Clicks for Me (32nd at Worlds 2024)

There are many like it, but this is mine, etc.

This is the list I brought to Worlds '24 in San Francisco. I'd been down on runner a little this year, and had bounced between Turbine Hosh/Knife Sable/Grug Kit for a few events. None of them felt spectacular for me in the back half of the year and coming into Worlds season I wasn't sure what to play. Sometime in August, @RayS convinced me to play Lat. I've never been enamored with Shaper, believing both that Garfield intended for us to run honorably, (with Inside Jobs and Sneakdoor Betas) and that the kind of card juggling nonsense one would typically describe as Shaper Bullshit was too much for my tiny brain to handle. Thankfully, Lat (like my previous Shaper dalliances with Grug Kit and Smoke) can be straightforward to the point of simplicity.

I looked up a few lists, but any chance of me playing Aniccam flew out the window when I saw AlPi and Wenjong's Swift Lat lists. Swift? Being played in the meta, to success? The chance to play both Swift, and Deep Dive full arts that I'd gotten from booster packs? (NSG please I know it hurts but us full-art lovers are out here, boosters please) I took a list, read how to play and messed around with the influence a bit, and here we are.

I can't speak much about the card choices, only that I love that Wheels gives me the chance to say "Click 7, Deep Dive" while having a spare click. Go read AlPi's or Wenjong's writeups for a better explanation than I could give.

On the day:

Round 2 - Win vs dc_ on Punitive RH

David was a very gracious opponent who had told me he hadn't been playing long, but took what looked like excellent lines across the table. A notable moment was when I stole a lucky Bacterial, David looked at 7 cards, said "Why not?" and put all 7 in hand. A few more lucky pokes and a value Punitive later, I manage to Deep Dive for the win a turn before dying.

Round 4 - Win vs Net-bear on BtL

I'd actually eaten breakfast with Wes a few hours earlier, so it was funny to see him during Swiss. If I remember correctly, I got lucky cracking the remote somewhat early and getting an agenda off central poking, letting me Deep Dive for the win safely. It was great to meet Wes and hear from him later how his day went, as this was his first World's and he'd started playing relatively recently.

Round 6 - Loss vs Syd7 on Asa

Almost a non-game! Jason got to 7 points in 5 or 6 turns, doing an incredible PD impression while I had 0 points. I'd forgotten about Tatu-bola triggering Asa, so on a run to steal a Luminal I didn't factor in the hidden Manegarm that got installed from hand mid run. A fun game to puzzle over.

Round 7 - Win vs famewolf on Asa

Here I get revenge on Asa, but only because the karmic wheel shifts and my bad luck from last round turns to good luck. My opponent didn't look like they were making any real errors, but in the three cards I accessed from R&D all game, two of them were 2-pointers. After getting to 4 points, I decided to Dive, and was rewarded with the win (and with more information about the faux-rivalries plaguing Texas).

Round 9 - Win vs Ghost Meat on Tempo R+

This was the most tense runner game I ended up playing during the weekend. I have to apologize here to Dave, because I must have come across as a neurotic mess who couldn't shut up during the game. I didn't know if Dave was on kill or not, and I historically have a problem playing into kill, so I was thinking through my turns carefully. I also knew Dave enjoyed some measure of kill, as I'd messed around with his Banana Breath R+ list this time last year to some success. I'm panicking, over-thinking and trying not to seem like an idiot, but I bumble into points like this deck is able to. The deck blesses me with the tools for early aggression and I'm able to crack the remote, stealing 5 points early when it looks like Dave has a scoring windows. I find the last points during a central run where if I hadn't won, I'm pretty sure Dave would have been able to Oppo me into a bad place tempo-wise.

Round 11 - Win vs TurnLeft25 on FA Outfit

Lefty was a very kind opponent who reminded me of a trigger or two, and was a pleasure to play against. Unfortunately for them, they ended up very flooded. We'd gotten to 5 bad pub when I started poking earnestly for points and I managed to win without even playing Deep Dive. The flood was so bad, that we flipped up the top 8 just to see how the Dive would have gone, and there were 2 Atlas' in the top 8... right after Lefty shuffled them back in from Archives with a Spin Doctor. Oof.

Round 12 - Loss vs. Passivemult on R+ Kill

Mult was a great opponent, who like me was usually a mid-table player and felt huge imposter syndrome at even making it to Day 2. I get an aggressive start and am punished by facechecking a Tsarevna, which does the net damage needed to remove both Wheels and a Stoneship from hand. A few bad runs later, I'm in Oppo hell and Mult pops a Rashida to draw into the kill pieces he'd needed. A big congrats to Mult on his placing and for making the cut!

The deck went 5-2 across the weekend. It felt strong, consistent, and like it gave me opportunities to be lucky. 10/10, would play again.

Final Thoughts

Saving the mushy stuff for my corp writeup, so I'll keep it short and say this years World's was a blast, and the NSG volunteer team pulled out all the stops. Stream quality was top notch, judges were quick and responsive, and the Artist Colony gets better run every year. There were so many locals I'd spoken to who'd never been to a World's before but were so happy to see others travelling so far to their city to play a children's card game. I can only hope the energy we brought inspires even more people to go to World's next year! Thanks again to everyone who made this World's possible, you've made something truly special.