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

Sure, assuming you have the Wastelands drawn and installed and you trash nothing else that turn. In that case, maybe they are decent. Personally, I’ve removed Wasteland from my deck.

Holy cow! Wastelands and Hunting Grounds are like the only two Virtual with teeth. I suppose if you are moving away from a endless hunger rig that probably makes sense… But it still seems you would want a benefit for discarding those facedown cards as Apex.

I just can’t wait to play x3 Foxfire against Apex :smiley:

Foxfire text: Trace7 - If successful, trash 1 virtual resource or 1 link.

Can’t same old thing, Deja Vu costs 2 influence. But perhaps if someone cerebral statics you, and you put Dr lovegood in your deck, and you can blank apex, and then you play bank job, and Aesop, and daily casts and armitage, then trash it all with independent thinking, after installing all the directives of course, then you can draw so many cards and gain all the money in the world!! Then promptly wake from your coma

Or just play Adam?

Stupid internet, I can’t tell if sarcasm

Adam is the best of the three…so sarcasm would not be merited :stuck_out_tongue:

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[quote=“x3r0h0ur, post:150, topic:4708”]
Adam is the best of the three…so sarcasm would not be merited
[/quote]both Apex and Sunny are each one of the best of the three.

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But Adam is the best of the 3!

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Agreed thus far. Next week I am giving Sunny and Apex a fair shake though. Thus far I have just been tooling around with Adam.

damn internet messing up my sarcasm :’(

Sorry to pour cold water on your totally serious idea, but it’s been FAQ’d that identity cards are never installed. So you can’t Lovegood Apex. :’(

Yes, this idea was going to propel me to the top tables, if only I could get over my reclusiveness now. What will I ever do without turbo jank?

But if they play Cerebral Static, you can install Aesop’s!

So. Based on the conversation, Apex has three major problems and it seems you don’t have enough influence to overcome all three.

  1. Draw - Aside from Safety First and Chopbot, Apex has no source of constant draw. This is a pretty big hurdle as almost every other runner tries for some kind of constant draw effect.

  2. Econ - the only passive econ Apex gets is Wasteland and Data Folding, both of which perish after an Apocalypse.

  3. Breakers - The final deck building challenge. Mimic seems like the easiest solution, but many builds also include 2-3 e3 so endless hunger will be able to break most ice and so you will have extra cards for prey. Eater enables easier Apcalypses and works well with prey (but influence).

Oh yeah, and you will pretty much always use a levy. So that is 3 influence gone.

It’s a tough spot. I will probably try a build with safety first, brain cage, chopbot and faust. Because the constant draw from Safety First is probably too good to pass up.

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Would it be too out of topic here to talk about how Apex’s cards might function with other identities, specifically if its programs are worthwhile to be used by The Professor? I don’t see Harbinger being too useful, since Prof likely runs enough programs to protect the value ones from Power Shutdown, but if he is packing daemons Endless Hunger might see some use. It’s cost is steep without apex cards for sure, but if he has used up or no longer optimal things around he can trash them the same way he normally would with Pawnshop.

Although I would rather talk Apex builds, I will bite.

Apocalypse, Hunting Grounds, Wastelands and maybe Harbinger will see some play outside of Apex.

I think Apex’s most splashable card is Hunting Grounds. 1 influence for the ability to ignore on encounters once per turn and/or a triple set up for Aesop’s (outside of Apex) seems strong.

I don’t think Endless Hunger is worth much of anything in Professor. Does Professor have enough other installed stuff to get the breaks? Probably not. He also can’t run e3 so for me its a non starter.

Harbinger is okay. Two targets for Aesop’s makes it 1 credit better over Cache, with a longer wait time.

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the TLDR version is [quote]Apex’s major problem is Netrunner.[/quote]

Don’t get me wrong, I would love if he was better (thematically, he’s pretty much my ideal runner), but he’s basically a bunch of development ideas that were too crazy for Anarchs that were thrown onto an ID. I mean, Endless Hunger is an 11 strength universal breaker. Corroder is a 2 strength fracter. Yet, Corroder is one of the best breakers in the game, while Endless Hunger is needing support cards or is being eyed for replacement.

I guess you can use Endless Hunger as an emergency breaker with SMC or whatever, but that would be a extremely short-term solution, and I don’t see why that would be better then getting something you can use in a normal rig.

Wasteland - Noise and Geist get a benefit from playing it, but 2 influence is quite a lot. If the influence cost is ever irrelevant, I think it’s a consideration.

Harbringer - No.

Hunting Grounds - It’s neat to avoid the Tollbooth tax, but you still have to break it. I just don’t think there is enough stuff that it hits. If that changes, sure, but a lot would have to change.

Heartbeat - If brain damage is ever a thing, sure. Not for meat/net damage though.

Endless Hunger - See Hunting Grounds.

Apocalypse - Do you even win after this? I guess the idea is Apocalypse >>> Endless Hunger?

Prey - I think the most likely card to see play. It synergizes with Datasucker, though awkwardly, unlike Parasite, you still have to break the ice. But it’s free, saves you a click, doesn’t take up memory, can be Same Old Thing’d, and even with Parasite you’re probably running a rig anyways. Express is the obvious home, but really any deck running Datasucker + Icebreakers can use it moderately well.

Are you sure about this? I’ve seen a lot of Prof lists run 2x Cache, and this is a little more money, but slower and no MU cost (Cache is instant +2, then +3 more with Aesop. Harbinger is +3 next turn and +3 the turn after).

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Is Apocalypse a card that is interesting in an Inject-Street Peddler-I’ve Had Worse type of Noise deck (as opposed to a “party pancake” type one)?

Basic plan:

  • Keep trashing their ICE
  • Race through your deck
  • When you get low on cards, they will just be getting some kind of defences up
  • Make sure you have a Levy AR Lab Access in hand (Déjà Vu)
  • ‘Apocalyse’ them
  • Next turn Levy
  • Restart game with half of their deck in the bin
  • Make sure you include a spare Aesop’s/Chopbot to Clone Chip your stuff back second time around!

I’ll be fun trying to make it work anyway!

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