is it really centered on HQ? there are 3 siphons vs 3 DLR, 2 mediums and an indexing. The game may begin in HQ but it ends in RnD and archives.
the list is simple but simple plans are the best plans in a tournament.
i like the 3x rook. the card does work to either get into HQ without multiple ice in your face to siphon or soft locks the corp on the RnD ice post siphoning so medium and DLR can do work.
the lack of econ is troubling but ive seen a lot of anarch players say you have to be willing to slum it and click for credits if you want to win playing anarch.
It is. If you canât get a siphon through, two things will happen:
your econ will never get started
the corp will have those 6 credits to rez a Wall of Static on RnD, and 6 more credits two turns later.
Those two things will then cause your simple plan to be completely unviable, as you have a weak econ and are now paying 4-6 credits per run (with the possible addition of hard-to-replace counters).
Hell, Steven said it himself in his article - this is a deck built on getting through a few key runs. If youâre forced to go into a game where multiple efficient runs through ICE are required, youâre just done. And the inability to get into HQ turns the game for you into exactly that.
P.s. DLR is a âkick 'em when theyâre downâ kind of card. It works great when the corp needs to get back on its feet before they can address the threat, but it will do jack squat for you if your primary plan went to hell. Then it suddenly becomes
you need a run and an action to install it, and then mill two cards with the rest of your turn
the corp says âyeah, rightâ and trashes it for 2 and an action
If they can afford those 2 credits, and the prerequisite run costs you more than zero, itâs a pretty trade for you. Hell, even if the run is free, youâre usually better if spending that turn improving your board position instead.
If you can have a turn of âvamp to zero, install DLR, mill twoâ then youâre using that DLR slot efficiently. But, guess what - HQ access
Iâve never been a fan of DLR. But I became slightly more of a fan when I played against a guy who ran archives first turn to get it (two as it turned out) on the table. Having it already down makes it much more of a threat than only playing it once tagged. It means that when you land the Siphon or the Vamp you can immediately mill three and the corp has to spend their whole turn to avoid losing another four (or five with Joshua).
I really like Stevenâs deck, but I do struggle to follow the economy. My Reina tag-me mulligans to look for Armitage, itâs that important (more so that Siphon in many ways). With only 2x of them and no Cyberfeeder I donât see how he sustains an economy against Closed Accounts or when shut out of HQ.
Was that me? But yeah, itâs key to get DLR on the table before you intend to pick up the tag to turn 'em on. Likewise, Iâll drop Joshua B. early but wait to turn him on until it is time to bring out the blowtorch and corkscrew. I use the resource suite as a âyou better get off the mat soonâ threat: if they spend a turn wiping it out to go back down close to broke, Iâm pretty happy: itâs usually milled 3-4 cards, provided a timewalk turn, and cost the corp 4-6c they really wanted to use to score or replace ICE my parasites have destroyed.
Fall Guy helps a lot, in my experience, which is missing from his list because 3x Siphon. Corp gets a lot less trash-happy when they know theyâll have to do it more than once to have the dang effect they want to have, even if theyâve got more money.
Doubling up on installed DLRs if you have the chance helps with that, too.
Played this deck today for the first time and I want to share my experience with it.
First game, played against a Wayland scorched/combo deck:
Spent the first few turns setting up and searching for a siphon. By that point, the corp was at about 20 credits, and scored his gtf and hostile takeover. I managed to grab a cleaners from R&D in the process. Next turn siphoned him, dejavo the siphon, siphon again - he was on 2 credits after that.
Then, got a dlr and milled 4 cards to win the game.
Second game, the same deck:
he fortified HQ first thing, I took my time and sniped a few Agendas he tried to score behind one ice. Installed a medium and smacked r&d for the win.
Overall, even without the siphon, I still won.
edit: Just remembered that I actually did manage to land a double siphon turn mid game.
