[Startup] Kit + Lobisomem Test (V1.1)

Spidz's notes (holy yap):

There are 2 main aims to this deck.

Aim 1: Be a Kit + Lobisomem deck. There are a few cards that support this:

A: Muse, which lets you tutor Lobisomem. (IMPORTANT: While most likely tutoring Muse from your deck, if Lobisomem gets put into discard due to damage or ice, Muse can also tutor from your discard pile).

B: Gordian Blade, which lets you get through code gates before you can afford Lobisomem, and once you have Lobisomem, it can be easily Pawned Off.

C: Carmen, for everything that Lobisomem can't break easily, but more interestingly (and the other super fun part of running in this deck...)

D: Egret, to turn things into Code Gates for Lobisomem, like Kit does.

Aim 2: Be a Coalescence + Aesop’s Pawnshop deck with a lot of Hardware for an economically fulfilling experience, as well as allowing yourself to be able to afford things like Lobisomem. There are a few cards that support this aswell.

A: Muse once more, for tutoring Coalescence. Keep in mind that Muse can pick from Hand, Deck, or Discard Pile. Early Muses are typically for Coalescence gathering. It also counts, to my understanding for Muse gathering Coalescence, as 2 separate cards able to be pawned off by...

B: Aesop’s Pawnshop. More important than Sure Gamble in this deck, nearly everyturn you should be planning to use The Pawnshop. Once you have Lobisomem, you can also trash an early Gordian Blade, and if the game goes super long, LilyPAD, Prepaid VoicePAD and other such cards can be safely removed.

C: DZMZ Optimizer, LilyPAD, and T400 Memory Diamond for extra econ and Memory Chips. You will constantly need to be aware of Memory chips for this deck, so a mulligan keep like Aesop’s Pawnshop + Muse (for Coalescence really also probably wants something like LilyPAD or DZMZ Optimizer for extra value, moreso than a Sure Gamble.

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So that's the thrust of the deck. I'm a pretty novice deckbuilder for this game, so I want to write down the logic for the remaining cards. Keep in mind I don't recall every card in the format as I'm quite new, so this was mostly just looking through cards haphazardly.

Diesel and Earthrise Hotel are my attempt at non-LilyPAD draw. I played a game where both LilyPADs and Earthrise Hotels were at the bottom 15 cards and that game was miserable, so maybe I require more draw, but that is likely an outlier. I initially had a single VRcation in the deck, but I replaced it recently for Gordian Blade. Why, do you ask? Because I was building too quickly and accidentally had a Gordian Blade instead of an Egret, which is just 1 card off from the box, but it was actually it was super rewarding, so that's a recent change that I'm pretty happy with. I never played my VRcation in that game.

Dirty Laundry, Sure Gamble and Telework Contract are there as standard extra econ.

Telework Contract recently replaced Smartware Distributor. In my head, I feel like I'd rather spend 3 clicks + an Aesop use for 8 Credits over 3 turns rather than 2 clicks + an Aesop use for 5 Credits over 3 turns. I don't know how good of a decision this is -- I'm currently trying out a 2/1 split of 2x Telework Contract and 1x Smartware Distributor, and I didn't know you couldn't update uploaded decklists on this site :(. The other consideration is that Smartware Distributor, as funny as it seems, is also just 1 click (playing it) for 3 credits if you Aesop it start of next turn, while Telework Contract costs an extra credit, and also self trashes at end, while Smartware Distributor can be Aesop’d whenever you like. So, we'll see.

Paricia has felt good and fun. It's not super critical, but it's a nice way to draw with LilyPAD, cost next to nothing or nothing with DZMZ Optimizer(s), and saves you money, before likely getting Aesop’d after a little while for some emergency cash for running.

Cataloguer seemed to be a decent in-region way of sort of "multi-seeing". I like it primarily for using it's 'scry 4' ability twice rather than one use of scry and one use of insta-breach. If you've set up your Lobisomem and econ up you can likely run their deck/RnD multiple times in a turn you've organised for it.

Window of Opportunity is 1 of 2 cards I've not mentioned and I have no idea how to evaluate this card. I read it as it was [1]: an event for Prepaid VoicePAD, [2]: something that installs programs and hardware, in a deck, with 24 of those, and [3]: pressures the econ of the enemy gamers by asking them to rerez ice. It was successfully used to do 2 out of 3 of those things pretty much every use, but there might be better run events, I'm uncertain. Towards the end of deckbuilding I realised I hadn't used much influence and this seemed to fit in.

Lastly, and most excitedly, there's Ashen Epilogue. In theory, this deck will blast through itself and immolate quite quickly: especially if you have an early LilyPAD and Aesop’s Pawnshop. Those cards are also Unique, so overdrawing and discarding excess will happen on occasion. Being able to redraw back into all of your Coalescence, Muse, Diesel and so forth is quite nice. I've had this card net damaged out of my hand when my deck was empty once, and that feeling was awful, but holding onto that hope that I could nearly play it was fun. I did win that game though, because once you have Lobisomem and an empty deck, you can always Aesop’s Pawnshop on your DZMZs and LilyPADs (since you won't be placing much anymore) and have money to target the last couple agendas.

What I'm saying with Ashen Epilogue is that it's probably not good but I like it.

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In terms of where to take the deck from and how to improve it, my main worries regard access to draw, econ, and whether I need more run events. If you've got any notes lemme know, but this has been one of my more enjoyable decks to mess around with in startup, and I hope to play it more.

Cheers.