New Angeles Sol

I agree, it saved the day, bringing a trashed batty back to defend r&d with architect support. I pulled a Vanity Project out, and scored it two turns later.

Moral of the story, interns are the best source of free labor.

I’ve been thinking about media blitz as the sol current, and if you can make any of them stick, the fragments are great abilities. It seems like it would be a fine ID to experiment with glacier. If you’re not afraid of scoring an agenda over a few turns anyway.

played @gumOnShoe 's list today at a casual tournament, 14 players. I went 2-2. First loss was a close one to PP Kate where I lost 4 points to a mid-game TME. Second loss was to a Noise where I saw no currents or Jacksons or early Astro’s to rush. I won the next 2 versus Ken and another PP Kate.

I think the PP Kate match-up is actually pretty reasonable, although the lists with RDI and 4 card TME are tough. After playing this list about 15 games over the past 2 weeks, I like it a lot, but I don’t think it can ever be tier 1 due to the conditional nature of the ID. When you don’t see a current by mid-game, you’re a blank ID and your News Hounds are really bad. Still, I think it’s the best Sol list I’ve played. One thing the list could use I think is a Fast Track, or two. 3 TB may be a bit too much because I find myself discarding at least 1 every game. Unless you get really good draws you just can’t afford to rez 3, and sometimes can’t afford to rez 2. Just my experience so far. I’m debating cutting third TB for a second Archangel. It’s a great piece of ICE against nearly every list, even PP Kate to force another Cyber Cypher.

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Agree on 2 Archangel, they’ve been really strong in my version, I’m even considering the 3rd. Would cut the last Assassin before the Tollbooths tho, biggest mistake in my last build was adding Assassins without already filling out on Tollbooths - they’re just plain better.

The version I play online does not play assassin. So, that’s a fine cut. Assassin is just good for my local meta because it doesn’t currently respect big angry sentries.

I guess Patch covers similar ground in my build, so it’s probably more legit for yours, but I still suspect Tollbooth is probably better for most metas.

I personally leverage 2 archangel really well in my list. I don’t think I’d ever drop down from 2. It’s cost to str/trace is superb and is really good over rnd as well as scoring. I’d replace the 3rd TB. The deck isn’t always that flush with money. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.

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I’ve been coming around to maybe going up to 2 of it; gordian is really the only thing pushing me away from it.

That is a valid concern. It’s meta dependent, like always. Most shapers around my area are on cycy/zu package. I do think there is a benefit of having a 2nd arch over a 3rd toll for sure. 2 toll seems right to me.

I just want the tollbooth as soon as possible. I don’t find myself rezzing more than one these days, but there’s always a server the runner is biased towards running, and that’s where I want to rez my first booth (normally).

Keeping those in hand vs criminal helps a lot. I may not put 3 but 2 maybe helps vs the alleluia-got-one effect.

I took a similar deck to the @gumOnShoe version to a GNK tournament, and I’ve been testing it a bit against SHL opponents / friends. The main difference is I’m on 2 Caprice.

I tried a few versions over the last two weeks. I won’t list all configurations, but mainly I was messing around with econ, the 4 inf currently spent on Paywall, and the last few ICE. In some form I tried all of: Biotic, Restructure, Ash, Architect. I’m pretty happy with the current build - I was on 3xTM as the only currents for a while, and my guess right now is that 2 of each is correct. The only card I didn’t like much was Turnpike - I tried it out for the tournament. I will change these out to, I think, 2 Enigma.

The deck is fine. I think it’s probably a worse foodcoats. But SanSan/Astro have done some work (and having 5x GFI is nice for closing out games).

