B-Ob-ble [17th UK Nats]

EA SPORTS

It's on the bubble..

This deck went 4-1-1 on the day, 7-2-1 over the weekend, I'll go into the games it didn't win but I let the deck down, not the other way round. Fast Ob is incredibly strong and fun.

For a better deck and more play focused writeup see Kikai's List.

Intro

This was the first tournament where I went in with the goal of making the cut, I don't think I said that out loud to anyone ahead of time but having done better than expected at worlds and started a testing group it was actively on my mind.

I spent the 2 weeks before the event fighting bailiffs (join ACORN) so didn't get much practice in and not knowing the lines against R+ I wasn't optimistic that I would reach my goal.

Games

I swept the first two rounds and then sat down across from Chris Dyer. After turn 5 I was on 5 points with an audacity in hand, all I had to do now was draw a 2/3 at any point and score out to win... it didn't happen and I flubbed my ice placement allowing him to steal 6 points in 2 successful runs on R&D. This was a big learning moment and is one of the reasons why I would switch one Oaktown for an Azef.

R+ is messed up, I got to 6 points but there's no world where I win that game.

Round 4 I play against John H and R+ is still messed up. I am confident that I missed a line for the guaranteed win on the last turn but B-1001 surprised/confused me.

The Ob game was a timed draw and I would have won had he not Mawed the Audacity on the final turn. John was one of the nicest opponents I went up against and getting to root for him in the finals was a real pleasure, what a lovely guy!

Sweep all other rounds. (Including one undeserved win against Don who got a game loss 💕)

The Bubble

Going into round 7 I am in 12th place and I match up against EA Sports teammate Ollie. I talk to the team and we do the maths, we all agree that if we ID then we are both guaranteed a spot in the cut. I don't have to play against Ollie's R+ and I'm over the moon, I can't speak much and I'm pretty terrified it isn't real. I go outside and have a little cry..

I come back in and all my teammates win their 241s.. KamiKami, AAshbo, Bart and Cobrabubbles all are in with a shot.. we hug, we laugh, it is a great moment.

I go for a walk to try and calm down and when I come back I can tell something in wrong.. they reran the numbers, there's just enough people on 24 points that I am not guaranteed a spot in the cut. In fact it looks like I am going to come 17th, if Cobrabubbles had lost his game, I would have made it in.

There are lots of hugs, lots of kind words, lots of pained expressions and I can tell it is tearing Cobrabubbles up more than me.

I don't think I've done a single deck writeup that doesn't mention Cobrabubbles but he is one of my best and closest friends, my netrunner mentor and probably the nicest man in Norwich. If there is one person in the world who I wanted to make the cut more than myself, it is him. I am so incredibly proud of him for all his work, he deserved that spot.

I'm not entirely sure how I felt at that point.. I was sad but Kikai, Cobra and Ollie were all in. EA Sports put 3 people in the cut with 6 of us placing in the top 21. All the pressure was off, I was exhausted and I think my main emotion was actually hunger 😅

The Sunday

I wake up in the morning feeling pretty good, I put my decks in my bag in case someone fails their deck check, they don't come out again that day...

And then I had the best day of the tournament!

There may not be another person who loves watching Netrunner more than me, I had the stream up on my phone all day and getting to watch my friends (EA Sports, Fern and John all did amazingly!) and the thrill of the cut was electric.

Then I joined a Classique pod, I looked around and literally everyone in the pod was a mate of mine. I played Sauc3, MattOhNo, Ams and TamiJo who were exceptional and the games were the best, with the most energy and excitement of the whole weekend.

I got to hang out with ZoeHope and SeaRose who both did amazingly all weekend, FeatherMark who is maybe the other nicest man in Netrunner, Pete who is new to EA Sports and returning player who was a joy to get to know better and made new friends with dozens of other people I met for the first time.

I was grinning ear to ear all afternoon, the best tournament I have played in no doubt.

Additional thanks to Davz131 and Veronica who helped me test and were great friends to play with online before the event, I can never beat either of them.