Five Reasons to Travel for Netrunner

I still fondly remember the first time I traveled for a tournament. I wasn't deterred by the fact that the trip would take more than a day just going one way, nor did I seemingly have any problem arranging for everything so last minute. Following a bit of hectic preparation, I threw together some basic clothes and set off alone into the unknown, to a place over a 1000 kilometers away.

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While this might sound like the beginning of my last year's account of me tilting at windmills of cross-border bureaucracy on my way from Russia to Worlds in Barcelona, my first trip actually took place back in 2013. I was a student on summer vacation, still in my honeymoon phase with Street Fighter 4. While scrolling through a Russian fighting games forum, I stumbled upon a small-ish tournament taking place in (heh) St. Petersburg, in just a few days. Following some unknown chemical reaction in my brain, I blew… erm… invested my summer job money into train tickets, messaged my school friend for a couch to crash for a night, and made the casual 25-hour long pilgrimage to a city I've never been to before, located a 1000 km away from my hometown of Murmansk, to an event I didn't know anyone at, traveling alone for the first time ever. Turns out, I've always been a bit of a sicko.

The event went reasonably well for my first one. I met some like-minded people, we shared a couple of beers and talked shop. Non-Street-Fighter part of the trip was pretty short and frantic, but my school friend and I walked the Nevsky Prospect to see the Palace Square and the Rostral Columns basking in sunset light. Later we were caught in a rain the city is so famous for, and finished the night off with long conversations over wine and cheese at his place.

I was boarding my train back home next noon, less than a day after arriving at the same train station. In spite of having a lot of fun the day before, I didn't make much of trip as a whole back then, but it definitely made some sort of a hidden imprint on my cerebral cortex.

A year later I found myself standing in the middle of Moscow, trying to get my bearings and find my way to a hostel on a google map I printed out on paper sheets using a black-and-white printer back home. 3 years after that I'd be boarding the same Murmansk-St. Petersburg train, this time carrying 5 bags, a guitar, and a one-way ticket.

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I wasn't really planning on doing a follow-up to my last year's post, which was met with some unexpected success. However, after much deliberation about both the vector of a potential writeup and even it's overall necessity, I realized I had more to say. I had to get some thoughts out of my system and compartmentalize them. I had to blast freeze the memories of this trip while they were still fresh. But most importantly, I had to share my passion of going to Netrunner events with the rest of the world.

Traveling to a tournament near, or not so near you is a surefire way of extracting a lot more from your hobby than meets the eye. Be it a World Championship, a Continental, your regional tournament or just a CO in a nearest town - all of those can be ten times as rewarding compared to grinding jnet or playing in your kitchen. Take it from someone who never cared about traveling and found it unrelatable when people listed that as a hobby. It turned out this went far beyond taking a few pretty Instagram pics (although that is still the case).

Without further ado, here is my list of reasons to travel for Netrunner.

1. Planning the trip

Everything starts with an announcement of some sort. This one I was kind of waiting for and kind of wasn't at the same time: Continentals ain't Worlds, and there was basically no chance I'd be going to the US come fall. Still, EMEA CC was the best I could do for 2024 in terms of high level Netrunner, so it was probably worth a shot. Despite that, after internalizing the event structure and running some numbers, I figured I flat out couldn't afford to go.
the eventual 5-leg route nearing 9700 km of flight distance hinting as to why

I wasn't off to the greatest of starts. Fortunately, the situation turned upside down with me applying for financial help with the Fly to EMEA fund organized by the lovely Atien and Porkobolo with the assistance of the rest of the EMEA staff and Fly to EMEA backers (with special thanks to maninthemoon). My worries were completely dispelled by Atien even though it was still months until even the first Fly to EMEA tournament was underway. You folks are the stuff of legends, none of this would be possible without your support. I'll be eternally grateful for all you did for me. ❤️

Feeling reinvigorated and reassured, I planned out the route of my trip and some nuances including visa application. This time I had months to really research the cities I would be visiting and opportunities to book places in advance, or so I thought. Without diving too deep into it, despite applying quite early on, my visa wasn't ready until very, very late, and prior to that I had no idea whether I was even going or not at all. This, of course, was far from ideal, complete with panic-inducing reports of people missing their flights completely due to consulate delays during the wait. Still, not much was to be done except stocking up on sedatives and just waiting for quite a while, which ended up working out.

