Palana Scarcity - 1st at Euros

RotomAppliance 2932

This is the Palana deck that I took to first place at Euros.

It's a fairly vanilla deck, and I mainly picked it following a 3 day weekend of testing all sorts of corps and not finding anything very appealing - this is an ID and archetype that I'm very comfortable piloting, even though I don't think it has any particularly great matchups.

Rashida appearing allows for burstier play and can allow you to start rushing in matchups that need it, but this isn't really a rush deck overall, and the ice suite is high end enough to let you play a longer game, especially against anarchs. The agenda suite is the classic one, and Scarcity is simply a great card in the meta at the moment. Exluding a single ID and a game won due to failed deck check, the deck went 5-3 overall, beating 2 Maxx, a Val, a Reina and a Leela. Losses were to Val, Pirate Hayley and Freedom. It was definitely the weaker of my two decks, but all its games were interesting. A few notes on card choices:

DNA Tracker, Anansi, Tollbooth: The big 3, the beefy ice that can really put the hurt on the runner. Tollbooth is a good first ice for a remote, while the other two are best on centrals. Anarchs in particular struggle with these ice if you can rez them, and Anansi techs against bypass, primarily Security Nexus. Fairchild 2.0 was in the running for the Tollbooth influence, as it is almost impossible to deal with efficiently, but I decided I needed the ETR subs on the remote, rather than more central tax.

IP Block, News Hound: The cheap taxers that glue the deck together and let you resist on centrals even if you don't have 8 credits to spend. IP Block offers good value for money, and the AI hate is significant with the amount of Turtle in the meta, and News Hound takes advantage of Scarcity, as well as the fact that most runners are playing a current right now.

3 Enigmas: Just a good gearcheck ice.

Sadaka: Hardly classes as a piece of ice, more of a trap / voter intimidation. Didn't do anything special with it at Euros, though it's served me well in testing. Could consider an Excalibur instead.

Kakugo: Surprisingly wasn't very good, could drop. This deck runs Obokata, but doesn't try to exploit it as much as some decks, and the 4 rez cost for an ice that lets Turtle in felt bad. Maybe could be a Cortex lock.

CVS: Came in fairly late off the back of several games against Freedom, but really pretty relevant against a lot of runners right now. Did some serious work, not least in allowing me to ditch agendas when flooded because I knew the runner wouldn't run archives and have their Turtle purged.

1x Bio Vault: I like this card a lot, but 3 can feel a little awkward, as you don't always have time to spend your whole turn install-double advancing. Having a 4th defensive upgrade felt right, it at least ignores rumour mill, and apparently still catches people off guard, so I'd happily keep this.

Not recommended: Vanilla. A free gearcheck is always nice, but if the runner is using Turtle as a primary breaker, your plan is to lock up centrals and purge. Vanilla just lets them in.

Thanks to all the people who made this such an enjoyable tournament, and see you all next year!

8 comments
4 Jun 2018 Dazzler

Congrats on the win !! Very nice piloting on a very nice deck.

4 Jun 2018 Council

Was [[Chiyashi]] ever a consideration, or is it simply too expensive? Also, why the special report/preemptive action over [[Genotyping]] and [[Distract the Masses]]? Is Batty worth it when your best sub is end the run?

4 Jun 2018 ctz

“Not recommended: Vanilla. A free gearcheck is always nice, but if the runner is using Turtle as a primary breaker, your plan is to lock up centrals and purge. Vanilla just lets them in.”

I logged in to say YASS QUEEN to this. Vanilla sucks, pass it on.

Love the deck and congrats!

4 Jun 2018 kollapse

Congrats on the very well deserved win! Will we get to see that runner deck of yours any time soon?

4 Jun 2018 emilyspine

Congrats Rotom!

4 Jun 2018 RotomAppliance

@DonLoverGate: I've used Chiyashi in several Jinteki decks, it's fine but as you say, very expensive. With 7 large ice already in the deck I thought it wouldn't be entirely practical. It only taxes roughly the same as DNA/Anansi/Tollbooth, while costing 4 more to rez, and the AI hate seemed less required with IP Block in there.

I think Special report is a much better way of filtering your hand than Distract the Masses. It doesn't give the runner 2 credits, but most importantly lets you redraw immediately. In some situations it acts as a mini fast track, letting you dig for an agenda when you have a window, so it isn't purely defensive. I never really considered Genotyping, it seems about as good as preemptive.

@kollapse: I'll put it up shortly.

4 Jun 2018 triorph

I'm mildly interested that you felt the need to go as low as 1 kakugo. For me in these sorts of lists 3x feels like a must. I get that you have some pretty expensive ICE already, but I would've thought you could swap a tollbooth for them and break even. Were the IP blocks really that important?

4 Jun 2018 RotomAppliance

Kakugo definitely felt like the weakest ice during the tournament. I've played decks that go in more heavily on abusing Obokata with 3 Kakugos, and even Data Loop and/or Prisec, but this one aims to tax money moreso than cards, and it largely just felt like an expensive gearcheck. The many anarchs I faced didn't mind that much taking the odd bit of damage, if the run mattered to them.

IP Block was probably the best ice of the deck, given the heavy Aumakua presence. I pushed a Nisei out behind one in the winners final, against a Val who had Turtle and every other breaker except Clip. Even against Clippy, taxing 3 for such a cheap rez is a good deal. If more people take up 419, especially with Powertaps, it starts looking worse, but in the meta leading up this, I've largely been putting 3 IP Blocks in every non-Weyland deck unless I have a good reason not to.