EDSA – Doomsday Traffic Accident Combo (2015 PH Nationals)

This deck went 4-1 in the 2015 Filipino Nationals, losing only to my playtest partner, who knew how this deck worked like it was the back of her hand. It played against 2 Leelas, 2 Kates, and a Whizzard. I finished at Top 10 out of 36 players with my Edward Kim (woot!).

Before this deck was even created, I was inspired by the Tanktop Haarp Butchershop deck that our Nationals Champion, kookoobah, piloted in the PSI Games invitational. The Breaking News and 24/7 News Cycle combo is a great way to tag (then flatline) the runner, but since Data and Destiny still has a long way to go before it reaches the Philippines, I had to get a little creative with it.

Ergo, this deck happened. And it worked.

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The Sequence

To win via Traffic Accident, you will need 9 and 3 pieces in your HQ: Power Shutdown, Accelerated Diagnostics, and Jackson Howard. Make damn sure you don't have Interns, Reclamation Order, Biotic Labor, 2 copies of Breaking News, the Traffic Accidents themselves, and another copy of Jackson in your hand.

The basic sequence is as follows:

1st : Install Jackson1 in a remote, draw a card from NEH's ability.

2nd : Play Power Shutdown and trash your whole R&D.

Use Jackson1: Return Interns, Biotic Labor, and Reclamation Order.

3rd : Play Accelerated Diagnostics1: Install Jackson2, get your 4th and 5th clicks, and reclaim the 2nd and 3rd ADs.

Use Jackson2: Return Interns, Interns, and Shipment from SanSan.

4th : Play AD2: Install Jackson3, Install Breaking News, and advance it with SfSS.

Score BN, Use Jackson3: Return 3 Traffic Accidents.

5th : Play AD3: Flatline the runner with 6 meat damage.

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Deck Strategy

You have 3 strongest ways to win in this deck: Doomsday Traffic Accident, Doomsday AstroBeale, and the good ole Astrotrain. Depending on the runner you're facing, you're supposed to keep their board state in mind and change your win conditions whenever.

Shapers: No matter how much money they have, the only way they can stop your Doomsday is Clot and aggressive R&D runs. Simply make sure you have a good remote server where you can let a Jackson or CVS sit while waiting for the pieces, then activate Doomsday. There is a cool Hayley + Personal Workshop combo that will rush out a Plascrete from their grip though, so be careful with that.

Criminals: Ice up your HQ, hopefully with Tollbooth or Chimera to prevent Siphon. Against Leela, you have to try advancing agendas behind a two-ice server, hopefully with Little Engine, and taking care not to score them at the end of your turn.

Anarchs: Slightly a bad matchup with this deck. You always have to assume that Anarchs have I've Had Worse in their hands. You might be better off winning via Doomsday AstroBeale.

Apex, Sunny, Adam: Not really sure yet how they will impact this deck.

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Points to Remember

The Doomsday combo works as long as your Jacksons are still not removed from the game.

It is always better to have Jacksons pre-installed or 3 Accelerated Diagnostics in your hand already before the combo starts. With one Jackson pre-installed and 3 more credits, you can Interns a CVS for the Clot counter, or even return Subliminal Messaging instead of Biotic Labor to trigger the Doomsday in 5, not 9. With the 3 ADs, you don't need to use Reclamation Order anymore.

Remember NEH's ability. The WORST thing you can do is not to trigger it before the sequence starts, then make a mistake of installing a Jackson in a new remote. You will be forced to draw a card on an empty R&D and automatically lose the game. An alternative is to have 2 iced remotes where you can just overwrite assets when the sequence begins.

Executive Boot Camp is not only your tech against Leela or Valencia, but is also your "4th" Jackson. If you were able to install it in your previous turn, you can search for Jackson before your turn begins and complete the Doomsday pieces.

Watch out for cards that increases hand size like Beach Party, and other disruptive cards like Wanton Destruction, Utopia Shard, Hades Shard, and Noise with a Clone Chip.

I noticed that Little Engine is a good remote ice. I rushed out an early Astro behind it, then used Interns to install a Jackson behind it to prepare for the Doomsday combo.

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Improvements

Try swapping out Subliminal Messaging or another Sweeps Week for Invasion of Privacy. It will remove I've Had Worse in an Anarch's hand and set them up for the Traffic Accidents.

Tech Startup also helps in getting the Jackson you need to start the combo without spending a click, but having a low trash cost will be hard to slot it in this deck.

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PS: I'd like to thank my friend, Doc Teddy, who actually showed me how Doomsday AstroBeale worked with his NEH deck (after I had the Traffic Accident revelation, we decided to play the same deck, with a slight difference in our choice of ice), and my playtest partner, Sam, for going her way to meet up and playtest with me every weeknight in time for Nationals (she got to Top 8 with her Argus and Leela).

PPS: The deck is called EDSA (an acronym pronounced as "Edd-sah"), named after the main avenue in Metro Manila that is the literal incarnation of the Doomsday Traffic Accident combo. I am always the victim of its super super super slowwwwww traffic every weeknight.