Probably means plascrete… sadness
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My problems aren’t largely with Butchershop (though sometimes they do get the tools they need early to make that BN behind a Raven play with money and Midseason in hand and you just shake hands) but Blue Sun kill gives less reward for remote plays (harder Bank Jobs and Sec Tests) and Jinteki kill is another thing. Neither of those decks are hard either, but they get a lot easier if you have Levy and 2 plascretes. I was wondering if people were seeing Blue Sun kill and Jinteki kill in their metas lately. If not, I can more safely play with cutting Levy for something like Medium to lay pressure onto NBN FA, which I think is the stronger deck to beat. If there’s a lot of Jinteki kill, though, Levy (in Geist) makes that matchup a walkover, which is nice. And Blue Sun kill is a lot easier to manage with double plascrete, since Siphon if not backed up with derez) doesn’t harm them as much when they can liquidate investments in ICE.
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Blue Sun kill is rare - I’ve only seen it once in recent times - but Geist should be ok with Crash Space against it as it doesn’t really midseason.
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If you’re running Crash Space, sure, though our builds are pretty different 
My point was that if you’re thinking of adding plassy, you’d probably be better off adding Crash Space (or changing plassy for crash space). Not least because it’s relevant in every matchup, even if just for clearing up siphon tags.
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Crash Space has the downside of not being nearly as good against Butchershop, or going tag-me against SEA Source Weyland. I go tag-me in almost every game I play at some point, and if it just cost a click and two credits to clear my plascrete I’d be vulnerable to any deck running meat damage.
I grant that there’s a different path available for Crim decks that don’t intend to go tag-me, but Crash Space doesn’t really do the job if you’re floating Siphon tags.
Yeah, that’s exactly it. If you plan to ditch tags and have money be your armor Crash Space is perfect, otherwise you’re slapping down a Carapace and forgetting about it. With all the new tag tools and tag punishment coming out I would really lean towards the former approach until the D&D hype dies down, much as I love going tag-me. Plascrete doesn’t stop Keegan Lane from taking a hammer to your rig.
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That’s certainly possible. I’ve played a bit against D&D decks so far and it doesn’t feel much harder, but i wouldn’t be surprised if that changed when it actually came out.
I’ve been using NACH in Leela for a while because I have not been one to float tags (lots of resources in the deck) and the NACH gets me my 2 clicks back when I Siphon. It’s also a hard counter to SEA Source, Breaking News, Keegan Lane.
It’s cheaper to install and I also run an Aesop in my Leela for now. It’s rarely a dead card in any matchup.
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I like NACH’s ability more than Crash Space’s (I’d rather have the click back than the 2 credits) but do you just constantly re-install it after stealing things? Or do you run Film Critic or Fall Guy to prevent NACH from exploding?
I ran Leela with 2x NACH at the GLC qualifier (I wished I had 3x NACH, actually).
I would generally avoid running until I really needed to against the decks where NACH mattered. Or if they would put what I felt was an agenda into a remote that I could get at, I’d go steal it first and then drop NACH. I did also have 1x Film Critic in the deck though (I ran Film Critic, Aesop’s, Kati Jones, and Drug Dealers with 2x Hostage).
It worked well in my deck because I could jsut pawn a NACH away … steal an agenda in a remote and re-install a new one.
Once I would establish a monetary advantage (I ran 3x Bank Job in my deck too), then tags were less scary.
Most of the time, I was using it proactively with Siphon to clear tags right away, though. Its use as protection versus kill was more of a sideways benefit.
You can make better use of Fall Guys with NACH in Geist, though since you likely already have a Fall Guy or two in some builds.
Doc Lovegood can also help nach but film critics are definitely the easiest way
I won a GNK last saturday with Gabe (going 3-1). Admittedly, the odds were in my favor during some of my games, but the deck feels very strong. Especially in a rush-oriented meta. The list is sort of a mashup between @TheBigBoy’s and @Xenasis’ decks posted above:
Gabriel Santiago: Consummate Professional
Event (19)
3x Account Siphon
3x Dirty Laundry
1x Drive By
2x Emergency Shutdown
2x Fisk Investment Seminar
2x Inside Job
3x Special Order
3x Sure Gamble
Hardware (6)
1x Clone Chip ••
3x Desperado
1x Plascrete Carapace
1x R&D Interface ••
Resource (8)
3x Bank Job
3x Drug Dealer
2x Same Old Thing
Icebreaker (6)
1x Corroder ••
2x Faerie
1x Faust ••
1x Mimic •
1x Passport
Program (6)
2x Datasucker ••
2x Parasite ••••
2x Sneakdoor Beta
15 influence spent (max 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to The Universe of Tomorrow
Drug Dealer is positively insane, transforming you into a more pressure-oriented version of Maxx. I eschewed Sec Testing, because plain old burst econ and targeted runs combine better with the Dealers in my opinion.
