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Message no. 1
From: Mike and Jill Johnson <mnj@************.NET>
Subject: Cermak Blase
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 06:39:38 -0700
One of the players in our group has come up with this combination that I
think is really a cheesy move but doesn't seem to break any rules.

His main runners are scarecrow of which he equips with invisibility and a
yamaha rapier. He has 4 Cermak blasts in his deck which when they come up
he sends 2 of the scarecrows on the run using invisibility he sleazes any
challenges on it automatically as it is considered an awakened creature.
Since Cermak blast doesn't have a final encounter like cleanse the hive its
a free 25 points. The rapiers are there just in case someone uses a change
of plans on the objective in which case he just runs for the safehouse.

Any ideas on this one?

MnJ
Message no. 2
From: Quicksilver <qwksilvr@*****.COM>
Subject: Re: Cermak Blase
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 17:50:44 -0600
At 06:39 AM 1/30/98 -0700, you wrote:
>One of the players in our group has come up with this combination that I
>think is really a cheesy move but doesn't seem to break any rules.

Quick? Efficient? yes. Cheesy? Maybe. But it can get boring on both sides
of the table.
Just curious, when someone finds and capitalizes on a good idea, why do so
many people (the ones who didn't find it first) immediately put it down?

As one who has been cultivating just this strategy for a tournament deck,
I think I can help you find some of the holes in your friend's plans.

First: Invisiblity only gets one runner through. Everyone else must go
back. A Bounty Hunter can really tear this deck apart, mages don't cost
much to kill :).
Second: Even the best mages can only use two spells per turn, be sure to
put three challenges on the objective. The Rapiers can help him get around
this, but he has to trash them to do so.
Third: If you cannot put three challenges down, don't put any down. One
good muscle on the interception can geek just about any mage with invisiblity.
Fourth: Build a good, quick muscle deck. He may get the first one or two
Cermaks, but your muscle should get through to a Cermak just about as
quick. Seems I've seen a number of people grumble about Muscle/Cermak/Urban
Brawl decks :).
Five: Riots, Drive-bys, Wanteds, and Tempest (the stuff *I* think of as
cheesy <g>). Not pretty, but and they can help. Maybe even an Archie McDeven.

Just keep in mind, it may get worse. Just wait until he's had a chance to
play with it for a while and make it stronger :) It's a strong strategy,
but it has it's weaknesses just like anything else. To build this deck so
it works really well, you pretty much eliminate the possibility of going
against any other objectives.

Hope this helps,
Hg
(who's going to kick himself if this messes up his chance to win tournaments)


Standard Disclaimer: The above are just my opinions. I have been wrong
before. I will be wrong again.
Message no. 3
From: Phil Jaros <chakan@****.PYROTECHNICS.COM>
Subject: Re: Cermak Blase
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 19:59:24 -0600
Quick silver wrote:
> Just curious, when someone finds and capitalizes on a good idea, why do so
>many people (the ones who didn't find it first) immediately put it down?

When someone calls one of my decks cheesy it usually because it ends up
annoying my opponents. They are usually beatible, however you pretty
much need to be playing a deck to counter them - which means playing
a deck they did not want to play for the most part. If any of us
runs into a "cheesy" deck we usually just move onto a differant type of
deck, so that we can continue to enjoy the game.

<a bunch of useful tips deleted>

> Just keep in mind, it may get worse. Just wait until he's had a chance to
>play with it for a while and make it stronger :) It's a strong strategy,
>but it has it's weaknesses just like anything else. To build this deck so
>it works really well, you pretty much eliminate the possibility of going
>against any other objectives.

I find it interesting that so many people are trying to take objectives
that they can go on easily. I tend to play decks that make their own
objectives very tough and then send my runners on my opponents objectives.

I usually can manage to run on my opponents objectives sucessfully, thus
forcing them to try and run against my objectives if they want reputation.

>(who's going to kick himself if this messes up his chance to win tournaments)

I don't think it will really hurt your chances. Everyone on this list
knows about this deck from the first message, and I think that if everyone
goes out trying to counter this deck type, they hurt the strengh of their
own deck. I was able to play against your deck a couple of months ago,
and I think that it is safe to say that your deck has evolved far enough
along that it should fair quite well against decks that use the same
mage/cermak blast strategy. It will be interesting to see how the new
cards in Underworld and 2nd Edition effect the power of this type of
deck as well as some of my personal favorites.



