Bad Tidal- 3rd Cambridge MA Regional

Made a few mistakes in deckbuilding, but this was a very solid shell. Shrike was definitely worth the influence, though obviously the install cost was nothing to be pleased about. For the new MWL I think Engolo can be dropped for a Gordian, and go up to 3 SMC (dropping a Mem Chip, which did not need to be a 3-of). Dropping a Paricia for the 3rd Technical Writer is probably worth it as well.

My Argus deck was bog standard (one extra HPT for safety in the Freedom matchup).

Round 1: Adam/SSO. The SSO game was a bit scary when I went down 3-6 early and hit a triple advanced Hortum. But I was able to clear out a CVS and then the game just snowballed from there, and two Khusyuk's closed it. Against Adam I scored an Atlas with 2 counters behind a Data Raven on turn 4, and despite being behind on money, was able to just draw and force scores.

Round 2: Val/NEH Played against @tf34, probably the closest two games of the day. Don't remember much of the Val game, but both of us got to high points, money was close, but then a No One Home was dropped I and I knew it was lost. Turning Wheel and 4 bad pub meant I couldn't do much. Against TBB's NEH I got basically the nuts opening with ProCo and Astrolabe. I was able to contest and deal with un-iced remotes, but couldn't find a program other than Engolo/Shrike. That was enough to get me through a scoring remote that was TG/Wraparound/TG for all of my money 3 times (for 5 points). 3 Amani's meant eventually my Engolo was bounced, and I dipped too low to dodge an HHN. I was able to keep the clot threat up, but didn't have enough money to challenge the game winning point in the remote. Clicked for credits, dropped the Engolo and Khusyuk'd for 4 and found the winning agenda on the last card.

Round 3: Freedom/RP First of two very lucky corp wins. Scored an Atlas with a counter turn 1 Despite being down on money, and having all of the bad pub early, I was able to draw through free runs on R&D, and score Atlas with a counter, and 2 Hostiles Takeovers. Then forced a bunch of tags to stop a GFI score, and then eventually landed the kill. I don't remember the RP matchup, but it was a slow start, and despite scoring an early Nisei, I traded one for a Khuysuk and got the one that was sitting in the remote. Was able to take 2 Obokatas, one from an HQ access and one from another Khusyuk dig.

Round 4: Based on SOS was able to ID with the one Gagarian player that made the cut. Got some nice pastries and discussed hypothetical MWLs.

Cut Game 1: Played TF34 again, he was higher seed, and chose Val. Had a rocket start with 2 hedges, 2 TBTF, 2 Hostiles that allowed me to land an HHN despite a No One Home. He was able to rebirth into Ed, but I draw a Consulting visit while digging, and he hit an Econ Warfare on the top, and saw a HPT below.

Cut Game 2: Against @neuropantser Fake Moons deck. Got off to a very slow start, and was not able to keep up the tempo loss of dealing with the major assets. Even 2 Paricia was not enough to keep up.

Cut Game 3: Played TF34 for the fourth time, swapping sides. This time I held off installing my ProCo in my opening hands because I didn't want to lose it to an early Amani. But I didn't think to change my play pattern when I was able to check and see there wasn't any down. Fell behind on money/tempo, so he was able to score out before I could really challenge.

All in all a fun time, and revealed why so many of my deck choices were mistakes! Happy to make the cut for the first time at any event, and was a very good day of games.