Bin it to win it - Norwich BABW winner

maxey 1768

binegarymink

I took this deck and Hasty CI to Norwich BABW and dropped one game all day (as geist). I have been a proud Bindividual for quite some time and Geist is very strong against a lot of decks. I recently made a lot of changes to this list to turn it into a spicy bindaloo.

Terminal Directive has a lot of bins in it. Geist likes bins. The bin breakers are fairly inefficient but they do the job of filling in the gaps when your cloud breakers are insufficient. Also using the trash ability to turn them into 1 off super breakers is super good.

Off campus apartment is another new addition and its so good in this deck. Once you get going you get so much card draw. The best use of it is when you install a street peddler on it drawing a card, then pop street peddler for a connection drawing 2 cards. Its insane. Just be sure to keep a fall guy about to dodge any best defense/ hunter seeker/ lizzy mills nonsense.

MVP was deep data mining. I put this card in as an experiment and its so good in Geist. The biggest problem with this style of Geist build has been that once you are set up, you are basically sitting there spycamming each turn waiting for an agenda to show up. This can lead to games going to time, the corp recovering, or you running out of deck through 2 levys. All of these things are really annoying. Being able to dig for 5 cards allows geist to actually set up some kind of R&D lock. There is a reasonable argument to be made that makers eye would be sufficient at fewer influence, and less memory juggling. I have not actually tested makers eye so hard to say if the extra two cards make much difference. Playing deep data mining did lead me to slot reflection as an extra link source and a memory so I can have one non cloud breaker installed and still get the full dig. This could be foolish but hard to say.

Maxwell James is bullshit it turns out. I didnt even know before the tournament that you can use maxwell after the encounter phase of a remote ice and derez it after the rez window. This turns him into a super inside job at times and really makes it hard for the corp to score out of remotes.

Im still running 2 levy since that is how I have always played geist. However on the day I think I levyd twice in total. Its very possible that the addition of deep data mining has sped up the deck enough that a second levy is unnecessary.

Unfortunately terminal directive gave with one hand, and took away with the other. While geist got a lot of lovely new bins, they also give him a near unwinnable matchup. Its not Skorp, thats actually a pretty good matchup for geist because of the sheer amount of breaker redundancy. The problem is Estelle Moon. Geist cannot beat asset spam, he is just not set up to deal with it. I have experimented briefly with teched up builds with hacktivist and critic (for lakshmi) all this just slows the spam down slightly. I made the meta call that people would not be on Estelle spam, and that call paid off. However unfortunately if you intend to do well at a tournament, Geist is an incredibly risky choice. If you think that there will be no spam in your meta, if you are happy to just concede your bad matchups, or if you feel like doing a Brendan, Geist might be the binboi for you.

31 comments
8 May 2017 Tolaasin

One thing going in your favour as Geist is that he's still an acquired taste. If the dominant runner is Whizzard, pushing out spammy decks, you maybe have a chance still. Idk how good Moon based decks will be in a world with Hacktivist and slums.

8 May 2017 maxey

Its definitely a meta call and always has been. Geist has always existed even through NEH spam and CTM so I think hes still in a healthier place than he has been in a while.

8 May 2017 x3r0h0ur

I realize peddler is super good, but would cutting a levy and a peddler to add a second deep data mining be a go? You could add bank job(s) to help keep up with asset spam to a degree, or just simply win faster.

Also dean lister could speed things up, reducing the dependancy on boardstate for the B&E breakers even further.

Cool deck.

8 May 2017 maxey

I would probably just add SOTs if I wanted more deep data minings. I have tested a few ways to attempt to keep up with spam including hacktivist and even temujin but none of it is enough. The issue is that Geists playstyle cant compete with spam at a fundamental level. If you try and make geist better against spam you may as well play a different deck.

Dean lister is cool. The main issue is that if you use him to charge a B&E breaker you can only use it to get past one pice of ice. I havent personally found the need for him but its certainly a build you can experiment with.

8 May 2017 emilyspine

Congrats on the win!

Reflection is a slightly left field choice for a Geist console but it's a good Deep Data Mining enabler. Plus if you really have to, you could sac a bin breaker on your r&d run to get up to the full 5 cards.

Geist's best hope against asset spam is to win off centrals as you have no hope of controlling the board, so Deep Data Mining potentially helps.

Also is "doing a Brendan" a thing now?

8 May 2017 maxey

It was always a thing. Of course with Geist its a little more literal.

8 May 2017 Ironcache

Thoughts on single Mammon vs. the bypass suite? Would make your DDM always a full 4 (w/ reflection) without having to chump your bypass breakers, and would allow you to slot 2 more SoT for more big digs / Siphon spam.

9 May 2017 Brendan

"doing a Brendan"

?!

9 May 2017 Tolaasin

I've just noticed reflection as well as the console. Did you do much jacking out to see what's in HQ? Or was that less relevant given your spycams.

10 May 2017 tzeentchling

Would you consider a single Sneakdoor Beta? You've got the MU for it since you're using Reflection, and there's no Temujin so you're not pressuring Archives anyway.

