"Not Asa Good Asa ETF" (obviously; the Asa Group thread)

I tried my gosh dang darndest to find an Asa Group thread, and I just could not find one. This sadness led me to start this one.

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You should call it “Not Asa Good Asa EtF.” :joy:

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Basically, I just wanted to talk about my latest take on the ID.

The initial thought of using this ID is including plenty of Upgrades, right? An installation of an Asset, Agenda, ICE, or Upgrade could lead to the install of an Upgrade in the server (or, in the case of a Central server, an Upgrade installation could lead to an ICE install). That type of click advantage pushed me in the direction of using the then newly released Calibration Testing to try and score as fast as possible, utilizing Breaker Bay Grid for economy in the remote. The deck was decent, but did not have much cash.

My next attempt at using the ID was to try this, based on @Daine 's Clicking Hell classic. It was really fun, and quite grindy, as the opponent was unsure what was coming. The idea of using no Influence was fun, and the deck had more money than earlier iterations, thanx to the fantastic Influence-free cards SSL Endorsement and NGO Front.

I kept playing the deck for fun on JNET, tweaking it here and there, and finally decided to break down and add Influence. That leads to my latest build:

Asa Group: Security Through Vigilance
49 cards
Influence: 15/15 ●​●​●​●​●​●​●​●​●​●​●​●​●​●​●​
Agenda points: 20
Tournament legal

Agenda (8)
2 False Lead
3 Ikawah Project
3 SSL Endorsement

Asset (6)
3 MCA Austerity Policy
3 NGO Front

ICE (16)
1 Fairchild
3 Fairchild 2.0
3 Fairchild 3.0 :unicorn:
3 Ichi 1.0
2 Najja 1.0
2 Ravana 1.0
2 Viktor 1.0

Operation (5)
3 Death and Taxes ●​●​●​●​●​●​●​●​●​
2 Preemptive Action

Upgrade (14)
3 Ash 2X3ZB9CY
2 Breaker Bay Grid
1 Cyberdex Virus Suite
2 Heinlein Grid
1 Mason Bellamy
3 Red Herrings ●​●​●​●​●​●​
1 Strongbox
1 Warroid Tracker

I decided, after getting crunched by Hacktivist too often, to add Currents. In-haus ones, such as ELP, would be fine, but the deck can always use more money (which can’t?). Death & Taxes seemed great, and only got better when I realized it meant whenever the Runner trashed ANY installed card, including their own (hello, Resources). It proved to be much more of a boon card than any normal counter-Current. That also left 6 Influence. I wanted more defensive Upgrades. I tried Code Replicator, which seemed great, but when I found that it just led to them being able to jack out, it lost some luster. I am currently trying Red Herrings, because it’s 2 Influence, nice on Centrals, and can sometimes be enough (7 to steal Ikawah, thank you very much). However, I’m thinking of trying Bio Vault. Same Influence as the others I have tried, and doesn’t protect Centrals, but has some sneak factor involved. Can be used as part of a ‘never advance’ game, and also pose as an Agenda or an NGO Front. The hard ETR is nice, too, forcing a desperate remote run or Stimhack to fizzle unexpectedly.

Anyhow, that’s the Asa deck I’ve been enjoying. Would love to see some other builds people have toyed around with.

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Surprised to see no Campaigns in there. Do you struggle for cash with just NGO, SSL, and D&T for economy? Or are you spending a lot of turns going: Install + Asa Trigger > Credit > Credit?

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Yeah, the econ still isn’t the greatest, for sure. Like Clicking Hell, there is a lot of clicking for creds.

I guess Marilyn could work, but that’s a naked remote only kind of situation.

If spags’ ASA deck wins a Regional do we call it “Calimsha ASA?”

Asking for a friend

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I had a similar idea about installing lots of upgrades but went a different direction with it. This was originally a Jinja deck but I realised that despite Jinja’s insane numbers it didn’t really make the deck much better. The idea here is to make a bunch of “must trash” cards in a remote so that they lose the “NGO or Agenda” game regardless of what they actually guess. The issue is mostly high variance in centrals, expensive ice and not quite enough money.

MVT NGO Asa

Asa Group: Security Through Vigilance (Sovereign Sight)

Agenda (8)
1x Corporate Sales Team (Business First)
1x Ikawah Project (Sovereign Sight)
3x Project Vitruvius (Cyber Exodus)
3x SSL Endorsement (Down the White Nile)

Asset (3)
3x NGO Front (Down the White Nile)

Upgrade (9)
2x Ash 2X3ZB9CY (Revised Core Set)
1x Bryan Stinson i[/i] [color=#006400]●●●[/color]
1x Cyberdex Virus Suite (Order and Chaos)
2x Mumbad Virtual Tour (Salsette Island) [color=#708090]●●●●[/color]
2x Product Placement (The Universe of Tomorrow) [color=#FF8C00]●●[/color]
1x Warroid Tracker (Blood and Water)

Operation (11)
3x Hedge Fund (Core Set)
2x Preemptive Action i[/i]
3x Scarcity of Resources i[/i]
3x Ultraviolet Clearance (Terminal Directive)

