Flashpoint's Last Stand - [SOCR3] 9th

Also known as "The Other Kill CI," this is the deck I played in the third Stimhack Online Cache Refresh tournament. Like most CI, it kinda plays itself, it wins in less than 10 turns, and it's not very fun to play with or against. On the plus side, I think CI is the only NPE deck in the CR format, and a lot of its tools will go away when Flashpoint does (no VLC, no Show of Force for the kill combo deck); this deck in particular will lose its whole combo. I went 3-1.

I liked the idea of putting Marilyn Campaigns in to encourage running or to up credit counts; in CR I'd take them over Scarcity since no one is playing currents and I don't think Scarcity gives great value when the game is over so soon. I thought it would be a nice way to encourage running, but I didn't really have problems with that since MCAAP is so threatening.

I wrote some game recaps this tournament, but feel free to skip to the end for a few additional notes.

R1 vs @charliexavier on Ayla - it took him a few turns to get Mopus out, and by then I had HHN/BOOM, a single Load Testing, and Elective Upgrades in hand, as well as MCAAP behind FC3 in the remote. Yikes. At 3 counters, he inside jobs to trash MCAAP, giving me a run trigger, and lucky me mandatory draws the second Load Testing! LT/LT/HHN, his two clicks are get DDM from NVRAM and hit R&D for a small chance to win. BOOM! on turn 6. Couldn't have worked out better, hopefully my luck holds the rest of the rounds.

R2 vs @thebigunit3000 on Adam - I'm happy seeing Adam with this deck, since they tend to run aggressively early on. I get MCA down behind FC3, and an ETR on HQ and R&D. I draw into HHN-Boom! early too, so I'm hoping it's wrapped up easily; the first HQ run gets 4 points, though. I Load testing-MCA-HHN successfully, but I've got three big problems: he had just barely more than negligible money for me to guarantee the trace, so my credits are limited; I hadn't yet fired a clearance so I only had 4 cards in hand and it's likely Boom! gets trashed; and the worst, his handsize is now 7 thanks to Brain Chip. I only ever get the chance to value boom (and I don't take it), and he manages to get me to rez all my ice (as I'm afraid FTE sees an agenda) and trashes my MCA before he stole the last agenda. In short, I was trounced. tbu3k played it perfectly, and I was only ever playing defensively and hoping I might be gifted a win.

R3 vs @Ghost Meat on Adam - Trauma flashbacks! Really though, this goes how I dreamed R2 would go when I saw Adam then. He ran turn 1, I HHN turn 2, and Boom! turn 3 after rezzing FC3.0 on HQ that he can't get through with Dean Lister Aumakua. Kind of anti-climactic, but the perfect example of what this deck wants to happen. Ha and I actually wrote "couldn't have worked out better" after round 1. I think this time that's actually true!

R4 vs @YankeeFlatline on Kim - Kim is actually a great choice given the number of operations; I keep a hand with two VLCs and put down FC2 on HQ; T1 mobius on empty R&D only accesses an ice though, and I take a BP from Mining Accident (since going down 5 credits is really not the plan, ever). The next turn I put down a second FC2 in front of R&D and fire off the second VLC. He faceplants FC2 for another unfortunate ice access, and I take a second BP. I hit UVC and put MCA in a naked remote. He runs and trashes, but at that point I'd fired off 3 clearances in 3 turns, meaning I had all the cards for the combo and enough money to land HHN on turn 4. LT/LT/HHN, he runs through FC2 on HQ paying 2 real credits, taking a brain, and missing either BOOM! both times. Turn 5 kill.

Overall a very strong, very unfun deck. That's the great thing about Cache Refresh though - very soon, VLC, HHN, every Fairchild, and BOOM! will all be rotated out of the format. I'm really looking forward to when the first pack of the Kitara cycle drops; we'll likely have a SOCR4 with a changing cardpool, and I'd encourage anyone interested to give it a try!

Thanks to all my opponents for not hating me, and thanks to @fightingwalloon for organizing these tournaments!