Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future (Core)

Total Cards: (49)
Agenda (9)
Accelerated Beta Test (Core #55) x3
Executive Retreat (Trace Amount #39) x3
Project Vitruvius (Cyber Exodus #51) x3

Asset (8)
Adonis Campaign (Core #56) x3
Aggressive Secretary (Core #57) x2
PAD Campaign (Core #109) x3

ICE (20)
Ice Wall (Core #103) x3 â–
Wall of Static (Core #113) x3
Enigma (Core #111) x2
Viper (Cyber Exodus #52) x3
Chimera (Cyber Exodus #60) x3
Caduceus (What Lies Ahead #19) x3 â– â–
Rototurret (Core #64) x3

Operation (8)
Biotic Labor (Core #59) x2
Green Level Clearance (A Study in Static #70) x3
Hedge Fund (Core #110) x3

Upgrade (4)
Ash 2X3ZB9CY (What Lies Ahead #13) x2
SanSan City Grid (Core #92) x2 â– â– â–

Total Agenda Points: 21

Influence Values Totals -
NBN: 6
The Weyland Consortium: 9

Gabriel Santiago: Consummate Professional (Core)

Total Cards: (45)
Event (27)
Account Siphon (Core #18) x3
Emergency Shutdown (Cyber Exodus #43) x3
Forged Activation Orders (Core #20) x2
Special Order (Core #22) x3
Inside Job (Core #21) x3
Sure Gamble (Core #50) x3
The Maker's Eye (Core #36) x2 â– â–
Diesel (Core #34) x3 â– â–
Infiltration (Core #49) x2
Easy Mark (Core #19) x3

Hardware (6)
Desperado (Core #24) x3
Plascrete Carapace (What Lies Ahead #9) x3

Program (9)
Femme Fatale (Core #26) x1
Ninja (Core #27) x1
Sneakdoor Beta (Core #28) x2
Crypsis (Core #51) x2
Yog.0 (Core #14) x1 â–
Corroder (Core #7) x2 â– â–

Resource (3)
Armitage Codebusting (Core #53) x3

Influence Values Totals -
Anarch: 5 Shaper:10

A total of 32 participants so we had 5 rounds of Swiss with a cut to top 8. I won 3 rounds and tied 2 to make it in as 7th seed with 20 prestige points. Surprisingly, no Weyland players made top 8 and I do not recall seeing Shaper either. I consider myself a novice at this game so I would appreciate some discussion so hopefully myself and others can gain some insight for other upcoming tournaments. I did a mere 7 hours of playtesting in a couple of days leading up to the tournament so some of my decisions are probably not optimal. Regardless, my buddy and I had a great time in Austin and met some great folks. On to some brief notes.

Gabriel: No Compromised Employee? A solid card for sure but I wanted a more immediate benefit since I wanted to end the game as quickly as I could. Easy Mark took its place and I did not regret it. As much as I like Yog.0 I seriously missed Gordian Blade as Viper is heavily played. I used Crypsis to punch through when I had to but it is obviously not as cost effective. The only changes I would consider making at this point are my ice breaker counts. Do I go down to 1 copy of Crypsis for another Femme or Gordian? What to drop to fit in the influence for Gordian? Despite the cost Femme is a beatstick for sure. I can even see myself going with 3 Corroder since 3 Ice Wall and 3 Wall of Static are pretty standard in many Corp decks. Only 2 The Makers Eye? I decided 3 Diesel would be better but going down to 2 for the 3rd Eye would be fine as well. I pulled 5 agenda points with a well timed Eye twice during the tourney.

HB: SanSan was a total waste of space. I did not use it a single time during the tournament as a good runner will keep your economy in check the whole game. This made the 6 creds to rez extremely detrimental. Trick of the Light would have been better influence spent, especially with Junebug added in. Obviously, cheap ice are the cornerstone of the deck but a few higher costed ones may be in order. Anarchs see heavy play and Yog.0 with Parasite/Ice Carver go through my Vipers with ease. A couple Tollbooth may help a bit but not sure if it is worth changing my influence for. Ichi might be helpful as well. I am not crazy about the 3 Executive Retreat either, I am considering dropping 1 and adding in 2 False Lead. No 3rd Biotic? No copies of Archived Memories? These may go in, I love Green Level Clearance but adding them in made deck space really tight. They could definitely go if I change my PADs to Melanges, I think.

