So the World Champion has said he expects Quorum will kill CtM.
Is this just a classic NBN ruse or should try hards look for another idea to adopt?
Rather depends what you expect to run into runner side, the Andy matchup against Takeshi’s Castle style Andromeda was already extremely tough and there was a lot of hate around, but a fair number of people took it to SCs this past weekend because those matchups were still slightly winnable and other matchups were still good.
If Aaron is only run in faction what it does is make that already bad matchup basically unwinnable, and also probably buff crim enough against everyone else that their share of the meta will creep up a bit. That creates a very hostile environment for CtM and probably turns it from the solid, secure deck that you take if you’re well practiced on it and want solid all round game to yet another corp meta call that just dies to certain runners you’re bound to run into in the cut of a tournament.
If Aaron turns out to be even stronger than I think (which is already v strong) and he gets run out of faction then that situation just gets even worse.
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Its still going to be good vs shapers and anarchs. Every corp has at least one bad matchup it really depends if Andy can fend off all the glacier/netdamage/rigshooter builds to compete. I would still consider playing CTM at tournaments in a post marron world because its a solid corp with great outs.
With Aaron in a meta, the stock of prison decks will rise.
Tag decks might have to look towards forced trash effects like Voter Intimidation (2 inf), Corporate Town (2 inf), or the poorly situated Snatch and Grab (trace in a still popular link meta). MCA Informant in the Red Sands cycle might go a long way to get rid of him or force Runners to run multiple copies & hold them.
I am beginning to think there is a pretty gross connection Anarch build in there somewhere. You can jam off campus, Peddler and Scrubber all into the same deck.
Spend a few influence on Marron and Fall Guy and you have draw that protects itself from breaking news/all seeing.
Shaper has to spend a bit too much importing the shell to make it work. But on the upside shaper can reliably run and use reaver, which would make the build faster.
Weyland also has two separate ways to deal with either connections or locations.
Now to bring out the cards that put the screws to prison decks. I just want an ID or build that can take them on that isn’t Whizzard.
Andy with the desperado/sectesting engine (not to mention temujin) is ok against prison decks but you normally need an above average opening to overcome them. Marron makes her stronger because when you get click compressed the additional draw is a massive boon (despite him only getting half the usual triggers).
Shapers might run Aaron and tutor him with Artist Colony.
But I find it more likely the number of CtM will just drop, and only Crims will keep playing Aaron.
Yeah, it won Worlds a year ago… Turns out DLR Val likes having Connections + OCA. You could start with that shell, but drop the DLR package, and pick up an Ice Destruction one (En Passant/Blackmail) and probably have a good game.
The Crim matchup was already pretty terrible for CtM, though Aaron Marron makes it even worse. The main thing that will affect CtM win rates is whether Aaron changes the % of crim in the field, and also how well CtM does against SIFR decks. On the one hand, most CtM ice isn’t that expensive, but on the other hand, Tollbooth on the SanSan remote is pretty important…
Door to Door variants are not affected by Aaron, though I don’t expect people to play them regardless of their power level.
The real issue is Citadel Starlight, in my opinion.
Clearly, you keep playing Citadel in Andy, even with Aaron released.
I think you can get away without it. Post the release of temujin the primary way CTM was able to beat criminal was via BN–>Closed accounts which destroyed all the momentum when followed up by a HHN the next turn. Andy has the money and the time to trash CTMs board, she just was click compressed enough to not have to time to draw breakers. Thats where citadel came in as it gave her effectively 5 click turns, or blanked the CTM ability when combined with Powertap.
However, Marron turns that particular play off so Andy should be okay now I think without it, and can tech more for the glacier matchup. I could be wrong on the theory, and that will be shaken out in testing.
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if you can slot in 1 kati 2 aaron 1 hostage, you’re good to go for the glacier MU, I think.
Glacier as an archetype will be very interesting to see. Ice destruction seems to be very much so on the menu.