Express Yourself (UK Nats 11th - 4-3 in Swiss)

Introduction

First of all, I just want to give a shoutout to this decklist, which formed the basis of the deck here that helped me to unexpectedly get to the top cut (though Santa's Outfit deck pulled most of the weight). If you like this deck, please give the original some love as well :). Also thanks to Brandon for his input on the deck (turns out Dr. Nuka is really good)!

Expectations

I had no real hope for doing well this year. I went on holiday 3 weeks before Nats, and didn't play a single game until my weekly meet on Tuesday. I ended up only playing 2 games on runner in real life, then got 3 practice games with The King and Andy on Jnet. Still, it was better than going for a meta deck that I didn't play at all, so I just went with it. I always have a soft spot for Ken after all! I had a lot of fun playing this deck and it's led to a lot of really interesting and close games.

My thoughts on the deck

Get Debbie and Maemi down ASAP (Maemi I think is a higher priority). Maemi helps Ken's refund stack up and gives you enough credits to keep up with the corp. Once Debbie has enough credits, you can use them to make speculative runs as needed, or trash some assets. Then, it's a matter of using The Twinning to find those pesky agendas. Bahia Bands should almost always be for draw but don't underestimate it's use against heavy asset matchups. That's a whole Wage Workers worth of credits.

Possible improvements

Harmony AR Therapy - The theory here is that you get more longevity by grabbing the most impactful events or help you recover from losing your breakers. In reality, it never got used all weekend (I recall using it once just to clear some Maemi counters). If Zato or rigshooter isn't prevalent - or you like taking risks, consider dropping it for another Nuka plus a 1 inf card as card draw is quite a problem in this build.

Paragon - I actually slotted this in because I wanted to test it with Concerto (run server, see the top card, Concerto if good). I then forgot to swap it out. Paragon is decent enough but Pennyshaver or Hermes (as per the original deck) is fine too.

The NBN matchup (especially Reality+) is tough but I didn't want to dilute the deck much more. Try Networking as an alternative!

I also feel like the deck needs a bit more draw. You could risk going down to 1 Debbie but then I feel like you shouldn't play Debbie at all.

Closing thoughts

I hope you give this deck a try and see if you can improve on it! I had a fantastic weekend and performed well beyond my expectations (and probably a few others). I want to say a huge thanks to all the judges, Paulyg and Patriot for being such fantastic hosts and to everyone I played for the amazing games! Also thanks to Sauc3 for giving me some additional advice after making the cut given that he's paid closer attention to the meta than I have!

I was on Santa's Outfit deck with 1 minor change for my corp. It did most of the carrying, only losing to Dan in round 1 and crucially against Kikai in the 3rd round of the cut.

Highlights

• Getting into the cut for the first time at a major event, then panicking over how to get home on Sunday (I was booked to leave at 2pm Sunday...)
• Meeting new people and rekindling old friendships
• Round 2 Ken against Terje's PD (the most exciting game I had all weekend) despite losing it
• Winning the 241 in round 7 to send me into the cut

Matches

• Round 1 vs Dan's Mirrormorph - Lost
• Round 2 vs Terje's PD - Lost
• Round 3 vs Eloise's Epiphany Analytica - Won (after a 60 minute marathon)
• Round 4 vs Mezzie's PD - Won (unfortunate agenda flood)
• Round 5 vs Extrac's R+ - Lost
• Round 6 vs Adam's Thule - Won
• Round 7 vs l0velace's Thule - Won
• Cut round 1 vs Rotom's PD - Lost (despite stealing 4 points turn 1) (this was on stream)

Final quote

Just before handing decklists back at the cut

"It felt like I was ordering off a restaurant menu..."