Killer hand, bro (Portland Regionals, Top 8)

Tellurian 206

My corp deck from Portland Regionals. 4-1 in Swiss, 1-1 in Double Elimination.

The changes from AKAnderson's "Killer Hand Bro" seem small, but I feel they're significant and made a meaningful difference in my success. I replaced the two Priority Requisitions with two Project Virtruvius and an Accelerated Beta Test, making it easier for this deck to switch gears and score out in a few turns when a flatline seems to be out of reach, generally due to a combination of strong runner economy, 2-3 plascretes, and Scorches not showing up. I had two scoring wins in addition to my three flatlines.

To make room for the additional card, I cut the singleton Subliminal Messaging. While it's not a bad card, its impact was marginal to begin with, and doubly so as a singleton. Additionally, not having to worry about missing the trigger made the deck less cognitively taxing in a tournament environment.

In the future, I would cut Gyri Labyrinth for ice that was either more taxing or damaging to the runner's board state. While a surprise with Gyri can be quite effective, and save both clicks and credits, I found that situation rarely came up, and the card often did nothing for me.

3 comments
21 May 2014 AkAnderson

Congrats on your wins! I'm glad to see this deck getting some love. Your agenda changes are definitely a smart idea. I've also cut Subliminal since posting but I switched it and 1 SEA Source for 2 Beanstalks to recover from Vamp. I also agree with cutting Gyri, I'll most likely be switching it with some taxing Grail ICE.

What were your hardest match ups? I've found that the hardest thing for this deck is bad draw (Scorch on the bottom) and knowing when to start scoring.

22 May 2014 Tellurian

Thanks! During the tournament, my biggest issue was with Big Rig Shaper decks, since this ice lacks stopping power. Since then, I've also had a tough time against Siphon-Vamp decks. And while I've only had one game against a runner playing Donut, it was agonizing.

22 May 2014 Tellurian

Thanks! During the tournament, my biggest issue was with Big Rig Shaper decks, since this ice lacks stopping power. Since then, I've also had a tough time against Siphon-Vamp decks. And while I've only had one game against a runner playing Donut, it was agonizing.