I know people’s opinion about the Fisk Investment Seminars, but if you are aware of the drawbacks of the card and can scan the board state well, it’s a good inclusion. Sometimes you just need stuff NOW, and an influence-free Diesel definitely helps in that regard.
Clone Chip was included as a panic button or as extra Parasites, but I think I’d rather have an extra RDI or Maker’s Eye as my last 2 influence.
This was the first time I actually played Criminal in a competitive tournament setting and I was very surprised at the amount of flexibility the blue cards have. You can force the Corp to play your game in a myriad of ways, and this really appeals to me.
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Welcome to the dark side.
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Love your rig… do you think it is playable on andromeda too?
Second question, how can you approach an HB game? Is Turing a problem?
Third question, did you have considered e3 feedback? It’s 0 influence on a criminal deck and it’s good with faust.
Okay, so as I said I’m not the greatest Crim expert. So maybe take the following with a grain of salt:
I’m not convinced that Faust is the best inclusion in Andromeda. This is linked to Andy being able to set up a rig + Sec Testing early. This combined with Datasuckers and Multithreaders leads to a controlly board state that’s perfect for her gameplan. Gabe puts up more balls-to-the-wall pressure which means you want to get your accesses and you want them fast. Faust helps here because it’s a 1-card rig that lets you run for free. However, I only go all-in on Faust if I get my Drug Dealers up and running. Also, because of her strong opening hand, Andy has no need for Fisk Investment Seminar. In Gabe, I can use the FIS to fuel the Faust.
At heart this is an econ-denial deck. Turing costing 4 creds to rez can be a hard pill to swallow. And even if they rez it, you have Shutdown, Inside Job and Parasite to deal with it. Or you can click it. Furthermore, sometimes you want them to rez it on their remote so you can break into centrals easier. One thing I really like about the deck is its ability to create these kinds of no-win forks in the Corp’s decision making.
The only deck I’ve ever seen E3 work in is the Quetzal Faust deck, which really goes all-in on the Faust. Here, Faust is not my primary breaker. Actually, non of my breakers are. I just use what I draw to the best of my ability, which means one game I have a full rig up and others I can lean on my Faust + Drug Dealer + Datasucker.
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I got it! This is why my Andy deck doesn’t always work. I have just to control a bit the game, not rush in the corp face 
Thanks for the advice man! Really appreciate.
I think you’re catching on very quickly to what Criminal is about. It’s way upthread at this point, but I’ve always argued that Criminal is about making a run where the corp only has bad choices. All the good blue cards are about punishing choices the corp makes during a run (Account Siphon to punish not having enough money to rez ICE over HQ, Emergency Shutdown/Crescentus punishes rezzing the ICE, Sneakdoor punishes over-investing on HQ, Faerie punishes rezzing Sentries, Security Testing punishes not rezzing ICE over low-value servers…) and fun Criminal decks rev themselves up to force these choices as early as possible. Gabe’s really good for this because he has an extra inbuilt tool for punishing the corp for not rezzing ICE over HQ, with Siphon in the pocket to punish them for rezzing it after all by giving you the info you need to break in.
If you tire of Gabe, I’d give Leela a try, especially in @Cerberus’s deck. She turns every access into the possibility of a disastrous turn for the corp, which makes their choices about whether to let you in or not even harder. Typically not rezzing ICE over RnD early is fine against Criminal, but against Leela, you’re taking the gamble that she might bounce HQ and Siphon.
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I did play a lot of Reg-Ass the past year, which is a deck that tries to do a lot of the above points as well, especially against NEH. 
But Gabe has so far been a blast. I like the simplicity of it all. Leela to me seems to be a bit more control-y in the sense that you cannot run ALL THE THINGS, lest you give up the threat of your ID ability.
@Cispiollo: keep on practicing 
Oh and love the avatar btw!
Way to go! Your list looks solid. Cutting the Levy for some actual breakers seems smart. I’ll try out your changes. Thanks for working on the deck!
You didn’t like HQ Interface? I feel like if I cut those I would ditch the FIS as well. Interested to hear your thoughts.