Astrobiotics (Anarch Tech) - ANRPC Labyrinth 2nd Qualifier

Pretty typical Biotics teched against heavy anarch. Went 4-1 for the day with the one loss against the overall first seed who I think went perfect (10-0) in swiss or 9-1 in swiss. Got two tokens in that game but fortune did not favor me.

Background: Just started playing Netrunner 2-3 months ago as a hobby with the long-distance GF. Had some time this weekend so I just went to ANRPC and decided to play without any expectations but to have fun. I was 4th overall and was the 2nd qualifier as some others had already qualified.

Report: (It's not that exciting for the most part. My one loss was perhaps the most exciting game) Also it's from pure memory so I'm not 100% sure on some details. One of these games the shattered baited out a clone chip -> clot but can't remember which one. In the future, I'll take notes. :) Also thanks to my opponents for all the great games played.

Game 1 v Leela- Extremely fast. I finished both rounds with 52 minutes left to spare and had lunch with my opponent. Protected my HQ and found all my PADs for a huge economic lead that quickly translated into a win.

Game 2 v Noise- Got 2 astro tokens while runner was at 2 pts. Noise milled 4 pts of agendas with no Jackson. Then milled a Breaking News and still no Jackson on table. (Used 2 already). Installed a Beale behind a rezzed enigma for a Hail Mary 5-3 score and hoped that there'd be no faust or to pretend it's a sansan or something that wasn't worth checking. Didn't work out. My opponent was an extremely strong opponent and he ended up placing first in swiss.

Game 3 v Kate: Trashed a prepaid with shattered remains on turn 2 or 3. I think my opponent knew it was a trap but checked anyways :). It wasn't significant from my perspective but who knows. Worked around SMC -> Clot with a purge and the train took off into a quick win shortly after.

Game 4 v Noise: Pretty typical and actually was the closest game. It was 6 - 5 and I had a rezzed sansan + token but no agenda on hand. Installed Jackson, Triggered Jackson and got a Breaking News to install + token/sansan grid for the win.

Game 5 v Whizzard: Got a breaking news + advance out to pretend it was a NAPD when Whizzard had no money so didn't bother running 2 unrezzed ice (popup+tollbooth) and then trashed a new earthrise + daily casts the turn after. Tollbooth didn't have a solution in time and I got to 7 really fast. Relied on my operation econ + clicking + popup for cash and just used the PADs as a card draw / runner click waster.

Card Choices:

Agendas - All typical. I stuck with the NAPD as it was more important that the runner can't steal a card rather than gaining 5 from explode. There was a Valencia player but I didn't run into that person so I didn't have to deal with that.

Assets - I don't have that much ICE so I ditched the DBS because of Imp / anarch heavy meta. Shattered remains didn't pop up that many times but I did bait out a clone chip / clot with it and I also was able to trash a prepaid so it had its use. I think one other time I had the win 'secured' and was just digging for an agenda so I just installed it to draw a card and waste a runner click checking it. There's probably some psychology too after the runner hits a shattered remains but that's hard to judge.

Upgrades: CVS was good imp / digging counter. I never used it to score / trash a clot but it proved it's use in an anarch dominated meta.

Operations: None of these should be a surprise. Fast track didn't do me anything this tournament but it's been of use in practice.

Ice suite: With faust, many anarchs are ditching yog.0 since code gates are the easiest subtype to break and enigma is really annoying to facecheck. Tollbooth was a lone winner in a game and a good big ice to have in case it goes to mid game. Lotus field can probably be replaced but I didn't have a better idea at the time and it worked well enough. Caduceus is the only unique ice. I could have ran architect but I expected people to not want to face check without a mimic installed and in that case I rather pay 3 for a 2 credit tax rather than 4. Sometimes I got a 'free' rez in a face check and then ETR anyways. Another time the runner paid 3 to not give me 3 and then opened up an NAPD window the next turn. Is architect better overall? Probably but Caduceus has been working better for me. I might try one of each or something else in the future.

Stuff I ditched:

DBS - I explained above. I really like the card but I just can't protect it so I ditched it for a trap.

Blacklist - It just gets imped. I rather just stick in the CVSs and have the runner face check that :)

Quandry - Parasite + too many anarchs didn't make it a good ice investment.

Wraparound - I had enough money to rez what I needed and anarchs still run corroders or a d4vid if they can't find the corroder so I just stuck to 3 elis. Clicking through Eli is fine.

Shoutout to the DC crew for playing with me. Also to TeamworkCast. Watching intermediate / high-level play really helped me understand nuances in competitive Netrunner. It also gave me nice entertainment during lunch. :) Finally one last shout-out to the lady for grinding 100+ runner games out with me since I started. She only likes to play runner so it helped me develop a reasonable corp game.