I STILL Like ICE (4-2, 16th & Top Jinteki at OTG)

I still like to rez some big ice. And in a Sports / PD meta, runners have difficulty breaking Chiyashi.

Good games all day. Big shout out to my opponents and to everyone who made the trek to Roseville for epic OTG shenanigans. Of course, the Mead Crue leader, Orbital Tangent.

This is pretty much my APAC deck, with a couple of ice changes to create influence for a third copy of Seamless Launch. (Out go a magnet and a IP Block, in comes a second Thimble Rig and a Sadaka.) Dropped one CVS to create the slot.

Here's how it went:

R1: Brian "Tso" on Khan. This matchup started off rough for Brian and got worse. Rezzed Anansi on the remote, then blocked DoFs by rerouting the run to archives. Able to score out pretty quickly. 1/0

R2: Ghostbird on 419 Close game that went down to time. This was on stream, and I was nervous. I had just committed a game-loss offence with my runner deck and was hoping to avenge Adam's honor with Ag. The game was close. Melvin range pretty hard and I was able to score out two Sandboxes. Then I couldn't find the Obo. Melvin stole an Obo out of R and D and I moved to the sub-optimal plan of scoring four two point agendas. Melvin's up to 5 at this point. I jam the third Sandbox and score it, then put a MkII in the remote. Melvin checks the ice and I rez something that keeps him out, but he's able to farm turning wheel counters and dig for the winning agenda on the last run of the game. Well-played on his part. Lesson here, Bey - come at the Ghost, best jam the NISEI mkII when you can to stop the run later. 1/1

R3: Swan on Apoc Apex This was a good game where Apex was well-played and still lost. As a fellow mini-fac player, I can empathize. Swan is able to pull off the Apoc but I have plenty of ICE and money left. So I'm able to jam and score the winning agenda behind an IP Block. Because, you know, Endless Hunger somehow can't deal with "End the Run If the Runner is Tagged." 2/1

R4: Podoboyz on 419. Games are starting to get a bit blurry in my mind. I had just played a really long and demoralizing game against sports where I was one click away. So, I was very happy to introduce 419 to my dear friend Chiyashi. Trashing unrezzed ICE on DoF runs is excellent counter play. They spend two clicks and a credit to visit archives. Seamless is a hell of a drug.

R5: AAndries on Apoc MaxX. This matchup came after what felt like a two hour game banging my head up against his excellent, technical, grueling Acme deck. I was able to bait consecutive NGOs and then confound Stargate runs with Ag redirection. Got luck on RnD and he decided to cut losses and scoop with minutes left in the round. I had scored 4 and it was unlikely that he'd hit two agendas in that time. We were both trying to play fast and I think there were some mistakes that Ag compounded. Won a Hunter / Seeker prize, probably my most significant Netrunner accomplishment. The context accounts for a lot of this win, but sometimes, better Lucky than Good. 4/1

Round 6: Drew Conley (InfiniteJester) on Freedom. I started this one off strong, but Drew played a smart game and maximized his outs. The remote became taxing fast but he got his Engolo going, farmed some counters. I could not find / score an Obo so I had to go for the old four agenda plan. Like my game against Ghost, this one came down to the last run. I had a a NISEI counter and debated Nisei-ing on click three RnD run, I think, but didn't, and he saw two and won. Exceptionally well-played. 4/2.

I still think Ag is good. It does similar things to the Acme deck, but without much of a safety net. The agendas are much more plentiful in Ag, and the ICE rezzes are riskier, I think.

It was SO fun to play in person again. Orbital promised big swag rainstorms and boy, he delivered. Got a set of world's Apocs on my raffle run. Thanks to my metamates BSNGNR, ElderMason, and Sam for making the trip and encouraging me to put another seamless into the deck . Kansas City is small but mighty (9th, 16th, 22nd, and 43rd).

Esp. big respect to Sam, who is a newer player and decided to jump into what was basically faux nationals with a bicoastal influx of sharks. Magnum Opus was three years ago and my first tournament; OTG wasn't opus, but it was a lot, and I was super proud that our guy decided to join the fray and let the cards fall where they may.

For Sam and the rest of the newer players, I'm so glad that Netrunner is here. Netrunner is a great game. The community that plays Netrunner? It's even better than the game.