The Tapwrm+SacCon engine is fairly common right now.
Here are my thoughts about how to respond to this. Note, I do not claim to be a strong player, so please offer better ideas and critique.
Manage my credit level so the drip is not a problem. This feels tricky to do since staying below 10 credits as Corp leaves you with few options. So, this probably is not a good option.
Purge aggressively. To do this, you need to be able to give the Runner free turns. If you have passive econ drip and a decent set of ice – or great faith in your R&D – then you might be able to do this. Feels like a better option for a glacier-style deck.
Ignore it. This works if you do not care about the Runner being really rich. I could imagine some Jinteki net damage decks falling into this category if the Runner does not have Feedback Filter, but this seems like a super risky strategy.
Slot tech. Obviously, you can’t wait until the game to do this. You can put in anti-virus tech such as CVS and Macrophage or target the SacCons with Best Defense. I suspect the anti-virus tech will have wider utility both right now and in the future, but I could be wrong about that.
Good thread idea. I just started playing the Tapwrm+SacCon engine a couple of weeks ago. It’s not quite as fantastic as I thought when I had only played against it and it annoyed the hell out of me.
Responding to your points:
Yes, I do see corp players hold off on their big econ options. But I wonder if the corp decks going around right now are simply designed to function a bit better on ~10 credits? With the exception of CI and AgInfusion I see a lot of Jinteki decks (only need 4 credits right?), CTM (just need enough to rez Tollbooth), and weird FA decks in Titan, Tennin, etc. (your money is in your Priority Construction counters and Anson Rose etc.).
This is a miserable feeling. It’s especially insidious because both players know that in a Jackson-less world, doing nothing means agendas are slowly starting to trot their way into HQ and aren’t leaving. I play around this as best I can the same way I play around Maw—clear my hand, stash agendas in the remote if it’s safer than HQ, or keep a full hand but nothing of value.
Reversed Accounts is, sadly, better than ignoring it OR purging. It creates an advanced threat in the remote the runner needs to check and/or it totally bankrupts them. You can have your 3 or 4 credits for a turn or two if it gives me a window next time.
Best Defense is pretty good, but to me its prime utility is in some kind of combo deck that absolutely needs to take a piece off the table. (I played Best Defense for Plascrete back in the Midseasons days.) I have found that CVS and Macrophage have more outright utility since they can absolutely stop a runner cold (as well as having more versatile applications against Aumakua, Clot, and other things). If I can set up a situation where there is a CVS in the remote and a Macrophage on R&D, I can often start to retake control of the game. My only regret is actually not having one more copy each (ugh, slots).
Been playing NBN decks with 3x Aryabhata Tech for awhile. Aryabhata justifies 3x Macrophage which makes Senor really hard to protect longterm. Settled on a CTM glaciery deck with all tracer ICE and must trash upgrades. The Making News deck that runs Door to Door also has a strong variant with 3x each of Aryabhata and Macrophage.
