Smear Campaign 3: This Time It's Smear-y-er! (Tech Talk #2)

Back when NBN: The World is Yours* was released, we here at Tech Talk Industries and Mile-Long Taco Bar put together an ICE-less kill deck that was surprisingly resilient. Decks that spammed Account Siphon were a problem, but even those were survivable. Back then, we caved an added some ICE (Ravens, Pop-ups, and Hunters, oh my!) and took it to a local Regional where it went 3-2 (the first Runner sat down, looked at the ID, and said, "That's the Tech Talk deck, isn't it?" Lesson: Don't post an article about the deck you plan to take to Regionals BEFORE Regionals. It was nice to know someone actually read the column back then, though...). The other loss was to a guy I'd been testing the deck against the day before. Sometimes you eat the pairings, sometimes the pairings eat you. Anyway,it did well enough but we moved on, probably distracted by some other deck idea that hung around in the nebulous gray area between stupid and brilliant.

Now, with all the Data & Destiny goodness on the horizon, we've been itching to get back to the deck. TWIY* offers some nice benefits to this deck type, namely the smaller deck size and the roomier HQ.

Which is what makes SYNC: Everything, Everywhere so damn exciting—the same mini-deck but with a totally pertinent ability!

So, what other cards have popped up that make this a viable deck? Good question: Lily Lockwell, News Team, Product Placement, Quantum Predictive Model, Explode-a-palooza, and 15 Minutes would be our answers. [The All-Seeing I] (/en/card/09022) is also a nice add.

Lily is a doll, if by doll you mean death-enabler, which is what we always mean when we say doll, because our sisters were pretty lethal with a Malibu Barbie. Anyway, Miss Lockwell can let you dig deep after an Agenda steal to find Midseason Replacements or make it more likely that you find your kill cards when you need them. 2 for three clickless draws is pretty nice. And once the Runner is smothered in your Tasty-Delicious Tagstorm-Sauce(tm), she can tutor up those kill cards. She also functions as a bit of light R&D protection in this capacity—putting an Operation on top of R&D means the Runner has to spend time finding her multi-access tools when she really just wants to be blitzing you to win before you release Explode-a-palooza 2: Blowed-Up Boogaloo.

News Team is a nice little kick in the pants. The Runner will almost ALWAYS take the —1 Agenda point, which is good for you, because it delays the point where Midseason Replacements is no longer valuable because one more score means you lose. If they do take and clear the tags, that's just more economic advantage for you.

Speaking of economic advantage, Product Placement helps out, turning every multi-access of R&D into a veritable goldmine of retaliatory s. Install Product Placement, install Explode-a-palooza, advance once is a hilarious play. "Thanks for the 7. Enjoy the movie, it'll be one of the last things you ever see."

Explode-a-palooza is like NAPD Contract only better in this deck. The Runner steals it and you have a free Midseason Replacements. Install, advance once is a strong play for either of these Agendas, since, if the Runner groks your mouth music, she'll have to think twice about taking it and if she has no clue the funeral dirge you're humming, she'll take it and smile right up until she realizes everyone and everything she's ever loved is on fire.

Quantum Predictive Model works with Breaking News to allow this deck the HOPE of a standard win—if they come up post Midseason Replacements, you're guaranteed 3 points. With the 2 Breaking News, you just need to have squeaked out one of your 4|2s early to actually score out. And yes, Film Critic hoses you on Quantum Predictive Model, NAPD Contract, AND Explode-a-palooza. It is what it is—SEA Source and trash her (either the old fashioned way or with The All-Seeing I) is your best bet.

15 Minutes is a nice piece of bait when you're ready to go off. Even if you didn't feed it to the Runner intentionally, being able to take away a point is nice, especially given the deck's density of 1-pointers.

Everything else should be pretty self-explanatory. A note on Marked Accounts in this deck: rez and load them ONLY when it behooves you to have them trashed. Again, if the Runner knows what you're doing, she will probably leave them alone. If not, she'll give you a 5 advantage. That's called a win-win where we're from, which is somewhere around the al pastor on the Mile-Long Taco Bar.

Now, if ICE-less is too uncomfy for you, you can try the lightly-ICE'd version: —2 Product Placement, —2 SEA Source, +2 Data Raven, +2 Pop-up Window. It's still very little ICE but it might make you feel a little better.

If you are a wimp who has to have ICE in a deck.

You could also try Casting Call in place of the Product Placement. Putting them on Quantum Predictive Model is funny.