All in all, it was something I was as prepared for as I could be, and even though my initial planning drive ended up being greatly curbed by this excruciating wait, it still felt very rewarding to successfully navigate the ins and outs of the visa process and come out on top. Getting good at this IRL game of Papers, Please was never my intention, but it was definitely worth it, if at least to see my team's and my locals' excitement about this bit of great news just 12 hours before my flight took off, when I was finally granted the visa and knew I was going 100%. I'd have to mostly wing the trip itself but it was nothing I hadn't done before.

2. Getting there

Another thing that happened to me recently was a childhood memory resurfacing I didn't even know I had.
It's 2001, and I'm in my 2nd grade of elementary school, sitting in a social studies class, looking at a huge world map attached to the chalkboard. The teacher is passionately telling us about all these different countries in the world, what they're famous for, and about our place on the map as well. One thing I now realize was missing from the lecture though was the idea of actually going to those places and seeing it for yourself. It does make all the difference, transforming a textbook picture and the related topic, something which for me had always been disconnected from the world I know, into the real thing. There is no substitute, and let me tell you, it's borderline addictive.

these kids never suggested checking that meander out for yourself

Connecting yourself to the rest of the world has never been easier in mankind's history, and if it takes a card game tournament to be the reason for you to travel, so be it.

I did some connecting, too. Connecting flights, connecting with people, and even connecting with myself by saying the phrase "I went to Italy to participate in a card game tournament" to confused noninitiates and keeping my head up high, just accepting myself for who I am. It might be a stretch to call it transformative experience but you definitely learn things about yourself and the world that no textbook, Youtube video or travel blog can ever provide.

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As much as travel itself might not be everyone's cup of tea, I believe that with sufficient preparation it's quite enjoyable. Much of the timings stress and on-site confusion as to where to go can be alleviated by just dilligently looking up stuff online in advance and asking other Runners. If your event of choice is big enough to have its own Discord server, it's definitely the place for that, otherwise the local community server or just GLC will fit the bill. Netrunner is definitely up there among the most helpful and wholesome communities I've ever been a part of, so don't be afraid to ask.

Tackling the whole trip itinerary at once might feel overwhelming. If that happens, just take baby steps and plan bit by bit until all the pieces fall into place. You'll be reaping fruits of your labor in no time, converting a few hours spent planning into what hopefully are life-long memories.

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my insightful comments about the state of Russian aviation under sanctions

After channeling my inner Tom Hanks last year, I decided to cut on both the number of flights and the time spent at the airports where possible. This, however, meant that the only reasonably priced flight I could take to Milan was a classic red-eye leaving at midnight and arriving at 10 AM with a connection in Baku at around 5 AM.

yawning at the gate in Baku

A travel pillow purchased at the airport went a long way at keeping me sane and providing some semblance of sleep during transit. Queues, stamping in, stamping out, more queues, and before I knew it, I was landing in my 3rd time zone of this night: Milan.

I passed the customs without a hitch. With some help from emmel I was able to purchase an e-SIM for 4 times cheaper than what they were charging at the airport. I took a bus to downtown Bergamo, where I was picked up by the hospitable Atien (thanks for the lunch!).

entering Bergamo on a bus

Unbelievable, but this was kind of it! Certainly a welcome change after the last year's extravaganza. I decompressed at the charming Fly to EMEA apartment, wrote to folks back home that I made it, and marvelled at how neatly things fell into place with this trip so far. I was tired, but it was a sweet exhaustion: it certainly didn't stop me from popping out for a short walk around the neighbourhood turned a 3-hour hike through the calm of Bergamo streets.

3. Playing Netrunner

With the airline meal appetizers out of the way, it was time for the main course. First up, the Throwback Team Tournament was on the menu as a great way to crack your knuckles before the main event. I teamed up with emmel and ArminFirecracker just a few days before the event; we exchanged deck ideas but barely had time to do any testing.

