That was a great post. I think the more I have thought about Midseason the less I like it. NBN seems like it is going to have a tough time getting to a state where it can have the big credit advantage over the runner. The thing is that the Runner has to score the agenda while NBN has a big credit lead to really leverage a big advantage with the card. It is probably too inconsistent for a tournament deck.
I played 4 games with Alexās posted NBN deck and I couldnāt make it work. Lost twice to andromeda who was all in on tags, I was in a position where I could draw a psycho and beal for the win both games, but I never drew the psycho to use to advance anything at all.
The only time I got to MSR, the 5 credits it cost me to play the effect ended up losing me the game a few turns later.
Iāll have to make some changes, but the deck didnāt play well for me at all.
Yeah, I think relying on MSR ends up being a big trap.
Nice article, love your insights. I play this NBN identity but with a deck ignoring the tags except for 2 Psychographics.
I was wondering if you considered that?
After playing the NBN deck as listed, it hasnt been able to defend well enough, and I started changing it. Eventually got to a version that is much superior.
Basically what I found is that you need more economy so that you can achieve one of two goals:
- Actually stop them, or
- Be ahead of them economically after they blow through a big server, and Midseason them.
I dropped the Bioroids and added 3 Adonis and went up to 3 Caduceus. As a result, I can actually afford Tollbooths and Flare. If they Femme them, you Chum in front.
In addition, Iām playing Priority Requisition now. The new version often actually tries to stop the runner behind strong ice, generally involving a Tollbooth, and the Priority works well with Tollbooth + Flare. Also, it works well with Psychographics, providing another strong target besides Beale. The new agenda mix frees up a couple card slots as well.
New List:
3 Astroscript
3 Beale
2 Breaking News
2 Priority Requisition
3 Caduceus ******
3 Chum ***
3 Data Raven
3 Popup Window
3 Tollbooth
2 Flare
2 Wall of Static
3 Melange Mining Corp
3 Adonis Campaign ******
2 Marked Accounts
2 Bernice Mai
3 SanSan
3 Hedge Fund
2 Psychographics
2 Midseason Replacements
You could switch around a card for another Wall of Static, or another Marked Accounts, or whatever. If you hate Midseason for some reason, cut them for those two cards. Iāve been able to pull off Midseason sometimes and when it works its great.
Caduceus is awesome, Chum is awesome, and Adonis is a great thing to drop early behind a Caduceus or something.
There are only 2 Barriers in the deck, its true. But people will still play their Corroder out, even if you had 0 Barriers in the deck (I played the deck for a while with 0 Barriers! Its funny! They wont know, and they will still put out Corroder because its cheap and they want to be able to break face down ice when they encounter them).
Just as I was about to change the NBN deck after several play testing. You post it 10 minutes before me 
Great minds think alike.
Yes actually stopping runners is pretty important. Although Chum/Data Raven works perfectly, now with San san behind tollbooth it will work nicely. Adonis is a great addition, cuz previously I find myself taking lots of 3 creds turn.
Flare seems interesting, but when do you usually rez it and what do you target to trash?
Adonis is a good idea, I was thinking private contracts myself, are runners running your remote funhouse to kill rezzed adonis at all?
the meta is really criminal heavy everywhere right now, do you find that you are working harder against criminal to compensate for your inability to close accounts?
I am fine if they run and kill Adonis, or if they let it live. If they run through a Caduceus and give me $3 and pay money, to get it, thats awesome. If they run a face down adonis and have to go through ice to see it, thats also great.
Flare is great behind Chum, and decent when youve got money. This version seems to actually be able to afford it. With NBN credits, its basically a trace 8 to end the run, do 2 damage, and possibly trash something. Its expensive either to break it, or to beat the trace. Trying to Chum in front increases its value, and makes it not countered by Femme or Heavy link. (Or they have to break the Chum, which is then an extremely efficient big code gate).
Often, rezzing the Chum in front of it is sufficient to make them Jack Out. Sometimes even if you dont have the $9 to rez the Flare, since if you have $4 you threaten Caduceus or Data Raven. You could even add Hunters to the deck, and Chum is great in front of them too.
