Mid-Tables, Mid-Everything (Euro/Africans 2020)

It's easy to talk about decks that work. This instead is a story of a deck that feels like old Weyland in Criminal form; it'll get you to game point and fall over.

Some weeks ago this deck was an Annicam 419 which I had been enjoying immensely and had success with at SC this year.

Change set 1.

I wasn't enjoying Rezeki. It was feeling slow and fragile - it wasn't fueling aggressive running in the way I wanted. I moved into a Rogue Trading engine - bit fiddly but the burst was great and doubling up on Citadel Sanctuary didn't feel bad.

Change set 2.

More Embezzle, more better. After much testing against Titan I wanted more Embezzle. So there were two. And it was fun. Is it good, probably not.

Change set 3.

I really wanted an Engolo. Lot of CVS, virus tokens were feeling fragile. Significant influence moving to fit it which meant the loss of Hunting Grounds and return to in faction fracter.

Change set 4.

Off the back of APAC continentials I could see I needed to think about assets more than I was. PolOp and Miss Bones made the list. Events like Inside Job and a Special Order were cut back.

Change set 5.

Last minute thoughts! With fewer events is Aniccam pulling it's weight? What about Turntable? More anti-Titan tech!? More influence moved around and Corroder found a space cos slots. Realised I wasn't playing Falsified Credentials which just felt wrong dropped a Dirty Laundry and an Embezzle for them.

All these thoughts are interesting individually, but combined I ended up with a mid-range kinda mess where the core ideas should proabably just be in Leela.

Match ups are an interesting variable in tournaments, and I hit the Asa decks I didn't feel ready for rather than the Outfits, Argus and CTMs that I suspect would have gone better for me. However, even against the one GameNet and one Earth Station I saw the deck didn't hit the draw necessary to keep tempo and, as in most of it's games, stalled out after a promising opening.

Important stats of the day:

• Project Atlas with counter Turntabled; 1. Still lost.

• Games where Rogue Trading/Citadel Santuary got set up; 1. When it works it works.

• Embezzle fire; 0. 7/5 would slot again.

• Engolo relevance. Significant. Deck felt better when I didn't have to spend time leaning on Aumukua and instead got proper breakers out.

Corp side I played Finnternet CTM with an EoI dropped in which I won't post - go see that deck. It was great and if it wasn't for pilot error and the odd splash of bad luck could have won all it's games.