Dividing By Two (1st APAC)

imagine getting fanart for winning a Netrunner tournament, couldn't be me. Design by Vale

(replays updated, and runner writeup is here)

how it started:

how it's going:

the story

It's 2022. I'd just come back to Netrunner after a long hiatus at the behest of Ghost00. Played in a couple of small COs, and felt kinda confident to enter APAC Continentals with Patchwork Hoshiko and Neurospike Azmari. Scam my way into the cut and end up placing 4th. Not so bad, I think.

It's 2023. The Automata Initiative has just dropped, and I've got 5 days to gear up for Contis on the weekend. I quickly shop BladdeR+ with The Organization That Would Come To Be Known As TAI Breakers, and throw together Hermes Tao with the king an hour before deck submission. The story of how I placed 2nd is documented elsewhere, but suffice it to say that nbkelly dropped the hardest line in the comments of my writeup that has lived rent free in my head for the past 10 months:

It's 2024. RWR season results have gone decently so far, but my ACC campaign ends prematurely with some poor play and poorer deck choices. The West Coast is gonna descend upon APAC again in two weeks and take a 5th straight title if nobody's gonna stop them, and I don't have much time to get back in shape...

the deck

Post-24.05 drop, I spent a lot of time thinking about how to build a The Powers That Be deck, working under the theory that asset decks could return from the oppression they'd been suffering under Knobkierie (how naive!)

I tried out many IDs from all 4 factions: Ob had some pretty sexy stuff with Azefing a Marilyn into Powers; The Powers that PE let you do some sicko Reaper Function/Blood in the Water loops; double dipping with License Acquisition out of NEH was pretty fun; and of course there was all the Sports stuff...

But a big part of what all these decks had in common was that they felt extremely fragile to an early Bones plus sustained pressure; not to mention the frankly obnoxious amounts of credits that Reg Hoshiko could output, and the alarming consistency with which World Tree Ari decks could deploy their anti-asset tech. It's embarrassing that it took me as long as it did to come to the realization: the best way to protect your assets is to get free clicks to ice them. What a novel concept!

...and as it turns out, for every genius idea you have, one or two superior deckbuilders have probably already thought of it first. It was time to start iterating.

the cards

SkunkVoid Asa is a very 'best of both worlds' archetype - combining the ability to do The PD Thing with the absurd resource generation of Fully OP. That said, the scoring patterns (and slightly easier influence requirements) of The Holo Man are much more conducive to a Powers gameplan. If you're pushing tempo like you should be doing as Asa, Powers+ID triggers should be helping you stack a remote too thick for the runner to contest anyway, defensive upgrades or no.

optimal Asa ice placement don't @ me. turn 5 btw

In a world where Shapers can pull entire rigs out of thin air and Hoshiko can have a full breaker setup by T6 with some good Price flips, Brân 1.0 is one of the few ice remaining that still necessitates a 2 card solution for most common setups. You won't rez every one you draw, but a double Bran server is an extremely meaty thing to safely Holo behind. Speaking of ice-based wincons...

Ablative Barrier, what a card. Once Threat 3 is online, this little thing turns from 'cheap gearcheck' to 'Holoman/Rashida whack-a-mole simulator'. Just another incentive to push out those points as fast as possible to get the full value from this card.

Working Prototype: As Sokka says, you don't have time to wait around for counters or click a Regolith; every click you take needs to be pushing you forward, or you'll fall behind and get run over by Runner rigs.

Ansel 1.0: I'll be honest, I didn't put that much thought into this one; if it's good enough for the world champ, it's good enough for me

Only 2 Hedge?! Same answer tbh. More seriously, I struggled very long between 3rd Hedge and 2nd Mavirus, and I decided to just be good and draw my Flops and up my chances of seeing a Mav vs Physarum and Aumakua.

the event

The deck went 3-1-1 in Swiss and 4-1 in the cut, losing to MotionBlur's Sable in an extremely flooded game and mysterious smurf CheekFake's Hoshiko where I foolishly installed a Powers naked and immediately got it Bahia Bands'ed from 0c, leaving me dry on score tempo and unable to push through before the game-ending centrals dig. Ice your assets, friendos!

Swiss

R2: Ari vs PD (Wikignometry)

R3: Asa vs 419 (bowlsley)

R4: Ari vs Sports (OF 15-15)

R6: Asa vs Sable (MotionBlur)

R7: Asa vs Hoshiko (Toron4)

R8: Ari vs PD (xiaat)

R9: Ari vs Sports (pearl 2.0)

Cut

R1: Asa vs Hoshiko (RTsa)

R2: Asa vs Hoshiko (Cheekfake)

R3: Ari vs Issuaq (RJorbs)

R4: Ari vs NEH (AugustusCaesar)

R5: Asa vs Ari (Santa)

R6: Ari vs Ob (AmarumAcies)

R7: Asa vs Hoshiko (MrStyx)

R8: Ari vs PD (CheekFake)

R9: Asa vs Hoshiko (Cheekfake)

…damn, this really was a helluva lotta games, huh.

the feels

Most of the sappy stuff will probably go in the runner writeup, so I'll keep it brief here:

• nbkelly, the original true believer

• TAIB, I couldn't have made it here without each and every one of you

• APAC, the faith you place in me is truly humbling

• the king, what a pep talker

• QtM, EAS, Bost and representatives thereof (you know who you are): you make me a better player and a better person from our interactions, I'm very grateful

• the SG crew, how can I express what you've done for me? Thank you so much

SHAABR friendos, and thanks for all the pie, it really helped

Jai out