DreamNyet (1st & Undefeated @ NZ Nats 2023)

When the SBL team announced the next set of bans, and @nbkelly made the executive desicion to run the New Zealand 2023 Nationals under the old banlist, it became crystal clear to me what card and what ID are impossible to dodge while deckbuilding this time, to be able to look in the mirror after and say "at least I tried".

Wrong.

I've tried Running with a bunch of different IDs throughout 2023, eventually coming to the same conclusion as everyone else that "everything is better in Hoshiko". I now have played dozens of different Hosh lists, but the list I ended up on for NZ Nats is very close to @Bridgeman's Simpler and Cleaner Hosh from Intercontinentals.

I really like @Bridgeman's no-nonsense deckbuilding, his decks are usually very refined and lean. This particular list combined some of the ideas I utilized myself in the Continentals season: the setup speed of The Price/Strike Fund/Moshing package and the raw power of reg Hosh. Some most anticipated matchups had to be addressed though, so I ended up changing the breaker booster card to Takobi (it did great on the day), adding a Pinhole Threading and a spicy last minute include of Light the Fire! which I only fired once in Grand Finals but to a great effect.

I must mention this separately: I would probably end up butchering @Bridgeman's list, changing cards to compensate for my own fears and weaker Runner play, was it not for the brilliant Continentals recap stream where I had the pleasure to discuss with the deck's creator both the choices he made while building and the nuances of its piloting. Because of that I decided to give the deck a go mostly as is, with a bunch of 1x cards I would end up cutting in favor of "stability", and that approach worked to a great effect. I can't recommend the Kitchen Meta channel enough; if you're into chill but in-depth Netrunner play it is the place to go.

The usual tournament irony was that I ended up running into 0 Asa and AgInf on the day, having to battle through 2 of The Outfit instead, which could very well be the deck's worst matchup. Takobi+Buzzsaw combo is overall awful into Valentão if the Corp player doesn't give you easy counter farming targets (they shouldn't), and don't even get me started on Pharos+Tree Line which I had to break multiple times with Cleaver for 10 to 16 credits. Disgusting.

Through all of that I somehow went undefeated with the list on the day, playing my best Netrunner, scrambling for relevant breakers and successfully playing to my outs in some games and slowing down to Corp's pace in others.

Replays*:

Swiss R1 vs @AugustusCaesar on Asset Ob
Swiss R2 vs @rip netrunner on Pharos Outfit
Swiss R3 vs @KyraWNY on Keeling AgInf - ID
Swiss R4 vs @Larrea on rigshoot Outfit

Winner Finals vs @Lady Prospera on Prana PE
Grand Finals vs @Lady Prospera on Prana PE

*if you don't like seeing your replay here for any reason, ping me on Discord and I'll remove it

actual footage of me trying to sleep before the event

I was pretty nervous about playing a long night of Netrunner: the tournament started at 1:30 AM for me and ended at about 10 AM. I tried to get some shut eye before the event, but you can imagine how it went: instead of falling asleep at 8 PM I spent turning in my bed for the next 5 hours, thinking of every possible way I lost in the past and could lose tonight. It turned out OK after all, with me making my first ever top cut and everything that followed.

Huge thanks to @nbkelly for running such a clean event and to @Jai for streaming it. Thanks to all of my opponents for the great matches, and to my testing group partners for being there to bounce Hosh list ideas off of each other or just suffering at the hands of Dr. Vientiane over and over. @emmel @AmarumAcies @Mortivor YOU ARE FREE NOW

My Corp deck was an updated version of The King's Guantanamo Bay Bay as seen here.