To SeaScorch is to tag the runner with SEA Source then immediately follow up with one or two Scorched Earth, typically to cause enough Meat Damage to immediately flatline the runner.
Strategy[]
This card combination is infamous as:
- both cards of the combo are in the core set,
- the conditions to trigger the combo are not particularly complex, and
- the result is typically an abrupt game loss for the runner.
The strategy is common in NBN or - especially - Weyland Corporation as each of these factions have one of the combo cards in-faction, and have sufficient influence to splash the other card. The HB Custom Biotics identity also lends itself to the strategy with its 22 influence that can be spent of Weyland and NBN cards, and Cerebral Imaging with its ability to hold multiple combo cards in hand. It compensates for less influence by using Efficiency Committee tokens to leverage in-faction recursion operations to make do with as little as one copy of Scorched Earth.
Once the Corp has a SEA Source and two Scorched Earth in hand, all that is required for them to win on their next turn is for the runner to have made a successful run on the previous turn, and for the Corp player to have (roughly) 8 credits more than the runner, in order to be able to win the trace on SEA Source, then pay for the two Scorched Earths.
Counter-strategy[]
A runner is wise to be on guard against SeaScorch anytime they play against an NBN or - especially - Weyland Corporation.
Runner strategies to combat SeaSource include:
- putting several Plascrete Carapace in their decks,
- being able to avoid the tag, using a card like Decoy or New Angeles City Hall
- having a means to keep richer than the Corp, such as by using Magnum Opus
- having a means to trash operations such as Imp or Edward Kim so that they can break the combo by trashing SEA Source or Scorched Earth when encountered in R&D or HQ