Wu Revoir, Mti

swabl 390

Mti is banned now and according to @TheBigBoy, this means that Au Revoir Wu has no hard counter and could well be an utterly degenerate runner prison that has virtually no bad matchups and almost auto-wins many.

Allegedly.

I took it to a GNK and it only went 2-3. That's not necessarily a repudiation of the claim however, but more on that in a bit.

The basic idea is setup your economic engine T1, T2 at the latest (Wu out SMCs and make them Au Revoirs) and then run/jackout on an unprotected server for a mega-mopus, clicking for 12 every turn. You can actually set this up really efficiently, ideally with a Stimhack and Clone Chip, but Sure Gamble will still do great work. Worst case, click for a credit, get 2 Au Revoirs, run/jackout a couple of times then get the third out.

After you've made a bunch of money, start getting some out and install Laamb and Ankusa. Start gradually bouncing ice back to hand (taxing out the corp over multiple turns), ideally opening up HQ and R&D, and start mega-mopusing on it with a The Turning Wheel. Dismantle servers, build up for a massive game-ending R&D dig, and be rich as hell.

Daredevil is for lack of a better 2MU console and Rebirth is primarily for countering Data Raven as Jesminder, with Chaos Theory being the choice in other matchups (free MU!). Engolo could be Maven, as either one is to get through a remote when you can't dismantle it completely, but I think Engolo lets you at least play a more normal game if somehow you lose your Au Revoirs. I think everything else is relatively self-explanatory.

At the GNK it faced The Outfit, Argus, tempo CtM, NEXT Design, and kill CtM, beating The Outfit and the tempo CtM.

In the Argus game, my opponent was able to land a HHN very early backed up by an Economic Warfare. I made some more money, Wu'd for Misdirection and cleared the tags, letting it RFG as unless he was able to play a second HHN I'd make enough next turn to never worry about it again. He top-decked a second HHN and had the HPT in hand. I imagine in most games that's unlikely to happen, unless karma's real and this is how it manifests as punishment for playing this deck.

NEXT Design is an awful matchup for this deck. The basic way to beat Wu Revoir is to ice up centrals ASAP with things like Slot Machine AND have enough money to rez it all, and then somehow rapidly build a remote before centrals get utterly dismantled. NEXT Design with Jinja unsurprisingly does a lot of that for you. But are you likely to face NEXT Design? Probably not! It's probably not something you need to factor in when choosing this deck for a tournament.

And against the Kill CtM, I think a better pilot would have been able to win it. My opponent played the game superbly (Zealous Judge protected by a 3 ice remote when I was a bit poor slowing me down enough at the end to land a HHN and follow up with a Boom. Really excellent play and lines, but in hindsight I can see where I made mistakes that may have led to this outcome).

So don't read too much into my results. I certainly don't think I've either confirmed or denied the idea that this deck might well be broken good. That said, my gut instinct is that, unfortunately, Wu Revoir is at least good enough to have a real meta presence.

Shame it's boring and unfun as hell for both sides of the table.

9 comments
7 May 2019 EnderA

Very close to my list. Biggest differences are Hernando Cortez instead of Street Peddler, and NetChips instead of Cyberdelias/Modded.

I think Cortez is extremely strong in winning the rez/bounce war of attrition. Choices for MU (NetChip/Akamatsu Mem Chip/Cyberdelia) are a judgment call. As is Engolo vs Maven.

Compile is a neat tech card! I'll likely incorporate that.

For people that want to counter this deck, yes, its important to ice all 3 centrals with rezzable (preferably spiky) ICE ASAP. This deck burns most of their initial installs on Laamb + Au Revoirs, so you have a window before the Laamb + Ankusa starts chaining. Some ICE is much more effective than others.

Some ideal picks (ordered by cost) are Mind Game, Aiki, Pup, News Hound, Excalibur, IP Block (until Rebirth), Jua, Afshar on HQ, Caduceus (pay 1-2c into the ETR), Slot Machine, Hortum, Mausolus, Fairchild 2.0 (or 3.0), and Ichi 1.0. Some combination of not being barrier, strength >3, and punishing/taxing subs.