If they do let Chum happen and continue, then if you have $9 for the flare you can often make them take 5 damage. Or at least 3 + having to beat the trace. Generally by the time I actually get around to rezzing this, they have a console or interface to trash, and they either lose a lot of money or get wrecked.
Essentially Flare is Tollbooth 4 and 5, but not code gate, and it delivers more pain if they cant beat it. Even if encountered with no icebreaker, it forces a large moeny lsos for the runner, or pain.
So now that you are only playing 2 tag punishment cards, how about dropping the MSRās and probably the psychos for closed accounts?
I took another take on the deck after reading up and trying some games. I feel comfortable with this deck
Identity:
NBN: The World Is Yours* (Future Proof)
Total Cards: (41)
Agenda (9)
Corporate War (Future Proof #120) x3
Project Beale (Future Proof #115) x3
AstroScript Pilot Program (Core #81) x3
Asset (3)
PAD Campaign (Core #109) x3
ICE (18)
Shadow (Core #104) x2 ā
Caduceus (What Lies Ahead #19) x2 ā ā
Flare (Future Proof #117) x2
Tollbooth (Core #90) x3
Pop-up Window (Cyber Exodus #56) x3
Eli 1.0 (Future Proof #110) x3 ā
Data Raven (Core #88) x3
Operation (8)
Beanstalk Royalties (Core #98) x3 ā
Hedge Fund (Core #110) x3
Psychographics (Core #85) x2
Upgrade (3)
SanSan City Grid (Core #92) x3
Total Agenda Points: 18
Influence Values Totals -
Haas-Bioroid: 3
Jinteki: 0
NBN: 36
The Weyland Consortium: 9
Iām still testing out the ICE set up, but so far, I won more then I lost. I go for just 9 ICE. I beef up my HQ and R&D and make them pay just like you suggest. Then I build one server preferably with a SanSan and go for the Astroscript and advanced Beale. Corporate War also works fine. Psychographics is a bonus 
Dropping the MSR and Psycho means your tags lose all their bite. Closed accounts is good but it doesnt have the game winning bite.
Honestly, with only Closed accounts as tag punishment, I dont think there would be much point in playing Data Raven, Bernice Mai, etc. At least against runners that arent heavily resource dependant.
The combo uses so few deck slots, but it can win. Thats valuable. I think that if people havent played the deck they will underestimate how strong the Mideseason and Psycho can be. In fact, I am much more inclined to go up to 3 of each.
Argamasā deck must score 4 agendas since theyre all 2 pointers. Cutting 1 PSF for 2 Breaking News makes it infinitely easier to win got the corp. It only just barely increases the runnerās ability to win.
Without Melange or much of any economy, that deck will never be able to afford its Flares and Tollbooths, in a world of Criminal decks with Siphons and Shutdowns. If you can only afford to rez it once it doesnt work. Needs more economy, especially melange.
Also, I had written a paragraph about how Caduceus was the best economy, better than Beanstalk, and then I realized you were NBN2 and didnt get to pump the Caduceus.
Thanks for the pointers. So far I did well mainly because of CW, going to ā¬14. That based on early drips of Beanstalkās, Hedge, PADās, Pop-up and Caduceus.
Iāll try the Melange and/or other agendaās.
Iāll try it and report back. I was going to sleeve it up and try it tonight, but emergency shutdown just scares me so much.
Argamas - I think the +2 trace would be more useful than the +1 handsize -2 agenda points for your deck.
Oke, letās say I got flatlined today I totally got burned in all my games. I think Iāll forget about NBN for now.
@ Chill84: Donāt know if that makes a lot of difference. I think the deck itself is too situational. Criminals is no go for certain.
Nah man stick too it, the agendas are so good! FWIW Iāve never performed well with a deck that was all 2 pointers.
Sure it means the runner has to access 4 agendas but it also means that you have to draw and subsequently score 4 agendas yourself. So itās a wash at best.
The deck alex posted the runner has to score between 3 and 5 agendas to win - i think in general mixing your agendas up a bit is only better for the corp since you get to see everything you draw and choose what you want to score it helps mitigate the random bad luck you can get with 3 pointers.