I made it to top 4 but was bumped out of the finals by the eventual winner Joseph T. (masterfully playing Whizzard, yes… Whizzard). A big thanks to Dragon's Lair and their beautiful facility and to Michael H. for being the TO. See you runners in San Antonio on June 1st for Regionals!

Hi. Nice decks, nicely written explanation and well done on your result.

Not much to add that you haven't mentioned already. Still, I will discuss the HB deck first…

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I think what you are (ambitiously) aiming for is a hybrid of styles…

• a Tempo deck that early game rushes agendas behind cheap end-the-run ice (see my Weyland Card Draw thread as an example)
• a Fast-Advance deck that mid game minimises risk by scoring 3/2 agendas from hand (using Biotic Labour, SanSan and Trick of Light)

If this is your aim, the minimal adjustments I'd make would be:

• -1 SanSan (3), -1 Ash, -3 Caduceus (6), -3 PAD Campaign
• +2 Trick of Light (6), +3 Anonymous Tip (3), +3 Ichi 1.0

But this is all a case of personal style. I personally would be uncomfortable to have so much trace (3 Viper, 3 Caduceus, 2 Ash). It seems a waste to not move advancement counters on Ice Wall and Secretary (if bait not taken). I am also a fan of Ichi despite bioroid status. While Anonymous Tip is regularly used in tempo Corp decks with cheap ice and operations.

But hybrid themes always seem to dilute their strategy strengths and while more versatile, I tend to end up wishing I had just specialised in either Tempo or Fast-Advance. From my experience, I always ending wishing I had specialised in one strategy instead of hybrid. I can list some starting sample builds for HB Tempo or HB Fast-Advance if you are not familiar with either archetype.

On the other hand, the Corp game is all about confusing the runner. And everybody wants to build their own unique mix of cards. As such, it's very difficult to discuss a deck when it's "pretty much there" and has been piloted to modest success already.

I will get back to you with Gabriel feedback later. Meantime best of luck preparing for your Regionals.

You may be right in pointing out I may be dilluting the deck a bit but the changes I am considering, at least Ice wise, are strictly metagame calls. I am considering: -3 Green Level Clearance, -1 Executive Retreat, -2 SanSan, -3 Caduceus, -1 Rototurret, -3 PAD, -2 Enigma, +2 False Lead, +2 Trick of the Light, +2 Archived Memories, +3 Tollbooth, +3 Ichi, +3 Melange. A third Biotic Labor probably needs testing as well. Tollbooth is there to stop Yog.0 and force the runner to use Femme or Crypsis (9 creds to break plus a counter) as expensive alternatives if they are able. It is possible that the inclusion of Ichi alone can help get rid of pesky Yogs. I originally ran Anonymous Tip and am not against putting it back in if I decide to free up some influence by dumping Tollbooths. We will see how some testing on OCTGN goes and I have some live games in a few days. , -2 Enimga,

I believe I was the only Shaper and only Jinteki in the top 8.

@Keggy. That's brave, choosing the (current) "ugly sisters" tournament-wise and performing creditably. Was it Chaos Theory Vamp and Replicating Perfection? I'm finding my Replicating Perfection deck (no HS cards added, 3 Janus, 3 Ichi, 3 Katana, 3 Wall of Thorns, 3 Enigma, 3 Hedge Fund, 21 Assets, 3 Braintrust, 3 False Lead, 3 Priority Req, 1 Fetal AI) to be a beast of a deck locally, unbeaten - although the games take too long for it to be ever viable in a tournament.

@Joel.