If you want to hard-counter the deck, Ancestral Imager stops it dead in its tracks, and Shipment from Tennin should let you score that almost immediately, before there's a real Clot threat.

7 May 2019 ZomB

To rig this to go as fast as possible and to require less setup against high ice count decks suggest:

-3 Daily Casts / +3 Pelangi

-3 Cyberdelia / +3 Akamatsu Mem Chip;

-1 Modded, - 1 Engolo, -1 Compile / +3 Flame-out;

-1 Street Peddler / +1 The Turning Wheel

Using Pelangi as your primary barrier painter requires one less MU, and therefore requires less draw, and is much cheaper - all of which are significant in your bad match ups and when you get bad MU draw. Laamb then becomes your late game additional breaker and backup barrier painter.

Having to install either Daredevil or Cyberdelia to start bouncing is a significant cost in your bad match ups. Using Akamatsu Mem Chip is much faster.

I have also found it really needs the third The Turning Wheel, so drop Street Peddler. And use Daredevil draw at every opportunity.

You want an Au Revoir, Flame-out or Sure Gamble in your opening hand for fastest set up. So mulligan if you have none.

Ideally you want an Au Revoir in your opening hand so you can Stimhack install the Ankusa using the third Self-modifying Code if you are ice bound.

7 May 2019 zmb

@ZomB can you explain the Flame-out combo? I guess you just reinstall Pelangi if corp purges? Maybe Rejig is useful here?

7 May 2019 ZomB

Flame-out is just for fast setup on turn one (additional ones are not used). Install Flame-out, install Self-modifying Code on it pays the 2 for using it. Allows you to use 2 or 3 Self-modifying Code on turn 1. Also allows a later Misdirection for free.

Don't install Pelangi until ready to use a counter and be wary of installing 2 unless you are using both that turn and one already has a used counter. Though a purge turn may put the corp under discard pressure as they are usually at max hand size when playing against this deck - and they can't discard ice. So tempting the purge has its upsides if you have another Pelangi ready to go.

You either install over it, or Clone Chip in another trashing the first.

I am considering Reclaim as a fourth Clone Chip instead of the third Flame-out. Though I haven't yet needed it. Rejig also sounds plausible. To be tested.

7 May 2019 ZomB

Hmm, Rejig allows you to use Kabonesa Wu: Netspace Thrillseeker install a program ability and then avoid the RFG effect. So definitely worth testing.

8 May 2019 ZomB

I think worth testing is dropping to 1 Laamb and 2 Flame-outs and adding 1 Rejig and 1 Reclaim.

Rejig primarily enables using a Wu install as a fourth Self-modifying Code avoiding the remove from game effect. It also enables other shaper BS.

Reclaim is your fourth Clone Chip. It can get you back a Clone Chip too if you run out. But either way you can do the Pelangi dance forever. It can also get back a The Turning Wheel if you were resource wiped. You have several cards you don't need the second or third of to power it. It is also useful against trash and damage decks.

8 May 2019 EnderA

Unless there is a hardware you need to reinstall (it sounds like Flame-out is only intended to be used once), or you're expecting Blacklist, Scavenge is superior to Rejig. It can also get programs back from the heap, so you could Wu out Misdirection and Scavenge for a trashed program, especially useful against Rigshooter.

2 Laamb are necessary IMO, as is 1 Ankusa. 2 more breakers are advisable: a 2nd Ankusa, an Engolo, and/or a Maven are the top picks. You might be able to get away with only 4, but it could get dicey. You would risk getting locked out by rigshooter/towers of sentries/code gates. Extra breakers also work with Scavenge as sacrifices to get back other important programs, and redundancy to conserve SMC's/Clone Chips/etc.

10 May 2019 Scotty Dave

Flame-out does not work with Self-modifying Code unfortunately

10 May 2019 Japoco

@Scotty Dave flame out and SMC do work together! You can pay the 2c cost to fire SMC from the flame out - as the SMC is no longer installed on the flame out you avoid the trash clause.