Gamblers Ruin 2.0

This deck was the deck I piloted at the Nor-cal Regional.

Round 1

vs. Silhouette

Bad luck, I had set up a proper taxing Server, and figured my opponent down by four to five credits. Every time I went to score out an agenda he managed to draw the economy card he needed right then and there. While once can be called my dumb self, three times in a row was horrid coincidence.

Round 2

vs. Maxx

Maxx was kept broke and between Enhanced Login Protocol and the fact he kept milling out his economy. Once the game got through about half her deck I installed behind a piece of ice a Blacklist to keep her there. He decked out and spent too long trying to rummage through my stuff. By the time he finally managed to use the Levy AR Lab Access in his hand it was too late, I was in position to score and he had to burn his whole turn to get his deck back.

Round 3

vs. Andy

Unfortunate turn of events. In icing up HQ to prevent an accounts siphon he dove R&D pulling out six points of agendas on turn one. Then turn three maker's eyed for the last one. Game went so fast and we both agreed, not many mistakes can be made in a game that short.

Round 4

vs. Gabe

Typical Gabe Shenanigans. In icing HQ he dove into my hand and plucked all three agendas in there for seven points. I tried to protect myself, only to have him sneakdoor beta reminding me the card exists and is STILL good.

Round 5

vs. Andy

Showing that the set up time of the deck is too small, I was hit by Andy relentlessly in my R&D. Dropping the correct interface allowed multi access. It was to the point I was wondering if icing R&D was the better idea against all this criminal, because icing HQ wasn't curing anything.

Round 6

vs. Edward Kim

Failed to remember a Nisei MK II token that could have stopped an HQ access that won the game. Kim was annoying but not truly a threat. I felt the trashing of Operations was not as much an issue since I usually only keep ice in my hand due to the grail nature of the deck.

Round 7

vs. Quetzal

This Quetzal deck was a slow burn, but terrifying once the final piece clicks. He essentially install morningstar, Yog, and Mimic, then put in net ready eyes. Once all four were installed he began the dark and grisly task of dismantling any deck he needed to. As all my ice was small strength like Himitsu-Bako I could only watch in horror as he'd either Quetzal through them early for free or batter them down with Morning star. I was not prepared and so I took too long to figure out what was going on. In the end I was saved by a Caprice Nisei that won back to back Psi Games for me that allowed the future perfect in that server to score out for the victory.

Slops

I felt the lack of grail ice keenly. What little I did get was not able to be cobbled into anything remotely formidable. If I were to do this again I am going to consider thickening the grail ice one more time. It felt like it was never enough despite there being 9 pieces. The solo Merlin didn't help as much so if I had to thicken one piece it would be that one. The threat of net damage keeps many runner's honest, even if it is just a souped up Galahad.

I wish the traps had more oomph to them but not much I can do about that.

Props

So, Crick was a successful deterrent on Archives, often making people not wish to go through it. It also makes a good outer piece of ice to combo with Excalibur and force even a stealth Kit from getting itchy for the trash bin. The Celebrity Gift were so useful as I rebounded from several account siphons in quick order. I had a few people comment on how that ruined their game plans as they'd siphon and within a turn or two I was back in double digit credits and operating at full capacity.

I didn't feel the need to worry about Clot as my deck isn't the one clot goes after. I have no way to drop and score, so clot was a wasted card space against me. Himitsu-Bako proved useful in forcing money out of the runner to break it before collapsing a server around them. I'd often put a Jackson Howard behind one that had rezzed earlier, taking advantage of the runner. When they went and used up their credits to get past, I'd pay a credit to bounce the Himitsu back to my hand and pop JHow, denying them a successful run and muddling the cards in HQ more.