Just ignore it if itâs inappropriate, but we could probably use this topic with the new O&C cards. The ones I think may reinvigorate this archetype are Eater/Keyhole, Vigil, Wanton Destruction, Day Job, and, to some extent, Valencia with Blackmail.
Howâs this for a start? Goes all in on Eater, Parasuckers, and Hades Shard to score, but thereâs a Spooned and a Crypsis, so yolo. Itinerant Protesters really is the 51st card of 51st (46th?) cards, but I left it it goddamnit.
So Vigil will be humming, all three centrals will be under heavy duress, and Siphons will landing early and often. Wonât matter that thereâs virtually 7 traditional economy cards in a 50-card deck.
I think either Kim or Whizzard are the best bets. Kim is nice because of all the operation trashing, but if your meta is econ asset heavy, then Whizz is the man.
Donât forget about the girls! Nothing wrong with Reina and Quetzal.
Valencia is a bit of an odd choice though. The credit denial anarchs have a bunch of really powerful cards, but no consistency. Do you really want increased decksize? Thereâs so little influence left for stuff that helps your consistency in these decks.
The other question is if you really want to attack the cards in their hand in the same deck as where you want to attack their bank. I donât know if one helps the other there, suspect it is actually a bit contraproductive.
Wanton Destruction is perfect for hitting a Corp that has spent a few turns broke and is about to recover, Money cards pile up unplayed in hand, probably along with agendas. More pressure on HQ is fine with the Siphons and Vamps, because you basically donât want to run R&D unless they are too broke to rez anything. Youâre basically using cards like Siphon and Vamp to improve your run efficiency on R&D.
A characteristic of Anarch Credit denial decks is the reliance on AI to save deckspace for DLRs and Josh.Bâs. I figured Valenciaâs 50 cards would actually make this easier, but it didnât. I had to trim my first draft down from 57 cards, and I still donât have a solution for Wraparound.
The Quetzal version of denial decks look good as her ID saves deckspace and allows for easier siphons early. It hasnât become a staple lately though, and I wonder how O&C can change that.
I think Day Job will be a nice upgrade from Armitage in these decks. Beyond that, thereâs a lot of exciting new options, like how to integrate Eater and silverware, or how to use Fester with Incubator, Harbinger, and Hivemind.
I get that thatâs where the agendas pile up, but against a cred denial anarch, isnt that the first server they want to shore up? Wanton destruction wants the same access, but doesnât exactly help you keep getting access to HQ. Itâs a card thatâs trying to win there and then.
Generally you are threatening multiple angles with these kinds of decks. The obvious heavy HQ pressure, the threat of a series of medium runs on r&d, the resources that either mill or give the anarch really too much. The idea is to spread the corp thin in every way possible, and strike where they are weakest, hopefully with ice destruction.
I donât see how hand destruction helps you further this goal, while the siphon threat should already big enough for them to really focus on HQ. I mean, thereâs an old deck running hemorrhage, but crucially thatâs threatening the hand by gaining value off the other servers.
You need them to commit, not just rez when you play one of your three Siphons and otherwise let you have to run through a Pup or Pop-Up or something.
a) Works with Eater
b) Forces a rez (pretty important - how do you know if you can pull of a Siphon? How do you get them to commit their credits?)
c) Accesses/trashes lots of cards.
You want them to focus on HQ. Unless youâre using Siphon for your sole economy (which hopefully youâre not), you want them to have rezzed ice on HQ. Wanton makes them do that, or lose a whole bunch of cards. The added synergy for taking out the recovery options that piles up is a bonus.
But yeah, itâs key to get DLR on the table before you intend to pick up the tag to turn 'em on. Likewise, Iâll drop Joshua B. early but wait to turn him on until it is time to bring out the blowtorch and corkscrew. I use the resource suite as a âyou better get off the mat soonâ threat: if they spend a turn wiping it out to go back down close to broke, Iâm pretty happy: itâs usually milled 3-4 cards, provided a timewalk turn, and cost the corp 4-6c they really wanted to use to score or replace ICE my parasites have destroyed.