The Capybaras

We put on a great show, all things considered. I personally felt amazing on the day, playing attentively but in a light-spirited fashion; nothing major was on the line just yet. Even though one of my decks clearly underperformed due to the lack of testing, I wasn't disappointed with that fact, instead going 4-0 with my Corp. Even during the games I lost I was genuinely excited about what my opponents were doing to me. You know the feeling.
We ended up conquering the 6th spot which felt great into such a packed field.

straight up "scortching it"

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Next day was the main event Swiss. I had a clear goal for that in mind for months: winning an Interconts invite. First I'd have to make the top 16 cut (no small feat into a field of 111 people), and then place 5th or higher on Sunday. The invites could theoretically roll down to 7th place provided a couple of heavy hitters made it to the top of this continental too, but that in itself was far from guaranteed.
The obligatory jitters left after playing out the first round. I wasn't off to the best start, splitting twice, but I still felt pretty composed and confident in my ability to perform, compared to how high-strung I was during Worlds 9 months prior to that.

top half tables of round 4 in progress. I'm duking it out aganst Angelnet5000

The rounds came and went. By penultimate round 6 I picked up enough pace to find myself in a decent enough spot, still being able to afford 1 loss for a chance to 241 into the cut, so davz131 and I decided to play it out. I diligently executed my matchup-tailored gameplan against Esâ as PD, and then miraculously dodged a bullet against kill Azmari in what was by far the most nerve-racking game of the tournament. This sweep put me into a possible ID territory (Dear SBT, I propose banning the letter D from the alphabet so we can't play DSS, only SSS).

After some number-crunching it became apparent that IDing wouldn't be safe: at least 4 people would be competing for 3 spots in the cut. My opponent and teammate rubenpieters and I were 1st and 2nd out of those 4 by SOS respectively, so we felt like we had decent chances to both make it. On top of that I was completely wrung out by the last game so any chance to rest was very welcome.

Ruben accepted my ID request and in an unfortunate turn of events missed the cut on extended SOS. Me, on the other hand…

Uruk-hai peeping through the arrowslits of Hornburg at the announcement of me making the cut. Watch in full here

I was half-way there, but it was too early to truly celebrate. I still had to improve my placement a lot the next day, and living on a prayer wouldn't cut it.

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The cut started with my first opponent getting a game loss before we even sat down to play due to a decklist error found during deck checks. It wasn't the start I hoped for, but I had to take it.

I got paired against AugustusCaesar next, playing his signature AgInfusion. In what I vaguely remember as him having a great start, and me — a mediocre one, I had to soon make a choice putting my life on the line forcing him to have it, and have it he did.

With my tournament life on the line and me being no closer to the 5th spot, I sat across J0N4LD in a streamed game.

playing on the big screen

With a significant swing early and me finding enough building blocks to develop my board, it wasn't exactly the quickest or easiest game (Archer+ZATO lines are a lot to wrap your head around), but I managed to move on. I was still one win short from my goal, when I was paired against Bridgeman.

I finally got a chance to play PD in the cut, which I felt was the stronger of my two decks. Bridgeman brought quite an unorthodox Lat deck. To the best of our recollection, it was the first time we ever played against each other.

The game was reasonably paced, just naturally one of the longer ones. It was a great match too! We both drew ok, missing some crucial pieces. I made a mistake of misevaluating this Lat's ability to crack a double-iced remote early, and one mistake was all it took Bridgeman to go for the throat. He didn't have his engine out, but held tools to contest a remote in plenty.

4 to 4 on agenda points, and a timed loss for me based on Swiss seed. I was out. Out in the 8th place, one short of the fabled invite again. The dream of playing in the ICC was dead.

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I felt strangely ok at the moment, in no small part due to teammates and friends comforting me and cheering me on. Still, the realization of failing at the only goal I really strived for was starting to sink in.

