Gridlock II approaches.

I was entering the decks from my "Data Sifting for Victory" column into Ken Hudson's beta version of NetNetrunner when I realized I had made an error (since corrected) in my Corporation. Since no reader caught on, I will not go into detail. Ahem. But I did decide to try a slightly different direction in version 2.0.

The cards are mostly the same but there's a significant change in plan: No Tag and Bag. I decided to try to win at all costs, which means more fast advancement, more bits and more program trashing. I'll let you decide which Corporation is more powerful.

I'll recap the Gridlock II deck construction format here:

• Voters who subscribe to the Netrunner electronic mailing list selected 75 cards for each side.
• The top 90 cards were selected for each side as a "pool" that players must use to construct their decks.
• Only one copy of any of these cards is allowed in a deck.

Here's the list of Corporation cards again:

Agendas (22) Corporate Coup Corporate Downsizing Corporate Retreat Corporate War Data Fort Reclamation Detroit Police Contract Employee Empowerment Fetal AI Hostile Takeover Ice Transmutation Main Office Relocation Marine Arcology Marked Accounts Netwatch Operations Office On-Call Solo Team Political Coup Priority Requisition Project Babylon Project Zurich Subsidiary Branch Tycho Extension Viral Breeding Ground Upgrades (9) Antiquated Interface Routines Bizarre Encryption Scheme Crystal Palace Station Grid Dr.Dreff Jenny Jett Namatoki Plaza Olivia Salazar Red Herrings Rio de Janeiro City Grid

ICE (27) Crystal Wall Data Wall Data Wall 2.0 Fire Wall Rock is Strong Snowbank Walking Wall Wall of Static Ball and Chain Filter Keeper Mazer Misleading Access Menus Nerve Labyrinth Quandary Scramble Sleeper Banpei Bolter Cluster Cerberus Cinderella Homewrecker Neural Blade PI in the Face Sentinels Prime Shock.r TKO 2.0

Nodes (17) BBS Whispering Campaign Brain Dance Campaign Chicago Branch Department of Truth Enhancement Experimental AI Holovid Campaign Information Laundering Remote Facility Rescheduler Rockerboy Promotion Setup! Siren South African Mining Corporation TRAP! Vacant Soulkiller Vapor Ops Virus Test Site Operations (15) Accounts Receivable Chance Observation Day Shift Edgerunner , Inc., Temps Efficiency Experts Management Shake-Up Night Shift Off-Site Backups Planning Consultants Project Consultants Punitive Counterstrike Scorched Earth Systematic Layoffs Trojan Horse Urban Renewal

This is version 2.0 of Neal's Gridlock Weekend II Corporation:

Again, I've left out all the big Walls and Code gates. Cyfermaster and Rammng Piston are too effective. It's not worth paying 6 bits for Rock is Strong when it can be broken for 2 or 3 bits. There aren't enough multi-sub Walls and Code Gates in Gridlock II.

I used all the Sentries but Neural Blade and Cerberus. Cerberus is too expensive for this plan and many runners will accept Neural Blade's Net damage; it doesn't end the run. Bolter Cluster is harder to ignore, although most of the Net damage will be prevented by the Shield programs (all of them are available in Gridlock II).

I used every cash card except Braindance Campaign and Holovid Campaign. Braindance is great if you already have a lot of bits, and a waste of an installation action if you draw it early. Holovid Campaign is just too slow to make sense.

The Runner cannot effectively protect programs with these cards. Microtech Backup Drive, Forgotten Backup Chip, Gideon's Pawnshop, and Junkyard BBS are the only options. If you can get a Runner to smack into your Experimental AI or Viral Breeding ground, you will probably win the game. It takes too long to retrieve a breaker suite and reinstall it, not to mention the expense.

The Namatoki Plaza works nicely with Experimental AI and Viral Breeding Ground. Project Babylon was included specifically to match these two ambushes, but it can also be easily scored with its difficulty of 3. Any of the other agenda work nearly as well. The Plaza is also a nice for the fast advnacement nodes: Vapor Ops, Chicago Branch and Remote Facility.

Information Laundering, South African Mining Corporation, and Department of Truth Enhancement are also natural matches with Namtoki Plaza and an ambush. Net and brain damage amubushes were omitted because of the previously-mentioned Runner shields.

The cheese factory has expanded from my last version with Vapor Ops. Al Davis, CEO of the Oakland Raiders NFL franchise, said it best:

"Just win, baby!"

The rezzing upgrades were bad. Jenny Jett, Olivia Salazar, and Dr. Dreff work best with big, damaging ICE. With only one copy of Cerberus (the only ICE that really fills the bill), and two Proteus "payback" ICE, these upgrades are pointless.

With no feedback from my last Gridlock column, I am trusting you are preparing your best decks in secret,