Avenue Q

Baa Ram Wu 1896

I've been having loads of fun with Prognostic Q-loop recently and this feels like a deck worth sharing!

Prognostic Q-Loop (outside of Geist/Boomerang Shenanigans) lets you set up your board state whilst running - With smoke wanting to run a lot it seemed like an ideal fit - even more so when you can use Mantle to pay for the Q-loop.

Early game you need to just get down the basics - A Net Mercur and a Q-loop, plus a little money coming in from Gambles, Peace and Casts.

Then you want to use Q-loop to set up your board at a blistering pace with at least 5 or 6, 1 cost pieces, checking the remote when it feels necessary (most ice is cheap thanks to smoke + Pelangi) Keep in mind what is on the top of your stack at all times - remember you can use the Q-loop trigger on the corps turn too!

Even though the deck doesn't have a lot of draw outside of Diesel and Net Mercur you will get to the bottom of you deck quickly if you are aggressively using prognostic which makes labor rights perfect to potentially bring back 3 Khushuk's (drawing you one)


Potential Changes:

Where is Afterimage?? - I have gone for Ika here over afterimage for the speed of set up and Ika (once placed) deals with most sentries in the game pretty elegantly. Afterimage may be the more 'correct' include and you could 100% drop the 3rd prognostic for it if you prefer.

3 Prognostics??? This was part of an experimentation with this card so I always wanted to see it early - by all means drop to 2 (in a 40 card deck this should still be fine) but the quicker its down the smoother you will race to your set of Khusyuks.

Corroder - in all honesty could be Gauss to save you 2 inf - with Penrose's install ability (don't forget about re-installing with a simulchip to gain this again) and Pelangi it rare i actually end up using corroder for barriers - You could use that inf for stimhacks which are currently missing or a second Labor rights (which would be very important against damage decks (BON, PE, RP etc.) - The Turning wheel would be another decent option for HQ pressure.

Slots are tight but a Beth or a single Notoriety (aka. the Gentleman's Apoc) would both be great includes if you can find the space.

4 comments
12 Dec 2020 Baa Ram Wu

With the announcement coming out minutes after I published this you could now 100% drop corroder for Lady and use the spare 2 inf for stims/labour rights/tech cards etc.

14 Dec 2020 Diogene

@Baa Ram Wu I've tried it and it work really well. I'm guessing you use SMC to get Mantle early.

Here are some thoughts.

  1. Against grinder deck, milling yourself is difficult. Maybe Buffer Drive? Or maybe Harmony AR Therapy instead of Labor Right?

  2. With Pronostic Q-Loop in place, I feel that Oracle May could replace PiOT. The synergy would be pretty good overall.

  3. Also, Paladin Poemu could be leveraged, letting you install for free, put cred or draw with Net Mercur and liberate the stealth creds for runs. It would even trigger Net Mercur without running. Or use Mystic Maemi for the same purpose.

After I make some experiment, I'll tell you about them. Thanks for the deck, it is quite fun!

22 Dec 2020 Baa Ram Wu

Hey @Diogene thanks for the thoughts and glad to you enjoyed the deck.

I think you u should usually draw into a mantle in plenty of time - no need to have one down before you start popping off Q-loop, just saves you money once you do.

Whilst Oracle May + Prognostic certainly is a great combo it misses the point of the deck a little which is to get set up super fast and start Khusyuking before the Corp has chance to respond - Oracle takes 6 turns to generate as much profit as Peace in our Time - also, and more importantly the last thing you want to do is show the Corp that you are drawing into Khusyuk’s or the first thing they are gonna do is whack a Crisium, border control etc on R&D.

Your thoughts on Paladin & Mystic - I think you are getting confused with Trickster Taka which is the only Stealth Companion and so the only one that has any synergy with net mercur.

Also worth noting that Net Mercur can Only ever be pumped during a run due to its text.

You really want to use Labor rights to pull back all 3 Khusyuk which Harm and Buffer drive can’t do.

Hope this hasn’t come across too negatively - it isn’t meant to be - just wanted to give an insight into my deckbuilding thoughts.

22 Dec 2020 Diogene

@Baa Ram Wu this give me the insight that I was missing, thanks. Peace in Our Time is a true double edge card, giving creds to the runner and the corp. The saving grace come from the very efficient running granted by Smoke.

My idea, with Oracle May, is to double down on Prognostic Q-Loop. Ideally, it would go like this : run - prognostic and install the 1st card, get to know the type of the second card - finish the run - use Oracle May to get the second card and 2 cred. So, in 2 click you get a run, an install, a draw and 2 creds. This felt, to me, to be pushing the efficiency, while not letting the corp rez big ices (with the help of PiOT).

For Paladin Poemu, it was not about the stealth creds, but more about installing stuff with Prognostic Q-Loop for cheaper. Those creds are not taking any MU and build up nicely, allowing you to run and install bigger things than is currently in the deck (Blackstone for example). Of course, the hardware and program of this list don't really need that support.

But Mystic Maemi really gives a great boost for the influence. Sure Gamble can give you an amazing 8 creds (possibly) and Khusyuk can become free, which help a great deal. Even with Prepaid VoicePAD, I still think Mystic Maemi to be better if you have the influence.

But now that you've explained the though about the deck, it makes me realized the aim of the deck : score early with Khusyuk.

For reference, my experiment with Oracle May in this deck showed that it work, but it does not give the same tempo as Peace in Our Time. I was using Harmony AR Therapy to replace Labor Rights, but I now understand why Labor Rights is better for what this deck aim to do.

For what its worth, I think 3x Prognostic Q-Loop is essential, since the deck is built around it. Finding early is crucial.

Then, do you think 1x or 2x Bookmark could help let you keep the needed card while letting you comb through your deck? It would save that Labor Rights and Khusyuk from being grinded or from encumbering your hand while you are looking for other things in the deck.

Thanks for replying, it gives me new insights and ideas to leverage with Shapers. The idea behind this deck could be leveraged with a different ID (Lat for link and draw), one could even not use Prognostic Q-Loop, by using Kabonesa Wu. Even crims could leverage this, importing Khusyuk and using their very efficient central breakers. New ideas (to me) to be explored.