A New Age of Black Tree 3.0

tonybluehose 289

I've been having crazy amounts of fun with this deck. It take the IG shell of Hostile, MoH, and Bio-Ethics, but then adds in the needly flavor of Black Tree.

Right now I'm messing around with ICE (trying Checkpoint right now, but might just let it be Komainu again).

Not a huge test sample yet (5-0 on Jinteki, bringing it to my FLGS this Wednesday), but it's done well even against decks that have Film Critic.

Rather than the choke-hold that is IG, I like how this feels more more rushy and aggressive.

8 comments
3 May 2016 tonybluehose

Also: if I stick with this deck, will definitely need a response to Salsette Slums, because I do believe that card will be a thing.

3 May 2016 FarCryFromHuman

Political Dealings might be really good here, as it requires the runner to trigger Hostile Infrastructure, or allows you to gain points as you topdeck agendas and ping away at their hand.

4 May 2016 tonybluehose

@FarCryFromHuman, I think that could be a pretty solid add; maybe removing the Hokusai Grid for 2x of it...though have the Hokusai has been really useful too. Ultimately, I think this build is pretty malleable.

4 May 2016 Popeye09

Elizabeth Mills will clear out those dirty slum-dwellers for you. She can also sort out your Checkpoint bad publicity as a bonus. (Maybe a space for Clone Retirement if you go down the bad publicity manipulation route?)

4 May 2016 tonybluehose

@Popeye09, that's a great idea! I had a Clone Retirement in an early draft just to push some agendas out, but liked the never advance (and a 2nd Chronos Project more), and I'm definitely not sold on Checkpoint, but it does make sense that Jinteki goes out and hires Weyland's up-and-coming go-getter.

5 May 2016 herod1204

My initial concern looking at the deck, is money. Runners will burn turtlebacks, museums and hostile infrastructures on sight, and a good runner will keep your remotes down as well, meaning diversified might not be great at generating money. I'd definitely suggest focusing more on operation based economy or agenda based economy. If you remove the non-trap/murder assets, then you can run profiteering as bad pub doesn't matter at all, but I would definitely look at hedge fund and celebrity gift to power you through a bit more. If you did that, hokusai would probably go as well, but could always be replaced with self destruct if you really want to keep upgrades. Self destruct is hysterical in PE!

Ice wise, you need more. I like the checkpoint, but it's too easily Davidable really. If you move away from the asset spam, then you would probably switch out the crick as well. You probably want a few more pieces of ice as well, so you have some form of defence against keyhole decks.

I can easily see how it is fun, but definitely have a look at some other black tree ice suites for ideas. Good looking deck though!

5 May 2016 tonybluehose

@herod1204, So far the only loses I've had were to player who did exactly as you said. One was the dumblefork deck and the other was a Haley deck running Paricia. Both games were close even as the players started to "unwind" the deck. The Hayley Kaplan: Universal Scholar player was very methodical (targeted MoH first, then turtlebacks, then anything that was face-up). My Hostile Infrastructure's never were there on time which really hurt.

Anyway, Diversified Portfolio still landed due to all the face down nastiness, but i definitely hear what you are saying. As for Hokusai, that's one of the card slots that could be replaced with more ice and/or econ.

Thanks for the suggestions!

5 May 2016 herod1204

I've played Cambridge style decks for a hell of a long time, and I know what makes me crap my pants!

Yeah, too many people are prepared for asset spam now, and your deck doesn't have any way to either a.) overwhelm them the way NEH does or b.) make it unpleasant to trash everything the way IG does.

If you ditch turtlebacks, museum of history,, hokusai, hostile infrastructure and one agenda (as you are back under 54), that would give you 5 spare deck slots to play with. I know it moves it a way a bit from your original concept and closer to old school PE, but I fear it will just struggle in the current asset hating meta.

Out of curiosity, what are the shocks in there for? I've toyed with replacing snares for shocks in PE in the past due to money issues (not a problem now I've dumped everything into Palana. Rich Jinteki just feels weird)