Runner Strategy: Phases

i've been playing a lot more with an idea that was mentioned here a while back (and also in Jim Lin's article in Duelist #10): that of the game having three phases. It's been very helpful. And note that these comments assume competent (and non-wacky) decks and players on both sides.

To recap for Wilsons:

Phase 1: C is scrambling for sure footing, trying to adequately protect HQ, R&D and maybe an SDF. R has few installations, but doesn't need them. Tactics: R is running 2 or 3 times a turn, forgoing opportunities to install cards in order to keep C from gaining control of the environment (or at least to prolong Phase 1 as long as possible). Advantage is thus to R, particularly if she had a good draw of cards. This phase is shortened by early big cash for C. It is lengthened if R successfully calls any bluffs C makes or manages to trash any of C's resources. Lack of aggression on the part of R shortens this phase and spells doom for R.

(This phase can also be dramatically shortened by C playing Chance Observation and then Urban Renewal (When R has only 4 cards in his hand). In fact, the runner is very vulnerable to tag'em and bag'em Corp decks in this first phase, if the runner makes a lot of runs. - Terje Braaten (terjebr@pvv.ntnu.no) ))

Phase 2: Phase 1 ends once C establishes solid defenses, and R is unable to break through without some help. Tactics: This is C's first and best opportunity to advance agendas without interruption. R, meanwhile, spends more energy building up options. Prolonging this phase ensures victory for C.

Phase 3: Begins once R has a full range of programs (wall/code gate/sentry or legitimate substitutes) available. Tactics: There is no excuse for R not to run (or else it's not really Phase 3 yet). If C has not completed all projects (or Setup! some very good surprises), the chances of doing so have decreased. It's time to speed-advance. If C is aggressively pursuing R (tag&bag), it began to show in Phase 2, but the conflagration may not fully blossom until this phase. Otherwise, it's R's game.

Okay, so i've started playing with these ideas in mind (mostly as a runner so far). It's helped a lot. The big-picture goal for the runner is to keep Phase 2 as short as possible. Go-fish cards are good for this, so rarely bother with them until then. Short Circuit should be played as the first action of Phase 2. Broker is also a Phase-2 card, although getting it out during Phase 1 is important so that you have time for your investments to build up (allows you to get all those 'breakers out quickly once Phase 2 begins).

Thinking of the game in terms of phases helps me to evaluate certain cards. Viruses are wonderful Phase 1 cards (Cascade played as a first action, followed by two R&D runs may allow you to access only one card, but the Corp can't afford to ignore those counters). So are Romp thru HQ or Forged Activation Orders. Lucedrine Booster Drug is generally a Phase 3 card. Weather-to-Finance Pipe is definitely a Phase 1 card. i go back and forth over Edited Shipping Manifests, but i think it belongs in Phase 2 (helps pay for new installations).

Also, i begin to understand how R can control the game and its environment. Will every game follow this pattern? No, but every game can be analyzed by how it deviates from this pattern. So far, analyzing each of my games this way helps me figure out specific ways that i can explain how i won (or more often, how i _almost_ won :) )

Comments? i've not yet spent much time experiencing this paradigm from the Corp side. i suppose i'll be looking for ways to shorten Phase 1 and prolong Phase 2, but my ambush nodes are wearing thin (the means by which C can trash R's installations). Perhaps i should content myself with tagging & slagging (resources), rather than trying to burn the runner. Or does C experience the game in the same three phases at all? Seems to me that it should, but maybe not....

It may also be that there are more phases than those i've described. For instance, a fourth phase might be one in which R has actually emptied his stack. This has happened in two games in which i was playing Corp. In one case i won, in the other i didn't. i suspect, however, that this does not fall under the criteria that assumes "assume competent (and non-wacky) decks and players on both sides" (i was, after all, playing my "Shell Game" deck). Also, analyzing this occurrence as a fourth phase doesn't seem to help.

In terms of the three phases, Tag & Bag can be seen as an attempt by the Corp to move quickly to or prolong the second phase, since the Corp is in control of the environment. If you, as the Runner, do not have adequate defenses out, that means you're in Phase Two ("adequate defenses" means out of flatline range). If we, as the Corp, are prepared early in the game to renew the Runner's urb, we have abruptly moved to Phase Two without the Runner's realizing it, and Phase Two is going to last a very short time indeed.

On a side note, the icebreakerless deck described earlier might be an attempt to completely sidestep Phase Two. More likely (i haven't seen it in action, however), it is an attempt to prolong Phase One indefinitely. The reason it requires careful play is this: the Corp starts Phase Two of the game (the Runner starts Phase Three). But with the icebreakerless deck, the Runner is trying to keep the Corp from beginning Phase Two at all. Unless i misunderstand the deck, if the Corp manages to achieve a solid lock on Phase Two, the icebreakerless deck will grind to a screeching halt.