Monday 16 December 2013

All Hail the Red Queen !



So I just got my hands on the Mala Tempora data pack and 3 cards easily came to mind; Xanadu, Rook and the Red Queen, Reina Roja.
 I wanted to build something based around making it hard for the Corp to rez ice and would suck his economy dry in the process.
No, I didn't spend all my influence on account Syphon; my strategy is to make it costy for the corp to rez, period. Very costy I mean.

-INFLUENCE-
So where did I spend all my influence you ask ? At the criminal workshop of course. First, 3x Cortez chip. I definitely think it fits with the theme; +2c to rez for a mere click to install at no cost seems like a good deal, especially if you are patient enough to combine 2 or even 3 of them at the right time and place.
Next influence spending was on Forged activation orders, one of my classic favorite with my snitchy Andromeda deck. Does it work here ? It sure does. Remember what this deck is meant to do.
The last card of the influence part is compromised employee. Now this is one I am not sure about still now but here's why it's here: Tracing. Reina starts with 1 link and, as you'll see later on here, she doesn't want to lose a trace. (Insert why here, answer later on in the text: S______ M______)
Now it may seem odd to get a card that pays 1c when the corp rezzes an Ice in a deck that want to make it hard to do so. I see it as a little extra stab in the gut for the corp when the corp pays 13c to rez Eli...!
Compromised employee is also there because I didn't have much left after the two others. At night I dream that Running Interference was 1 influence but eh, it's 4.
 
 Forged activation order represent 3 of my 4 events, something I will have to get used to after playing  a Kit deck for a while with tons of juicy events like Indexing, Maker's eye and much, much more. I won a lot of games with that deck and the playstyle here is definitely going to be different, almost opposite.

 -ICEBREAKERS & FRIENDS-
Caïssa time now. The Red Queen is out, the Deep Red Console too, the ChessBoard is set. Of course, the star of the show is Rook. This is the perfect piece in my deck. Of course, one cannot go out there by betting on the corp not being able to rez; in comes another new caissa piece, the Knight. Strength 7. What's not to like ? Of course he cannot do it all by himself so in comes Darwin, I program that I learned to like facing it. 6 icebreakers should do the trick, considering they are all AI.
Now to keep up with the Caissa part of my deck, I also included Bishop. -2 on ice strength, Darwin says yes.  
I think the Caissas are going to be a lot of fun to play; one thing I really like about them is their manoeuvrability. Being able to move them around where they are needed most keeps a constant pressure on the corp. Last but not least, don't forget they are cumulative; what's that ugly tower of ice there ? 4, 5 layers of HB horrors? The more the better. What about +8 (3xRook+Xanadu+Reina) on top of the ice rez cost to show me your first ice ? What ? oversight AI ? What about -6 on your Wotan ? How do you like my knight now ?! And this is only the tip of the iceberg.


 Two datasuckers, to make sure I get where I want when I want, is also in the mix.
To top things off, I've also chipped in the famous Medium, cuz you got to have a favorite central server to run !

 -RESSOURCES-
18 ressources...that is a lot, I know. Most of them are related to my economy. Access to globalsec and compromised employee are there to help me out with traces, Xanadu is part of the core of this deck and all the rest is money. I hate running broke. The mem ship combine with Globalsec to get those underworld contacts running. Not much here, basic stuff.

 -HARDWARE-
One thing I like about Anarchs is their capacity to run icebreakers without having to rely too much on their economy, thanks to the likes of Cyberfeeder and Spinal Modem (yes, spinal is the answer to the question in the Influence section of the text!).  Deep Red is another core card for this deck and my only console so it's there 3x. This will help me running those Caissa quick and MU-Cheap.

-LAST WORD-
As I write this this deck hasn't got the chance to prove itself on the field. There are a few things that I might want to do differently; do I need Datasucker ? With 15 Programs, would Sheerazade be a good thing ? Am I paranoin' about running broke, should I cut say 2 or 3 money cards, considering cyberfeeder and Spinal ? Would Pawn fit in, is it worth it yet with the most expensive Caissa piece costing 2c ? 50 cards, is it that bad for a runner ?
My two last runner decks were great and I won quite more than I lost with them. Will Peepin' Andro and Eventful Kit be matched by the Red Queen ? Of course this deck will see some adjustments and hopefully you guys will help me out with it, until then be good and have fun !

-Korto
 

Identity:
Reina Roja: Freedom Fighter (Mala Tempora)

Total Cards: (50)
Event (4)
Forged Activation Orders (Core #20) x3
Sure Gamble (Core #50) x1

Hardware (13)
Cortez Chip (What Lies Ahead #5) x3
Cyberfeeder (Core #5) x3
Deep Red (Mala Tempora #42) x3
Dyson Mem Chip (Trace Amount #28) x2
Spinal Modem (What Lies Ahead #2) x2

Program (15)
Bishop (Second Thoughts #21) x2
Darwin (Future Proof #102) x2
Datasucker (Core #8) x2
Knight (Mala Tempora #43) x3
Medium (Core #10) x3
Rook (Opening Moves #3) x3

Resource (18)
Access to Globalsec (Core #52) x2
Armitage Codebusting (Core #53) x1
Compromised Employee (Trace Amount #25) x2
Daily Casts (Creation and Control #53) x3
Kati Jones (Humanity's Shadow #91) x2
Liberated Account (Trace Amount #22) x2
Underworld Contact (A Study in Static #69) x3
Xanadu (Humanity's Shadow #82) x3 



3 comments:

  1. Nice Thanks!
    I would definitely run Pawn or Retrieval Run: one easy way your opponents can deal with Caissa is to simply trash the Ice they are on and instal new ones.
    For your Ice-Breakers, put a Mimic or something that is not AI and can break 'Swordsman' (the Jinteki Ice immune to AI that trash an AI program).

    Now time to play against it! ;)

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  2. I know the word on the street is that trashing an ice is a good way to get rid of Caissas; on the other side, a 0-or-2 cost caissa is a good and cheap way to get rid of an ice. It buys you time and cost precious ice ressources to the corp. Now I do have one too many Console; I will get rid of spinal modem and replace it with Mimic, because even if swordman is only one card in a sea of options and would take precious card spaces in a deck, it is nonetheless a very efficient and definitive way to counter AIs. This would bring my program total to a whopping 17, and I'm really starting to consider Sheerazade...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why are you playing with 2 consoles (Deep Red and Spinal Modem)?

    ReplyDelete