[8-1, 1st @ EMEA 2024] Dividing by Two Two

This is the Ob deck that carried me to 1st place at EMEA. It's directly based on what I took to ACC, with a few key events leading to small but relevant changes.

One of them was Silent Arbiter messaging me to ask me why I picked Vladisibirsk City Grid over Calibration Testing. I immediately felt really dumb and changed the deck to accomodate the obviously better card.

The other was playing two games against wowarlok on World Tree Ari at locals. He smashed me twice despite very bad draws on his part, which lead me to believe that the only way to salvage the matchup is to make the deck even leaner and able to function while staying low on the ground. This implied a bit of a rework of the ice suite to get cheaper, along with a last-minute Audacity inclusion (I never played it on the day, but that's also because I was lucky enough to never encounter WTA). Special thanks to cablecarnage who got very good at the deck and was able to give very well-reasoned slotting suggestions.

If you've seen the deck in action there's very little to explain. The board requires very diligent managing from the Runner lest you run away with the game, and while that is being taken care of you simply build an unassailable remote and score out. Save for extreme economic pressure from the Runner, it's not at all uncommon to score out by turn 8-9. The deck is hard to pilot, but exerts incredible psychological pressure on the Runner because every unrezzed asset you fail to check feels like a fuckup, and the chance of a disastrous facecheck is always there. Even at points where you're a bit fragile you look like an unstoppable monster from the outside.

This went 8-1 for me over the weekend, only losing a game to CobraBubbles understanding how important an early The Twinning can be.

Thanks

This is where I would usually be a coward and go "oh there are so many people to thank, I could never do it properly, so thanks everyone"; but this was such a good trip that it feels worth it to try and do right by at least many of the people who made it great. This is such an amazing community and literally everyone is pleasant to interact with.

atien, porkobolo, cros, wowarlok, all the TOs and judges: THANK YOU for such an incredibly well-run event. I see many people citing it as their favorite tournament ever and I think I feel the same. Everything worked so perfectly and it was all thanks to you.

null signal games: it is an honor and a joy to keep running with you

krysdreavus: neither of us would be here without the other and i'm so glad we've come so far together.

mallory, acme defender, art collector, polenta fiend: i don't even know where to begin. i love you so much!!!!! oh and try to get better at palutena before the next time we meet. loser.

aceempress: i don't know if i would have made it through the top cut without your infectious joy, your unceasing material support, and. you being a really really good kisser. thank you

harmonbee: i'm not the first to say it but you were the perfect head judge for this event, and a great netmom. stoked to see you at more events soon <3

veronica: thank you for being pasta mom. every qthouse needs someone with executive function and you were so helpful

ams: even though you only came here to steal our culture i still feel like i got something from you. it's the memes!

fi & kay: you're beautiful both individually and together and i'm glad i could be part of such a good experience for both of you <3

cobalt: you're so good at startup! i don't startup, i stand. ard. but i respect your choices nonetheless

qtm: those of you who stayed at home for any reason still floated in the atmosphere of the airbnb, in our conversations, in our love. i hope i get to meet many of you in SF

frogs: thanks for getting me into esa, although i keep making xem worse <3

taibreakers: cool playmat, extremely uncool runner, can't wait you see what you folks are up to next

auggy: the auginfusion curse has been broken! sad we didn't get a big grudge match, but i'm sure we can make up for that in interconts, and italian nats, and, and... the rivalry never ends

koga, wowarlok, silent: all the seeds for the great operation are in place now. we will make this meta the most feared in the world

ea sports: you made my favorite deck of the whole event and got three of my four wins. you're all amazing, thank you for the games, chats, thunderbolt analysis, and gelato

leopold: preparing for throwback together was an experience. thank you for the cucumber, the ob, the commentary, and especially the career advice, i'll take it to heart <3

testrunning: i had a great time chatting with you after swiss! thanks for the good cut math advice

theo: thanks for the bad cut math advice <3 hopefully we get to say hello someday

cablecarnage: thank you for your untiring obtimization work, carrying both me and j0n4ld so high

rhahi: the way you play scares me deeply and i mean it in the best way. you are a phenomenal player and i can't wait to see you top cut more big tournaments

girometics: likewise, i was really impressed by how well and how carefully you played our game. one of the highlights of the weekend for me

jakuza: excited about the discoveries you've made on this trip. i don't even know what a "vertical deck" might look like but i'm sure you'll be a trailblazer

goldenwitch: it takes such simple things to sustain us, the most important of which is to be Horny

of15-15: i wish we had gotten to spend more time together, though you are so kind you had to spend all your time making everything work while also piloting a beautiful corp. hope to see you soon!

rainbowmonkey: it feels good to repeat and echo and imitate

evie: talking about girls together was really important. final score is 4 girls 2 non-girls btw

baralai: the lift you gave us probably saved the whole tournament for a bunch of people. you're an angel, thank you

man in the moon: love you too too!

mom: you're probably not reading this but it's really nice that you're so supportive about netrunner!

thanks to you all from the bottom of my heart. let's do this again sometime?

SHAABR

Replays

As I said this is a tough deck to pilot, so watching it played is pretty important to figuring out some key lines that might not be obvious. To help you with learning the deck, here are head judge Harmonbee's notes from the grand finals game: