This is my first attempt at making Argus a thing again. I mean, trying out the new Parhelion ID :) I'm happy to see what others think of the idea.

Examples of good Argus decks from the past

If you don't know what I'm talking about, Argus Security: Protection Guaranteed is an ID rotated out of Standard format. Please take a moment to appreciate:

Some Argus decks by Seamus

Some Argus decks by osclate

Game Plan

Thule doesn't have the same robust econ & econ denial package, complemented by tag'n'bag that Argus had, but what it does have is the same sort of trigger on agenda steal: punishment or tempo loss.

We want to score as fast as possible, using an annoying enough remote and taxing the runner's resources. This should open the windows to either score more points or flatline the runner.

1. Jam

How was Argus playing? Always forward, jamming cards in the remote whenever possible, forking the runner into unpleasant 'damn if you do, damn if you don't'. Right now we're using the best jamming devices manufactured by HB: Tranquility Grid + Manegarm Skunkworks + Seamless Launch. Ideally, there should be one remote installation each turn. You've played PD before, right?

We don't care much about an agenda steal here and there, as it should fire the ID ability and accelerate our gameplan - preferably with the core damage option when losing points to the runner's side. In a way, too many agenda accesses also make a sort of trap for the runner.

The current ICE suite is relatively cheap and annoying enough, mixing hard ETR with multi-sub code gates. The odd choices here are:

1x Drafter for fetching stuff back and having a sentry the runner has to respect.

2x Tithe for cheap/free effect early.

1x Magnet for when we expect dealing with programs hosted on ICE.

2x Hagen for the hard ETR and gearcheck.

Two inf was spent on yellow ICE that supports the next part of the plan:

2. Retaliate

In the absence of good punishment we are trying to use End of the Line as our kill plan (probably not as spectacular as Hard-Hitting News followed by High-Profile Target). To enable it, there's a box of odd tracing chocolates that are supposed to reveal where the runners live: IP Block (assuming AI breakers are a thing) Distributed Tracing and a single Prisec (catch'em off-guard on that clickless steal). These are weak to NFL but tagging is a secondary strat.

The ideal scenario is to tag the runner with Distributed Tracing mid-game, when they already experienced some core damage, so that our single EotL wins the game. The first part of this combo also helps dealing with the main runner tech piece: Caldera, otherwise messing with our core damage plan.

The tag & EotL plan needs more testing and tweaking. Right now I prefer Mavirus to Gaslight, which would make End of the Line more easily findable. Hypoxia is there as a 0-influence next best thing to help our plan.

A playset of Nightmare Archive maybe looks too much but is fun to pad the HQ/Archives and overall keep the opponent honest about their accesses.

If all this accumulated core damage doesn't allow us to tag and bag the runner, it should open the window to...

3. Score out

Where Argus had a combination of Audacity and something that has points printed on it, we have a magical gift of Ontological Dependence given to us by NSG; an agenda that is supposed to get better over time, until it becomes an 0/2 to close the game with. This should be the star of the deck. Obviously, all sorts of things can go wrong, including each of the three copies being stolen by mid-game but that's the life of a subsea megacorp division.

We also have Élivágar Bifurcation for that sneaky last point that we are missing.

There is enough scoring pattern variety between our agendas, even allowing to never-advance a GFI and double-seamless it next turn.

Possible changes

1. We can ditch EotL altogether and play Anoetic, a single Audacity or a second Border Control.

2. Retribution could be played as an alternate tag punishment (with that BC we just added).

3. Ikawah Project - I don't like it. For Argus-like rush (if it's a viable strategy) we need GFI always. 10 agenda suite with a minimum of 4 to steal for the runner to win (barring Mad Dash) should do this trick. On that note, Offworld Office could be Project Vitruvius, especially with more Fast Advance play. In this published version, the Offices work well for tempo-positive scoring.

4. Harmonic ICE: big if, I think it might make or break the whole concept. Harmonics require each other and I wanted each piece of ICE to do something on its own.

5. Other ICE: Eli 1.0, more Fairchildren, Gatekeeper?

Dies to

I guess it's an open list of the harder matchups:

1. Shapers on boats who play good cards.

2. Anyone on Apocalypse because where we're going, we don't need (much) ICE.

3. Ecoterrorists? On the one hand, they are following our game plan. On the other.. where?! In Archives? All of them? Call Jackson Howard!

That's all, folks!

Thank you for reading, I'd appreciate your feedback. Always be running! Bookkeeper out.