--
Phil Jaros 888888888
chakan@************.com O=O=O=O=O
___________aaaaaaaaaaaaa___________
___...aaaad8888888888888888p"""""q8888888888888888baaaa...___
``"""""q8888888888888|
|8888888888888p"""""''
``"""""< `=-~-='
>"""""''
Chakan `| ^ |'
The Forever Man / | =-= | \
/ `__.__' \
Message no. 4
From: Blade Hunter <bladehnt@*********.NET>
Subject: Re: Cermak Blase
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 22:19:42 -0500
On Fri, 30 Jan 1998, Phil Jaros wrote:
> Quick silver wrote:
> I find it interesting that so many people are trying to take objectives
> that they can go on easily. I tend to play decks that make their own
> objectives very tough and then send my runners on my opponents objectives.
>
> I usually can manage to run on my opponents objectives sucessfully, thus
> forcing them to try and run against my objectives if they want reputation.

The problem with that is, excluding use of specials, the opponents always
have first opportunity to run on their own objectives. It'd be quite a
change in game play dynamic if one could *only* run on opponents'
objectives (thus forcing the runner teams to be more diverse).

Of course, that sounds rather nifty-like, until the prospect of just what
you have to go through to cleanse the hive. Doable, but even muscle decks
have to get fairly geared up to attempt that one.


btw, are those bugs you have to face on the way to cleanse the hive,
cermak blast, whatnot considered awakened challenges with respect to
Invisibility? I had thought I had read previously that the answer was
'no'...mistaken?

'nuff for now,
-me.
bladehnt@*********.net
Message no. 5
From: Phil Jaros <chakan@****.PYROTECHNICS.COM>
Subject: Re: Cermak Blase
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 22:39:09 -0600
Blade Hunter <bladehnt@*********.net> wrote:
>On Fri, 30 Jan 1998, Phil Jaros wrote:
>>I find it interesting that so many people are trying to take objectives
>>that they can go on easily. I tend to play decks that make their own
>>objectives very tough and then send my runners on my opponents objectives.
>>
>>I usually can manage to run on my opponents objectives sucessfully, thus
>>forcing them to try and run against my objectives if they want reputation.
>
>The problem with that is, excluding use of specials, the opponents always
>have first opportunity to run on their own objectives. It'd be quite a
>change in game play dynamic if one could *only* run on opponents'
>objectives (thus forcing the runner teams to be more diverse).

There are many ways to prevent that from happening as well. You can
simply not place any challenges on the objective and just sacrifice a
weak runner of yours to prevent him the first time. Or you can do what
I usually do and just drop 3 challenges ontop of the challenge as soon
as it comes out. I usually can do that easily, if you play with a
decent amount of challenges in your deck, keep some nuyen on the side
and have a Squatter in your deck - which I always do.

>Of course, that sounds rather nifty-like, until the prospect of just what
>you have to go through to cleanse the hive. Doable, but even muscle decks
>have to get fairly geared up to attempt that one.

I can still make runs against my own objectives, but since I tailor my
challenges to work best with my Objectives, I try to minimize the amount
of times I end up discarding a 3 challenge combo, because I completed
my objective.

>btw, are those bugs you have to face on the way to cleanse the hive,
>cermak blast, whatnot considered awakened challenges with respect to
>Invisibility? I had thought I had read previously that the answer was
>'no'...mistaken?

Yep, they most certainly are.


--
Phil Jaros 888888888
chakan@************.com O=O=O=O=O
___________aaaaaaaaaaaaa___________
___...aaaad8888888888888888p"""""q8888888888888888baaaa...___
``"""""q8888888888888|
|8888888888888p"""""''
``"""""< `=-~-='
>"""""''
Chakan `| ^ |'
The Forever Man / | =-= | \
/ `__.__' \
Message no. 6
From: Quicksilver <qwksilvr@*****.COM>
Subject: Re: Cermak Blase
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 22:18:02 -0600
At 07:59 PM 1/30/98 -0600, you wrote:
>Quick silver wrote:
>I don't think it will really hurt your chances. Everyone on this list
>knows about this deck from the first message, and I think that if everyone
>goes out trying to counter this deck type, they hurt the strengh of their
>own deck. I was able to play against your deck a couple of months ago,
>and I think that it is safe to say that your deck has evolved far enough
>along that it should fair quite well against decks that use the same
>mage/cermak blast strategy. It will be interesting to see how the new
>cards in Underworld and 2nd Edition effect the power of this type of
>deck as well as some of my personal favorites.

