[Startup] MicroLat

bowlsley 665

I've played around with this type of deck before but I hadn't really bothered to port it to Startup, despite there being so many of the pieces in it, until I realised two simple truths:

  1. DZMZs make installing multiple Eulers (and Pelangis!) free.
  2. Echelon is actually the best killer in Startup.

Yes the numbers on Bukhgalter are silly, and our setup requires other breakers to get to a decent strength, but a 4 strength Ech has as good or better numbers on nearly all sentries in the format, even with Bukh's first-use discount. The only exceptions are either so weak that they aren't even played (Tithe and Swordsman) or have other means of being broken anyway (F2P and Týr).

To get around the time to set up, we have the Euler/Pelangi engine, which is the most fun part of this deck. Like Boomerang they let you contest rush decks and make Bravadoing cool and worthwhile. Simulchips let you further benefit from this engine even in the late game.

Other versions of this deck have generally relied on running a fairly small rig in order to not get bogged down during setup, but this used to mean having to trash old breakers when installing new ones, since they only had 5 MU to play with. Now that DZMZs provide more mem than we could ever need, I only trash the viruses when they're empty, and spare Eulers can sit and provide both a passive strength bump for Echelon and a route to quickly hit "Khusyuk for 2".

Overall I think this deck is in a pretty good place, so I haven't bothered to tweak it since I added the SMCs back in (turns out it's a good card!), but a few changes have crossed my mind, so I'll list them here for reference.

  • Rezeki - Seems like a no-brainer given the rest of the deck, but for the most part I'd rather than have the money now than wait until later. With the efficient breakers I've rarely found myself ever needing extra cash anyway, except for maybe against NEH (and my secret tip to beating asset decks in Startup is that there's almost nothing they can do if you let them just have the money).
  • Paule's Café - Might help with the times when you end up with a hand full of programs but don't actually want to run yet, but I'm not keen on spending 2/3 deck slots on it. But could this be the fabled Good Paule's Deck? Maybe!
  • The last inf pip - There are some decent options, but none that really leapt out at me as essential, especially given that they'd be a 1-of in the deck.

Don't get too bogged down with adding more installables in. Just play events, make money, draw cards, and run with the wind. It's fun!

3 comments
20 Oct 2021 Oddball

How was Spec Work? I assume with three viruses that will empty it's not been dead draw too often in your hand?

20 Oct 2021 bowlsley

Pretty much yeah. The first Pelangi gets installed usually as soon I draw it, and I generally only play breakers as I draw them, so it's ready for trashing fairly quickly.

21 Oct 2021 x3r0h0ur

Its great with Euler too, being able to trigger its ability with just a simulchip and no other programs.