Certified Spiciest Azmari

This is the deck I took to UK Nationals, where I got 43rd Place alongside my Inversificator Kit deck.

I found myself on top tables after going 3-0-0 at the start, where Not_Yeti, a significant contributor to the Kill Azmari decks (I am told), remarked that my Azmari deck was certainly the spiciest variation he had seen. Good spicy? Maybe. Above average spicy? Technically.

Unfortunately, I was due to play Runner in my matchup against Not_Yeti.

Contents:

• Explanation of the spice
• My overall UK Nats experience
• My match highlights (incl. a 9-point Trick Shot!)

Explanation of the spice

I recently took a 9-month break from Netrunner to focus on continuing my learning and getting my first Software Engineering role (I am on Slack if you wanna hire me 😉). Coming back to the game, I simply played a bunch of tournament-winning decklists to decide which IDs I wanted to play.

This deck is based off the EAzmari list, which has both Djupstad and Neurospike threats for a Reeducation kill. After playing it a bunch, I started looking at small changes I could make to the list to suit my preferences. Here are the notable changes, explanations, and outcomes:

Focus Group

Most people do not know what Focus Group does. Many would say it is a bad card. But in this deck, it does have some potential—very situational and very desperate potential, but that is still potential. Focus Group gives you a backup option if your Holoman is taken down, and also gives you the chance to get a very sneaky kill:

• Server has Djupstad and Reeducation.
• Click 1: Advance.
• Click 2: Advance.
• Click 3: Check if your opponent has an action. If not, play Focus Group to name event and hopefully place three advancements at once, rez the Djupstad, and score the Reeducation.

The opponent has no action window amongst this in which they can use Stoneship Chart Room to draw up; you have priority to resolve all of your action window triggers before priority is passed.

Focus Group can also be played as part of a sudden combo to clicklessly place a number of advancement tokens (assuming you buy a click back).

Did I ever pull off either of these plays? I did not. I never played Focus Group in the entire main event. But hey, there is still potential?

Subliminal Messaging

With this deck, you often find yourself discarding cards at the end of a turn. Why not make some of those discards a clickless credit instead? Additionally, this encourages the Runner to run regularly. This can eat up their clicks, but also means they might stumble across a wild Agenda, be forced to steal it, and have to deal with double Punitive.

If they do not run, you get free credits and can potentially pad your hand out for when you do your combo. If they do run and you are ready to score, you might have the opportunity to Reeducation Punitive them, which I think is very amusing.

(Removing) Red Level Clearance

Influence is so tight in this deck, and there was nothing else I could really consider cutting (I did think about going to 2 or 0 Punitives but changed my mind after a number of Punitive wins). I was worried about the prevalence of Aumakua and also of Deep Dive, and wanted some tech to help reduce the risk.

Standard Procedure

I wanted a little more money in the deck, and this card usually pays more than a Hedge Fund. Having some info on what the opponent has in hand can be very useful when making decisions around ice.

Crisium Grid

Crisium Grid is an awfully expensive card for the Runner to trash, and getting the Runner to spend credits is very helpful. A good way to prevent or slow down a Runner looking to Deep Dive you once your deck has thinned out.

Mavirus

An excellent counter to Aumakua, Botulus, and Fermenter, which I feel like almost every deck has at least one of. The net damage it can do could arguably be relevant too when it comes to a Punitive kill.

The Ice suite overall

I considered adding a couple of Tollbooths to get more value out of the Send A Messages but decided against it, as Tollbooth is considerably expensive and Runners will just not run there often if it comes up.

Klevetnik is just excellent right now into everything except Cleaver, which appears less common than before. It is great at keeping Aumakua out, a hassle for Arcueiras Crew, and can stop a Bankhar when it matters.

My overall UK Nats experience

My first-ever tournament was UK Nats 2023. I decided to jump in the deep end and see what would happen. For a first tournament, I was very happy with 44th, making the top half just about. I would absolutely recommend a Nationals Tournament to new players—do not let the word Nationals put you off; you will have a great time!

I saw many familiar faces, caught up with many friends I had made the previous year, and had great discussions with people I had bonded with purely based on our ID choice being the same.

Next year, I hope I can make top 32, and I have a better plan of how to do so now:

• First, play a bunch of recent tournament decks against other tournament decks to get familiar with how to play each, and most importantly, what the weaknesses of each deck are (e.g., if you know that R+ struggles if you check every asset and prevent them scoring Ares, you will have a much better time playing against it).
• Second, narrow down to a few IDs you like and build a deck you like (probably a deck that is a slight deviation from a tournament-winning deck).
• Third, play that deck enough times that you have seen almost every line. If you can play a rapid game of Netrunner in 15 minutes with it, that is a good sign you are familiar enough with the decisions you need to make to play it.

That familiarity at the end was what I was really missing. It also meant I had some rather speculative card choices in my deck that I had not seen achieve what I expected of them.

My Match Highlights (both good and bad for my corp)

Azmari vs Ayla (Rosetta)

• I dragged KamiKami through a double Mestnichestvo server, both advanced, and a Palisade for a total of 17 credits, just to end up rezzing a Spin Doctor. Brutal.
• I finished with a credit-perfect kill by rezzing and using a naked Rashida that the Runner did not run, using Attitude Adjustment purely to earn 2 credits in one click, and then killing with Holoman and Djupstad (I pre-advanced the Agenda to keep my options open for Neurospike).

Azmari vs Lat

• My draw was awful, with just one ice in the top third of my deck. I managed to regain some control and build a remote, but then could not find a Reeducation (and they could probably get in anyway).
• Seamus played Trick Shot, seeing two Reeducations in the two cards from R&D, and then running the remote to find a Send A Message I had put there to encourage them to run the server and spend credits. 9-point trick shot. Ouch.
• Despite losing to a single Shaper card being resolved, I still had a great time.