It was Friday before the first Megacity of the season, I was enjoying a nice lunch while pondering the precarious state of corps at the moment. My latest experiment, ZATO ob, was getting soundly crushed by crim pressure and constantly too poor. Something needed to change, so i glanced through all the installables available by their install cost. And though this search often ends up with nothing, this time a big thing stood out: Mitra Aman.

A card i mocked on release for being just a Beanstalk Royalties becomes a lot more interesting when you can play it from your deck for free. How convenient that Ob does that. And even more convenient that brand new rashida replacement trashes itself for a 0 coster. +6 credits is a very big swing, even if you dont have an event to play humaniod is always a great bit of value.

More on the utility aspects of Mitra later on, but dont overindex on them, the most important part of the card is the credits, dont be afraid to trash him for just money without swapping.

Econ plays

this deck needs money fast, these are the best ways to get it

• instant cash: Humanoid, or Cybersand for humanoid. Usually fetches Mitra for massive bucks, can also flex to spin if you have plenty of money and need to find something else.
  • This push should be preferred in most situations, since it lets you immediately push something else the turn after.
  • It is very easy to afford, Envelopment is the only ice you cant jam this behind, so its great on t1.
  • remember to sacrifice Cybersand on the runners turn so that your Humanoid can also use ob. Note that as of elevation release, you can sacrifice cybersand even if it is empty.
• setup while cashing: Anthill is very flexible, but the most common thing to get with it is a jamming upgrade like Holo or Tucana, and then putting an agenda straight in the server.
  • Because anthill takes a turn to go off, this gives you a setup turn in between to defend centrals or bolster the remote.
  • If your remote isnt safe enough you can also install ice of the correct type in preparation for a jam.
• ice refund plan: a cute line if you have a bunch of unrezzed ice that you need a boost to afford. Off an Anthill you can get a Cybersand in a new remote. Its trash cost is pretty good at discouraging the runner from dealing with it, and you can use it for its actual text of gaining creds on rez.
  • pretty niche, so dont focus on this too much, but its a cute line
• regolith lines: Regolith is usually a stellar ob card, i was considering playing 3 last meta. But here it has been akward, you could very much consider cutting it. Though it isnt without uses.
  • most importantly, if you adapt this deck to take out the zato angle, bringing back Tranq Grid immediately restores regolith to mandatory status, but we cant dual wield grids unfortunately.
  • install + double clicking is probably the most common pattern, it lets you get all the way to a Humanoid the turn after. (probably followed by a humanoid for spin to draw jam pieces)

Why Zato

ZATO has two modes, both of which are very good. Primarily, against non-shapers, you can rigshoot their breakers forcefully, locking down the remote long term. Bumi 1.0 is here as a 4th killer with the trash text, but you can also experiment with Ballista or Sorocaban Blade depending on what influence you want for other stuff.

Second, but just as important, is that it acts as an improved Anoetic Void, letting you completely safeguard a remote for a turn if you have 3 etr ice and can ob for a 4th. (this is why we have so much 2 cost ice, and the treeline). If you can add an Envelopment at the top of the server, you can also force great amounts of money from the runner while they try to force the ice down (assuming you got treeline in the deck to replace it after the first break)

Notably, Zato is extra good if people are skipping out on their Pinholes, which was certainly the case this weekend.

On influence

It is very free in this shell, the only core points are:

• 2 dots: Humanoid Resources: just 1 is needed, the second is gravy to mitigate feelbads where it gets trashed off rnd, but those are rare in the grand scheme of things.
• 2 dots: Mitra Aman: core card that enables our econ.
• 3 dots: The Holo Man: very good to chain Off the Books and score SDS

the rest is very up in the air. Spin is a good extra 3 dots, but if you got ambitions for the spare inf you really dont need them all.

my choices this time: Bumi 1.0: is pretty alright when all the anarchs are on a couple Botulus, and as a bonus you get insurance against Arissana. But there are enough other good ice that its not at all mandatory. One cute replacement could be Trebuchet+Logjam as a chain.

Hafrún: lets you in theory extend the rigshooting plan to centrals. In practice, Bankhar makes that pretty akward, so I did not fire a single stavrun in the tournament. But hafrun does also have extra utility as a very embarrasing Border Control

Replays

Round 1 vs Tao

Round 4 vs Ari

Round 7 vs Ari

Cut game 2 vs Hosh

Cut game 4 vs Hosh

Cut finals vs Hosh (rematch of cut game 2)