Hi all, time for another deck tech with some of the new toys from Order and Chaos! This one I’m calling Transmetropolitan, after the classic cyberpunk graphic novel featuring…aggressive journalism.

Pictured: Journalism

Much like it’s namesake, this deck is all about getting to the TRUTH (agendas) while stomping on as many things as possible.

Valencia Estevez: The Angel of Cayambe (Order and Chaos)

Event (18)

3x Blackmail (Fear and Loathing)

3x Déjà Vu (Core Set)

3x I’ve Had Worse (Order and Chaos)

3x Inject (Up and Over)

1x Legwork (Honor and Profit) ••

1x Spooned (Order and Chaos)

3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)

1x Wanton Destruction (Order and Chaos)

Hardware (5)

3x Clone Chip (Creation and Control) ••••• •

2x Desperado (Core Set) ••••• •

Resource (12)

3x Earthrise Hotel (The Source)

1x Hades Shard (First Contact) •

3x Kati Jones (Humanity’s Shadow)

2x Liberated Account (Trace Amount)

3x Same Old Thing (Creation and Control)

Icebreaker (6)

1x Corroder (Core Set)

3x Eater (Order and Chaos)

2x Knight (Mala Tempora)

Program (9)

1x D4v1d (The Spaces Between)

3x Datasucker (Core Set)

2x Keyhole (True Colors)

3x Parasite (Core Set)

15 influence spent (max 15)

50 cards (min 50), Cards up to Order and Chaos

The game plan: Finding the truth, and beating someone to death with it

The endgame plan is to trash the hell out of R&D with Keyhole, while always threatening to break into remotes with Blackmail. Remember that Blackmail is completely unstoppable at getting you into a remote, but you’ll still need to deal with upgrades like Caprice and Ash once you get in. You’re also relying on Parasite recursion to destroy troublesome pieces of ICE (by which I mean all of them). The final rig you should be aiming for is Desperado, Eater, Keyhole and Datasucker. This leaves you one memory free to fill with Parasites, Knights or even Corroder as needed. It’s an extremely efficient rig that can devastate any Corp.

First things first

Why run this out of Valencia instead of MaxX? That’s the first question most people ask, given how many store champs got taken out by the queen of PUNK RAWK straight after Order and Chaos dropped. The answer to this is that Valencia’s bad pub is really goddamn strong. Eater can get through anything but multi-sub stuff still gets pricey. An extra credit per run comes in mighty handy. It also makes trashing naked economy assets much more palatable, particularly the omnipresent Daily Business Shows and PAD Campaigns. Secondly, Blackmail gives you guaranteed remote accesses, something that a MaxX version of this deck just can’t pull off reliably. It’s like a super-Inside Job and is straight-up devastating against glacier decks.

Journalism again, probably

Key stompin’ cards:

Keyhole/Eater: A strong win condition. You don’t know how devastating Keyhole is until you’ve been on the receiving end for a few turns. The 2 memory requirement always held it back before but it’s now much easier to build a supporting rig around it.

Desperado: Simply unbelievably good here. The free bad publicity was good before – gaining an extra credit per run is completely insane. You’re practically clicking Magnum Opus EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU RUN.

Parasite/Datasucker: Very important. Multi-sub ICE is the most taxing for Eater but also tends to be low strength. With Clone Chip, you can reliably pull these out when you need them. You can also use them as a way to sneakily break into a remote if they’re attempting Executive Boot Camp shenanigans or you’re out of Blackmails and need access right the hell now.

BREAKING NEWS: everything is exploding

Hades Shard: NON NEGOTIABLE (because it’s amazing with Keyhole and if they freak out with Jackson in the early game and start chucking agendas).

Inject/Earthrise Hotel: You need draw. This is the best draw. Earthrise is good because it’s clickless, and Inject is good because it probably won’t trash that many programs and even if you do Deja Vu and Clone Chip will save you.

I’ve Had Worse: The best card in the set. This is basically the Self-Modifying Code of Anarchs – right now you need a pretty damn good reason to not run 3 of them and it will definitely make your deck better.

Kati/Liberated Account: you need to keep that economy ticking along somehow. To be honest this is still a grey area.

Burning down Corps with their shareholders’ money: what’s not to like?

Legwork: A nice little surprise, and one that ties in with your ICE destruction and surprise access.

Same Old Thing: journalism’s about the daily grind sometimes. Kidding – with Same Old Thing and Clone Chip on the board and a Blackmail and Parasite in the heap, you can basically go wherever you want all the time.

The Truth starts here

Things you want in your opening hand: some combination of money (preferably in the form of Kati/Sure Gamble), Desperado, draw (preferably Inject or Earthrise if you have lots of money), Datasucker, Blackmail. Think about Keyhole if the Corp mulligans, as you may get a critical opening to exploit. Move towards your ideal rig while keeping the pressure on and try to keep a Blackmail available for when the Corp naively thinks they have a scoring window.

Matchups: everybody’s got something to hide

NEH and RP aren’t too terrible with this deck as Parasites take care of most of their ICE and NEH in particular is quite vulnerable to Keyhole. A well-placed Wanton Destruction can go a long towards knocking out combo pieces and your bad pub lessens the impact of taxing ICE. Jinteki PE gets absolutely ruined by Keyhole and I’ve Had Worse. Blue Sun is your toughest matchup as Crisium Grid shuts down Keyhole and some varieties are starting to run Elizabeth Mills to shut down bad publicity. Your best bet here is to put the pressure on early and try to snag these cards out of HQ or R&D as soon as possible. It’s still very possible to win against this deck even if it’s fully teched out against you. In general – run often and run AGGRESSIVELY! The truth isn’t going to find itself! Kick down doors, leverage guilty employees and burn their secrets to the ground. It’s JOURNALISM, dammit!

Happy running