Step right up v2; 'A whole lot of pain'

Victor_Joseph 50

A more consistent version of my previous attempt at a Saraswati deck. Being Indian, it was quite a surprise when I saw that Saraswati was a Jinteki ID, playing a giant and violent shell game with the runner. Saraswati is not known for being violent herself, and the Mnemonics division her name is attached to indicate what the corp player controlling it must use rather than the runner. Nevertheless, given that 419 and Falsified Credentials are a rarity at this point, the dime-a-dozen Hoshiko decks are not anticipating a non-competitive but potent Jinteki deck...

As suggested above, the only real threat to this deck is the expose keyword, so playing against 419, or careful criminals for that matter, is going to take patience. Money is also a problem, but, outside of keeping yourself open to DoF, you should be fine. Bad publicities do not matter. As there are no ETR ICE in this deck, it's best to put your credits in the NGO and hurt the runner for his insolence with Trap ICE. Offensive play requires filling the remotes with a combination of Hostile and Ambush cards. [Pro tip: start with a Hostile to Ambush ratio of 1:1, then see how often the runs to eventually gut him: more runs means Ambushes, fewer, Hostiles.] Defence involves keeping your HQ and R&D flooded with access ambushes; Bacterial Programming to prevent multi-accesses from losing you the game; and House of Knives to put that much more pain to bear on the runner.

There is almost no game that you can win here that involves scoring out, but, if the runner is too scared to run the remotes, I am sure that is not too difficult. Alternative deck configurations would definitely involve another Seamless Launch, at the very least, but I do not know what to do with the extra influence that is left over. Given Saraswati prevents rezzing Clearinghouse until you begin your turn, there have been games I could have won but did not. Nevertheless, its trash cost and the fact that runners are not stupid enough to leave a Clearinghouse on the board (unless they have the right tools, of course) means that, while it will be the first to go when the deck is modified, its presence is not lamentable.

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