Barrier (7)
2x IP Block (Martial Law) [color=#FF8C00]●●[/color]
3x Seidr Adaptive Barrier (Station One)
2x Vanilla (The Liberated Mind)

Code Gate (6)
1x Enigma (Core Set)
3x Fairchild 3.0 i[/i] [color=#8A2BE2]:unicorn:[/color]
2x Mirāju (Blood and Water) [color=#DC143C]●●●●[/color]

Sentry (5)
3x Architect (Up and Over)
2x Ichi 1.0 (Core Set)
15 influence spent (max 15, available 0)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Down the White Nile

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Interesting. I like the INF mix, even if I think IP Block’s stock is plummeting. SO, you’re actually spending INF on MVT, a rare occurrence. I considered it, as I could easily go to 7 assets in mine, and MVT on a MCAAP is :spicy_meatball:.

The Miraju is good. I would consider Crisiums, perhaps. Asa in general can be very susceptible to Apoc, due to its focus on defending a remote. ICE alone will not be enough. Usually, if I smell the Apoc, I try to hold back as much ICE as possible.

I do love the UVC, as one would hope that the Asa ability would be able to capitalize on it.

How’s the deck done?

Crisium is a good idea. You’re definitely right that this is vulnerable to apocalypse, but I’ve yet to really see anyone playing that.

I gave a prior version of this build to Asher (3 MVT, 0 scarcity, 0 stinson and 3 jinja) and he won a GNK with it undefeated (and beating the current World Champ). I took a similar list (still 3 jinja and 0 scarcity) to our own GNK and went 1-2. I crushed one game against Maxx, had another game against Pirate Hayley where I was well on the way to crushing but couldn’t draw an agenda to save my life and got a timed loss 3-2 (with 2 unstealable points in the server waiting to be scored), then lost another game to Gabe of all things where I drew 3 agendas t1 and couldn’t sufficiently protect them.

In testing I think the deck is very strong but running 4 3-pointers, having so little economy and so much expensive ice makes you very variance prone. I would rank it a solid Tier 2.

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For a while my deck was in the top three of the faction on nrdb. Maybe because it was one of the only three in the faction? Bit outdated now

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My list is rather similar to yours, but still runs Jinja, and and uses Marcus Batty as defensive upgrade: https://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/49278. It’s been doing ok for me, including 4-0 in a store champs.

What are your thoughts on FC2.0? I find it to be one of the better ice in the deck, so was a bit surprised you play none.

I agree you need a bit of luck to draw everything in the right order, so not tier 1 at this point.

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I messed around with your build for a few games this week. I never lost with it, but there were sure some times where I just prayed that the runner didn’t run the remote to clear out some of the upgrades. I either had money to rez the upgrades, or money for the ICE. Collecting the money for both usually felt like I needed the runner to steal an SSL, because scoring one myself never left me far enough ahead.

Death and Taxes never did anything for me, either because I drew it too late or because the runner flopped their own current down immediately. It’s probably great when it works, but I was sad.

Also, bummer of the century: Heinlein Grid and Breaker Bay Grid are both Regions, so once I got the killer combo in the remote, rezzing it was an issue. This is really what lead to my problems above. I could wait on playing Heinlein and rez with BBG, but then I have no way of getting BBG out of the way for the Heinlein install.

This all being said, I didn’t lose with it. I wish there was more money, but clearly there’s something here.

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Thanx for the feedback.

I’ve got a tuned up version, and I’m going to try it this weekend. Taking some notes from @miek’s build. Dropping the BBGs, for the problem you noted, as well as !:damon:. Herrings become Bio Dome, which should hopefully create more issues and confusion in the remote. An ArcMem comes in, as well as one Rashida, which gives me 7 assets for 2 free INF MVTs. This makes the build less built around Heinlein/False Lead, and maybe I should finally give up on that. Could go 7 agendas, then, but the threat of Heinlein is real. Without that janky combo, the deck becomes more utilitarian, and perhaps better.

D&T is another divisive card, but is great when it works. It’s another card that defends you from major trashing, and maybe another Warroid would go well towards that end, as well. FWIW, I feel that at times the remote gets so daunting that they don’t run it, making Warroid beyond redundant.

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I’ve had a ton of success with my “No Clicks” version… uses 3x Calibration for FA (being able to score a PV from hand without Biotic is awesome). Keeping the runner from being able to click through FC3 or steal an Ikawah is even better. Breaker Bay MVP

No Clicks for You!

