I drew TWiY* for a recent random ID tournament (with D&D legal) so I did quite a bit of work on updating yellow flash. This was the list I ended up on:
Agenda (10)
3x AstroScript Pilot Program
1x Global Food Initiative •
3x Project Beale
3x Quantum Predictive Model
Barrier (5)
1x Eli 1.0 •
3x Resistor
1x Wraparound
Code Gate (1)
1x Archangel
Sentry (2)
1x Data Raven
1x Gutenberg
Obviously you’d run it out of Sync or Sol or something that isn’t TWiY* if you had the choice. Definitely needs Film Critic hate right now, thanks to Haarp being popular there’s a lot of Critics around and if one goes down before you midseason it’s game over (I didn’t include any as I figured critic was less likely in a random ID event. I was wrong and this cost me a spot in the final) Targeted Marketing combined with Snatch & Grab seems like it could be a pretty strong way to deal with it using Sol, or just up the tagging ice and run it out of Sync?
QPM is an absolute must - You need your opponent to be tagged for you to be able to win anyway, so not including free points is crazy. Resistor is also too good not to include.
Yeah, you’re right about resistor. I forgot it exists and it’s definitely strong in the deck.
Not sure about QPM. A small number of extra points seems less relevant here than other decks because psycho beale can mop up remaining points, and gaining the deck slots for tech seems valuable.
It’s not often you can land enough tags to freely Psycho for as many points as you need. I can’t think of much tech which is as strong as free, unstealable points.
If they were that, I’d agree. However, in the case where Midseason doesn’t fire off or is hard to pull off, those points start looking disastrously dangerous and if your tag level from Midseason is low enough that you can’t let a Beale soak up the rest of your points, you’re in real danger of having them straight up clear tags. When they’re not tagged, those points are a liability.
If midseason doesn’t fire, you’re screwed whether or not you have QPM. In fact, with Gutenberg or Raven on R&D, they’re about the only agendas you actually can score before a Midseasons!
It’s not so dire as that, I think. You can rush agendas behind ICE the way any NBN deck can and if you get an astro that way, you can start chaining those out as needed.
I’ll give QPM a try, though, since I’ve loved it in other decks and you’re selling it well. I don’t think I’ll go so far as adding Data Raven, though, since I don’t like the transaction on that ICE (pay 4 is tough to stomach for ICE that becomes blank after midseason) but Gutenberg + Midseason should be enough to keep it online.
Ok yes, there is always a small window for ‘rush Astro choo choo gg’ but funnily enough that’s exactly why I had a Data Raven in the deck - it’s easily the best ice to push an Astro out behind early, and even if they do run it they’ll just find a QPM half the time (this is a lie. It’s always an Astro. Don’t tell the runners.)
I ran Data Raven in Yellow Flash back before Film Critic and I felt that it was ok, but overcosted for what the deck wants to do. The credit differential between corp and runner is everything and if you’re taking a 4 credit, then 3 further credits hit to score an astro behind a raven, you’re putting yourself in a position where the runner has more options and can play more recklessly. They could, for instance, Maker’s Eye and hope to grab a lot of agendas before you see economy enough to threaten Midseason again. Or if you’re low enough, they could Siphon you down into poverty and extend their credit window even further. If you’re waiting to rush Astro until you can pay 7 credits and still threaten Midseason afterwards, you don’t need any ICE at all. Let them score it if they want it that badly.
Basically, if I’m going to try and rush an astro I want to invest as little as possible. Enigma is very expensive to me in that case, but at least it punishes on facecheck Raven doesn’t do that at all
Surely the reason to try to rush out an Astro is so you don’t need to worry about the midseasons war?
I think the perfect ice for this deck to push an agenda out is one that either keeps the runner out or makes them spend more than you. You either want to score the Astro or put them into Midseason range, and Raven is awesome for that. Enigma can be broken by Cy-Cy for cost, yog for cost +2. Wraparound for cost + 1-2. Data raven on the other hand, takes either a 2 card combo (Mimic + Sucker + having a sucker available) or the very costly Atman 4, and still leaves the runner with a tag to pay off.
Actually, this is another plus for trying this out of Sol - News Hound is a pretty amazing ice for rushing.
I don’t think it’s as binary as you’re implying. Astro is a threat to make the runner move faster, costing them money and making them more vulnerable to Midseason. Getting the Astro is something you can do in tandem with building the Psycho Beale threat up, and I feel like rezzing Raven over a remote slows the corp down more than it does the runner. In my experience, this deck archetype is basically a race where your victory condition is to gain more money more quickly than your opponent. Cards like Film Critic complicate this endeavor, but the basic core is that race.
Raven is a weird play in this race because it’s tempo negative for the corp with no cost to the runner, unless they decide to go through. As a runner, I’d say that getting that astro (if that’s what I believe is behind the Raven) is not worth the tempo loss now if I can pull ahead in the race next turn (or the turn after) in order to make a multi-access play or econ denial play. As corp, if the runner doesn’t go through the raven, I then spend my whole next turn and 3 credits scoring out the Astro, putting me even farther behind in the race. The astro token is a good bonus since it lets me do something productive and threatening with the astros I draw, but scoring it (and investing so much in its defense) could lose me the game on the Midseason trace against a runner who knew the dynamics of the fight.
Raven over a central is a much better play, for sure, but RnD is better served by Gutenberg and HQ isn’t usually an attractive target for a runner anyway when you can sculpt it with Jackson. For the remotes, if I’m going to defend it at all with ICE I want it to gear check the runner (Raven doesn’t at all since they can opt to pay the trace instead if they want to. I don’t think I’d boost as corp since it will only get me 1 tag in the long term whereas each credit I’ve got as the corp when Midseason fires is worth a full tag on its own) and hopefully also punish the blind facecheck. The way I play this deck, the ICE isn’t designed with tax as its primary component, but rather as tempo plays in the early game economy race. Since runners can opt out of expensive taxers like Raven, it’s a dangerous play.
If the runner doesn’t go through the Raven, you can just do it again! Eventually they have to spend the money to find a way through, and at that point the money you spent on it becomes an investment.
taking the trace might be the right answer if there’s no Closed Accounts, but in my version it’s asking for trouble (and with 3x Resistor, those closed accounts are very much worth it. Once they’re tagged Resistor tax is real)
Yup. If they clear tags you sometimes have enough money to deal, and if they don’t you try and out last then long enough to exploit those tags. Don’t have too much experience with dedicated Siphon spam against this archetype though. I think I’m the only one who bleeds that blue in my meta
Siphon recursion is usually fine, you won’t have the cash to land a midseason for long, but you can still get a window early on if they need to find a breaker, or you only need them to keep the tags from one Siphon to Psycho out an Astro. I did run up against a Ken deck running Film Critic, NACH and Siphon recursion. That one was pretty much unwinnable, I admit.
I ran up against this deck out of Iain and was really scared, but was able to rush out an astro and a 3 point Beale and FA’d the last 2 points for victory.
(this is a lie. It’s always an Astro. Don’t tell the runners.)
(and with 3x Resistor, those closed accounts are very much worth it. Once they’re tagged Resistor tax is real)