How it wins
- On turn 3 your board is thin - an Evelyn Parker: Scheming Siren, maybe a Psycho Squad - but your hand is full, your Gigs are low, and Floor It or Synapse Burnout waits for their attack.
- The midgame is where the board flips. Chrome Reverie buys one turn against their biggest Unit, and then eleven bottom-deck cards - Pyramid Song, Placide: Voodoo Sentinel, Maman Brigitte: Spirit of Death, Les Élémens - take Units off the table for good.
- Once their side is empty, Placide's 10 power takes two Gigs per hit, and MT0D12 Flathead attacks freely as long as your Street Cred sits below theirs.
Strengths
- Low Gig values cost nothing - seven Gigs win regardless - and Trust No One and Jackie Welles: Pour One Out For Me (your first Blue Unit or Gear each turn drops a Gig by up to 2) draw whenever a Gig hits its minimum.
- Hanako's value-pairs draw at the start of every turn, and Peace Offering, Evelyn Parker, Floor It and Trust No One keep cards coming on top.
- Eleven removal cards, almost all three-ofs, and bottom-decked Units can't be recurred.
- Take Control is a Quick answer to a big swing: the attacker steals one Gig fewer, and you draw if it is an AI, Drone or Vehicle.
Weaknesses
- Defence on their turn is Floor It, Take Control and Synapse Burnout, not bodies - three Lizzy Wizzy: Delicate Weapon are the only Blockers in the deck.
- The curve has a hole in the middle: after twelve 1-cost Programs and five 2-cost cards, only nine cards cost 3 or 4 before twelve at 5, so turns with three or four Eddies often end with some unspent.
- Aggro can be several Gigs ahead before your removal arrives.
Key cards
- Hanako Arasaka: Daughter of the Emperor
- Your card engine and Street Cred dial: value-pairs draw each turn, and swaps lower your Street Cred.
- Maman Brigitte: Spirit of Death
- Removes their best unequipped Unit regardless of size, for two spare Programs.
- Les Élémens
- Cleans up a lone threat by bottom-decking their lowest-power Unit.
- Trust No One
- Starts the plan for 1 Eddie: lower a Gig, draw, and unlock Chrome Reverie's free Call.
- Chrome Reverie
- The turn you buy against aggro.
- MT0D12 Flathead
- Your closer whose attacks can't be redirected while your Street Cred is lower.
First turns
Keep: Keep a hand like Trust No One, Evelyn Parker, Chrome Reverie and Floor It.
Mulligan: Mulligan a hand like Les Élémens, Maman Brigitte, Placide and Flathead without a 1-cost Program.
- On the draw with Trust No One, Evelyn Parker, Chrome Reverie, Floor It, Pyramid Song and Les Élémens: turn 1 rolls the d4 and sells Les Élémens, and Trust No One drops the d4 to 1 and draws a card. Your rival watches you weaken your own Gig on purpose.
- Turn 2: Call first, then cast Evelyn with the other Eddie and a face-down Legend. If Jackie came up, Evelyn's arrival pulls your new Gig down by up to 2, and the field still shows only a 0-power Unit.
- Turn 3: Evelyn attacks for a card and steals nothing, then Chrome Reverie locks their biggest Unit and, with your d4 still on 1, Calls a Legend for free. A face-down Legend can still pay for Floor It on their turn.
Common mistakes
-
Mistake: You use Peace Offering to raise a low Gig to match a high one.
Better: Copy the low value onto the high Gig instead. The pair draws now and again at the start of each of your turns while Hanako is face-up, and your Street Cred drops instead of climbing.
-
Mistake: You cast Evelyn Parker first and Call a Legend afterwards.
Better: Call first. If Jackie comes up, the Evelyn or Psycho Squad you cast next pulls a Gig down by up to 2 and can draw a card.
-
Mistake: Les Élémens is cast while a Secondhand Bombus stands next to the Unit you fear.
Better: Bottom-deck the small one with Pyramid Song first, so the threat is their lowest-power Unit when Les Élémens resolves - or hold it until the threat stands alone.
-
Mistake: Placide arrives and there is no Program left in your hand.
Better: Keep a spare Floor It or Trust No One back the turn before: Placide's entry and each of its attacks can then trade one discarded Program for a bottom-decked rival Unit.
Matchups
| Against | Result | How it plays |
|---|---|---|
| Embracing Power (Arasaka) | Favourable | Arasaka wants geared mid-size Units and has no Quick cards. Chrome Reverie stops the one wearing Sandevistan, Les Élémens or Placide bottom-decks it, Gear and all; expect Minotaur, which your low Street Cred enables. |
| The Heist (Mercs) | Favourable | The Heist also lowers its own Gigs, but it can't remove Units and draws less. Pyramid Song bottom-decks Secondhand Bombus or Evelyn Parker, and Hanako's swaps win the Street Cred race Flathead needs. |
| Johnny / Panam / Viktor | Favourable | Placide bottom-decks a geared Unit with every Gear on it, which costs them several cards at once; Chrome Reverie holds that Unit until Placide arrives, while Maman Brigitte rarely has a legal target. |
| Kerry / River / V | Favourable | They want one big Cyberpsychosis turn. Keep Take Control and Floor It for exactly that turn; their slow build gives you time. |
| Smasher / Dum Dum / V | Even | Past turn four your card advantage wins, so their whole plan is the opening. Get through it with Psycho Squad punishing Units that have attacked and Chrome Reverie on the biggest one. |
| Jackie / Johnny / V | Even | They want to win with the first wave. Break Wraith Marauders chains with Floor It and Take Control, and remember that while Meredith Stout: Stone Cold Corpo is on their field, every Hanako swap gives them a card back from their trash. |
| Alt / Judy / V | Favourable | They want the same long game with less draw and one Les Élémens to your three. Hanako's swaps push your Street Cred below theirs, so your Flathead is the unblockable one. |