I don’t know if this is because I am new to the game or not.
I have played many games as Runner where I get to the point where I feel like I am going to lose. But I rarely feel totally helpless. I guess that is the power of a lucky access. It might create the illusion of hope.
As the Corp, though, I play many more games where you get to the point where it feels like you are just waiting for the Runner to win and there really is not much you can do about it.
What does the Corp do to have some sense of control over the game?
In the current meta, you have to have ‘outs’ when the Runner rigs up and can break all your ICE. If all you’re trying to do is score behind stuff that’s big and nasty or just a simple gearcheck, you will lose more often than not. That’s just where we’re at.
Some examples of what I mean by this are Fast Advance cards (Biotic Labor, SanSan City Grid, Jeeves Model Bioroids, Psychographics), cards that get around R&D Lock (Fast Track, Sensi Actors Union), or cards that cause you to just win (Exchange of Information, Scorched Earth, BOOM!).
Dragar is right: Controlling the Message and the 24/7 BOOM! decks (SYNC or Near Earth Hub) are pretty much the best at this right now because they can normally incorporate several of these outs all at once, making the whole ICE/Icebreaker dichotomy somewhat moot.
You also just sometimes have to roll a hard six in this meta and power draw for what you need: That Biotic that will help you score a 3/2 out of hand, the Psycho that can give you a 5 point Beale, your kills cards, etc… And leave the ICE game behind.
Oh. And one other element of it…
If you feel helpless as a Corp, you absolutely cannot let the Runner know this.
You can win games on the back of Runner insecurity and uncertainty.
If you feel like you can’t ever put an agenda into your remote or else they’ll steal it, throw some assets in there, turn after turn. If you do this for several games in a row, you’ll find there’s a point where (most) runners stop bothering to check it every single turn. The trick is that once they don’t check it, if you ever trash the asset to put something else in there, they’ll almost certainly check it. So, you have to guess for each Runner what their limit of checking is, and when you think they’ve hit it, throw Agenda instead of Asset.
The only time this doesn’t work is if the Runner can legitimately hit your Remote every single turn without breaking stride. In which case, now your goal is to make them break stride if they check the Remote. Add more ICE, or some kind of defensive upgrade. (Which as a bonus looks like an Asset they gotta check out.)
[quote=“CrushU, post:4, topic:8345, full:true”]
Oh. And one other element of it… If you feel helpless as a Corp, you absolutely cannot let the Runner know this.[/quote]
This. Very much this.
Although, I will say that there are some M I N D G A M E S you can play here.
If a Corp is him and hawing about their board, some people go hard. If you notice that someone is being hyper aggressive like that, you can play with them to try to get them to waste resources. This is part of remote trick CrushU is talking about but you can do things with other parts of the game.
Example: You have zero agendas in hand, but you want the Runner to waste clicks or a Legwork on an HQ run. Maybe if they do this means they can’t get into R&D for a turn or two, giving you the chance to draw an agenda to score.
Look at your HQ. Shuffle it around a bit. Pull one card out from the others with your free hand, stare at it, and sigh. Put it back in HQ while shaking your head. If you really think you can sell it, say something like “Wish I could buy a Jackson for a dollar” (obviously don’t use a line that corny).
I’ve had the Corp blues for many months now. Runner feels nearly unstoppable for me, like I can pick up any reasonable list and win more games than I drop. Corp feels quite the opposite; even tier 1 decks like CTM and SYNC can drop plenty of games.
For me, the game largely feels out of balance in that the only stage the Corp has to press their advantage is the early game. Traditionally, early game is supposed to be the Runner’s time to shine. I would argue that the mid- and late-games of the Corp have been neutered in a number of ways. Runner decks have become more reliant on engines and synergies. All these factors have contributed to the rise of SYNC and CTM, especially the latter. Many top level players have stressed the importance and power of the turn 1 Sensie install as CTM. Corps are largely lacking tools to take advantage of the mid-game. The tools that do exist and are being played are things like Breaking News which is a threat from turn 1.
I haven’t been experiencing the corp blues, finding the sides roughly equal atm. Though I would really like to see an upgrade printed that repairs the damage done by Rumour Mill, and makes glacier a viable archetype again.
@moistloaf I kind of agree, with the exception of FA strategies. These don’t really come online in a big way until midgame and, with the exception of Astro being 1PD, they are just as good as they’ve ever been. Combo is also much stronger that it ever has been, IMHO (then again maybe it was always good, just underplayed).
@RotomAppliance I agree that Corp doesn’t feel like the end of the world, but shit is certainly harder. Alternative threats and strategies are becoming a lot more necessary. Defo the days of straight up glacier taxing and scoring behind ICE are no more.
Being fair, we just came out of a meta where the top corps would have a 70% win rate. Now corp/runner is pretty close to 50/50, so you notice it quite a bit more.
Full Agree, Caprice (and in different way Batty) allows Corps decks win in the long game. In times of Temujin, Smoke and Faust, one card has made more damage to the meta that the infamous Mumbad Cycle.