So, yeah... (1st at Accelerated Meta Test)

sebastiank 1825

...this still exists.

...should it exist?

...I don't know.

...I do like bopping that 6 net damage button tho, ngl. Hitting them with that ddu-du, ddu-du, du, if you will.

...yes, I'm a sicko.

via GIPHY

^The outcome of every late-game run against AgInfusion

This is my new version of the deck I and the snare bears took to worlds, originally brewed up by me and MulganDragon before the SnareBears made changes to make it much scarier and more robust. However, Ag takes a while to set up the board state it requires to do anything, meaning it can easily lose on time. That is why I prefer to play 3 Triestes instead of 2 Triestes, so they can be easier to find, in addition to playing Bacterial Programming instead of Send a Message. Send a Message is very nice to rez the net-damage ice required to make Loki a terror when unbreakable and set up taxing servers like a normal glacier deck would want, but Bacterial Programming can dig through the deck to find the required combo piece.

Parhelion also gave Ag a few more toys. Keeling shortens the time it takes to win the game, in addition to giving the runner something they must trash early game. This allows you to have a lot of control over what ice they have to let you rez, because they gotta run to trash the Keeling: most of the time you want this to be a Mlinzi or a Chiyashi, as a rezzed Loki in the position you want it most (on the outside) can be easily trashed before you have Trieste by an Anarch with Hippo. Simulation Reset also came out, which can be combined with Subliminal Messaging to throw away "fake cards" to get real recursion along with shuffling agendas back into the deck, making me feel a bit less foolish for not playing spin (no more Distract the Masses). Vampyronassa exists. Maybe should be DNA Tracker.

The deck went 5-0, beating 419 three times, and Zahya and Hoshiko once. The King decided to play a version of Loki Ag much closer to "Dies to Doomblade" and did very well with it too. One of the 419 games was very close and ended on time, managing to score a Longevity Serum before time expired to put me up 5-3. The length of that round was mostly due to me trying too hard to scrap a win out of a losing game with Adam. The other three criminal games were much quicker.

Criminals are nearly incapable of winning against this without teching for it in some way. Anarchs can do it, disruption like sabotage can be quite annoying and Hippo makes you set up your ice in ways that are awkward and can cause you to bleed points or lose your combo to stargate. DoomRat on Hoshiko more or less had my number given a few different lines at the end of the game.

Anyway, shoutouts to Unband, and to the King for testing. Shoutouts also to my friend MulganDragon, a shadowy figure on jinteki.net, less so in real life, who I talk a lot of netrunner with and built this deck with me. It was nice to win a tournament with our grotesque baby before it gets banned... surely, right?

3 comments
26 Mar 2023 Mancini

Why not play a single Konjin? It provides another way to bounce the runner to Loki, and if you have the runner somehow pass Loki the first time, you can put a Konjin inside of it and force the runner to encounter Loki a second time. Since Loki keeps the subroutines until the end of the run, you essentially force the runner to encounter a Loki with double the subroutines as the previous encounter.

26 Mar 2023 sebastiank

Konjin is sweet, definitely could fit into the deck. My trouble in testing was having enough ice that were relevant early in the game. Hands with konjin and a small ice were more common than I would like, in which konjin was a liability. I wanted sadaka and magnet as ways of getting rid of tech cards, even though both can be played around in their own way. If you want to fit in Konjin, probably cut thimblerigs for a konjin and a big ice.

26 Mar 2023 Council

3x Mlinzi makes me so happy.

Congrats on the finish!