From your changes, seems like you have chosen the slower deck HB Fast-Advance which requires economy and set-up. But for Yog/meta reasons, you splash in Tollbooth as missing code gates, rejecting HB Tempo elements in your original build. In tournaments, I'd anticipate far more Criminal being played (because it wins fast) who eats Big Ice for breakfast. Chaos Theory will also Test Run Femme on it. But yes, Tollbooth on Archives then on R&D makes HB Fast-Advance far better against Noise, seemingly prevalent in your local meta.

So it seems your deck has evolved into something like this…

Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future

• 3 Accelerated Beta Test
• 3 Project Vitruvius
• 2 Priority Requisition
• 2 False Lead
• 3 Adonis Campaign
• 3 Melange Mining
• 2 Aggressive Secretaries
• 2 Ash
• 3 Ice Walls (3)
• 3 Wall of Static
• 3 Vipers
• 3 Tollbooths (6)
• 3 Rototurret
• 3 Ichi
• 3 Hedge Funds
• 3 Biotic Labour
• 2 Trick of Light (6)
• 3 Archived Memories

Priority Requisition helps rez Tollbooth with Ash to help score it and/or protect Melange. Chimerae (always vulnerable to Crypsis) are removed as they are for fast Tempo decks and Fast-Advance is a slow set-up deck (also do not work with occasional ABT triggered), their removal making room for 3rd in key cards.

A problem with using Secretary as a source for Trick of Light (and to masquerade as Priority Requisition) is that you will be actually using your remote as an agenda server, not just to host Adonis & Melange (scoring 3-2 agendas from hand in an empty server). But I think the card synergies, as well as your reading of the meta at the approaching Regional, justify this deviation away from purist Fast-Advance by you splashing in some Big Ice.

As for your Gabriel deck, that deserves a separate post…

Ok, Gabriel…

I think Kati Jones is a game changer. The old Gabriel "wear Carapace and ignore tags" build needed a late game and Kati provides that. The trade-off is you now care about tags so you need Crash Space to remove Account Siphon tags and provide a (click+2 credit) buffer against Scorched Earth. I feel the trade-off is worth it but again, this is a personal preference.

My current Gabriel deck is something like…

Gabriel Santiago

• 3 Account Siphon
• 3 Emergency Shutdown
• 3 Forged Activation Orders
• 3 Special Order
• 3 Inside Job
• 3 Sure Gamble
• 3 The Maker's Eye (6)
• 1 Stimhack (1)
• 3 Desperado
• 3 Crypsis
• 1 Femme Fatale
• 1 Ninja
• 1 Yog.0 (1)
• 1 Gordian Blade (3)
• 2 Corroder (4)
• 3 Sneakdoor Beta
• 3 Armitage Codebusting
• 3 Kati Jones
• 2 Crash Space

Some explanations…

I do not like Easy Mark outside of Wyldeside. It's 3 credits for 2 clicks (draw, play) so 1.5 return. Armitage gives 11 credits for 8 clicks, a slightly less return but more credits gained. Yes there is an unanticipated burst element to Easy Mark but no Corp will discount it when calculating the safety of a remote (unlike Stimhack). Beanstalk Royalties is not played outside of Weyland for a similar reason. Also Kati is that missing delayed burst economy taking its place. 3x Kati as it helps early draw and you can tempt the Corp to trash an empty Kati when tagged.

Once Easy Mark is removed, card draw becomes less valuable. A Diesel is 3 clicks for 2 clicks much like Easy Mark. Yes, you want to draw into your Events. But it is not as valuable as actually stealing an agenda with Maker's Eye. Or even the Stimhacked theft. In fact, if you are wedded to spending 10 influence on Events, 3x Maker's Eye and 2x Deja Vu would be better. Because the latter allows to re-use that specific card. Targeted card draw is far more valuable in my experience.

Stimhack needs no explanation, it wins you close games. The Gordian Blade is my own personal luxury. The rationale is this: everyone knows that any 3 Strength code gate is suspect. Anticipate some decks sticking to Enigma (go get Yog) and others with Chum in front of (Femme'd) Tollbooth. That's why I like 1 of each, to identify which deck I'm facing and Special Order the right decoder (ditto with my Killer).

