!Raffle Redux (9th/15th @ NA Championships)

I somehow got 2nd in Swiss at NA Championships with this deck after starting 1-3. It only lost once on the day, as I coin-flipped into three straight Titan matches in the cut. @kysra also did quite well with the deck (-1 CF +1 HG +1 Kati Jones) and wound up at 15th. Go #boswash!

This Freedom was an update of @whiteblade's APAC-winning list, developed in conjunction with @groenkaaf, @kysra, @osclate, @rongydoge, @skry, @thebigunit3000, and @whiteblade himself. The original was based off "Bubble" Freedom that @kysra took to 17th at Worlds.

Unlike the intricate @pinsel-"shaper"-style Freedom, this is more of a reg anarch build with only three sources of virus counters for central disruption and asset clearing. In testing, Hoshiko was able to generate value much faster than Freedom with insane draw potential, but there wasn't a clear enough way to pressure the corp, especially in this fast meta based on divergent wincons (Titan, Lakshmi, etc.). I'm mildly jealous to see the NA winner figured this out with a couple Imps and Gachapon >_<

My heart was set on Hosh until @Whiteblade insisted upon a few Freedom "lessons" which consisted of lambasting my life choices and led to a couple dark nights of the soul for me as I reconsidered my entire Netrunner career. In the end, being scolded by a child (who legit has never eaten pasta before) drastically improved my play and I ended up with a killer performance. THANK YOU, ERIC and a big thanks to the rest of my supportive friends who put up with my near-constant whining!

Early Game

This deck helped me realize that my obsession with avoiding the basic action card is unwarranted. At least, clicking to draw is not the worst thing in the world. The goal with your mull is to find Zer0 to set up your draw for the rest of the game, or, barring that, an Earthrise with money to get the engine rolling. The easiest way to stall out with Freedom is to be stuck without a draw engine.

Once that's ready to roll, you need to pressure centrals early. Since your "economy" is not based off credits like most runners, but virus counters, you are susceptible to credit-disparity-based threats such as the popular Rude Outfit's Hard-Hitting News, and, to a lesser extent, Punitive Counterstrike.

Being able to force rezzes, even if it means tanking some damage, puts you on a more even playing field with the corp economically, and it reveals the weak points you will hammer away at in...

Mid Game

The mid-game is about refueling your econ as you find breakers and maintain pressure. Liberated Account is okay, but Daily Casts is the real MVP, allowing you the clicks to Zer0 and run multiple time in the same turn. Getting gearchecked is a real issue with only 1 MKUltra, so if your matchup can handle it, you may want to set up Aumakua and Datasucker.

The best way to maintain central pressure is to get out your friend, Hippo. Drilling into the weakest/most valuable central for more accesses is value unto itself, but it also forces more awkward ICE placement and slows the corp down.

Late Game

The pseudo-multi-access of the Freedom ID is so strong, you often don't need to get TTW, but it synergizes perfectly with your central pressure, gaining value as you trash important combo pieces. Freedom can indeed run out of steam, so don't be too tempted to sit around and money up as corps build huge servers. This is not built for glacier matchups.

Tournament Report

Round 1 – Dogs I started out rather strong against GameNET, a noted problem matchup for Freedom. There was a bit of discussion on whether or not Kati Jones should be the 46th card as my testing buddy @skry suggested. I pressured the remote pretty hard, using Stimhack to both steal a naked Bellona and trash a Jinja. Later in the game a couple Deuces Wild exposes gave me enough info to Bravado into a three-ice remote, past an unrezzed Gold Farmer (Hippo is a good deterrent), through a Turnpike, and breaking the IP Block fully with Yusuf, earning a single counter at the end of the run to Freedom trash another Jinja and steal a second Bellona. After my three Daily Casts fizzled out, my economy was looking grim (though I had trashed some tag punishment), but while building TTW counters through central Slot Machines I lucked into the final Bellona.

