Jamcoats - 1st place Sheffield

This is the list I piloted to victory at Sheffield today. It's a fairly standard midrange HB deck, able to rush, fast advance, and play a longer game with caprice and Batty if required, without simply folding to clot (thought clot and rumour mill together can be a problem).

It's yielded decent results in the competitive room of Jinteki.net and has been through very few changes - initially I had ultraviolet clearance in there, which became Ark Lockdown briefly, and was changed to a second copy of Ichi last night for extra beef and another batty target. I've also tried 2 IPOs in place of the laterals, but despite the inferior looking numbers, lateral just seems to produce better results.

Mini tournament report as far as I can remember:

Round 1: I forget my opponents name, but I'm punting Dave or Rich. I mulled into a decent economic hand but quickly started drawing lots of agendas, fortunately I was able to rez two fairchildren on hq and only an architect on R&D, which persuaded him to hunt there instead. I think he pulled an agenda or two out of R&D, but his money quickly dried up without a good Temujin server, and I was able to score out in a remote.

Round 2: Against Ed Pemberton on Maxx. We chatted before the event and I was pretty sure he was on Magnum Opus/vamp/rumour mill Maxx, which was confirmed on turn 1. I got a decent economic draw and managed to score a couple of early Vitruviuses, with the help of a fairchild remote. I don't remember too much of the midgame, except that I came under heavy pressure from keyhole and vamp. I had to score the remaining two agendas from hand, following alot of clicking for money and throwing assets into the remote to waste his time. Close game, won 7-6.

Rounds 3&4: IDs, following tr1s's advice, who assured me I would get into the cut. Played a bunch of friendly games with tr1s, including his cache refresh deck.

Top 8 cut game 1: I choose to corp against Peter's Kate, as I know he's on HB and don't especially like facing Moons (I have no idea if he was actually on Moons). He is on prepaid Kate, and seemingly has a very slow economic start, though after the game he told me he thought it wasn't so bad. I try a push in a F3/Enigma remote when he has an SMC, knowing he can get in but thinking he wouldn't try it with only 8 credits. He does run it and steals vitruvius, but his boardstate is still weak and I use caprice in the remote to quickly score a 3/2. I have tons of money this game but struggle to find agendas when I think I have a window - by the time I draw food he's built up his board and can contest the remote, but I rely on the psi game. He runs it and wins the psi, which gets him to 6 points - he must have stolen another agenda at some point but I honestly can't remember where from. At this point I thought I'd lose, and was annoyed at losing a vital psi game, but at least I draw a corp sales team and can friends back caprice to keep it safe. At this point we are getting low on time, so I draw aggressively for an agenda to jam in the remote - if it ends 6-6 I win due to being higher seed. At this point I still have infinite money, and 4 ice on the remote and R&D, thought he's also properly setup. I find an ATB and jam it, he makes the run but jacks out after I rez a second F3, as it would leave him 1 credit short of playing a fair psi game. I score the beta test to make it 6-6.

I install CVS in R&D hoping to deter him from running there, and maybe supporting a future biotic. I also put assembly lines into my huge remote and he goes into the tank, with time eventually being called on his turn. He runs the remote and is left with 3 credits, I get some kind of twisted pleasure out of playing a psi game that means nothing at all while he's sweating. I win the psi game and he checks my empty hand twice to end his turn. At this point I've won, but in an effort to make it a full win, I draw first click, finding an ABT, and scoring it with double biotic. This was the most tense and enjoyable game of the day for me, many thanks to Peter for making it such a good one.

Top 8 game 2: I'm against Timo, the man who destroyed me when I attended a small AGOT gnk in Nottingham a few months back. He's on Desperado goodstuff Whizz, and I know I have to go fast. I establish an early remote while he sets up a frightening economy involving bloo moose and daily casts. I score 4 points while he's setting up, but the remote is no longer safe after that, and I have to rely on fast advance. Fortunately I've had 3 biotics in hand nearly the entire game, so I hope to draw a food and surprise him by scoring it from hand. There were a few mandatory draws where it could have happened, but it didn't, and he starts running wild on my centrals with ice carver and datasucker, picking a Vitruvius out of hand that I'd drawn on a second click. I manage to pull him into my remote, now made of just Ichi, by installing CVS and Batty - I win the psi game and kill Yog, buying some time. I now have a vitruvius on hand, and I draw an ABT on the mandatory, giving me all the cards I need to win, and enough money to do it, if he just leaves hq alone for one more turn. I score one of the 3/2s, he runs R&D twice with medium and his now installed black orchestra, finding another agenda, bringing him to 4 points. He then runs hq twice, each time with a 1 in 4 shot at finding the agenda, but misses. Had he hit he'd probably have won the game. Definite slice of luck here, could easily have lost.