[Bios] The Careful Planner - An Ayla Thread

I tried searching around on here for a more general discussion thread on Ayla and decks built to get the most out of her ID ability, so I thought I’d kick start with some ideas of my own.

In the new meta post-rotation with revised Core and MWL 2.0, Ayla strikes me as a great ID for “Good Stuff Shaper” decks that benefit from increased consistency and decreased setup time. Others have done the math, but Ayla’s ability compares well to Andy’s in terms of consistency. Now that Kate is no longer a legal option for general Shaper decks, Ayla seems to warrant serious consideration.

Combo decks in particular seem to do great out of Ayla, but I’m really not much of a jank master, so instead I’ll ask for feedback on a deck I’m trying to brew that seems well suited in the evolving meta right now: a Bios Nexus deck.

Bios Nexus (MWL 2.0)

Ayla “Bios” Rahim: Simulant Specialist (Terminal Directive)

Event (16)

Hardware (10)

Resource (8)

Icebreaker (4)

Program (7)

15 influence spent (max 15, available 0)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Revised Core Set

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

The idea is to quickly set up Rabbit Hole and Security Nexus, and sprinkle in a Dyson Mem Chip or two to get the necessary memory to squeeze the full rig in (and get up to 5 link). Power Tap + Underworld Contacts offers great clickless economy, and Magnum Opus rounds out the rest of the engine as your restricted card choice to accelerate your click engine.

Feedback Filter allows you to pressure net damage decks, Citadel Sanctuary offers emergency protection against Boom, and multi-access from Indexing/Mad Dash and HQ Interface allows you to pressure centrals. In the middle to late game, especially against some common ice with traces (see: most NBN ice, Ichi 1.0, etc.), I actually find that I gain money by running.

Without Clot, and with the fact that you need a couple of turns to set up, FA (especially Weyland using Hunter Seeker) is probably the weakest matchup. But I think the setup speed is deceptively quick due to Ayla’s ability. You only need a single Rabbit Hole in NVRAM, and 1-2 economy cards in NVRAM and your opening hand, and now you can get Underworld Contacts online and ignore a lot of tracer ice.

My personal favorite combo: Running a Data Raven, taking the tag, gaining 3c from the trace, and then gaining another 3c from Citadel Sanctuary when you clear the tag.

What changes would you suggest to make this deck better? Especially for FA matchups. I considered dropping a Paperclip in favor of Lady and Clot, but I don’t know how else to easily fit in SacCon and I don’t like the idea of having a finite number of barrier subroutines I can break.

What other deck ideas are people considering out of our favorite hacker/gardener?

Changes i made when playing this kind of deck is this:

  • 1 Femme, - 1 HQ interface -2 test run
  • 1 Clot, + 2 Sac con, +1 The turning wheel

Na’not’k is easy replacement, with sac con you don’t need a second. Sac con helps with clot and Skorp and Test run is faster setup but you have smc and NVRAM for that. HQ is always packed with agendas so HQI seems lost influence to me. TTW helps with that a bit but also helps with R&D pressure (good with Indexing)

In Beyokens version he choose for Finding The Truth instead of the 3 power tap. Do you think Opus is not enough money?

About some thought. Polop and/or hunting ground might be cool.

You don’t need 5 link to use Nexus. 3 + 1 is plenty.
Conclusion: -3 Dyson Memchip

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This looks similar to a list that @beyoken featured on his channel a few days ago as part of a rant on why Magnum Opus is so damned good right now. He also decided that Sec Nexus was the way to go, so lemme link his deck list below for comparison.

SecMop Ayla

Ayla “Bios” Rahim: Simulant Specialist (Terminal Directive)

Event (14)

Hardware (6)

Resource (14)

Icebreaker (4)

Program (7)

The first thing I noticed was the 3x Dyson in your deck, which I think is unneeded. You don’t have a natural link, so once SecNex and Rabbits are down, SecNex is still going to be a trace 1 instead of 0, but I think that’s probably not a huge deal at all. It’s certainly not worth weighing down the deck with 3 really mediocre cards. I realize that with Equivocation in the deck, you’re more or less required to get an additional memory, and this is (horribly) probably the most reasonable option, but instead I’d just take the deck slots from Equiv and Dyson, and just make them Maker’s Eyes and maybe a second copy of Beth, because she’s amazing.

As far as the Power Taps go, I’m not 100% sure they’re needed, seeing as clicking Mopus and getting Underworld money is probably going to set you up enough, but it’s not like I’m the gatekeeper of SecNex deck cards, and it’s not like I’ve tested this specific deck. It just seems like a thing to install that you probably don’t actually need to do to win the game.

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I agree with the Dyson. Maxwell James is another link that has another use. I really don’t like Makers eye tbh in a Jinteki Meta. Snare’s and Breached domes are everywhere. I even saw a News Team recently. Indexing get’s rid of that.

General question: what have people found is the most effective way to use her ID ability? Storing pieces in combo-heavy decks? Pulling out “late game” cards so that you don’t see them until you need them? I haven’t played her enough to really get a feel for it.

Here’s a dumb, but fun, deck that I’ve been playing. Sometimes it wins!

cantrip bios

Ayla “Bios” Rahim: Simulant Specialist (Terminal Directive)

Event (31)

Hardware (5)

Resource (4)

Icebreaker (5)

15 influence spent (max 15, available 0)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Revised Core Set

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

NVRAM targets are generally

comet → breakers → Levy → mad dash/indexing/legwork → econ events

Comet is necessary to keep tempo up, and there’s not much tutoring. Other than that, I stash stuff for late game.

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Generally, I want to see combo pieces for whatever I’m trying to do, but I also don’t mind throwing on match-specific pieces that I’m not going to want this match. That way, I don’t have a dead draw in my deck. Similarly, I’ll never put something like Diesel on it, because clicking to specifically draw Diesel, and then clicking to play it draws 3 cards over 2 clicks, which is pretty darn bad. Technically, it’s exactly the same as drawing a Diesel randomly and then clicking to play it, except that when I click randomly, I could get whatever. When I get Diesel instead, I’m fine with playing it, because I’m still going to get whatever. Clicking when I know I’m going to draw Diesel is still bad.

From the position of heavily playing/testing Sunny Power Tap decks:

Sunny uses Power Tap because it costs her less influence than importing Magnum Opus. If you can play Magnum Opus without spending Influence, it’s a superior option. The only concern for MOpus inclusion is that it means you can’t Film Critic/E-Strike in matchups where you need/want it.

Also, the Find the Truth is interesting, but I’d honestly just go with Globalsec Security Clearance, I think… I suppose it depends on whether you can make a run every turn easily or not?

You also do not need 5 Link with Sec Nexus. 3 is enough, and 4 is great. Just make sure you don’t run last click with it against a Corp that can actually challenge your trace, and you’ll be fine.

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I started testing from Beyoken’s list above and so far been pretty happy with it.

Changes I’ve made:
-1 Feedback Filter
+1 Sportshopper

It’s a link that also provides some defense against damage based effects and is never just useless. Feedback Filter I found I never really “needed” even against Jinteki (although it obviously does work there). The extra link is nice for savings on nexus traces and sometimes you draw Maxwell James +
Hopper and want to hook up the Phones while you look for Rabbit Hole.

Find the Truth is weirdly good. There’s probably a better way to spend that influence but I left it for now.

I’ve occasionally wanted an extra Scavenge or a Test Run when breakers get trashed but that’s only come up once I can think of.

Other than that I can really only say that the deck surprised me with how fast it can set up and start pressuring the corp.

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