Viral Empanadas (Top of Swiss, 3rd at April AMT 3-0-1)

For some reason almost everyone on S.C.R.U.B.S is playing Ag Infusion, but we're all running different decks.

This deck is heavily inspired by Booshy's Emergency Empanadas deck from Worlds. Hence the name. I've been playing this deck at my locals for the last few months, and with the last AMT with FFG cards I felt like I needed to give it a final run. The deck went 3-0 in swiss before losing to Wikignometry's Hoshiko in the first round of the top cut.

A Theory on Corps

I ended up struggling to find a Corp that I was happy with. Combo sports, core sports, and Combo A Teia were all fine, but I felt like I wasn't comfortable with combo sports when runners could eventually trivially get where they wanted, and Combo / Glacier A Teia loses to centrals too often to feel comfortable. The Outfit and Ob were cool, but my experimentation with either left me feeling underwhelmed. I eventually started framing my decisions around corp deckbuilding as forcing the runner to manage their resources. Common grinder PE forces the runner to be extra cautious with the number of cards they have in their grip. HB in general tends to force runners to be more mindful of their click economy. Ob can rush out effectively and gearchecks off of Archer. Asset spam taxes clicks and credits as the runner has to prioritize tools effectively.

Runners have access to Miss Bones, which can make an asset matchup much easier, and the K2CP Turbine Cleaver Buzzsaw rig can trivialize most ICE, making runs after the rig is up incredibly cheap. Runners can also make bank, having access to a bunch of tools to get credits effectively. However, Runners generally have limited access to slow effective draw like Earthrise Hotel or Dr. Nuka Vrolyck. Since runners have to discard down to 5, if I can force them to waste their draws, and force clicks out to draw up, my theory is that I can tax them in a way orthogonal to the common "expensive ice that's hard to get through" tactic seen in other Ag decks that are more glaciery.

The plan here is simple, we abuse Ag's ability to force runners to encounter mean ice, and then we slot in Data Loop. Run a server? Boop into data loop. The runner will then waste even more time because they'll need to draw back up cards. Having Fujii Asset Retrieval as our main big agenda then means that runners which aren't prepared for it can flatline off of steals if they're not cautious. Borrowing from Empanadas, Anemone provides a potential lethal angle after the Data Loop, ensuring that runners without Steelskin Scarringor Stoneship Chart Room need to be prepared to top 2 cards from their grip, and then potentially take 4 net before accessing an agenda.

If the runner takes a turn off, scoring a Viral can lead to a massive swing forwards. Runners tend to be cautious if they're aware of my flatline angles (seeing a Data Loop early will give them a heads up), Viral Weaponization can then punish that. Crim taking a turn off with a Class Act install? Enjoy 9 net damage buddy. Runners with breakers in hand? Enjoy digging for replacements. If properly set up, scoring a Viral via a seamless and La Costa can then let me install a fujii, regularly ensuring that I'm safe to score it out as the runner respects the flatline angle. The goal is to tax out clicks (Ag boop, and Data Loop), and cards (the rest of the deck). If I can do it properly, the runner can be flush with cash but low on options.

Odd Deck choices

Replanting is a card people may not know about. Initially this was a single Mindscaping back when the deck had Snare! instead of 2x Mavirus. It's a fine card because setting up multi ice servers can tax Ag several credits, and being able to pull a card from hand means I can strand Boomerang, trash trojans, and reset my Anemones on turns where I used them for tempo damage. In retrospect, there's a ceiling to this card, as I clearly misplayed using it in my cut round.

Bran: cut this card. Really, I never rez it. It's a waste of influence. It's expensive, it's a safe facecheck, it just isn't worth it. It's too expensive for what it does. This was a late include, it's not worth it when 9/10 times this is getting trashed for an Ag boop. In retrospect, a Sadaka is probably better, and the influence could be used for either econ, or a cheeky singular Punitive Counterstrike.

Playstyle

You wanna go fast. This deck wants to get a La Costa and a Charlotte going for just a few turns, but not too long. You want to get your anemones, trash ice, and a data loop on the remote, and you don't want to spend too much time or econ on things you don't need. The runner needs to get hit by a viral early, if it's too late they'll have most of their important rig components up. This isn't your slow deck, at a certain point you're almost sure to lose if you haven't scored out because you should be slowing the runner down with the threat of a flatline. If the runner finds their footing, the flatline fork can fall flat and it'll turn into more of a grinder style game.

Shout outs

This was a really well run AMT, Thanks to Droid for some wonderful TOing, keeping things on track and phenomenal as always (Hope to see you at OTG!), all my opponents, each of which were (and still are!) phenomenal, and the stream team, I'm excited to catch the VOD this week. Also thanks to everyone in SCRUBS, where I've been getting absolutely bullied in Netrunner and it's made me much better as a player. Especially thanks to NotAgain who has probably played the most reps of anyone into this deck, and who provided multiple suggestions (including moving it from A Teia to Ag Infusion).

If y'all are in the US, come over to OTG in June! Also shout out to Milwaukee, hope to see some folks at Megacities. I'm really excited for the future of Netrunner, and while Ag Infusion leaves, I'm pretty sure I"ll be jamming the new Jinteki IDs and A Teia on release.