Back on topic, I think Agroplex is definitely a net benefit for Palana. I will be running at least one, but probably no more than two in all my Palana decks. Multiples are almost worthless since you almost never need to duplicate the printed effect. It’s good to keep in mind that it draws you an extra card every turn as well as providing credits, helping FA and rush strategies.
What I’m not sure about, however, is whether Agroplex is better or worse versus Faust decks than it is versus other standard decks. Is it worse because Faust decks love cards and you’re just giving them more? Is it better because they’re already drawing enough cards per turn and now they have to discard down more? Is it worse because you make it harder to kill with Snare! and other net damage? Is it better because you’re encouraging them to run and die on Komainu? With most Faust decks running Whiz as the ID, I think the runner can dictate Agroplex’s value; if it helps you too much, they can trash it, but if it helps them enough, they can leave it. Also not sure if it’s worth installing against Criminal or non-Wyldside Anarch; I need to do more testing. Definitely avoid installing against Drug Dealer!
I think Agroplex is pretty nuts, but the downside is real. You need ways of draining the extra cards you’re feeding Faust, and Grail/Ashigaru/Komainu/Tsurugi seem to fit the bill kind of nicely. The low strength vs Parasites hurts, but you can’t have everything.
So I’ve realized in this deck that it’s trying to straddle the line between Glacier and Rush, and grail really needs to be rush. So I’ve changed this around again, I’m finding the rush to be so much more reliable. The mumbad city grid really saves so much on econ when you can just move your galahad down one and add two more subs to it. The only piece of ice I’m uncertain of is the Quicksand, which was only picked cause it had a decent on-encounter text. Likely going to replace with Vanilla. Comments or suggestions welcome!
I’m still toying with the idea of traps/asset spam with FA instead of glacier. I know it doesn’t leverage the money advantage as well as glacier, but it could run fast without needing to click for a credit every turn or run many econ events and just push a fast tempo.
I won’t give it a serious shot until after my last SC this weekend though…
Sentry (6)
1x Assassin(Data and Destiny)
1x Komainu(Honor and Profit)
3x Pup(Honor and Profit)
1x Swordsman(Second Thoughts)
15 influence spent (max 15)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Business First
Yeah, I don’t think the Fast Track is correct, because you can usually find an agenda (because Agroplex is ridiculous, please runners, continue not to trash it!) when you need one. I would play Shipment From SanSan if it was neutral, but I’m not paying inf for that.
3 Agroplex is mandatory in this build, although I think 2 is right in most Palana builds. This one likes the cards more than most decks, and sometimes you can just fast advance 4-6 points before the runner has a stable economy.
Did a dozen games testing and took Palana to an SC. Thoughts on Agroplex are similar to yours – worth the include but definitely only 1 or 2 (I ran 1 with launches); not worth including snares if you plan to play the aggroplex (more batty’s or komainu’s be my suggestion); consider a Chronos project or 2 since you get to devastating range on the runner that much quicker.
Thanks for posting the list. Would seem to be worth swapping GFI for TFP to get in 1 more trick of light battery (although Shadow ain’t great …). Also given no crucial agendas (ala astro) and likely 2 cards per turn “for free”, how essential is the fast track? Tempting to slot 1 more ice or something for that.
TFP was in the original build, but the list is already weak to shaper, so giving them a Film Critic-able target wasn’t the best. I was originally spending the extra inf on a Wraparound, but that just got D4V1Ded every time by these dang Pitchfork decks. Also, I feel more comfortable putting a food on the table if I have biotic + trick in my hand, where I really don’t want to slam TFP.
So played a bit with shazzner’s deck, but I swapped the city grids for Batty, a Crick for an Inazama, a Fast Track for a Crisium Grid, and the Braintrusts for Medical Breakthroughs. So yea, most of the night ended up just trying to score Nisei’s and Sales teams, no one got a Medical, so that was weird. Philotic also didn’t do much, for one game at least. I felt like I had a bunch of money but if I was installing and advancing agendas Agroplex cards wern’t helping. Both games didn’t have them up. Ended up with a pile of credits that could have rezzed ice and then some.
Second game I took out the INazama and changed the Philotic for a Clone Retirement. This time was against Noise that apparently planted against the Komainu and lost his only two Fausts, but then just went ham on R&D after that because no snare threat. Imp took out Grail ice in HQ. Scored out on a Crick/Galahad remote.
I feel Unless you hold onto the Galahad the lack of ETR makes everything risky. Lots of low ice hands.
What are people going with as an optimal glacial agenda suite for palana?
So far i have seen 2 influence variants
3 TFP, 1 GFi, 3 Nisei, 1 NaPd
2 TFP, 2 GFi, 3 Nisei, 1 salesteam
And a 1 influence variant
3) 3 TFP, 1 GFi, 3 Nisei, 1 Salesteam
Obviously i am limiting the discussion here to glacial suites, as there is a whole other suite more dedicated to FA, NA rush with all the 3 pointers within it, or a kill deck suite which again different entirely.
All of the suites essentially have the property that the runner must steal 4 agendas to win, or steal 3 agendas subject to winning a psi game for a TFP (or have film critic installed).
I think #2 is best. GFI quickly becomes worse with other 3 pointers in the deck. You can just hold 1 TFP in hand all game and never install it, relying on psi games to keep it safe, but if your TFPs make up 9 of your agenda points, then you could find yourself in a situation where you have to install it.
EG You have three two pointers scored and the runner has a two pointer and a GFI scored (so they’re at 4 points). The next agenda will decide the game.