Seems to me you had a pretty powerful concept rolling yourself, especially
for something you said you had just thrown together. I would have liked to
have seen it after you'd had a chance to play with it for a while.
Mine has evolved a little further from when you saw it. I don't really
play it much now - too predictable (good for tournament play, but no fun
for everyday). Although I will be trying to tweak this new idea I had
recently.....I'll need to track down some rares though :(.
I'm looking forward to seeing the new cards too! I was going to put
together a ganger deck recently but decided why put effort into it now,
it'll probably need to be completely redone in a couple weeks anyway.
I'm also really anxious to see the new challanges. I think I've come up
with a deck concept that will pretty much be me by all but about 5 of the
present challenges. I doubt that will work when the new batch hits the
streets :).

Keep on 'runnin',
Hg

...an analog person, stuck, in a digital world.
Message no. 7
From: Phil Jaros <chakan@****.PYROTECHNICS.COM>
Subject: Re: Cermak Blase
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 23:36:16 -0600
Quicksilver wrote:
>At 07:59 PM 1/30/98 -0600, you wrote:
>>Quick silver wrote:
>>I don't think it will really hurt your chances. Everyone on this list
>>knows about this deck from the first message, and I think that if everyone
>>goes out trying to counter this deck type, they hurt the strengh of their
>>own deck. I was able to play against your deck a couple of months ago,
>>and I think that it is safe to say that your deck has evolved far enough
>>along that it should fair quite well against decks that use the same
>>mage/cermak blast strategy. It will be interesting to see how the new
>>cards in Underworld and 2nd Edition effect the power of this type of
>>deck as well as some of my personal favorites.
>
> Seems to me you had a pretty powerful concept rolling yourself, especially
>for something you said you had just thrown together. I would have liked to
>have seen it after you'd had a chance to play with it for a while.

Hehehe, I don't think my employers would like me taking a long time to
design a deck. I didn't really have much choice as the plans were made
at the last second. I think the deck was a cross between my human and
firearms deck, so you if you read my deck postings over the last week
or so, you have seen what is has evolved into.

> Mine has evolved a little further from when you saw it. I don't really
>play it much now - too predictable (good for tournament play, but no fun
>for everyday). Although I will be trying to tweak this new idea I had
>recently.....I'll need to track down some rares though :(.

I know what you are saying. Having a fun time while playing is far more
important, then playing the same deck all the time. Hopefully all the
rares you need to track down, will be reprinted in 2nd edition. If they
are they should be fairly easy to pick up.

> I'm also really anxious to see the new challanges. I think I've come up
>with a deck concept that will pretty much be me by all but about 5 of the
>present challenges. I doubt that will work when the new batch hits the
>streets :).

If it is doing what I think it is doing, then it probably will still
be able to handle most challenges (unless new categories for challenges
are created). However more likely then not the new cards will only
help add onto the power of the deck.



--
Phil Jaros 888888888
chakan@************.com O=O=O=O=O
___________aaaaaaaaaaaaa___________
___...aaaad8888888888888888p"""""q8888888888888888baaaa...___
``"""""q8888888888888|
|8888888888888p"""""''
``"""""< `=-~-='
>"""""''
Chakan `| ^ |'
The Forever Man / | =-= | \
/ `__.__' \
Message no. 8
From: Mamoulian <shine@************.NET>
Subject: Re: Cermak Blase
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 09:34:15 -0700
At 06:39 AM 1/30/98 -0700, you wrote:
>One of the players in our group has come up with this combination that I
>think is really a cheesy move but doesn't seem to break any rules.
>
>His main runners are scarecrow of which he equips with invisibility and a
>yamaha rapier. He has 4 Cermak blasts in his deck which when they come up
>he sends 2 of the scarecrows on the run using invisibility he sleazes any
>challenges on it automatically as it is considered an awakened creature.
>Since Cermak blast doesn't have a final encounter like cleanse the hive its
>a free 25 points. The rapiers are there just in case someone uses a change
>of plans on the objective in which case he just runs for the safehouse.
>
>Any ideas on this one?
>
>MnJ
>
>There is always the beat him with a large stick and throw him in the snake
pit.......but I think that is against the rules. My only recourse would be
to use cards like wanted, suicide run to take the characters out.....


Mamo

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Cermak Blase, you may also be interested in:

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