ChessNut 1.1

This started a long time ago as an attempt to use Donut effectively by simply having nothing but a resource economy. Whizzard was chosen because Donut can tax operation-based economies, and Whizzard can trash the asset-based economies

It was originally three Donuts and no Hostages, but this way seems slightly more consistent. I can use the Hostages to search out Kati, too. I unashamedly stole this idea from the DONUTS deck in the hall of fame.

The original version (unpublished, I'm afraid) used Vamp and Lamprey to keep the Corp low on money, and because of the caveat on Lamprey I avoided using the virus multi-access cards, instead going for the Interfaces.

However, Lamprey has moved on to pastures new, so I've used the influence for Clone Chips and put the viruses back in. The number of times being able to whip out a bishop or knight at instant speed would have won me the game is crazy. There were originally three pawns, but 5x chess recursion seems plenty now.

It can take while to get rolling, but a lot of the time you can slow the corp enough in the early game and come out on top in the end. I am always amazed at how much ICE people will trash to get rid of the Caissas: In my last game vs Jinteki, 9 out of 18 pieces in the deck were sacrificed to kill the chesspieces. This, combined with their abilities and the fixed breakers, can make your runs very cheap.

The deck's two main weaknesses are lack of tutoring and card draw, which can slow you down in your quest for breakers, and a total lack of scorch protection. So far I've rarely faced the scorch decks, and when I have I've managed to keep 5 cards in hand and their money low through Donut, Vamp, Rook and Xanadu. Something that has not yet come up is really big ice: if you can get Bishop and/or Ice carver, you can deal with 95% of the stuff, but it's when you hit Archer without a Knight/Crypsis as backup that things go wrong, I imagine.

How to play it:

Don't worry about running first turn too much; you'll be better off in the long run if you can get an economy card down. Donut is an awesome early play in most cases, but if you're sure your opponent isn't running tonnes of operations you can Hostage out Kati instead.

If they play an asset, go smash it. Feel free to run centrals if you need. Make liberal use of the Caissas, but don't throw them away. If you can, move them onto rezzed ICE when not in use; if the corp starts trashing what they've already paid for, that's even better for you.

Vamp's usefulness varies, so try and get a decent feel for the when, and always get rid of tags. You've got all the resources, you don't want them trashed!

Once you've ruined their ICE suite and economy, simply start hammering wherever you like with your efficient breakers. There's only a little multi-access here, as by the time you really need one you've often drawn it.

Anyway, thus far I've been having a lot of fun with this deck, but I'd welcome suggestions for improvements.