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)
- 3x Diesel (Revised Core Set)
- 2x Indexing (Revised Core Set)
- 1x Mad Dash (Daedalus Complex)
- 3x Modded (Revised Core Set)
- 2x Scavenge (Creation and Control)
- 3x Sure Gamble (Revised Core Set)
- 2x Test Run (Revised Core Set)
Hardware (10)
- 3x Dyson Mem Chip (Revised Core Set)
- 1x Feedback Filter (Creation and Control)
- 1x HQ Interface (Revised Core Set) ●●
- 3x Rabbit Hole (Revised Core Set)
- 2x Security Nexus (Data and Destiny) ●●●●● ●
Resource (8)
- 1x Beth Kilrain-Chang (Blood Money)
- 1x Citadel Sanctuary (Intervention)
- 3x Power Tap (Upstalk) ●●●
- 3x Underworld Contact (Revised Core Set)
Icebreaker (4)
- 1x Femme Fatale (Revised Core Set) ●
- 1x Gordian Blade (Revised Core Set)
- 1x Na’Not’K (Free Mars)
- 1x Paperclip (Blood Money) ●●●
Program (7)
- 1x Equivocation (Martial Law)
- 3x Magnum Opus (Revised Core Set)
- 3x Self-modifying Code (Creation and Control)
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?