The Golden Path (GEoSwiss, 7/14/40th Worlds)

“I was told that there wouldn’t be a need to prep for Asa at Worlds…” - kysra

After all this time, we’ve finally arrived: the final iteration of the Holo Man Asa deck that I’ve been championing for the past half year, almost. Shoutouts are due to my TAIB brothers sebastiank and coldlava for believing in me enough to take this 49 into the main event, and throughout the weekend it took us to a very respectable 15-6-3 overall.

UWCTG’s Jukebox Asa also performed admirably well at the event, and I’m eager to see what other innovations will emerge before the ID rides off into the Dawn. I’m extremely glad that between the two of us we pushed Asa to be the highest winrate ID at its final Worlds; a fitting sendoff for what’s come to be my favourite FFG ID of the NSG era.

The deck itself is nothing you haven’t seen before; if you’ve read either of my previous writeups, you’ll know what’s going on here. Holo Man Asa is a fairly technically intensive deck, with the unique ability (previously limited to Loud-style PE decks) of being able to adjust its gameplan based on the opponent’s appetite for remote-checking.

The main innovations are in the operation and ice suites, so let’s get to it: the second Biotic Labor is for game-ending consistency. In my pre-event meta analysis I noted the lack of Clot in many front running Shaper lists, but also the other factors keeping Plan A FA decks from taking over - Hermes, generic HQ pressure tools like Cupellation and Burner, and overall draw instability. The solution, then, was to play a regular rush/midrange game and end with some FA combo after the runner finally gains some semblance of board control; not to mention that Asa has a wealth of options and combinations to FA an OffOff or even an Ikawah if circumstances demand.

Hagen was added to fight the Aumakua decks that we expected, and also as a less painful rez than Brân 1.0 to tax out Propeller. It also has the distinction of being one of the few barriers that forces an SMC pop on facecheck, which comes in handy for forcing Lat to commit to a first breaker and adapting your gameplan from there. Ansel is out; its numbers are awful into Revolver. Drafter in the shaper matchups exists only as a boogeyman to force them to hold Revolver access; we’re not Jinteki that can realistically tax out bullets on a consistent basis.

“Now you go out there, and you divide those motherf#ckers by two, understand?” - Council

In the leadup to Worlds I was struck by the usual bout of deck anxiety. Asking around the players I knew for opinions on Corp choices, I was near-unanimously greeted with two related opinions

1. The Corp meta was open enough that the ‘best deck’ wasn’t sufficiently better than the rest of the field to necessitate moving off a ‘good deck’ that you’re more proficient with; and-

2. You’re the best damn Asa player in the world.

Now, I didn’t know about that second part, but the first point was fairly compelling…

All that said, I was still undecided between Asa and the other TAIB concoction, Augustus’ Tree Line AgInfusion, until certainty struck me from a most unlikely source: the Crown of Servers comms booth. Casting the later rounds of CoS with CephWiz (shoutout to him and Cado, absolute troopers), we ended up on two back-to-back rounds of benvelopment on their signature Inversificator Kit and Arella Rush Ob. Watching them navigate nightmare openings and eventually smash all 4 of their stream games, I was struck firsthand by the power and the associated win% that intimate familiarity with a deck brings you. It was in that moment, watching them sacrifice an agenda and a Tucana in an open remote to brute force a Border Control rez and eventually win from 6-0 down, that I resolved to ride or die.

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses yet, though. My runner deck’s slots were still uncertain (more on that in that writeup), and I was having some real existential uncertainty about wanting to go to 48(!) cards in Lat. It took an emergency assemblage of Unband alumni on Saturday morning to pep talk me back to my senses, but the rest, as they say, is history.

“I don’t care what you believe. I believe!” - unknown (UPDATE: it was orbs!!)

Over the course of my trip, I’ve gotten several questions from the people I’ve met, roughly amounting to “How are you so good at Netrunner?” I’ve been around enough to know that if I give my standard answer of “oh I’m not, not really” I’d be struck down by the collective wrath of about fifteen different people; so in lieu of that, I present The Golden Path, Or, 6 Steps to God-Emperor of Swiss Your First Worlds.

1. The Pikachu Mentality. As noted, we’re fortunate enough to be in an open Corp meta - which means that there’s no downside to picking a deck you believe in and sticking with it through thick and thin, learning it inside and out; much like a Pokémon and its trainer. I’m lucky enough to have come across a deck that I’ve been able to learn and grow with together this tournament season, and the results speak for themselves. (Of course, when a silly OP deck like Swift Lat presents itself, don’t be a fool; there is such a thing as joining the winning team.)

2. Watch, Listen, Learn. Truth be told, I don’t really play that many games of Netrunner; I’m pretty sure less than the average player on Jnet. What I do have is the privilege of being able to spectate as the best players in the world go about their craft, pushing the limits of what’s possible and showcasing play patterns I didn’t know existed. The Watch Game button is your strongest weapon, and raising your voice to ask questions is the next. Surround yourself with greatness, and some of it’s gotta leak through, right?

3. Find Your Center. Whether you play more like a Tibetan monk or more like ctz, identify what energy level best complements your playstyle, and aim to hit that mark whenever you play. For instance, I know I like to engage in table talk, but only with people who I don’t normally play with - with apologies to my fellow Breakers that I played in Swiss and the cut; if I seemed uncharacteristically cold, it’s not you, it’s me!

4. Lunch Is A Misplay. Less facetiously, go out of your way to avoid disruptions to your energy level - I kept myself to a strict diet of energy bars and water during event hours on the weekend. But it doesn’t have to be food-related - do whatever you need to! Grab a few minutes in the low sensory room. Do some push ups. Belch a few bars of The Smallest Church In Saint-Saëns. The world is your oyster!

5. Stop Thinking About Winning. No one ever took a game off Sokka234 without playing the damn game first (with, uh, apologies to the lower bracket final). Anticipation is distraction; focus on what you need to do to get to your destination, not the destination itself. If you find yourself thinking about clicking for credits to run RD for singles, you’ve already lost the war.

6. Rezeki. Or, more accurately, its flavor text. Regardless of the final result, never forget who’s gotten you this far, and what they mean to you. The list of people who’ve made my netrunner journey what it is would be far too extensive to list here - but I’ll certainly try in my runner writeup! If you think you’ve contributed to it in whatever way (or even if you think you haven’t!), know that you are in my thoughts, and I am thankful.

“My man has achieved equilibrium over the weekend… truly a lisan al gaib” - anarchomushroom

Undefeated God-Emperor of Swiss and 7th overall for one’s first Worlds is objectively a massive achievement; also coming in 7th in Betrunner is a nice poetic touch as well. All in all, this has been a fitting capstone to an incredibly successful season, and yet - and yet -

Perhaps it’s the terror of failure. Perhaps it’s the curse of competition to never be satisfied. Whatever the case might be, we are absolutely pushing for higher heights in 2025, and damn the consequences if we fall. But this time, with OP changes coming into effect and armed with the experience I now have, is going to be different.

This time, I invite everyone interested in upping their game, in pushing for excellence, in finding reasons to keep playing, to walk the Golden Path together. Netrunner is better when everyone is better at the game, and if some random nerd from Singapore can make 7th at Worlds, there's no telling what any one of you would be able to do.

SHAABR friendos

Jai out