3 Crypsis and 3 Sneakdoor because you need early game pressure. Nowhere must feel safe. 2 Crash Space is for Account Siphon, to ignore tags in your early click runs and a trash-first buffer against Scorched Earth (keep 4 cards in hand as Corp can only SEA Source + trash Crash Space + Scorched Earth).

The rest of the card choices are self-explanatory.

I urge you to evolve the Carapace Gabriel build into the Kati Jones build (your own variant of the list above).

Best of luck.

DeckBuilder said:

Here's my Kate deck , my Jinteki deck , and my tournament report .

The kate deck uses all three core breakers (pipeline on dinosaurus, with personal touches) to breeze through walls of ICE. Magnum Opus, underworld contacts, and scrubbers keep you pockets full of money; inside job and special order speed up the deck.

The Jinteki deck I still dont understand, really. I think it works because runners are scared of every facedown card Jinteki has. Shipment from Kaguya was an all-star, making for fun turns with trick of light.

Keggy - Thanks for the link to the tournament report. I wanted to do a report as well but like you I left my scoring sheet with notes with the TO and my memory is probably not as good as yours. I have no experiance with Jinteki, if faced with it I was just planning on just slamming centrals and leaving extra creds for Fetal AI. Your ice assortment looks odd on paper but you got it to work so congrats. As far as your Shaper deck, did you get to use Scrubber often enough to warrant inclusion? DeckBuilder - Limited testing on OCTGN with HB +Tollbooth has been clunky at best. It may be best to go back to Caduceus and let the Aggro Secs and Ichis try to take care of Yog. Your HB deck revisions only had 18 ice, is this a normal number you have tested a lot with? Running less than 19 ice makes me nervous… As far as Gabriel goes I will be testing your version soon with -1 Crypsis, -1 Forged, +1 Crash Space and +1 Femme Fetale. I really like the idea of fitting in Deja Vu as well. I will let you know how things go.

I have gone down to 18 ice with HB, especially if I have some big ice in it. I trigger ABT only against Sneakdoor or Noise when I'm already icing Archives or if the game is otherwise lost. Archived Memories and the ocasional over-advanced Vitruvius helps of course.

I'm not surprised that Tollbooth came out as clunky. Probably a blessing as Gabriel is tournament popular (due to time limit and scoring) and uses Shutdown or Femme on it. I now only use Tollbooths if I also can add Chum to the deck to counter Femme.

I advise you just go with the most boring but efficient Corp deck out there: purist HB Fast-Advance (ToL). You will always score a minimum of 4 points, it has the best game against Gabriel and an ok game against Noise. Shadow becomes your money-generating ice and its tag needs to be avoided in a world of Kati Jones. I'm also nervous so much trace (3 Viper, 3 Caduceus, 2 Ash) would die to ndromeda or Kate Underworld Contacts decks out there,

Here is my old HB Fast-Advance (ToL) list. Nothing revolutionary in it. It's dull to play or play against but wins often (hey, tournaments aren't about winning pretty or with style, just consistently grinding the 4-2 results). It hasn't changed for the last few packs.

Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future (49 cards, 20 agenda pts)

15/15 influence: ••••••••• ••••••

Agenda (11)

· 3 Accelerated Beta Test

· 2 False Lead

· 3 Private Security Force

· 3 Project Vitruvius

Asset (6)

· 3 Adonis Campaign

· 3 Melange Mining Corp

Operation (12)

· 3 Archived Memories

· 3 Biotic Labor

· 3 Hedge Fund

· 3 Trick of Light ••••• ••••

Barrier (6)

· 3 Ice Wall •••

· 3 Wall of Static

Code Gate (6)

· 3 Enigma

· 3 Viper

Sentry (8)

· 3 Ichi 1.0

· 2 Rototurret

· 3 Shadow •••