Step 1: Takobi Gaming

After EMEA, the community as a whole realized that Brân 1.0 was a problem. Jai got the idea to use Takobi from Baa Ram Wu to deal with the plethora of annoying >5 strength ice present in the meta. It's cheaper to install than K2CP Turbine, and is able to boost breakers higher in a pinch, which can be relevant in cases like a triple-advanced Pharos.

Hilariously, in early testing, we quickly realized that Takobi worked really well in Hoshiko, with the most relevant fracter and decoder being in faction, Echelon being only 1 influence, Takobi itself being 1 less influence than Turbine, and Maw being a brilliant in-faction console that provides the 2 MU needed to support a Takobi rig. Additionally, there was an incredible synergy with Hippo, because ice placement becomes an incredibly difficult puzzle - you cannot rez an outermost cheap piece of ice to protect your innermost expensive ice, because that just gives free Takobi counters to the runner.

izzy ended up bringing a 47 card Takobi Hoshiko to Canadian Nationals that ended up doing fairly well: over the five runner games in the ten rounds of single-sided swiss, this runner went 3 wins, 1 loss (to time, against Azmari Glacier), and one draw (to time, 6 points each, against Asa).

Step 2: "Stavrun can be solved by having 3 of each breaker"

The weekend before Intercontinentals, Jai, PiCat, and I began a fever dream of a voice call. We were debating how the Takobi breaker suite would deal with the Stavka+Hafrún combo in Ob, and decided that it was quite difficult, other than just finding both copies of your killer and installing them.

PiCat then joked: "why not just run 3 of each breaker? Then if they trash your stuff you just install more stuff."

At 1 A.M. in the morning (for Jai and me), I threw together a deck that just kept becoming bigger. And bigger. "Well, if the deck is so big, why make a choice between The Price and Gachapon? Just run both," I laughed maniacally as the deck breached the 50 card mark. We then started a game with me on this Bigshiko with no Bankhar, and Jai on a panic PD, fully expecting to laugh this ridiculous 55 card deck out of the room.

This was my turn 5 board state:

It was not a fluke. Bigshiko set up faster than our 45 card versions.

3x Bahia Bands, 3x The Price, 3x Gachapon, 3x Moshing, and redundant cards of every type meant that we were going through 30-50 cards of the stack within 5-6 turns in 90% of the games we played. "If it doesn't spark joy, throw it out" is the philosophy of the deck, both from trashing your own stack for what you need, and from trashing HQ with your Maw triggers.

Having the full Takobi suite up, drip economy, and multiaccess up within 6 turns while still applying run pressure during the setup phase, meant that corps were locked incredibly quickly. For the first time in the meta, we were playing a runner that had tools for every known archetype of corp - 3 Pinholes helped with AgKeeling, Maw was helpful into any matchup and absolutely demolished asset decks, Bahia Bands were an incredible tool for several different types of corps, the Takobi breaker suite invalidated any corp that uses a mix of big and small ice, and the fast setup speed with run pressure helped prevent rush corps from having the time to score out early.

Step 3: Inters Sadness and Stargate Sucks

Come Intercontinentals, and I play 1 game with this deck. The variance of a big deck comes to bite me in the ass in a way it never did in testing games: I get terrible hits on The Price and Gachapon, but more importantly I get hung up on the Stargate install I get early, trying to use it even though it was not helping me setup the rest of my rig.

This game and other games played by Jai cemented the idea in my mind that The Twinning is a better in-faction win condition than Stargate in the current meta. Corps are incredibly fast since rotation, and games rarely go over 12 turns. Stargate is very click intensive if you do not have a good read on when to use it, especially in Hoshiko, because a Stargate run does not keep your ID flipped. You will need to do further runs to hit R&D or Archives if you want to access agendas you see off the Stargate run; you'll need to do further runs to get a Maw trigger; and this is not even mentioning the terrible interactions Stargate has with Oppo Research, AR-Enhanced Security, and Project Vitruvius counters.

While The Twinning is less multiaccess than Stargate in theory, you're getting multiaccess from doing what you already want to be doing: setting up. This ends up becoming much more click efficient over the course of the game, which fits into the philosophy of the deck. Additionally, Twinning works incredibly well with Maw, making the two greater than the sum of their parts. While you are getting less multiaccess in theory, the amount of pressure you're putting on the corp in a single HQ run with charging Twinning, while getting Maw and DJ Steve triggers, is incredible. Alternating turns running HQ and then getting a 3 deep R&D dig, getting a Maw trigger each time, is an incredibly efficient and effective win condition that leaves you plenty of time to maintain economy or setup further.

What do you do with the spare MU from Maw then? Install a second Echelon so you're safe from Stavrun, or boost your Echelon's base strength for other higher strength sentries.

Step 4: Last Hurrah and Memento Mawrie

With the announcement of the DreamNet ban, NZ Nats became my last chance to show off Mawrie in a competitive setting, because without DreamNet the deck loses a significant part of the early setup speed and run pressure that makes Bigshiko viable.

With the removal of Stargate, the deck ended up feeling faster and more consistent, with the exception of my last game in the top cut where the variance of the deck kills me again, resulting in me drawing none of my acceleration pieces. However, I'm happy that the deck got a chance to shine, being undefeated in Swiss for me, and bringing fellow QtMember the Good Mx Dragon to 9th place as well (xe were on a version with 2x Labor Rights instead of Fermenters, which is a personal preference (and was a fairly last minute change by me sorry Mx Dragon!)).

Step 5: Thanks

Huge love to QtM of course, who have helped accelerated my growth as a player and supported me every step of the way. Massive shoutout to Jai, who's been an incredible friend and mentor throughout this competitive season.

Step 6: NZ Nats Replays

R1 | Runner win vs Sportsmetal

R2 | Runner win vs Sportsmetal

TOP CUT 1 | Runner loss vs Ob

TOP CUT 3 | Runner loss vs Outfit