Azmari without HHN - 4th at EMEA 2023

This is the Azmari deck I took to EMEA Continentals, finishing 4th. It is very different to most NBN decks we've seen knocking around, but the archetype is many years old, leading to the joke that this is a 2018 deck. The basic skeleton hasn't changed.

I have a lot of experience playing this archetype, and so part of it was just a panic pick in the new and scary meta, but there were a couple of things that informed it. First of all, Corp agenda suites took a big hit with Global Food initiative rotating, making a lot of typical HB suites less appealing, at least to my mind. I love PD, but returning to Ikawah felt hard. This agenda suite remains untouched, and Bellona is probably the strongest agenda in the game. Secondly, I feel that this deck is significantly favoured against the typical Crim lists at the moment, which are simply not well setup to run through Tollbooths and Hydras, and can't keep your economy down for long, given the number of events they want to play. The agenda suite also keeps Hermes triggers to a minimum, and often doesn't mind triple advancing and then simply replacing the bounced ice with the last click.

Hoshiko is more difficult than Sable / 419, but winnable, Arissana is even more difficult and will usually require creativity and successful NGO bluffs to win. Esa is less common now, but manageable by denying Chastushka. I haven't faced many Shaper archetypes that aren't Ari, but typically this deck does fine against those, and it's worth noting even the Turbine doomrig usually pays 4 for Tollbooth and 6 for Hydra.

I shaved one Surveyor and added a third Magnet and a Mavirus, which seemed like necessary tech slots in the meta. If Surveyor isn't wanted, I'd suggest trying Bio Vault, or some good new ice like Tatu-Bola or Ablative Barrier. My ice suit previously had 2 Virtual Service Agent and an Enigma in addition to the Magnets, but I found that suite too vulnerable to Buzzsaw, so went for 2 F2P, 1 Tithe and 1 Popup window for my central taxers, and they were solid all tournament. 2 Tithe or 2 Popup is possible, I don't have a strong view on which is better, but I'd keep the two F2P as they are, for a nice HQ ice against Hoshiko that they will usually end up Hippoing.

Overall the deck won 5 games, lost 2, and had 1 tie. It played one fewer game compared to my runner, due to a 214 in round 7.

Thanks to all the organisers and players, this one was really enjoyable and the meta seems excellent so far. See you at Interconts!