by David Kempe
Future Proof is here! While everyone has been drooling over the toys that Shaper got this set, I’ve been drooling over Darwin. I spent the better part of a week trying to make Shaper Darwin work before finally pulling out Noise once again. I hate Noise. Noise has the only Runner ability that affects the Corp but requires absolutely no interaction. Noise/ Personal Workshop dumpster dives make games end way too quickly. Noise could run once on Archives during the entire game (this being the only Run he has made at all) and win. Noise has the only Runner triggered ability that is not once per turn. I hate Noise.
Unfortunately, until R&D finally realized they made a mistake and either erratas or bans Noise, he’s easily the best Anarch identity, and I want to make an Anarch deck. Let’s start with programs:
3 Darwin
3 Datasucker
3 Djinn
1 Femme Fatale (1 Influence)
3 Imp
3 Parasite
No Medium or Nerve Agent. This deck is all about Archives. You should still run the other centrals (Imp is threat enough to make the Corp ice up) but Archives is your bread and butter. Darwin is not great on its own, but the rest of the deck is running support. Datasuckers work overtime to get into the servers you really need to access. Femme is used to get passed Hadrian’s Wall; all other ice is low enough for Darwin to handle. Funny enough, the most important Program in the deck is not Darwin; it’s Djinn. Provided you have the money to support it (which this deck does), Djinn can find all the important cards in the deck. The events:
3 Deja Vu
3 Stimhack
3 Surge
I have mentioned before how nuts Stimhack is, and this is still the case. Surge is used solely on Darwin to make it a threat when you need it to be. Hardware:
2 Grimoire
1 E3 Feedback Implants (2 Influence)
As always, I never assume more than 2 Core sets, but if you have 3 to play with, a third Grimoire wouldn’t hurt. E3 could be bumped up to 2, but influence is tight in the Resource department:
2 Aesop’s Pawnshop (4 Influence)
3 Armitage Codebusting
2 Ice Carver
3 Liberated Account
2 New Angeles City Hall
2 Personal Workshop (8 Influence)
3 Wyldside
Personal Workshop is still insane with Noise. Only one card in the game can stop Noise from Stimhacking into Archives for the win off of PW, and it’s a factioned agenda (Project Vitruvius). New Angeles City Hall protects your precious Resources from Breaking News, so try to keep 4 Creds handy. Armitage Codebusting could easily be Kati Jones; I enjoy the speed Armitage brings to the deck.
This deck has been tested extensively; I’ve learned my lesson from the beginning of Humanity’s Shadow. If I were going to another Regional, this is the Runner deck I would take, simply because no other Runner forces the Corp to dedicate as much ice to all 3 central servers as Noise (though Gabe comes close).