Let's Build Spark!

I've played Spark on and off for a long time, so seeing Diogenes' deck of the week gives me opinions. Here's a very briefly tested and tweaked deck that illustrates a few of them. It's probably suboptimal in multiple ways, but it's good enough for our purposes. My objective here is to offer some insight into what you should be focusing on when building Spark.

Not getting the Message?

If we're gonna take Spark seriously as an ID, there's a pertinent question we can't ignore: What does Spark give you that NBN: Controlling the Message doesn't? There are three answers:

1/ An extra three influence, and slightly less pressure to spend influence on economy assets 2/ Pressure on the runner's econ that does not rely on them running 3/ Econ spread across a large number of assets, rather than concentrated on three copies of Commercial Bankers Group

Translating these broad advantages into more specific tactical concerns:

1/ Spark is more flexible to build and can accomodate archetypes that might struggle in CtM 2/ Spark is a rushier ID that is more likely to sneak out fast scoring threats 3/ Spark trades some power for reliability, and is less worried about losing key assets.

Summing this up, although both IDs spam assets to create an economic advantage, Spark is a flyweight, throwing jabs as soon as the bell rings and accepting that it will take a few hits in return. CtM is a heavyweight, daring you to step within its reach and get lamped in the head.

Spending our Influence

Compared to the deck of the week, note that we're not playing Economic Warfare or Consulting Visit here. Those are great cards and I wouldn't pretend otherwise, but playing them cuts into influence we can put to good use elsewhere, most notably in terms of buying Campaigns. Therefore we're foregoing the super-fast and reliable kill package in favour of more reliable economic tempo for ourselves. As Spark's influence spend is one of its advantages, it's crucial that we get good value from it. I don't think there's a definitive 'right answer' to this problem, but as we're a flyweight not a heavyweight, I prefer not to rely on a knockout punch - a runner who correctly diagnoses a Spark that's all in on the fast kill can money up, and at that point I'd rather be CtM.

If you want to fiddle round with influence here, you can cut the Nico Campaigns. They're nice, but not essential.

Meat and Potatoes

There are couple of other differences here that I'm less ambivalent and more dogmatic about:

PAD Campaign is better than CPC Generator. As the former is a pretty marginal card even in Spark where it pings your ID, that's some pretty heavy shade, but it's hard to argue with. CPC's only advantage is that it's cheap, but honestly, 2 for a rez on PAD is rarely going to be a big problem in the short term. Long term it's almost guaranteed to pay for itself, as PAD fires reliably every turn, while CPC is doing well if it fires four or five times in a game. That argument would be enough to make PAD a much better card even if CPC didn't have a frankly pathetic cost. CPC is bad. Do not play it.

I would include Sure Gamble before I gave deckspace to Special Offer. I far prefer the former's reliable payout to the latter's 1 ID ping. Playing asset economy already gives the runner a lot of control over my econ - I don't want to give them more. As it happens though, I'm not playing either, because assets become more reliable with volume AND a lot of them ping my ID. That's having my cake and eating it.

Divert Power is delicious in Spark. You get to rez all your assets again, refreshing campaigns and firing your ID reliably for multiple turns (you should consider giving up yourself in the name of hurting the runner more as you rerezz) You get a free big ICE too, more often than not (although don't hesitate to play it to rez a PAD that you just derezzed with the same card - the derez is the power you're playing it for) Midrange targets like Funhouse and SanSan are good too. Oh, this also combos with Spinny. Absolute filth. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Speaking of tag punishment, as we're not doubled down on the kill here, I think it's important to have something else in the barrel. deciding what that should be is hard. Spark's main loss condition is 'the runner has money', so The All-Seeing I can be a game-winning scalp. That said, it's high variance, whereas Market Forces is always decent, if not particularly inspiring. Retribution can be good too, and is a bargain for one influence.

ICE, ICE baby

If I were to make more tweaks to this deck, Pop-up Window would definitely be a candidate for the block. It's pretty low impact in todayas meta, and I don't know if the ID synergy is enough to justify it. Again, I far prefer having my ID triggers on assets where I control them than on ICE where the runner controls them. Back when Slot Machine was legal I dropped my Pops to make room for the Slots and felt absolutely zero regrets. Dropping one or two for Pings might be good. The surprise tag would keep the runner on their toes, and the etr would definitely offer some good utility. Not sure if the deck always has the econ for it though.

IP Block is always decent, and it's great in Spark - when the runner's broke, it sucks to facecheck, and it punishes Aumakua, which can be a problem for IDs that can't defend all their servers.

Hydra is upsetting to facecheck, and will scare the runner if they find it in centrals. It's also sometime free with Divert Power, which feels amazing. More generally, it's your fourth Tollbooth. It's good to be able to find your scoring ICE reliably, and to make the runner install a killer.

Funhouse is a flex slot, but I like to have a good taxing ICE for centrals and it fills that role admirably.

Setting the Agenda

Degree Mill is a card that I sometimes play, but I think is marginal. It's often effectively blank, which I think makes it usually-not-good-enough. Here, by contrast, I've got 3/2s, which let me play a couple of SanSan City Grids. Spark often does well with them, especially when, as here, its primary plan is to score out.

Offworld Office is questionable. Maybe a Remastered Edition or a Better Citizen Program? Or you could cut a Pop-Up and play a couple of unfair 3/1s, like QPMs, or Diogenes' AR-Enhanced Security. In decks with more ways to punish a single tag, Fly on the Wall is good too.

A pinch of spice?

I often run Threat Assessment, but I've cut it here as it's questionable. It's a pet card - not bad, but usually not good enough to justify its slot. Public Trail is probably better in most cases, especially considering that it does duty as a mega Economic Warfare that costs 0 influence.

Amani Senai is untested here, but she seems like a shoe-in. High quality NBN bullying. Misery in asset form. The only question is what could be cut for her.

I agree that one Ad Blitz is the correct number of Ad Blitzes.

Mumbad Virtual Tour is obviously a good card, but I prefer SanSan City Grid, which is also an upgrade that the runner is obliged to trash, and offers some other utility besides.

Fast advance in general can be a good idea. Those Nicos could be a Biotic Labor, and you can throw in the third SanSan. Be careful to make sure your econ is robust enough though.

Hard-Hitting News probably isn't important. You should cut it for Interrupt 0.