So, let’s figure this out. There have been a few decks on NetrunnerDB sporting Gang Sign tech in Leela, and I’ve been following people’s research on this topic for a while. There tension in these decks, as you’ve noticed, is remote lock and getting the Gang Sign stuff down.
First, what we need to make this work: all 3 Gang Signs, all three HQI. After messing around and reading other people’s experiences, I’m convinced this is mandatory. You need them all as early as possible, and by building your deck around these pieces you can be a lot stronger than slotting in three Gang Signs and hoping for the best.
We have no way to tutor them, so we’re going to be clicking to draw. I’d actually seriously consider the Career Fair/Earthrise/Daily Casts engine here. We really want to draw cards, we need a lot of money to present a credible threat on the remote. Express Delivery doesn’t draw cards, but it does find us those early Gang Signs and HQIs we need to install, preferably before the corp has scored a single agenda.
The next thing we want are Inside Job. These are important for remote busting early, and combine well with the interfaces. Inside Job on HQ with 1-2 HQI is a fine play - even with Gang Sign out (see below).
There’s not enough money, but we can add good cards. You will have runs you have to make - open servers, SanSans to trash, Jacksons to force -so I see no reason not to add Dirty Laundry to the mix, and asset spam isn’t go anywhere, so Bank Job is a fine include.
There’s not enough draw, but draw isn’t the only solution. Express Delivery or Mr Li can add dig power to find those Gang Signs faster - it’s not draw, but it does pull you through your deck faster, which is really want we want here.
You have to drop the Desperado/Sec Testing to make room for all this, which is maybe for the best - you want Sneakdoor (powerful with HQI and Leela), so Archives is best left without ice, and you don’t really want to force rezzes early because Leela’s bounce is so potent. You aren’t going to be running too much outside of your power turns, and the glacier matchup freezes out Desperado/Sec Testing anyway. Early poking of HQ while you have Siphons and breakers is still sensible, particularly if the corp can’t rez anything big.
That leaves you with a ton of influence to spend on things like Turntable, Indexing, Medium, Keyhole, CyCy, other good breakers, DDOS, etc. Some people went Faust/DLR/Drug Dealer (e.g. Spags deck).
Those are my thoughts. I’ve been happy enough with Kati as my backup engine once I’ve got things rolling.
The biggest thing I’ve learned about the Gang Sign tech is that you still want to be attacking HQ hard, ideally with HQI. Your Gang Sign tech will rarely get all the agendas, and the corp scoring is a horrible thing you want to avoid even if it triggers them. It’s way better to focus on the server you are have built yourself to deal with (HQI) and can split the ice on (Sneakdoor). Hitting R&D is almost counter-productive anyway, as those agendas are easier to find in HQ, and it’s way more efficient to find them there!
The other thing I learned about Gang Sign is that agendas end up hiding in weird places.
On the note of HQ being more efficient than R&D - consider Fisk Investment Seminar. But it’s not a strong card. It’s quite situational, and it’s hard to justify more than 1.
I’d be interested in seeing if you buy these arguments and where it takes you. I’d steer clear of Au Revoir and Snitch - the setup time seems counterproductive to a deck that at its core is still quite aggressive in an opportunistic way.