve Campaign, Launch Campaign, or Rex Campaign. But I have 3 each of PAD Campaign, Pop-up Window, and Special Offer, and one Product Placement. And I’m doing Team Turtlebacks; I also three copies of Rebranding Team to try to turn those cards into advertisements, plus a couple copies of Media Blitz to let me activate Rebranding Team when it gets stolen.

It’s light on ice (16 of them, but 3 are Special Offer that is only econ plus (probably) a one-time 1-credit Runner tax); I’m hoping that that will help me commit to advancing quickly. 54 cards for now, though of course I’ll bring it down soon.

Spark Agency, v. 0

Spark Agency: Worldswide Reach

Agenda (12)

• 3x AstroScript Pilot Program
• 1x License Acquisition
• 1x NAPD Contract
• 3x Project Beale
• 3x Rebranding Team
• 1x 15 Minutes

Asset (13)

• 1x Adonis Campaign ••
• 2x Daily Business Show
• 2x Jackson Howard
• 3x PAD Campaign
• 2x Team Sponsorship • •
• 3x Turtlebacks • • •

Upgrade (5)

• 1x Cyberdex Virus Suite
• 1x Product Placement
• 3x SanSan City Grid

Operation (8)

• 2x Biotic Labor •••• ••••
• 2x Hedge Fund
• 2x Media Blitz
• 2x Sweeps Week

Barrier (3)

• 3x Wraparound

Code Gate (8)

• 1x Archangel
• 2x Enigma
• 3x Pop-up Window
• 2x Tollbooth

Sentry (2)

• 1x Assassin
• 1x Turnpike

Other (3)

• 3x Special Offer

15 influence spent (max 15)
22 agenda points (between 22 and 23)
54 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Data and Destiny

At work, we divided up the Data and Destiny IDs; my runner ID was Sunny Lebeau, by far the most normal of them. I’ve been playing a netdecked Prepaid Kate deck recently, but when I started to put it together, econ resources jumped out at me more: Underworld Contact, obviously, but also I’m hoping that cloud icebreakers gives me the memory for Data Folding.

Speaking of cloud icebreakers, I looked into the disposable Criminal suite, but they eat up a fair amount of influence, especially since I’d want Clone Chip to pull them back. (I did pull in ZU.13, though.) Also, when looking at suggested cards, I noticed Power Tap; it can pay for the Security Nexus uses, and I even threw in couple of copies of Dyson Mem Chip both to help with Security Nexus and to keep Data Folding working. And, going with the “lots of memory” theme, I threw in a couple of copies of Overmind as my general-purpose icebreaker.

Of the in-faction cards, I didn’t end up including Security Chip: a slight boost from disposable hardware didn’t seem like the way I wanted to go, Datasucker seemed like a better route there. (It seems more useful in a cloud criminal build.) I only included one of each tank, for better or for worse; I’m hoping Overmind or standard breakers will work better. I did include all three copies of both Jak Sinclair and Globalsec Security Clearance (with one Adjusted Chronotype to help him), until I get a feel for them.

Here’s the result. I only ended up using 24 influence, and I’m at 52 cards, so clearly there’s room for improvement. And I suspect it will be the sort of deck I’m overly fond of building that will be unstoppable once everything’s out, except that I’ll already have lost by then. We’ll see; I’m tentatively planning to try to stick with this one for a while.

Sunny, v. 0

Sunny Lebeau: Security Specialist

Event (6)

• 2x Dirty Laundry
• 2x Sure Gamble
• 2x Traffic Jam

Hardware (9)

• 2x Clone Chip •• ••
• 2x Dyson Mem Chip
• 1x Plascrete Carapace
• 1x R&D Interface ••
• 3x Security Nexus

Resource (24)

• 1x Adjusted Chronotype ••
• 3x Data Folding
• 3x Earthrise Hotel
• 3x Globalsec Security Clearance
• 3x Jak Sinclair
• 2x Kati Jones
• 3x Power Tap • • •
• 3x Symmetrical Visage
• 3x Underworld Contact

Icebreaker (9)

• 1x Corroder ••
• 1x Deus X •
• 1x GS Sherman M3
• 1x GS Shrike M2
• 1x GS Striker M1
• 1x Mimic •
• 2x Overmind
• 1x ZU.13 Key Master ••

Program (4)

• 2x Datasucker • •
• 1x Parasite ••
• 1x Self-modifying Code •••

24 influence spent (max 25)
52 cards (min 50)
Cards up to Data and Destiny

After the prior version of my Laramy Fisk deck, I decided that I needed a better way to break into servers, and in particular to give up on the Faust idea. So I got rid of Faust and Passport, adding in a second Corroder and ZU.13. I’d been at 14 influence, and that added two, so I replaced one Film Critic with a Plascrete.

After that, I decided Breach wasn’t helping, and Earthrise Hotel wasn’t the best source of card draw for me, so I got rid of those plus my third Security Testing, replacing them with a Symmetrical Visage and experimentally re-adding two Forged Activation Orders.

Here’s the result:

Laramy Fisk, v. 2

Laramy Fisk: Savvy Investor

Event (21)

• 3x Account Siphon
• 3x Dirty Laundry
• 3x Fisk Investment Seminar
• 2x Forged Activation Orders
• 2x Inside Job
• 2x Legwork
• 3x Special Order
• 3x Sure Gamble

Hardware (3)

• 2x Box-E
• 1x Plascrete Carapace

Resource (12)

• 2x Daily Casts
• 1x Film Critic •
• 1x Hades Shard •
• 2x Kati Jones
• 2x Security Testing
• 3x Symmetrical Visage
• 1x Utopia Shard •

Icebreaker (7)

• 1x Alias
• 1x Cerberus “Rex” H2
• 2x Corroder •• ••
• 1x Faerie
• 1x Femme Fatale
• 1x ZU.13 Key Master ••

Program (2)

• 2x Keyhole ••• •••

It went 2-2 at the tournament; that would be fine, except both wins were on time (because my GRNDL deck is slow!), and one of them didn’t feel like it would have turned into a win. It was definitely a fun experiment, but I also don’t feel like I did as good a job with the experiment as I could have: e.g. this blog post talks about not running early without threat cards, but that’s exactly what I did. It wasn’t that rare for games to come together to where I could take apart my opponent at the end (basically, waiting until they got to a situation where they could win soon, and then doing a few last Keyhole runs and popping Hades Shard), but there were too many situations where that strategy got shut out.

So, again, evidence that I should probably netdeck for a bit, to get a better feel for what good decks feel like.

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!)