No Time To Waste v1.3 (1st place / 22 players / 5 rounds)

paddosan 3401

Just won a tournament in Reggio Emilia, Italy that saw 22 players participating for 5 rounds of swiss. The Corp deck was Sly Fox v1.1. Last data pack admitted was Up and Over.

I decided to bring Silhouette because I find her ability to be much more valuable during a game than just getting 4 more cards in your opening hands with Andromeda. Besides, by reducing the deck size to 40 cards you already increase your chance to get what you need.

During playtesting I basically increased the economy, adding Daily Casts since it felt the best option due to no clicks involved in getting extra money. It proved the right choice, and it was a valuable asset in most of the games played.

Kati Jones is the real engine of the economy for this deck, and with 3 copies I always had it either in the starting hand or shortly after. Which makes an enormous difference. Just accumulate money on her and use the other economy this deck provides or spend clicks for credits instead of drawing too much (because that means discarding useful stuff here), until you actually need Kati's money.

Security Testing was less efficient, but it really depends on the corp deck here, and it was very important in one of the key games anyway, against a Building a Better World tag n bag deck that I just kept under control by simply having more money than them. That game wasn't exactly that simple, but a powerful economy often proves to be the key component against such decks, and such was my case.

Initially I also used Feint to help with Notoriety (which actually won me a game, and helped in another). By playing I simply noticed that it was much more efficient to go with a finishing combo like Legwork + The Maker's Eye + Notoriety. Either I didn't have Feint when needed, or I just had that and Legwork and always ended up choosing the latter anyway. So I cut Feint entirely.

Also went between 2 and 3 copies of Legwork but there are only a few moments where it might really make the difference, so I cut one for a last minute addition: Crypsis. This might sound strange, but I simply worried about Kitsune here (maybe because I had it in my own deck?). Didn't actually use it during the tournament, but still... it might save you from a flatline, and weird ice types are everywhere now.

Last thing that didn't make into the final version was Grappling Hook. It's a good card, but unfortunately most of the ice that gets played has just 1 subroutine. And by playing a Hook I used one MU that would prevent me from completing the rig. Because Garrote is just awesome and proved extremely valuable during the tournament as well, making me save tons of credits on the runs (compared to, say, Ninja or Femme Fatale).

That would be all about the deck...

Concerning the tournament itself, this deck won all games except one that didn't end due to time. I play very aggressively with criminals in general, but in a couple of games I really went all out. Gotta say I really love aggressive runner decks (that must be why I don't like poor Iain at all!).

The game that we didn't finish was actually one of the most interesting, since it proved how consistent this deck is. I took a mulligan knowing I had no time to finish the game, and wanted the best opening hand. And there it was: Legwork, The Maker's Eye, Notoriety and some economy (just missed The Maker's Eye before mulligan). Managed to score 3 points to reach the corp (a NEH fast advance irc) before we had to stop. Sometimes it's just as important to not lose points to other players.

In all the other games the deck proved so consistent that I never actually had a problem fetching my icebreakers fast or managing my economy.

It had been a long time since my last tournament, since I'm generally busy with managing the organized play in my country, but I had a blast. The overall tournament saw many many interesting decks and wonderfully fought matches, not to mention a good balance between factions, which in my opinion is a very nice thing in itself. ;)

26 comments
23 Nov 2014 moistloaf

No nonsense, I like it.

23 Nov 2014 aldaris

great deck!

23 Nov 2014 trustworthym

Really cool to see such a (comparatively) straightforward, no gimmicks, breakers-and-cash deck do so well, especially when it's Sil. Cool writeup too!

23 Nov 2014 Dydra

I really don't see any reason to be splashing Notoriety more, than other Criminal decks, except that due to the low deck size you would be able to hit it earlier (eventually a rig as well?) ... but generally Andy leaves you with 36 cards in your deck ... this one with 35

So in other words, you cut 5 cards from your deck, just so u can have 1 card less in the pile after the initial hand draw? That's 5 options more that could help you big time ....

23 Nov 2014 paddosan

I agree, Andromeda gives you space for some extra options, but I decided to go for a rather simple approach with this deck. The main difference is that I wanted an useful ability to help me during the game and not only at the beginning of it.

24 Nov 2014 Widied

I like it. 40 card decks are tight. 1 question: Why Easy Mark over Account Siphon? Any particular reason?

24 Nov 2014 paddosan

Well Easy Mark allows me to somewhat restart my economy, whereas Account Siphon is mainly taxing for the corp, but also requires credits to reach the root of HQ and then I have to clean myself of the tags. I was more worried about recovering faster from expensive runs, than about keeping the corp poor.

I find AS to be much less effective, now that the corp's economy can be quite strong. For example I got hit by 4-5 AS while playing my Sly fox deck, in a game against a anatomy of anarchy-style Quetzal, but in the end they didn't matter.

I also expected to see some Crisium Grid, but was (pleasantly) disappointed, in that regard.

25 Nov 2014 Widied

TBH I usually use AS more for slowing down the corp and boosting my econ more than a strategy for keeping the corp poor. Like you said, I'm not sure that's as easily done these days as it might have once been. But I can see where you are coming from. It's definitely the more reliable option.

