Originally published at: Hollywood Banking with Titan Transnational - StimHack
Discuss the latest article by @Saan here.
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I appreciate the liberal use of Caprice Nisei here, when the runner has to run green ice is when they are sure to be poor afterwards.
The use of Caprice isn’t to have more money than the runner when you’re playing Psi games, the use is to keep your agenda despite possibly having less than them =P And besides, no one wants to have to run through Archer multiple times a turn. That actually does get expensive.
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Oh I’m saying that caprice is easier to manage when the runner is poorer, that’s all.
Ah, gotcha. I was just surprised to hear you say the ICE was taxing =P Ice Wall and Quandary aren’t exactly known for their taxing properties.
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Well, in rush I think the runner tends to have little money left over after successfully penetrating the last piece of ice in a server, so you get better reads from your opponent, and can make more informed psi plays. But you know, weyland just needs to get a good midway station grid…
Sentry Other (1)
3x Chimera
I’m guessing it is supposed to say 1x Chimera?
So if Clot is a thing in the match, there is no way you can do the “combo”. The CVS can help but you have to find and install it 1 turn ahed at least. You find it problematic?
So, as discussed in the Uncompetitive decks thread, I’m continuing to have good success with my rough take on this idea on jinteki.net (I know, I know). I also cut the Green Levels after one game, and it currently is SEA Source for the alternative win condition.
The other alternative I’ve got in there, that may come out, is Punitive Counterstrike. It matches quite neatly with the Hollywood Renovation plan, because if they do manage to steal it, then you can maybe sneak out the flatline win. It also has potential if they steal a Hollywood Renovation from a central, because if you’ve not scored it yet it likely means that you’ve drawn into the other cards in your deck, namely economy and kill cards. All that said - I haven’t pulled it off in my handful of games yet, so it may just be wishful thinking. The other obvious issue is that it requires a money advantage, which so far hasn’t been a problem, but it’s jinteki.net and runners haven’t been forcing nearly as many rezzes as they should so my perception is likely way off. They will probably get cut.
The big difference in my take is that I’ve gone for 2 Caprice, 1 Biotic Labor. I really like the Biotic for either scoring the first Atlas from hand if you’re not getting your rush pieces, or better yet, for closing out the game after you pull off the combo, with the Atlas token fetching whichever you need out of Biotic and Atlas.
I’ve been leaning heavily on the Hostiles for economy, but it doesn’t feel bad at all. I’m happy to score two of them for net 10 credits (not counting Mark Yale, who I also have as a one of for the same reason as you), putting me onto game point and into Restructure range. I’ve also got Fracking in place of Oaktown, but I haven’t once tried to score it yet.
After a very uncomfortable Noise match last night where I was Clot-locked on six points with a Biotic and Atlas in hand, and one Hostile left in my deck, I’m definitely considering going to two CVS. Might be a poor meta call, but since I’m on the Biotic plan (for now) I think it might be important.
Uuuuuh, yes. Lemme make that change.
I haven’t had Clot issues yet. Usually, people are using their SMCs and such to get breakers out fast enough. Really, if you think the runner can get a Clot out, you just score the Hollywood out normally with your first click, then go find your last agenda and throw it in the server. If it’s an Oaktown, advance it last click. If it’s Atlas, use your last click to have a beer. It only slows the game down one turn.
So my first pass on this style deck is located here. As you see, it uses the Bootcamp shell and a single Biotic for the FA tool. It is much less rush oriented, and instead focuses on being a Glacier deck, using the Hollywood combo as a finisher, if able. I have an updated version of it where I dropped the Biotic and threw in the Dedication Ceremony, using the extra influence on Caprice. I then realized I could drop Ash and go to two Caprice (though 2 Ash 1 Caprice might be better in that deck). Then I got the idea to go to Titan, make it a rush deck, and here we are.
Anyhow, most of that is very beside the point. What I found is that Biotic is okay, but super expensive. You need 9 credits to fire it off, and outside of Blue Sun, where you can bounce an ICE beforehand to have the money, it’s hard to have that amount of cash just sitting around. I really did like having the Biotic for closing games out with Atlas, as you mentioned. But what I really found out is what a big deal Caprice is for improving deck consistency. Going up to three means that I almost always find one.
It might be fine to be on 2 Caprice; I haven’t tested anything less than 3 in the Titan deck. My goal for this was speed and consistency, and 3 seemed like the right number for that.
The deck is definitely fast, I had a few games where I won turn 6-8. The problem I’m running into versus good players is they seem to just go for R&D multi-access and win before I can finish the Atlas train/find combo pieces. Having two 3/5s is pretty scary in that regard. Archer and other ice on R&D definitely help with this against some builds. I mostly played against Shaper in my limited testing.
Thanks for sharing, its a fun deck!
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I suspect this is the jinteki.net effect colouring my experience, as I’ve normally been pretty good with money, even taking into account the cost of the ice that I should be being made to rez. That said, my napkin maths for this kind of thing has usually been at game end, which of course doesn’t give you the full picture.
I don’t have any more economy in the deck than you, so it won’t be that.
EDIT: the other thing I’ve got in that’s notably different is 2 Excalibur, because one of those on a Caprice remote is pretty gross. If I was really reaching I’d claim it saves you money by reducing the number of psi games you likely have to play, but I don’t think that’s a claim that would stand up to much scrutiny.
This has been what’s kept me on the Punitive bandwagon for the time being. If we have to play 3/5s for the win condition, why not include the best way in the game to punish stealing them? And it’s in faction too!
(Well, money, existence of hard counters, the need to have two in hand - or one and an Atlas token - when you need them, deck space…)
I’m going to give it another half dozen games with them in, then cut them if they’ve still had no effect.
With everyone and their dog running Faust/Eater, Excalibur is pretty bad.
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Firmware Updates in place of The Future is Now? Not just for the Mark Yale synergy but then you could include a copy of space ice maybe. Or, it would work with Changeling as a free advancement.
Seems like a lot of fun. Do you think that power shutdown has a place here to help revive gear-checks?
I’m not sure Eater is a problem for Ex. If they break it, they aren’t accessing and being a mythic, they can’t trash it with cutlery. If they don’t, they are playing the psi-game like everyone else and not making another run. Faust, on the other hand… is the reason I always try to make room for a 1-of Swordsman.
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[quote=“pyrax, post:17, topic:6741, full:true”]
Firmware Updates in place of The Future is Now? Not just for the Mark Yale synergy but then you could include a copy of space ice maybe. Or, it would work with Changeling as a free advancement.
[/quote]can’t recommend this. mark yale is a luxury, not a main game plan, and space ice is real slow in this deck. TFIN on the other hand is an insane tempo card that fits perfectly into the “high-speed combo rush-out” plan by tutoring up exactly the card you need at the moment.
[quote=“Labbes, post:16, topic:6741”]
With everyone and their dog running Faust/Eater, Excalibur is pretty bad.
[/quote] eater doesn’t affect excalibur at all in this list, but yeah, in general faust takes a big dump on rush lists like this. the plus side is that BP doesn’t help faust break so repeated runs at caprice can be tough to do, especially through an archer or even just a couple of enigmas. faust/e3, now that’s a nightmare for this list if found early.