ELP is a little sketchy right now because PPVP Kate is quite popular and doesn’t often run without an event. Also, it does basically nothing against any Eater deck.
I think 18 ICE is probably the sweet spot for consistency, but I think if you’re playing 2+ DBS you can get away with 17.
As much as I’d prefer people to not play it, architect is a pretty good call right now. People are leaning on parasite more for all the taxing matchups, so having parasite proof ice is a big bonus, also shutdown should see more play, so tollbooth gets weaker.
Try a Data Raven and a Closed Accounts. Raven is kind of like Eli was is this build before Lady: surprisingly good on remotes (both the scoring and the sundew). It’s not bad at protecting R&D either, at least until desperation time.
Lady makes me want to stop splashing Eli altogether. Wall of Static isn’t bad in its place.
Cortex Lock is only good early, so you need 2-3. There’s just too many better ice options to put in its place, like Crick or Excalibur.
I’ve come to the conclusion that cutting Elis is insane. You still want to force Lady into play, but trying to tax Lady is a huge waste of time unless you’re playing ashigaru/grails. Eli is still the best ICE against Red and Blue runners.
Keep in mind that Ashigaru should eat 3 lady tokens for single access for getting past it once. 3!!
PVP Kate never goes for a single access unless it’s an advanced card in a remote. Not to say that Ashigaru is useless against it, but it’s not enough by itself (except against Indexing).
Yeah, not “for single access”, what I should’ve said was “for getting past it once”.
You can still combine it very nicely - if you put two Ashigaru one after another, most Calimsha Kates cannot get in that server unless doing some wacky clone chip maneuvers.
How about Markus instead of Eli? It’s harder for the runner to just bounce off of and gives you some more strength diversity.
Lotus Field is arguably the best Ice against Red runners, and it’s not bad against Blue ones either.
I know Eli is still probably the best choice, but in a Kate dominated meta, swapping it out with an influence-free barrier isn’t insane. There’s a lot you can do with that influence: Ash, DBS, 2 Tollbooth, Raven, Closed Accounts, Ichi
Markus is entirely unimpressive. Certainly a lot worse than Eli.
the anarchs around here are packing atman-4s and SMCs (with way too many econ cards to support them), so Lotus Field hasn’t been as strong, though forcing that install is big tempo hit for them. but once it’s out they can run worry-free on all your Lotus Fields, ElIs, Vipers, Ichis, and Merlins.
Markus isn’t terrible, but Eli is just too good (especially in RP) to swap out.
Ashigaru has a few nice things going for it–taxing Lady, is not David-able but still makes them pay a lot, and can’t Femme it (though Femme isn’t huge right now).
Sure, Lady can get through it for 2-3 tokens, but not repeatedly without causing them to spend time money and clicks replenishing it. Combos great with Eli on the remote.
Susano is probably a reasonable choice since Shapers can’t do shit about big sentries. But weak to Faerie and David. If ppvp Kate is your major concern, it might be better. But Ashigaru will tax every singe runner in some way.
Anyone considering Blacklist for their RP? Seems to solve a lot of Jinteki ICE problems, and while PE gets more mileage out of having it out, RP can protect it better.
Unless… #Atman4
Still, 10 to break
Well that’s not true is it. They just pop the utopia shard on the way in.
Or pay 10 with Atman 4. I also put datasucker back in my Kate. It’s invaluable against Ashigaru.
I told you 
(maybe 50 times)
I think PE is a nice meta call, but Keyhole is still fairly widespread.
I had 5 RP kills at Gencon, thanx to Dan winning his regional and setting that tone for toothless RP.
That made me remember something.
At Gencon did you play an Andy (NEH) that went through 3 ice only to jack out before encountering a Snare that would have killed them? I remember people were watching that game and commenting that I had a 6th snare sense – but really it was just because they didn’t rez any ice. Perhaps we did play at Nationals 
Probably. Who won? I don’t think I lost to Andy the whole tourney.