29 Nov 2014 CaKnuckleguy

@Dydrait's not just a cut of cards down to '1 card less in the pile', Silho's ability can play out more times in a game then Andy's 1 link. Information is power and all that. Not sure which is better myself, but it's not as cut and dried as a card cut and both ID's blank after the game begins.

29 Nov 2014 Treiclon

I understand that Siphon is not as powerful as before. But why Easy Mark over Dirty laundry? If you can find a server to make Desperado+Security Testing useful, surely you can get extra 3 credits with that run.

I understand that Notoriety here took the place of other tricks like FAO or Emergency Shutdown. Did you face any trouble during the tournament that couldnt be solved by throwing money at it? Like a especially annoying Blue Sun?

30 Nov 2014 paddosan

Easy Mark works from zero credits, while Dirty Laundry requires 2 and a target server that doesn't cost you much to run on. This means that in late game Easy Mark > Dirty Laundry.

I didn't want a card that was dependant on a run, while I had another option that wasn't and gave me the same amount of money.

At tournament I did not meet a Blue Sun deck. We have some weeks before new Data Packs are tournament legal in Italy, to accomodate for the time it usually takes for them to be widely available in Europe, so it was relatively new and people may have had little time to playtest it for the tournament.

I played against NBN twice (victory & timed draw), HB twice (victory & timed victory) and Weyland once (victory).

In all games my economy proved the easiest solution to problems, and Silhouette's expose helped in allowing me not to waste money on worthless runs.

I'm not sure what kind of cards could prove difficult to handle when your economy is strong enough, and even during playtest I didn't exactly encounter many problems to begin with. Except possibly Caprice Nisei, just due to her randomness.

1 Dec 2014 Ber

I keep looking at Silhouette and thinking her ability should have a strong utility value without even building any tricks around it (like Quest Completed), but i haven't tried much since I don't play Criminal all that much. Can you talk more about the way you used her expose ability and how it helped you win?

1 Dec 2014 rezwits

Long live Andy I think. Sweeps Week is such a hard hit, in addition to Silo's ability that can keep happening + the 40/15! NICE... Plus Silo is in a Deluxe Set, so she should be around at least 10 years right? (until they revamp the rotation and oust deluxe sets someday :P) Laters...

1 Dec 2014 paddosan

@Ber: against NBN it wasn't so important, since it's basically a given what they are playing, but against HB and Weyland it allowed me to save tons of credits. By running on HQ and exposing I was able to see if they had installed an agenda in the big remote, or if it was just a bait.

During playtesting I also won against Personal Evolution decks by effectively disrupting their shell game entirely. Yes, they can hit you with a Psychic Field, but it won't kill you and it's still the only card that sucks exposing anyway.

Silhouette is possibly the worst match-up for a Personal Evolution deck, and they are quite popular right now. There were 5 in the tournament (irc), but I did not get to play against any of them.

@rezwits: yep, if I remember correctly, deluxes shouldn't be included in the rotation... :)

1 Dec 2014 gumed85

Do you think that a femme+sneakdoor beta would be bad instead of 2 garrote? I run a similar deck (but no no notoriety).

1 Dec 2014 paddosan

@gumed85 Well, Femme Fatale could be a good alternative against Jinteki, since most of their sentries have low strength, but against Weyland and Archer it would be a pain, for example.

I never go with just 1 copy of the icebreakers anymore, though, due to Will-o'-the-Wisp, mostly.

Sneakdoor Beta is surely useful though, if it wasn't for the memory issue, I would certainly have added at least one copy.

2 Dec 2014 Exo

Sneakdoor Beta makes Archives a serious server to protect when the corp understand that you start scoring Notoriety pretty easily with it. I like your deck, I always thought Silhouette is a awesome underplayed criminal :)

4 Dec 2014 SlayerCNV

As u know i love Silho (Simone "Suka" Altamore) and i love garrote too.This deck is a bit similar to the deck i used some months ago at national :D

4 Dec 2014 paddosan

Hey @SlayerCNV, so you're still playing? You've disappeared from facebook!

5 Dec 2014 SlayerCNV

@paddosan... Deleted fb account and changed my job. So for a period no time (8 h/day, no free weekends. And morning I had school :O). Now I changed work again, I do not sleep but I can play and study at least ah ah. I played a lot with guaina,Fede junior and others... Will we see in Bologna? Can't move to Padova unluckily...

5 Dec 2014 paddosan

Sleep is overrated anyway!

I doubt I'll be able to come to Bologna, unfortunately... but we'll see I guess. :)

5 Dec 2014 SlayerCNV

Oooh... I hope. I 'll come more time next year... So just wait some months. And anyway this deck has no siphon, so my old idea of a criminal without siphon is just possible. And u chose the same ID I chose. So u will see me my version of this and a tag n bang...

5 Dec 2014 SlayerCNV

Ah and anyway... Why no zona sul shipping? Too slow?

5 Dec 2014 paddosan

Nope, but the last data pack for the tournament was Up and Over.

5 Dec 2014 SlayerCNV

Uhm...I'll add it surely, stronger than sure gamble, i think.

P.S. Paddo...if u want to add me...i've skype. Ask Spada (Just Simone Altamore, anyway). We can pay on octgn maybe :P

11 Jan 2015 instinctive

@SlayerCNV did you try Zona Sul Shipping instead of Sure Gamble? What did you think?