a discussion about Always Be Running 1-6 Standard World 2022

Me and the best Adam player of World 2022 played the same deck, check out his list, here it is more about ideas on what could be done with it.

A bit of history : after the success is44ru had with a breakerless Adam, we postulated that it could be a good meta call to have such an aggressive runner (using Always Be Running). After much discussions, we theorized this deck, to which is44ru further modified mere hours before the start of the competition.

Going with an untested deck was exilarating. In my case, I was aiming for one win with the deck, and it happened, making me very happy.

Directives used for this deck : Always Be Running, Find the Truth, Neutralize All Threats.

The goal is to go fast and to win fast. There is not much late game with this deck. There is a lot of bad matchup (6 agendas in 44 cards, tags, SDS Drone Deployment), but also good ones (Sportsmetal, early PD, PE, any non glacier and most horizontal decks). I probably played the deck too recklessly on the day of the competition.

But seeing the face of the corp player, when they realized that you could run any single ice and pass it for free, the scrambling to change their plan to adjust to this hyperagressive robot and slowing down their game plan is fun for both players.

This deck won against an Acme deck, essentially going to fast for the corp to do anything about it.

What worked, what was less good, what did not work and what could make this deck better.

What worked :

1. Tread Lightly, which usually give an access for 1.
2. Jailbreak to see 3 cards in HQ early and a draw.
3. Mad Dash, to actually win the game.
4. Top Hat, to have multiaccess on R&D. I consider this essential for any Adam deck now. With it, for 0 and 1 influence, you can run R&D for value. You see the 1st card with Find the Truth and choose to check the next one (if the 1st one was not an agenda).
5. Dirty Laundry & Sure Gamble & Daily Casts, good money.
6. Carpe Diem, essential to have a turn where you do not run.
7. Logic Bomb, amazing in any decks.
8. Pinhole Threading, allowing us access to problematic upgrade or asset which are well protected (like an MCA Austerity Policy).
9. Gbahali, to deal with problematic 2 subs ices and to pass a second piece of ice without telegraphing our intention (like with Boomerang).
10. No Free Lunch, good money and nice tag protection.
11. Earthrise Hotel, very important to have clickless draw, since we often become a 2 clicks runner.
12. DreamNet provide a consistent draw, since we run successfully most turn. Is it better to have more of it to get it early? I think it would have been better to have 2x and 2x Earthrise Hotel.

Could be better or could change :

1. Bravado is a bit intense in influence to gain 4. You can get 3x Career Fair for the influence of one Bravado.
2. Overclock, while it help trashing things and getting Bellona, often it provided nothing to advance the game. However, it is essential if you intend to keep Mayfly in the deck.
3. Mayfly, was good for one access. It is amazing against low strenght ices but quite expensive against high strenght one. Depending on your use of influence, it could be useless or essential.
4. Additionnal copy of Always Be Running and Find the Truth, to save you from becoming a blank runner. Not sure about those, since they are dead draw against so many matchup (completely useless against a Sportsmetal deck).

What did not work :

1. Brain Chip : useless. I never go to draw enough cards to get there, even against Jinteki: Personal Evolution.

What could make this deck better. I see 5 differents "themes" and 2 possible additions for it :

1. Use criminals tools, like Inside Job, Backstitching and Boomerang, to access two or three ices tall server. Boomerang is a bit annoying because it tells the corp of our intention or can only be used to run on a third click.
2. Use anarch breakers for low strenght ices. Cleaver and Buzzsaw can low strenght ices for cheap. Especially Buzzsaw, because Magnet is a commonly used ice. Mimic or Echelon could be used on ices like Drafter.
3. Use Endurance, with Emergent Creativity (and maybe Rejig) to break ices. This is closer to the breakerless route. The problem is that it use a lot of our influence. But it is that good. Watchout for NEXT Activation Command, if you are forced to run a nasty ice because of it (unlikely). However, it does help against very problematic ices, like Anansi and Mlinzi.
4. Use shaper tools to break ices, like Kongamato and Gbahali. This is cheap on influence and work really well with Always Be Running, because it help against problematic ices (Drafter, Gatekeeper).
5. Use Aumakua along with Leech to get a super efficient breaker. This is cheap on influence and is installed only once each. Since we have a successful run nearly every turn, it would help a lot. Because of IP Block, you might want to have more copies of your directive (Always Be Running, Find the Truth, Neutralize All Threats).
6. Add Safety First to get free draw. This would make Brain Chip or T400 Memory Diamond actually appealing.
7. Use Red Team to get more out of our mandatory runs. This would be better than Bravado. Even better if played alongside Career Fair.

A big thanks and applaud to is44ru, who was willing to be wild with me and go in World 2022 with an untested janky deck. His performance is nothing short of fantastic.

Thank you very much for the organizers and judges, who made the event run smoothly. It was even more intense for them than for the players. Congratulation, you are the one who made this competition happen.

Thanks for the amazing games with all my competitors. Winning felt great and losing felt good. This is how it should be.

Cheers!