I went outside the venue together with HaverOfFun and Armin to listen to some kind of a small-time music festival happening right then and there. Talking and sharing some beers did a lot to boost morale there.

chilling with Alex. I'm trying to keep the sentimental stuff for the next section but it's already seeping in

It took a couple of hours for the players to finish the remaining rounds, and eventually the EMEA Continental Champion was crowned, too. During these last rounds, I started hearing a sort of "word on the street" that one of the players eligible for an ICC invite might be busy on the date. At first I tried to keep my hopes low, but as the time went on, I kept hearing this more and more, until I started wrapping my head around it.
Wait. What??

aksu was handling the invites situation as a member of OP, and I must've asked him a million times whether the fam was playing me, but he was frfr deadass ❌🧢. It wasn't all for nothing. I made it.

Me flying down a slope at the roller coaster of emotions at this moment was captured by HaverOfFun for a meme-y YT Shorts featuring a few TAI-Bs. As a Russian proverb goes, it's better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times. Do give it a watch!

4. Meeting people

I knew zero people in person going to Worlds 2023. I can't say I had any strong online connections either, just a few familiar names I played against on jnet. I was the definition of an outlier, an outsider; rongydoge put it best in his writeup called The Thinkin' Bench, one of my favorite pieces on this website:
My first worlds was Mopus in 2018, and both there and in Rotterdam in 2019 I felt like an outsider on the fringe at an event where everyone knew each other. This year, I felt like I knew everyone and everyone knew me.

While I'm still a ways away from a kind of universal recognition that Mr. doge might enjoy, I managed to somewhat put my name on the map during the last year. If bridging the gap with the global community and making like-minded friends is something you're looking to do as well, there's no better way than to travel.

Going in blindly might seem menacing. If you're in that perfect storm of being an absolute stranger to the place and the community you'd want to visit, reach out to the TO of the event you're going to for advice, or join the event-related Discord server, or a local playgroup one.
A single biggest thing that jumpstarted my social interactions last year was joining the Barcelona Worlds Discord. There, I found a spare bed in one of the many Runner-shared accomodations. This turned out to be the best of all worlds socially: you not only get to hang out with your roommates, but get introduced to their friends and communities as well. It becomes trivial to be a part of all kinds of social gatherings if you keep your ear to the ground.
That being said, if you feel like going in blind, go for it! Netrunner crowd is a very friendly bunch, and I haven't seen anyone seeking company get turned back. Remember, you have an ace up your sleeve: the best convo starter about one particular cyberpunk-themed children's card game.

our Worlds Airbnb (Sauc3 left early for his flight). The following 6 months would see 4 of these people end up in the same testing group

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Having laid the foundation of my social circles last year, it was easier to expand them this year. During this trip I had a lot, and I mean A LOT of interactions, ranging from fleeting to very significant, with dozens upon dozens of people. Listing all of them here would be impossible, so I'll highlight a few I spent the most time with, in no particular order.

Rene Reed and Toron were my roommates this time. I had fun whatever we did together, be it building picture frames, having convos which went late into the night, or interrupting an Italian washing machine recital (don't ask). Rene taking a carpentry course from koga

Council exerted the most influence on my competitive Netrunner career, first offering me a spot in Unband and later overseeing my transfer into TAI Breakers. That, however, almost paled in comparison with the delight of finally meeting and spending time with them in person after months upon months of Discord calls, talks, games, jams and secret brews. Take it from the guy who had to play against their IG.
on our way to the venue

It was a big surprise randomly running into Bridgeman on the streets of Bergamo the very next day after we played in the top cut. We teamed up to see the last members of EA Sports and TAIB off, and played some late night Netrunner paired with nightcaps.
I'll get you next time. Thanks for the wine though!

