And the Winner is...
Alec Nelson with HB Custom Brutality: No Money For You!! Edition
"My first thought was that this would be the perfect opportunity to test my new "Jank Machine": the Android: Netrunner ICE Bucket Challenge!
The idea behind the ICE Bucket Challenge is that you are given a randomly generated list of a certain number of ICE within a certain amount of influence and you have to build a deck around it! To accomplish this, I wrote up a little computer program that spits out your results, as well as a handy recommendation on which faction would be best with the cards chosen based on the amount of influence.
So needless to say I hopped on my computer and loaded the program, made some quick changes for a “custom” version, and started running the Bucket! After a few series of results, I started to see a pattern of ICE abilities that intrigued me. I booted up my deck builder and a little while later, out popped:
Agenda (10)
3x Accelerated Beta Test (Core Set)
1x Eden Fragment (The Spaces Between)
2x Mandatory Upgrades (What Lies Ahead)
3x NAPD Contract (Double Time)
1x Utopia Fragment (The Source)
Asset (14)
3x Adonis Campaign (Core Set)
1x Aggressive Secretary (Core Set)
3x Eve Campaign (Humanity's Shadow)
1x Executive Boot Camp (All That Remains) •
2x Jackson Howard (Opening Moves) ••
1x Melange Mining Corp. (Core Set)
3x Reversed Accounts (Up and Over) •••
Upgrade (4)
2x Ash 2X3ZB9CY (What Lies Ahead)
2x Heinlein Grid (The Spaces Between)
Operation (5)
1x Closed Accounts (Core Set) •
3x Hedge Fund (Core Set)
1x Snatch and Grab (All That Remains)
Barrier (5)
3x Eli 1.0 (Future Proof)
2x Heimdall 1.0 (Core Set)
Code Gate (9)
2x Enigma (Core Set)
3x Pop-up Window (Cyber Exodus) •••
2x Tollbooth (Core Set) ••••
2x Viper (Cyber Exodus)
Sentry (5)
2x Architect (Up and Over)
2x Caduceus (What Lies Ahead) ••••
1x Data Raven (Core Set) ••
Other (2)
2x Universal Connectivity Fee (Up and Over) ••
The idea behind the deck is this:
Take all of the Runner’s money. All of it. If the runner has more than 10 credits, you’ve failed. They shouldn’t have it, they shouldn’t be able to make it, you must make them stone-cold broke.
In an age where players bemoan the lack of player interaction, particularly by the Corp, this deck seeks to, at every turn, wrench every last hard-earned credit from those dastardly hackers. With the Runner totally broke, scoring agendas behind taxing Ice or with the lovely Ash is a quite sensible affair. Likewise, forget about them trashing your assets, or indeed stealing many of your agendas, particularly if Utopia Fragment is scored! Just brutal!
Get out your taxing Ice early and set up situations in which your assets spew onto the table, both making you money, and robbing the Runner of theirs. Draw for cards such as Reversed Accounts and advance that bad boy out. “Sorry, I think you just lost 16 credits… No, I’m serious.” Snatch and Grab their Kati Jones or Professional Contacts or hit them with a tag and watch them groan in disgust as they have to pay the Universal Connectivity Fee. Aggressive Secretary to say goodbye to Magnum Opus. Install an upgrade in a server with a facedown card and ice it with an Enigma, Viper, or Heimdall. Heinlein Grid is now your best friend.
All in all, the deck is a total bastard and anyone foolish enough to try to build up a long-term economy will soon find their money whisked away like it was never really there."
The First Runner Up is...
Tom Roberts with Feeding the Hand that Bites
"The aim of the deck is to Psychographics a Project Vitruvius so that it's overscored by 3 or more counters. Then you can recur Psychographics as much as you like for insta-Agenda scoring!
How I like/try to play it:
- Collect money like it's going out of fashion. You'll need at least 10 credits for an effective Midseasons. Then you'll want at least another 7 for Project Vitruvius/Psychographics.
- When you have the money, pop a Domestic Sleepers on the table or an NAPD if the runner is looking a little wealthy.
- Let them take it and strike with the Midseasons. I'm not sure of the sweet spot for tags, but with more than 5 people tend to give up and just play out the game with the tags.
- Psychographics the Vitruvius, then on subsequent turns use the tokens for Hedge Funds/Agenda scoring.
Fun things:
- Scoring a 5/3 out of hand is so much fun.
- People expect Sea Scorched coming out of Custom Biotics, so taunt their fears throughout the game and watch as they needlessly install Plascretes.
- Watch as people shrug when they take a Domestic Sleepers, then recoil in horror as they get Midseason'd having scored 0 points! And they can be Fast Track-scored later on.
The bad:
- So much money required. I used to play Asset Economy in this deck, but in the London meta at least, everyone just trashes Adonis and Eve, so I switched to Operations. The Green and Blue Levels help you draw into Midseasons/Psycho quicker too.
- Rubbish weak ICE. It's cheap. The aim is to stop them enough to build money. Inevitably they get through and start stealing. I used to have Data Raven which played on "Scorch Fear" by discouraging runs, but the influence meant dropping Jackson or Midseasons. Not so good... This is where most work is needed. More tax might be good at the expense of a few early steals.
Without further adue, the deck in its current form:
Agenda (12)
1 Accelerated Beta Test
3 Domestic Sleepers
1 Eden Fragment
1 Hades Fragment
3 NAPD Contract
3 Project Vitruvius
Asset (3)
3 Jackson Howard
Operation (19)
3 Blue Level Clearance
1 Closed Accounts
2 Fast Track
3 Green Level Clearance
3 Hedge Fund
3 Midseason Replacements
2 Psychographics
2 Successful Demonstration
Barrier (6)
3 Eli 1.0
3 NEXT Silver
Code Gate (6)
2 Enigma
3 NEXT Bronze
1 Viper
Sentry (3)
1 Architect
1 Ichi 1.0
1 Ichi 2.0
The Second Runner Up is...
Gabriel Forster with Jinteki? We don't need no stinkin' Jinteki!
"The adventure I've had trying to make this work has been the reward. However, there is definitely something to it. Reset the board with an over-advanced Ares. Endless turns with an over-advanced Vitruvius/Biotic. Can be quite fun. Still, a weak ID, but there has to be some magic card out there that may change it in the future."
Agenda (10)
1x Mandatory Upgrades (What Lies Ahead)
3x NAPD Contract (Double Time)
3x Project Ares (Opening Moves)
3x Project Vitruvius (Cyber Exodus)
Asset (8)
2x Adonis Campaign (Core Set)
1x Eliza's Toybox (First Contact)
2x Eve Campaign (Humanity's Shadow)
1x GRNDL Refinery (Fear and Loathing) ••
2x Jackson Howard (Opening Moves) ••
Upgrade (2)
2x Shell Corporation (All That Remains)
Operation (12)
3x Biotic Labor (Core Set)
2x Commercialization (Cyber Exodus) ••
3x Hedge Fund (Core Set)
2x Midseason Replacements (Future Proof) ••••• •••
2x Psychographics (Core Set) ••••• •
Barrier (7)
2x Eli 1.0 (Future Proof)
2x Ice Wall (Core Set) ••
3x NEXT Silver (Upstalk)
Code Gate (7)
2x Datapike (Creation and Control)
3x NEXT Bronze (Opening Moves)
2x Viktor 2.0 (Creation and Control)
Sentry (3)
2x Architect (Up and Over)
1x Janus 1.0 (What Lies Ahead)
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