New Angeles Sol: Your News (Data and Destiny)

Agenda (9)
3x AstroScript Pilot Program (Core Set)
3x Project Beale (Future Proof)
1x NAPD Contract (Double Time)
2x Global Food Initiative (Data and Destiny) ••

Asset (6)
3x Jackson Howard (Opening Moves)
3x Launch Campaign (Data and Destiny)

Upgrade (5)
2x SanSan City Grid (Core Set)
2x Caprice Nisei (Double Time) ••••• •••
1x Cyberdex Virus Suite (Order and Chaos)

Operation (12)
3x Hedge Fund (Core Set)
2x Interns (Mala Tempora)
3x Sweeps Week (True Colors)
2x Targeted Marketing (The Spaces Between)
2x Paywall Implementation (The Spaces Between) ••••

Barrier (5)
2x Wraparound (Fear and Loathing)
2x Resistor (Data and Destiny)

Code Gate (7)
3x Tollbooth (Core Set)
1x Viper (Cyber Exodus) •
2x Archangel (Data and Destiny)

Sentry (5)
3x News Hound (Data and Destiny)
2x Turnpike (Data and Destiny)
2x Assassin (Data and Destiny)

15 influence spent (maximum 15)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Data and Destiny

Edit: Besides this thread, I should also note as an inspiration Larry Carter’s 70th place worlds deck.

I’ve been considering testing the third Paywall as a Cerebral Static in @gumOnShoe 's list. Anyone used and liked Static in Sol? My thoughts are for Leela and Noise specifically, but a singleton is probably just too unreliable since you really need it immediately versus both those Runners. I personally won’t cut to 4 Currents cause I already fail to see any in many games, even after digging with Jacksons to try to turn on News Hound.

I found that Static rarely gave me the advantage I needed to win a game. It could slow the runner down, but it cost money and set me back every time an agenda was scored. If you want your influence back you could try something I’ve thought about, which is 3x TM, & 2x Paywall. TM tends to be helpful vs the runners you’re complaining about. Name cache vs noise & watch them squirm; far better than turning off the mills as they’ll give you money to protect archives.

But others say they enjoyed static, so it may be a play style issue. Personally, I’d try 3tm & 2pay first, and see if that 2 extra inf can help you elsewhere before switching to static. Could go to 2 architect, which is where I play my 4x current version now.

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FWIW a lot of people have been playing the @gumOnShoe version lately on OCTGN. I have yet to give any craps at all about TM (maybe they are naming the wrong card, maybe I’ve been playing less obvious decks). It feels good to play but I think the card does nothing. Usually It barely affects my play and then gives them 10c at the end of the game when it doesn’t matter.

Static annihilates Noise, helps the FA plan against Leela, and curb-stomps quite a few tier 2 IDs (Kit, Quetz). I still like my 3x Paywall 1x Static.

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if TM isn’t affecting your play you’ve definitely come up against people naming the wrong thing. Let me guess, they’ve mostly been picking breakers you can play around installing? It’s the obvious noob play but picking an econ card that will clog up your hand (or get switched out to something else if you discard them) is virtually always a better line, unless you can guarantee they need that breaker (D4v1d is the closest thing to a regular breaker I often name against anyone except Sunny. Sol is mean to Sunny.)

TM works really well against Faust, so there’s one breaker worth calling.

Absolutely, altho, the problem there is often identifying that it’s a Faust deck before it’s already out. Other than noise there’s no ID you know for sure will be running Faust, and it’s often one of the first things installed. And against Noise there are no shortage of amazing TM targets. Turn 1 you obviously pick Wyldside and wait for him to hand you your 10 free credits, then later on D4v1d/Parasite depending on your ice spread are both huge, or Cache if he’s hurting for money.

You pretty much know against Quetzal and Valencia too.

Its kind of why I prefer to just have paywall up, most of the time. TM is really good for noise and some flavors of anarch. I don’t find it to be very useful vs kate, though. Any deck that’s playing a toolboxy 1-of style of play TM usually is just “turns on news hound”.

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TM plan for Kate: Turn 1 - PPVP. any other time - whichever of Lucky Find and Sure Gamble they have played less of. If they’ve played 2 or more of both, Levy. You’re guaranteed to be either denying them 10+ credits or gaining way more than Paywall could ever hope to pay out against miss runs once every 3 turns.

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