Good Old Worlds Grind (3rd @ Worlds 2024)

Love the return to BtL, I tried making changes after RWR to your worlds list last year and while I was close to this my personal opinion on logjam was much lower, the add of crisium and mavirus makes logjam rezzes feel better so I can totally see the shift. Charlotte makes me feel rushed despite having money.

Love the notes, great things to keep in mind as I play.

Glad I was on the right track and so cool to see a glacier still almost take the whole thing again.

Performance over results is an awesome mindset. Congrats on how well you did!

Also, I did see on your stream that issac was in some earlier lists but I don't think you gave much of an opinion on them (though much of the chat didn't like them) I wondered how issac rates in your mind.

@Kharack Isaac was in the deck from May until September. Giving +2 strength to every advanced ice on the server is a very strong ability. The ability to advance is less relevant given BTL's ability but can be nice to save some clicks sometimes. It ended up being cut for Crisium because Crisium just does more in that slot with Deep Dive, Leech, and Pinhole being very common cards

This deck feels even more elegant than last year's, and I love how you bring solid decks, no tricks, and just outplay people. Everyone knew almost exactly what you were playing, and still couldn't really punish you for it, truly inspiring.

Two years on the prophecy of the Mestnichestvos lives on <3

@Nykride❤️

@awildturtok Yes! ❤️

Another question for you, I've been playing it and enjoying it but there are games where I just don't find wall to wall and I feel much worse, what are your thoughts on hearts and minds as a weak substitute to find a wall to wall analog quicker? Being able to move an advancement from say a hortum to a logjam or treeline while allowing you to get the BtL credit effect back on line isn't a replacement but it helps.

Additionally did you ever miss cutting the secure and protect? I've had a lot of games where I've been low on ice (typically in the ones where wall to wall is missing since draw is more painful too) and I've wondered how you felt about losing it.

@Kharack

Not finding Wall to Wall can certainly be an issue in many matchups. I don't think Hearts and Minds is good enough to be worth a slot for such a situation tho. If you want more redundancy in the value-asset department then cutting a bio vault for a Charlotte seems better than Hearts and Minds.

I'll also note that in many matchups where the runner is trying to attack your ice (anarchs with Crew), I often play those matchups without Wall to Wall and just focus on denying central value.

In terms of feeling low on ice, I haven't felt that. In last year's deck, I wouldn't ever expend a Tree Line. In this version, expending the first Tree Line happens often and even expending the second one is something that happens sometimes. So if I think I'll be short on ice then I won't expend the Tree Lines. The key here is understanding if it's better to have lots of ice or if it's better to have a few big ice. Against anarch, it's generally better to have lots of ice because they have botulus and devil charm + crew. Against shaper it's generally better to have a few big ice because their struggle is having to boost strength

Ok, I had considered bringing back the Above the Law to get the hearts and secure and protect but likely I need to just play through the lines more. I feel like I end up getting stuck not able to expend treeline in matchups where big ice is critical, but then if I also don't find wall to wall is can't get strength up in a way that isn't super painful. I suppose it could just be bad draw but I got trounced in a couple games at a small local tourney and both games felt this way so it's probably an overreaction on my part. Thank you so much for responding to all my questions!

@Kharack one thing that might be useful to pay attention to is the reasoning behind installing the ice you draw. Especially in the ice destruction matchups, you conserve ice by only installing ice where it is needed rather than installing ice merely because you want it there. The ice dance is tricky against the ice destruction decks because you never know which server they're going to attack. If you over-defend a certain server, then attacks on your other servers will be more effective. What I aim to do in those matchups is to get 2 ice on every central. Then, instead of installing more ice, you hold the ice in your hand and wait for the runner to attack somewhere (maybe they install botulus, or they CharmCrew). Only then do you install another ice to patch the hole.

Ice destruction decks are the most obvious example but a similar reasoning can apply in every matchup. You only want each server to be taxing enough based on the value of that server (taking into account agenda density and relevant runner cards that you might see in the matchup like DJ Steve, Trick Shot, Burner, etc). The goal, at least at the start, is never to lock out the runner. Ideally you're making the server cost slightly more than the value they're gaining for the run (taking into account chances of stealing, value cards, etc). From there, they either make the run and it's costing them more than it's worth, or they don't run and allow you to build up and eventually tax them a ton with Bio Vaults