Gen Con 2010 New Heroes

Friday night was New Heroes.  I was here to defend my victory from last year.  I fell into the alluring trap of trying to play a Syndicate deck as they look like they have even footing with all the other factions in this format.  I, however, think the Ascended with all of the additional power generation available and Shadowy Mentor are the faction to beat.  Mars Program Executive looks to be the key to ramp up the power with the Syndicate at this point.

Games were three-player games (Daniel is particularly fond of 3-player for conventions as fewer games go to time).  My first round was against two other Syndicate decks.  John Merrill ended building an unassailable fortress of Great Walls backed by The Steam Laundry Company.  From here he was able to fight to victory.

I don't remember the other rounds well.  John Wengler was playing Ascended.  Daniel was playing Hand.  Greg Zimmerman was playing Ascended/Jammers.  A few people were playing Monarchs or Monarch / Lotus.  Overall though Syndicate was the most popular faction.  Purists and Dragons were absent from the tournament as best as I can recall.  I believe John Merrill went on to win the event, but I'm not sure.

My Syndicate Deck:

Foundation (13)
Mars Colonist x5
Triad Punks x5
Street Racers x3

Characters (19)
Mars Program Executive x4
Street Doc
Rei Okamoto
Tattooed Man x2
Nihilist x2
Song, the Little Dragon
Akamatsu Mitsusuke
Devendra Chalal
Hiroshi Kata
Xu Mei, the Dragon
Salaryman
Zero-G Sumo
Jessica Ng
Hirake Kazuko

Events (11)
Data Theft
Reprogramming x5
Smoke and Mirrors
The Price of Progress
Catching Bullets
Inconvenient Debt
Data Mining

States (4)
Synchronic Beam Emitter
Hyper Alloy Blade
The Hegemeister
Platinum Upgrade

Edge (1)
Corporate Warfare

Sites (2)
Cybermod Parlor
The Wireless

FSS (13)
LaGrange Four
Moon Base
Hydroponic Garden
Rainforest Ruins
Mah-Jongg Parlor
Ancient Stone Arch
Martyr's Tomb
The Iron Palace
University Library
Endless Corridor
Bamboo Forest x3

The deck really needs a 5th Mars Program Exec. and another Martyr's Tomb.  If you can continually recycle the execs, the power can keep on flowing.  I also really like the Reprogramming in this format because almost every character has some special ability that is worth canceling.  The best cancel I had in the tournament was Shao the Killer, which allowed my winning attack through.  Platinum Upgrades also paid the bills in this tournament.  Some people were questioning if this state is overpowered.  For me it often made a Mars Exec into an impromptu hitter.  Cost 5 for 6 fighting with toughness 3 is not over the curve.  (But I suppose if you discount the Exec by the 3 power he paid back, it was cost 2 for 6F with Toughness 3.  I think this points more to the power of the Exec than the Upgrade.)