10 May 2017 maxey

I have used sneakdoor in previous builds and its pretty spicy. My main issue there would be that it uses up the MU for deep data mining. Also slotsm8.

11 May 2017 pspacekitten

how do you find this suit of breakers is working for you? aren't they too expensive to (re)install or risky when they are the ones supporting your other breakers strength?

11 May 2017 maxey

I havent really found I need the fixed breakers too much. They usually just do the job of stopping you from getting locked out vs skorp, or dealing with stacked ice, or getting in when you are out of B&E breakers. Because they are a backup plan I havent found the inefficiency of the breakers to be much of a problem. Lusig is actually really good vs archer at least. Also the bin ability has been relevent on a few occasions to turn them into super breakers.

14 May 2017 infinitive

Congratulations on your finish, Maxey! I've been working on post-TD Geist as well, and I've come to several of the same conclusions as you have (namely, OCA, one of my favorite cards ever, is dynamite in this deck), though I differ in a few details (my distaste for Siphon in Geist is something I've gotten into waaaaaaay too much detail elsewhere).

So, here's my big curiosity: How are you feeling about the loss of Employee Strike? There are several matchups--I'm thinking Skorpios, in particular, but CI7 and CtM are almost as big a deal--where sticking a Strike is devastating, and several of those matchups aren't naturally in Geist's favor. I get the argument for DDM, but the idea of leaving out Strikes makes me hesitate in a big way.

Second question: You're running quite a few events, for a Street Peddler deck. You seeing many whiffs on Peddler?

14 May 2017 maxey

I never had strike. Skop is fine, you have so much breaker redundancy its very hard for them to lock you out. CI isnt too bad cause you have siphons, legworks and deep data minings to go aggro. Street peddler is an amazing card in geist. You occasionally wiff but its 100% worth it.

14 May 2017 infinitive

Breaker redundancy isn't my worry with Skorp--it's Levy access. When I lost to Skorp, it's because they sniped both Levys in one way or another, and a lot of those decks are running Salem's and Kala Ghoda Real TV these days, so there's nowhere that's safe--not without an EStrike, anyway.

And my thing with the Peddler whiff is that once it whiffs, you're locked out of that Peddler--you can't trash it, because doing so won't modify game state (even as Geist--the action itself must modify game state, so you can't just trash it for a card and some money). If there's a Levy under it when that happens, you're liable to get your butt kicked. =/

14 May 2017 maxey

Ehh, these things happen. You cant account for every single situation.

14 May 2017 emilyspine

10 events is fine for a 3 peddler deck especially if you're careful with them after you Levy (although 10 is as high as I'll go after seeing the maths). I've had very few peddler whiffs as Geist.

14 May 2017 DGB123

There are tech cards for asset spam. This deck could include scrubbers or paricia and then it would be much more robust against asset spam. Deep data mining is a whopping 4 influence - it doesn't seem worthwhile outside of shaper IMO. Personally I'd swap DDM, mad dash, and a street peddler for a medium and 2 scrubbers.

14 May 2017 maxey

tbh if you are playing medium and scrubber, you may as well play a different deck. This version of geist simply cannot keep up the run based pressure to compete with asset spam. I have tested versions with hacktivist and in the past tested with temujin and scrubber. It doesnt work.

14 May 2017 DGB123

Well, it's just a thought anyway - I find scrubbers and mediums are useful in loads of decks but if you say you've tried it and it wasn't working, fair enough. You also have spare memory - perhaps a sneakdoor beta or something else since there's space available?

16 May 2017 djkokakola

Love the deck dude! Shamelessly copied it because it looked fun, and it won a regionals! So, nicely done! I love the second Levy. No one expects it.

16 May 2017 djkokakola

@DGB123 DDM is the hero of this deck tbh. Won me every game I played with it.

17 May 2017 bcavalier

What the hell is "Doing a Brendan"? It's my name, I need history and explanation.

17 May 2017 maxey

I guy called Brendan won the London regional last year with Geist during the height of NEH asset spam. He managed this by basically dodging all the NEH in swiss and the cut.

17 May 2017 Brendan

Should I take a bow?

Geist is great when you play versus nothing but kill and Palana.

17 May 2017 maxey

@djkokakola Wow well done, glad you liked the list.

19 May 2017 Heinrich

I'm a big Geist fan and I used to run a similar decklist with great success in my local meta. I took some inspiration from this in my updates, particularly the deep data mining. I think our decklists are the same minus Reflection, I use Forger. I also only run one hostage and slotted Interdiction.

28 May 2017 Ephin_Antz

Yeah coming from a magic background I really like the click free card draw of first exile, and now geist, just taking a look at yours to see what i can fix mine with as my first run was a little poor and such, but did have some neat play. i used a bunch of sunny cards 1 of each ice, and her chips, i just got my terminal directive last week, but havent had a chane to play so havent cracked it, i live in a remote community, grats , adn interesting deck. i wanna crack my td now, take care

29 Aug 2018 Tamijo

<3

11 Sep 2018 icecoldjazz

Can't believe you're gone.

This deck kept me on Criminal and Criminal took me to top 16 at worlds this year.

Thought you'd like to know. <3