"That's not a virtual resource" - The Apex Thread

No, you haven’t lost your mind, I have considered it to. The problem with it is that it doesn’t get you through Architect nor Turing while it getting you past Resistor and Turing isn’t really important.

Which is why Apex is getting a decent amount of flack for being a poor ID:
When Gingerbread starts to look like a good Icebreaker, you might be in trouble.

9 Likes

This is such a true statement.

Something like this might help Spaghett:

Venom (unique)
Apex - 5 influence
Resource - Virtual
Install: 2
Once per turn, when you encounter a piece f ICE, you may choose a subtype. That ICE gains the chosen subtype until the end of the run.

Allows Apex to import only 1 breaker of his choice to deal with all that pesky ICE. Balanced by some anti synergy with Apoc since you don’t really want to lose this one.

Limit 1 per deck might be okay too

If you’re ever considering Gingerbread, I have to think you might just want to consider link.

4 Likes

If Acess to Globalsec were virtual, it would be my go-to filler card. But it isn’t :frowning:

The good thing about Brain Cage is that you often want to sit around on some spare cards (breakers, console) for after the Apocalypse and you are probably drawing a good amount already so any card you dont have to discard from hand is good.

But Apoc will trash the brain cage, so you don’t have the hand size the turn you need it most.

3 Likes

Dyson Mem Chip for the inf-free version, or The Helpful AI if you have inf to spare.

So I know that Apex needs, like, a lot of help. Like so much. Added to that, influence is super tight in basically any build.

That being said, it looks like Street Magic might be a good card for him. It keeps him from getting totally wrecked by things like Archer by moving the ETR subs before the bad ones ruin his day. Mind you, it doesn’t do anything about actually breaking said Archer. But it does make runs into some painful ICE easier to bear. I can only imagine the reason that this card is 1 inf and a Virtual resource is because they had him in mind when printing it.

Thoughts?

1 Like

Apex are the Weyland of runner:Someone (MaxX/NBN) does something they are good at (Apoc/Scorch) far better.
That being said Street Magic might be a good start,not very good though.

I think Street Magic is a card tailor-made for Apex. But unfortunately, it does nothing to answer “Caprice on a central,” which is the auto-loss condition I most commonly faced back when playing Apex. The MWL reducing the omniprevalence of Eli and Architect helps, but it’s not enough…yet.

I wrote a whole post about how great Temple of the Liberated Mind is going to be, how many problems it deals with, and right above it I see the thread title. I sighed, then deleted it.

I won’t be dragged into another APEX phase. I won’t. I can’t. I shant.

Although Street Magic will be an auto-include for those who haven’t gone through their APEX phase yet. Deals with a bunch of annoying ice for him.

2 Likes

Seeing as I have been enjoying Hunting Grounds + Independent Thinking in Adam, I kind of wonder if we might be able to do something similar in Apex.

I mean, ABR is a pretty fantastic card for Apex, especially if you are bothering with x2 e3.

Safety First is pretty okay and is probably the only way Apex can get a pseudo drug dealer effect, although admittedly at much lower returns than wyldcakes or even drug dealer (3 card max handsize with the potential to go to a measly 5 or 6 is pretty limiting for Faust).

Apex will almost always have 3-5 installed cards that it wants to get rid of, meaning you can get some huge Faust efficiency, albeit it the influence cost of 8-12 influence.

Maybe this is me living in Christmasland and wanting to believe in a thematic runner that is simply sub par. Or another instance of great cards being better in other factions.

I’ve seen ABR used to fine effect in Apex. I think the 3 inf is the real bear. I’ve only ever had success with 1 Apex build :confused: I do like the idea of massive draw with directive + apex facedowned cards.

Maybe someday if there is a decent directive that is not super heavy on influence this will be viable.

Although I doubt we will see any new directives any time soon.

I’ve had success with the one directive you don’t mention: Neutralize All Threats. Cheap, easy way to get multi access for HQ. And the negative side of that card doesn’t hurt too much considering you’re usually too broke to trash anything in the first place. Still struggles like any other Apex deck, but I haven’t considered the other directives until now. Might have to toy around and see what its like.

I think the idea of running a directive and independent thinking is probably too pipedreamy right now.

But it could be good to decent with faust.

If there was any lower influence directive it would be a lot easier.

Edit Right now it would probably look like this.

Apex Run

Apex: Invasive Predator

Event (18)
2x Apocalypse
3x Dirty Laundry
2x Independent Thinking ••
1x Infiltration
1x Kraken
1x Levy AR Lab Access •••
3x Prey
2x Quality Time ••
3x Sure Gamble

Hardware (10)
2x Brain Cage
2x e3 Feedback Implants ••••
3x Heartbeat
3x Rabbit Hole •••

Resource (9)
2x Always Be Running ••••• •
3x Hunting Grounds
1x Utopia Shard •
3x Wasteland

Icebreaker (5)
3x Endless Hunger
2x Faust ••••

Program (3)
3x Harbinger

25 influence spent (max 25)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Data and Destiny

So I’ve had a bit of success with Corporate Scandal + Blackmail in Apex. It’s won me two games when they assume I can’t crack their remote:

Apex Scandal

Apex: Invasive Predator (Data and Destiny)

Event (24)
2x Account Siphon (Core Set) [color=#4169E1]••••• •••[/color]
3x Apocalypse (Data and Destiny)
3x Blackmail (Fear and Loathing)
3x Corporate Scandal (Business First) [color=#708090]•••[/color]
3x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)
3x Infiltration (Core Set)
1x Levy AR Lab Access (Creation and Control) [color=#32CD32]•••[/color]
3x Prey (Data and Destiny)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)

Hardware (6)
1x Brain Cage (Chrome City)
2x Chop Bot 3000 (Order and Chaos) [color=#FF4500]••[/color]
3x Heartbeat (Data and Destiny)

Resource (6)
3x Hunting Grounds (Data and Destiny)
3x Wasteland (Data and Destiny)

Icebreaker (3)
3x Endless Hunger (Data and Destiny)

Program (6)
3x Harbinger (Data and Destiny)
2x Hyperdriver (The Underway) [color=#32CD32]••••• •[/color]
1x Keyhole (True Colors) [color=#FF4500]•••[/color]
25 influence spent (max 25)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Business First

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

How do you use keyhole without any +MU beyond heartbeat? Is it only for post apocalypse? Why not medium, which can actually fit in with endless hunger and can be used with blackmail?