Round 2 – YsengrinSC More #boswash beef! Freedom was unable to pressure the Asa board enough, and a double-Dedication Ceremony advanced Reconstruction Contract gave Project Vitruvius three (count ‘em, three!) counters that gave him the flexibility to rush out a Cyberdex Sandbox. My Turntable immediately after the Vitruvius score didn’t have much effect when he could just pull the tools back when I started attacking the open R&D. Swapping a Vacheron to push him from 4 to 5 points didn’t make any sense, and he closed out the game with a FA Vacheron shortly thereafter.

Round 3 – Lucidit @Lucidit was on the ctz style SportsMetal fast advance. I felt pretty confident going into the matchup knowing most of the ICE is gearcheck and there’s usually no punishment. Turn 1 Sure Gamble > Liberated Account > Earthrise Hotel got me essentially all the draw and money I would need for the rest of the game. The turn two Aumakua and Datasucker gave me the breaker and disruption that would blow the game open. The turn 3 TTW was helpful, but the pseudo multi-access of Freedom’s ID ability ended up being way more impactful, trashing Vanilla, Red-Level Clearance, Quicksand, and Cybernetics Court across six turns. A Merger and a couple Project Vacherons gave me more than enough points and a final Megaprix Qualifier steal bought me enough time for the first Vacheron to lose its last counter.

Round 4 – @KNT_HLZ The Outfit was another notorious matchup for this Freedom, and one we spent a lot of time on in testing. Freedom’s disruption can only trash so many Archived Memories, HHNs, and Punitives, and the virus economy does not help with the credit disparity that activates those threats. I was fortunate enough to get a strong economic start again, with an amazing turn 1 that got me a Zer0 and lived the dream to trash an I’ve Had Worse with it into a Sure Gamble. Top decking an SSL Endorsement on R&D through a facechecked Mausolus was less dangerous than it seemed as the net damage hit a second I’ve Had Worse. This is not ideal when you want to hold them for Punitive Counterstrike protection, but my credit total (9 to the corp’s 3) prevented a double punitive. A couple turns later, a Bravado through a Trebuchet on the remote saw (but could not trash) an advanced Reversed Accounts. So, again, a well-timed Stimhack got me in to Freedom trash at no credit loss. The ID would later trash an HHN and a Consulting Visit. I could not contest the first City Works advanced with Dedication Ceremony, so I had to let that go to pressure HQ, which actually netted me a Hostile Takeover. Daily Casts and Liberated Account gave me enough econ to stay out of range of HHN, and the BP gave me the momentum to keep accessing centrals. Unafraid of punitive at four agenda points, I took a few more stabs at HQ with only two cards in hand and found another City Works… not the Snare that was sitting right next to it.

Round 5 – 241 Titan win
Round 6 – 241 Titan win

Round 7 – @movableobject Going into the final round, @movableobject and I both sat on 27 points. They were not completely confident in their SoS and mine was pretty terrible from the climb up from a 1-3 start at Table 56, so we decided to play it out. To make the cut, I’d have to beat another formidable Outfit deck. Turn one Liberated > Earthrise is always a good sign. I spent the next turn clicking it three times, enabling me to snag a naked Reversed Account in the remote (no you see why just money-ing up is bad!). After that I was able to shape my hand to Zer0 another I've Had Worse, allowing me to discard one copy of each bin breaker :chefs_kiss:. Another full Liberated later, I was able to Hippo an HQ Trebuchet and snag another Reversed Account on a Bravado run. That's value!

@moveableobject needed to make a move an put kill pressure on me. They wagered I would not be able to steal the City Works with 3 counters, but I had been holding another I've Had Worse and was able to access with impunity. This put my in quite a comfortable position, so I was able to slow the game down and money up, knowing that any threat was off the table since I had enough BP to get occasional accesses and enough real money to contest the remote. After a couple HQ accesses which found the final Reversed Account, an R&D run got the last City Works for the game.