Jamming Under Influence a.k.a. The Real Kitchen Meta

emmel, buddy, thanks again for all the no-frills and down-to-earth conversations we had. I felt like both of us were serving as each other's links to life in Russia during this trip, with you lauding the state of St. Petersburg Netrunner scene and me fuming over the price of a Pringles can back home, all of it blanketed in the safe space of our mother tongue.

us following TAIB on a hike back home after a night out

A lot of credit for me reaching these competitive heights goes to my team, TAI Breakers. I'm so glad to have been a part of all this bonding experience, too.
Me breaking the record by being a part of 6 (!) teamkills across 3 days can be written off as rough pairing luck, but I see it as a testament to us being damn good at this game. Fingers crossed that I meet the rest of you soon!

rare footage of aksu in his emo phase, cosplaying his favorite Seamless Launch

I have never seen myself as a people person, and yet this part of my travels instantly became my favorite. Tastes of delicious food and the grandeur of sights might quickly fade from memory, being replaced by other things. People I met have stayed with me in my memories for decades, at least as small tidbits and anecdotes, shaping me and adding to who I am as a person.

5. Seeing places

No trip would be complete with at least some amount of sightseeing. Nowadays I usually try and take at least some amount of pictures of things surrounding me that I find remarkable or peculiar. I couldn't grok this practice at first: my last active travel phase was closer to the era of physical photo albums rather than Instagram, and let me tell you, I don't know a single person who'd be regularly going back through these things. They would be sitting on the shelves collecting dust instead.

Looking at my friends' pictures of various places online usually failed to elicit any emotion from me whatsoever. However, one very much unexpected thing did happen. After organizing my own photos in brain-friendly formats of Instagram carousels, pinned stories or Apple memories, and then stumbling upon them and skimming though them once in a while, I started inadvertently training my eye. It's easy to relive the places your see in your own pictures, but I found myself looking at pictures of unfamiliar locations and imagining just being there, which never happened before. It was quite exhilarating, to say the least. This can definitely contribute to your screen time and scrolling addiction, but for those sharing the same superpower, here are some of my favorite shots from the trip.

lovely streets of downtown Bergamo

seeing Bergamo Upper Town, hiking there, and looking back at Lower Town

a serene afternoon in Turin

prop head of Chucky from the Child's Play franchise
…which I was enamoured with as a kid, found as a part of an exhibit in the National Museum of Cinema. Film ratings systems weren't a thing in Russia back in the day so you could watch basically whatever as a child

the unparalleled Milan Cathedral

Novi Sad and the Danube river. My helpful friend from last year's writeup moved here from Armenia, and I couldn't pass up on a visit

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My full route was as follows: St. Petersburg -> Baku -> Bergamo -> Turin -> Milan -> Belgrade -> Novi Sad -> Istanbul -> St. Petersburg. These are the remnants of the paper trail I left, procured from the pockets of my bags and clothes:

Closing thoughts

I'd like to express special thanks to wowarlok who, despite knowing me for a grand total of 3 days, invited me to stay at his home in Turin together with his charming family. I don't treat things like these lightly, and I mean it when I say that the dinners we had all together to me were the epitome of Italian hospitality. They reminded me of the better dinners I had with my own family, which are far and between ever since I moved.

Also, myself from a year ago wouldn't find the following photo anything less than mind-boggling (myself from today still does, a bit):

four Italians and a Russian walk into a game store a.k.a. me crashing the Turin meetup

The legends didn't lie: wowa is a legend!

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One difference to the Barcelona trip I noticed was me obsessing less with the raw Netrunner results. I'm not sure what exactly it was, probably a combo of better prep, more tournament experience and a great company of friends, but Netrunner took less of my headspace this time. I was in a better place mentally, even through the lowest points feeling like I will come back a winner no matter what kind of results I had.

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The great irony is that I picked the worst possible time to travel, all external circumstances considered. It doesn't have to be like that for you, so just do it!

I'm not the one to believe in signs, but sometimes you just can't help but think.
I filmed some thunder ravaging in the distant clouds during the Istanbul lift-off, going back home.

It kept at it for a while, and then stopped.

Hours later, as the sun set, I found myself looking out of the airplane window. We were passing a city quite big, but tranquil at the same time. Something clicked inside of me at this point. A look at the headrest display with our route confirmed my suspicion: I was looking at city lights of Lviv, so close and yet so endlessly distant.

Moments later, there I was, hoping that this thunder, too, shall pass.

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Oh, and the deck did fine.