Control Your Destiny (1st APAC)

2021 Continentals

Hey y’all! APAC continentals was extremely intense and loads of fun! I highly recommend checking out the cut games if you haven’t already. The last 3 games in the cut for me especially were the most intense and technical games I think I’ve ever played.

The development of this deck went from my original 14 ICE down to 0 ICE and then 5 ICE. While 5 is the correct number to apply, adding 5 to 0 is wrong. The correct way to do it is to subtract 5 from 14. Playing a deck with 5 or so ICE just means you’re completely vulnerable to random access luck. With 9 ICE, you can control random R&D Vacheron steals a little bit more, especially if the runner is conscious of their credit pool. If the runner has to pay 3 credits breaking an ICE to check your remote every turn then that’s the same thing as them paying to trash a Marilyn every turn.

Jeeves, Subliminal, Marilyn, Nico, Tranquility, etc are all cards that are nice, but not necessary. These cards make you go faster but ICE slows the runner down. The main difference tho is that ICE gives you options and gives you the ability to make plays. In my second cut game against 419, I won after spending 15 clicks clicking for credits out of a total 36 clicks spent (turn 11 + 1 Luminal). Despite this bad stat, I feel like I was more or less in control of that game. If I had the above cards instead of ICE, the game would have likely been shorter but the runner would have definitely gotten more accesses (or at least they would have been free to do so); as a result, the game is more up to chance.

I feel that the design of this list gives you more control over the outcome of the game compared to other versions while still maintaining the ability to luck out yourself with a string of good draws.

Also, scoring 7 points in 5 turns without using any fast advance tools because your opponent is playing Anarch and can’t break your Magnet is hilarious :D

Thanks to everyone who played in and helped run the tournament! Looking forward to the next month of Netrunning!

P.S. Can we ban Vacheron now?