spike inclined [2nd and undefeated @ Italian Nats]

I didn't believe in Neurospike Azmari. Who would? It's obviously a ridiculous idea, that can sometimes get you a win but overall just folds to a good runner.

Then Silent Arbiter got very very good results at Worlds with Djupstad Grid Reeducation (still waiting for him to publish that!), and Dunsch97 beat me and chordgang in Singapore nats with his build. Clearly there was something underexplored there, and since I wanted something simple to pilot for this tournament this looked like it could be it. I made some changes to Dunsch's list and brought it to the AMT on the day after, going 4-0 with it and ending up 3rd, then tinkered with it a little more for nats.

I'm convinced the deck is just really strong now, which you can say of many corps right now, but it definitely surprised me that this is among them. It's about as difficult to pilot as PD, and it just asks the Runner to either have disruption and be able to apply it through large ice, or to have a ridiculous amount of tempo pretty early in the game so they can deal with a glacier remote and NAPD Cordon. Because of all the draw you're pretty consistent at putting your combo pieces together, and if you don't find your Reeducation, which somehow seems to always be the most elusive card in the deck, you can often just double spike after a Bellona score (two of the eight wins at Nats were from Bellona).

grug is definitely a difficult matchup (though I only got Rotom to test it into me so it might partly be down to him being good); mulch has very good disruption but needs to draw multiple Botulus quickly to challenge you; Mawrie can be a problem if it sets up too fast. The rest feels easy, honestly.

--

This is the year when I joined QtM and actually got good at Netrunner after two years of trying and even more years of not trying. I was genuinely surprised I could get skillful at it, and would have never expected to make the cut at CBI, then at two Continentals, and then almost make the cut at Worlds. It makes me so happy that I could finish this competitive season with a very good result, at a great event where friends flew from overseas to come and play Netrunner together, with a relatively novel deck that plays some of the kinkiest cards in the game.

I'm also so so joyful about Netrunner getting this huge influx of very strong competitive players. It feels like it's never been this easy to get good at Netrunner so quickly, with so many streamers and bloggers and resources popping up and the community being more helpful than ever (i'm helping!). New players like Wikignometry and Kyra have been crushing events, testing groups like QtM, EA Sports, TAI Breakers have showed up, and the landscape of competitive play looks completely different from what we had a year ago. This is all so exciting and energizing and has made me hyperfixate on Netrunner a lot more than I ever have. If you want to do your best and play competitively at a high level, there's never been a better moment than now.

--

Thanks to everyone who made Italian Nats a great event:

• The TOs and judges: ReinaMorada, Berzelius, Jakuza
• The Turin meta, krysdreavus especially
• Dothraki, a new testing group that debuted at this event with some amazing corps
• Players who travelled from abroad to come and play: anarchomushroom, aksu, AugustusCaesar, lostgeek, and more players from the Swiss meta that I didn't get to know
• QtM for helping me get good and being great friends, and TAI Breakers for being worthy rivals. Expect a Fite Nite!