The Academic (3rd @ Hemophilia Charity Tournament)

This is the Pālanā I piloted to 3rd place at the Hemophilia Charity Tournament, going undefeated (6-0). This was a "throwback" event, meaning you could include one playset of a rotated card or one rotated ID. Special thanks to @Whiteblade111 for running such successful tournament and creating such a fun format!

I have a reputation to over-analyze things... making spreadsheets to solve problems* (or even to have fun), grinding games on JNet until I convince myself my decks are garbage, and waffling on decklists up until the last minute. However, sometimes this compulsive behavior leads to good results...

Deck History

@Whiteblade111 asked me to help test for the format to find broken cards to ban, but I wasn't very helpful in that regard. It wasn't until the format was announced and I could easily find games online that I really started jamming them out.

Being a huge Jinteki glacier fan, I began my testing with this deck that allowed for my favorite playstyle, baiting runs on a taxing remote. I've also spent a lot of time on Stimslack crushing people's rose-colored spectacles in convos about the halcyon days of Caprice ETF (I mean, when the strongest ICE in the format was Tollbooth, I'm sure it was fine).

I shifted away from the deck later in testing, mostly because @RotomAppliance kept beating it over and over with Account Siphon Leela. I assumed (since I was also finding success with the card) that it and Political Operativewould eat me alive in the tournament. The correct conclusion was @RotomAppliance is the best criminal in Europe and you should not expect to beat him.

I finally came back to the deck when I realized there would be a lot of tag tech and a lot of asset tech, and Caprice Nisei allowed me an effctive 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Crisium Grid for Medium, Account Siphon, and even Deep Data Mining.

Early Game

Obviously protecting centrals against power throwback cards is the first priority. Anansi is the ideal anti-Boomerang HQ ICE, but Border Control does well too. You can't try to rush out too much because rezzing remote ICE leaves you vulnerable to siphon.

Mid-Game

This section is basically: FIND RASHIDA OR DAILY QUEST IMMEDIATELY. You have 5 of them, so it shouldn't be too hard, but they set you up with your ID drip to rez the important ICE. You may need to spend an uncomfortable turn or two gaining money and not pushing, just watching the runner set up, but it will all be worth it when you're ready for your favorite clone...

Late-Game

Once Caprice Nisei is in a remote, you need to score a 4/2 to either provide econ (Cyberdex Sandbox or another ETR effect (Nisei MK II). Once you have an ETR effect or two, your Caprice can fire twice a turn or more if need be, since there's a window after a PSI game to use paid abilities and end the run. This leads to unorthodox bids because you have the security blanket of the token. Ideally, you save these for scoring windows, but occasionally a Siphon or TTW dig will be so impactful that you can waste one, because your remote is probably a beast and not worth the non-zero chance they'll lose a PSI game anyway.

Tournament Report

ROUND 1

Whizzard (@ mildesorte10)

While the Whizz tore apart my RP in testing, he was not super-relevant in the first round. Being slightly gearchecked against my near-perfect agenda flow meant that I had four ETR effects lined up on the Caprice remote by the time I scored my final agenda.

ROUND 2

Account Siphon Leela (@matuszczak)

This one-hour long monster was captured on the Metropole Grid stream and featured a billion PSI games and insufferable durdling. Caprice is too powerful to lose if possible, so I went broke multiple times just to keep her on the board, opting to purge with Cyberdex Sandbox bucks to get back afloat. My ID ability always helped me rebound until I got to a position where the runners' cards were adequately taxed for the Obo score.

ROUND 3

Keyhole Kabonesa Wu (@ADumbBrick)

One of the most innovative decklists I saw all day, this absolute unit relied on a Hyperdriver > Tinkering > Euler (!!!) > Cybertrooper Talut > Keyhole combo to drill into R&D over and over and over. I bluffed Crisium with Cyberdex Virus Suite to (unknowingly) delay the inevitable, but lucked out and happened to have a Thimblerig on R&D that I swapped out for a Border Control after the Tinkerings came down.

ROUND 4

Account Siphon Leela (@Sokka234) ID

ROUND 5

Medium Freedom (@jdeng) ID

CUT ROUND 1

Vamp Hoshiko (@Rotage)

Another incredibly hard fought game on stream. I sensed an advantage looking at the decklist when I saw: 1. No Hippo.
2. Only two copies of Vamp.
3. No efficient killer.
4. Run-based Hoshiko economy like DreamNet.

The deck might body CtM and RP, but it would have trouble making successful runs on HQ and, well, any server against me. The drip @Rotage set up was pretty strong with companions and Rezeki cashing out all game long, but I was in it for the long haul with the Daily Quest churning. Moving ice around with Thimblerig was indispensable, allowing me to get a fat Anansi on the outside of both R&D and HQ to stymy The Turning Wheel.

Luckily, a slightly wacky but economically disastrous remote of Endless EULA and Susanoo-no-Mikoto presented a huge problem to @Rotage after losing a couple Stimhacks early. Spoiler alert: MKUltra is not even that good with Ice Carver. He played the game amazingly though, running judiciously to earned Keiko bucks off Taka and being able to occasionally pressure HQ (where, to be honest, I got lucky a couple times near the end). Another grinder that came out in my favor.

CUT ROUND 3

Keyhole 419 (@meetingadjourned)

My buddy and NYC meta-mate Chase were unfortunately paired for an elimination game, and even more unfortunately he took a huge gamble on face-checking an early Cortex Lock. :( Would love to replay this matchup at some point.

CUT ROUND 4

Account Siphon 419 (@bblum)

Another early face-check set the tone for this game when @bblum ran into an Engram Flush. This usually isn't a huge deal because the standard call is "event" for high-impact stuff runners save for later like Siphon or Stimhack. I knew however, that crims often can't afford the tempo hit of big breakers early game and I might get lucky calling "program." Hey, it's a high-roll, but the ceiling is way too high to pass up.

I hit the Engolo.

@bblum deftly switched into a more aggressive style of play that netted them a couple of agendas (turns out if you stop caring about damage, you can get through most of this ICE) and a The Turning Wheel seriously threatened the win. However, being able to prevent Obokata steals gave me the opportunity to rush out in relative safety.

*Please note the delicious hubris of one of the only "100%" matchups being the very match that knocked me out of the top cut against @tf34 at Worlds, Freedom vs. CtM.