Synthoid's Speed TRA Deck Assets 4 AP Mine 1 Ashraf Mobolade 4 Jacqueline 4 Raul Grange 4 Urdan Penitent Items 3 Hypnotic Worm Programs 1 Taikun Raid Algorithms Interventions 4 Corporate Restructuring 4 Covert Ops Contract 1 Meme Reset Bases 1 Underground HQ 2 Build Site 4 Underground Base: Covert 4 Wiring Factory

This week's article will be about a new deck I've been experimenting with. Interestingly enough, the idea sprang from the result of the last Race Day tourney. I got second place in Race Day and consequently won a Taikun Raid Algorithms (TRA). It was the first TRA I ever owned, so I immediately started thinking about how I could best use this special card to its fullest potential.

This deck does well (despite its radical departure from what most people play nowadays) precisely because most opponents are not expecting anything like it. It does not rely on many of the old stand-bys like Concussion Grenade Strike, Salvaged Artillery or Arell HQ, thus it represents a change from the current Europe metagaming environment.

The High-Powered TRA Attack

Taikun Raid Algorithms makes high-Perception assets devastatingly strong. Assets like Ortho and Crow's Nest Station become offensive powerhouses. However, the two assets I decided to use, Raul Grange and Jacqueline, also have the added benefit of having Sabotage. This makes them virtually unblockable against the Arell HQ and a potent offense against most anything else. Jacqueline's FirstStrike ability means she can tear through deadly Anti-Terrorism defenders such as AP Mine and Urdan Sentry unscathed. Raul's Anti-Terrorism gives him flexibility as a defender, as well.

Raul and Jacqueline use covert resources exclusively, and can be used to power a Covert Ops Contract, so it made a lot of sense to add four Covert Ops Contracts to the mix. Once you get going, you'll have a lot of extra Covert. This can be useful if you need to buy Double Agents or Veteran Mercenaries, or to tap out enemy Dresner Security Bots. One other use for lots of Covert is to power your Hypnotic Worms, which can remove pesky defenders like Taikun Security Officer and Silent Sentinel.

Cranking Up The Speed: Turbo-Charged TRA

However, it is still not reliable enough to get your TRA out by the time you need it. To rectify that, I added four Corporate Restructurings, which turbo-charged the deck. Restructuring turned out to work well with everything else in the deck, especially with Urdan Penitent. Once Taikun Raid Algorithms has been run, any extra Penitents can be used as discard fodder for Restructuring.

I found that I could typically discover and start pounding the enemy Headquarters by turns 8-10. In an ideal game, you'll have an underground base at the enemy Headquarters and two or three hidden attackers ready to launch the sneak attack by turn 8. You want to make sure the attack comes as a complete surprise, otherwise you could find yourself stopped by Death Dust, Holic Intuitive, Psychotropic Juice, or any number of other nasty counters.

They Can't Hurt You If They Can't Find You

I have been using Ashraf Mobolade to counter Thalmann Speed. However, I'm not sure this is the best choice. Although Ashraf has Stealth 2, he produces a Stealth 1 Taikun Security Officer at your Headquarters city. If there is an enemy base present, your Headquarters could be revealed before you are ready. So, Ashraf is somewhat of a mixed blessing.

This deck uses AP Mine on defense, although it has just enough resources for alternatives such as Silent Sentinel. The advantage of AP Mine is that it is immune to Concussion Grenade Strike. There's also enough resources for Taser Shackles, Restraining Order, or Restraining Goo as well. However, since these are held in your hand until used, they don't work as well with Meme Reset or Corporate Restructuring.

Gargnob told me that adding Viral Vines might help, as they are Stealthy (doesn't give away your Headquarters) and cheap to deploy. If Ashraf is removed, two or three Viral Vines could be added without running out of Cyber resources (depending on how many Build Sites you use).

One defensive card that is often overlooked is Meme Reset, the meanest card in Chron X. Just about any deck benefits from the addition of a Meme. It keeps deploy on defense assets like Mobile Six and RAF in check. Also, you might just force your opponent to discard a critical combo card that can deflate their plans and give you an easy win.

Go, Speed TRAcer, Go!

However, I have found that this deck works very well against common Speed decks, so there's really no need to ban a deck type you have trouble playing against. Instead, it is possible to spend some time figuring out a counter, and you'll derive that much more satisfaction when you beat the so-called "sheep".

Speed TRA does quite well against the high-ranked players. Surprisingly, I've found that I run into the most trouble against lower-ranked players. In one case, I was playing against Pytharos, and he had what turned out to be the perfect counter to my deck. He used Silent Sentinel to block my Jacqueline. Then, he used Memory Wipe to erase my Taikun Raid Algorithms. Birth Cry subsequently made his active defense formidable while Sentience made my assets too weak to win the game.

The lesson I learned from that match was to be sure to search in the enemy Headquarters before running Taikun Raid Algorithms. TRA prevents most of your assets from searching, so you'll never uncover stealthy assets, and you will really be in trouble if you make the mistake of running TRA before finding an enemy Underground HQ.

Also, because the single TRA card is so important, you should not run Meme Reset or Corporate Restructuring if TRA is in your hand. Thus, you would rather your Taikun Raid Algorithms not be near the top of your deck.

Shining Ice

The first, Vostok Ranger, is important, because it has both Sabotage and Arctic status. This means it does not suffer from -2 Firepower due to Arctic conditions. It also has Perception 6, which boosts the Vostok Ranger to Firepower 10. Compare this to Raul and Jacqueline, who are boosted up to only Firepower 7 in Antarctica. The drawback of Vostok Ranger is that it only has Stealth 2, thus it cannot be used with Covert Ops Contract.

A second card that gets a new boost is (believe it or not) Shoeshine Boy. If equipped with Unidentified Exosuit, the pasty-faced little weakling is transformed into a stud muffin extraordinaire, with 10/8/12/7/6/1 stats for only 2 cards and 5 total resources. A Pillbox only does 2 points of damage to this guy. Furthermore, he gains Arctic status and Hit Point regeneration. With a single TRA running, this becomes an awesome 10/13/12/7/6/1 powerhouse that could eventually buff down blockers and shine that enemy Headquarters down to the ground.

Be careful to always run TRA after suiting up the Boy, otherwise he is not wimpy enough and dies when you equip the suit. A Sprawl Camoflage would allow you to rehide him between attacks so he can't be the target of Taser Shackles, Restraining Goo, Double Agent, Null Bomber Attack, or Restraining Orders (unless your opponent is using Biomech Raptor, Peeper Goggles, or has a Laser Spotlight and 6 Covert resources).

Conclusion

Whassuuuupp?

Got something to say about this column? Don't just sit there and stew, tell the author!

Copyright © 2002 Genetic Anomalies, Inc. Republication by permission only