Asa Group: Security Through Vigilance (Sovereign Sight)

Agenda (8)
1x Corporate Sales Team (Business First)
3x Ikawah Project (Sovereign Sight)
3x Project Vitruvius (Revised Core Set)
1x SSL Endorsement (Down the White Nile)

Asset (9)
2x Jeeves Model Bioroids (Salsette Island)
3x MCA Austerity Policy (Crimson Dust)
2x NGO Front (Down the White Nile)
2x Team Sponsorship (The Universe of Tomorrow)

Upgrade (10)
3x Breaker Bay Grid (Breaker Bay)
3x Calibration Testing (Sovereign Sight) [color=#FF8C00]●●●●● ●●●●[/color]
1x Mason Bellamy (Terminal Directive)
2x Strongbox (Revised Core Set)
1x Warroid Tracker (Blood and Water)

Operation (9)
1x Biotic Labor (Revised Core Set)
3x Enhanced Login Protocol (The Spaces Between)
3x Hedge Fund (Revised Core Set)
1x Preemptive Action i[/i]
1x Ultraviolet Clearance (Terminal Directive)

Barrier (5)
1x Meru Mati (Breaker Bay) [color=#006400]●●[/color]
1x Najja 1.0 (Sovereign Sight)
1x Quicksand (Chrome City)
2x Seidr Adaptive Barrier (Station One)

Code Gate (6)
3x Fairchild 3.0 i[/i] [color=#8A2BE2]:unicorn:[/color]
1x Mirāju (Blood and Water) [color=#DC143C]●●[/color]
2x Turing (Breaker Bay)

Sentry (2)
1x Architect (Up and Over)
1x News Hound (Data and Destiny) [color=#FF8C00]●●[/color]

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I honestly haven’t done a lot of brewing with ASA, so I don’t claim to be an expert here at all, but I’m noticing a trend with @spags and @pj20 only packing 1x Mason Bellamy. Any reason you guys chose not to include more copies? He seems like a pretty useful piece of the Upgrade Hell strategy especially if you’re playing False Lead in your agenda suit so I’m curious on the reasoning. Is it mostly just slots?

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for me it’s because it’s unique… if it gets trashed you have either Team Sponsorship or Preemptive Action to get it back (possibly architect).

I felt that having 2x Strongbox was better because you can put them in the same remote.

That’s just me though

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My thought was more that, unlike Strongbox, Red Herrings, etc., Bellamy protects the remote even if they have Film Critic. Also If you manage to combine Bellamy and Heinlein, you have a truly disgusting remote server, so running more copies for consistency seems attractive.

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Got 2nd in a 10 person SC in Chicago with the Asa yesterday, losing a tight 7-6 game v. Val FTT in the last game of grand finals. It rushed out on another Val FTT, as well as an Ed Kim Virus (2x Consume!) deck in the cut. Turns out pushing multiple SSLs early is pretty good. Also beat a Maxx DDM deck with NA, and lost a 7-6 to an Aeneas (nightmare!) because I forgot I had a CVS on board I could’ve popped on a TMA to force the Architect to fire (1st round brainfart).

Here’s the build tried. Went to 7 assets with Rashida (damn she’s good) to get 2 MVTs in, which were largely ineffectual. The big FC was OK, and dissuaded the MaxX from checking my remote, but usually I couldn’t afford it.The main swap was to Bio Vault, which was sick. I didn’t realize at first that it worked on ANY server, which is some good. Plus, it worked so well as a diversion, or I just NA’d it, and then could slam a False Lead and then double ADV the Vault already there.

Man, what a fun card.

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I’ve been trying this jammy list recently after fooling around with a Foodcoats style list for a while.

Lateral Growth is a good card in Asa, even if losing the ETF money makes you sad.

I’m on all two point agendas because FC3 is so much better than Tollbooth that I can’t justify GFI and Mad Dash means Runners win on two steals if I play real 3 pointers. I could be persuaded the agenda suite is wrong. I could see putting in a couple SSL.

This is a list designed to jam things in remotes rather than build monster upgrade collections. Much like Weyland, its agendas are a key source of credits, so you want to get a couple out the door early.

I have wondered about Bio Vault instead of Batty in Asa. I’ll be interested to see how that experiment goes.

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I’ve been playing this list inspired by @FightingWalloon a bit and having a TON of fun:

FKN JAMMY

Asa Group: Security Through Vigilance

Agenda (9)
3x Corporate Sales Team
1x Efficiency Committee
3x Project Vitruvius
2x SSL Endorsement

Asset (8)
2x Marilyn Campaign
3x NGO Front
3x Rashida Jaheem

Upgrade (9)
2x Bio Vault ●●●●
3x Calibration Testing ●●●●● ●●●●
2x Crisium Grid ●●
2x Jinja City Grid

Operation (7)
3x Hedge Fund
2x Preemptive Action
2x Ultraviolet Clearance

Barrier (5)
3x NEXT Silver
2x Vanilla

Code Gate (6)
3x Fairchild 3.0 :unicorn:
3x NEXT Sapphire

Sentry (5)
3x Architect
2x Ichi 1.0

15 influence spent (max 15, available 0)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to The Devil and the Dragon

Deck built on https://netrunnerdb.com.

Basically draw like a mad mofo and jam things in your remote. Bio Vault is incredibly sick because you can do things like install it alongside a Vitruvius and advance it twice. Rashida and UVC let you power draw through the deck so you always have something to slam jam into the remote. The NEXT suite is nice because Pirate Hayley laughs at Seidr Adaptive Barrier, and also you can draw more cards. There’s a chance this is just better in CI but it’s definitely very fun!

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