Took this to Gencon. Was the number 1 overall seed, and would’ve went farther than 0-2 in the cut if I didn’t misplay, and not overwrite the Vanilla ASAP v. Inversificator.
I have been playing Aginfusion since it arrived. It is a fantastic ID, mainly due to its versatility and influence. The first weekend it was out, we had Aaron Andries take a full on trap version to the Chicago Regional. It did well for him, and he would’ve made the cut if his Andy didn’t completely fail him. That version was a Mushin version, and was all about scoring a LabServers, or getting the opponent to facecheck a Whirlpool, then using the ID to send them into a majorly advanced trap. Fun times.
Since then, I have been tuning up a glacier build originally constructed by @zeromus. The crux was to use the ID and MKII tokens, along with Caprice, to defend the scoring remote, while utilizing the INF on nice ICE, econ, and tools like Crisium. This build has proven to be quite successful, and has done well in a variety of showings. @sirris took more of a control version to ATL, and won there. @Cerberus modified that, made it more lethal/grindy, and has dominated the UK scene with it. @basoon took a modified version from @webster to Durham, and won there.
Basically, the ID is quite good. It will suffer from the lack of burst econ going forward, post-rotation, and is making me rethink how to use the ID. With no Caprice, scoring is a little tougher (although I did rush out to a 5-0 lead in the first game of the cut at GC). Perhaps MCA Austerity in a remote, protected, can allow one to FA a MKII out? IDK.
re: my GC build
I was inspired by @eric_c and his Regional run with News Hounds, one of my all-time fave pieces of ICE. He didn’t share his build, so I constructed my own take. I was going to take more of what webster ran at GC, but in last minute testing, I found Sifr was quite problematic, and got scared. I figured that Hoyland’s build, just having made DOTW, would push more people to splash in the Sifr, and I pivoted to a faster, more flexible build. The result was impressive. I was prob. the only person on Scarcity in the cut, and it did heavy work all day. Almost all Runners in the current meta rely on resources to some degree, esp. with Bloo Moose being everywhere. Some dex, like Lock Hayley or DLR, completely fold up at the sight of Scarcity. If I get it Turn 1, I feel really good. Everytime I play it, I feel pretty good.
The ICE was another reason for my pivot. The build I was on was quite code gate heavy. That’s a little worrisome v. Invers, and even more so against a Yog/NRE/Carver/Sucker build that gets going. This build is more balanced, with more affordable ICE that is still taxing. Mimic/Sucker/Carver is the only effective way to deal with the Hound. Phage, Swords, and Excal all do work in a variety of matchups. IP Block and Chiyashi are nightmares for AI dex.
The GFIs were another change. I was testing with TFP or Obokata. I became more scared of seeing answers in FC, and also just like the idea of the Runner needing 4 agendas to win. This is a personal call, but, in a build not as taxing damage-wise (see: no Komainu/Snare/Cortex/etc.), GFI seems to be the way to go.
My big regret was changing Bako for Vanilla last minute. I love Bako, such great design, and nigh imperious. Cost me hard.
All in all, I was quite happy with the build, and Aginf in general. I am sad to see it be greatly diminished from its current state come rotation, but, we will see what we can do with it.