Start Here for what my deck looked like through most of the tournament.

Visit Here for ReproRogue's deck. (The list this played against)

Planning for the Apocalypse

SOCR creates some interesting situations. Each round you are able to completely rebuild your deck for each opponent only needing to keep the ID and big box consistent. I had played RepoRogue in round 5 of the tournament and we developed a "strong rivalry" after that game. My shonen battle arc had begun and I was motivated to meet him again in the finals... This time I'd have an answer to his runner deck.

Going into the grand finals I already knew a lot about what I might be facing:

1. He might stay on a tag me strategy. This was unlikely but if he did and I wasn't prepared I would probably be crushed under his much stronger economy.

• (He didn't)

1. He would probably still be on Apocalypse

• (He was)

1. He could play both Emergency Shutdown and Diversion of Funds to try to really punish my econ

• (He didn't)

1. He probably would have an inefficient fracter

• (He did)

So to answer these concerns I decided to play some tech cards. In order of importance

1. Himitsu-Bako: This was the MVP. It addresses all of the concerns above fantastically. At 4 per break with Demara it taxes econ fantastically. At 2 to rez it it works even under economic pressure. Finally that rarely used ability lets me ensure that I always have some ice after the apocalypse.

2. Bio Vault: This is the next big tech card. I think in this tournament it was correct to play 3 most of the time but in this match-up it was spectacular. The ability to tax out a remote run or just stop the apocalypse was huge.

3. Wall of Static: Like Himitsu-Bako this is a very taxing ice for him but cheap for me. My barriers were very important to tax his econ

4. Snare!, Data Raven, and High-Profile Target: The part that you all are waiting for though is these three cards. So in order to punish RepoRogue if they chose to go tagme I decided I would play a single HPT. After this decision the question was, "how do get the most out of this inclusion while still improving my deck?". Both Snare and Data Raven are a real pain during the Apocalypse turn, give HPT a chance, and are fine in normal situations. In a dream scenario the runner would have to choose between finishing an Apoc turn or playing around HPT because they hit a snare or otherwise took too many tags.

5. Attitude Adjustment: This was far more of a role player than I initially thought it would be. Flood would certainly be a problem as I needed to be very careful in order to score. Additionally these are a cute bit of extra draw to help find the single HPT.

6. Surveyor: This card was a 3x for most of the cut. Removing it from the deck was one of the most important decisions. RepoRogue correctly found a strategy that defeated it so it simply couldn't remain in my list.

Playing the Deck

• The main thing to focus on was ensuring I was always aware of the apocalypse as well as when I had a scoring window in the remote.
• Despite the backup plan of HPT I never thought I'd win a game that way, it was mainly a useful threat to force the tempo loss of clearing tags.
• Quick recovery after Apoc is vital as it is often the best scoring opportunity.
• Himitsu-Bako should only be installed when it is almost certain to be rezzed
• Data Raven and Code Replicator should stay together on centrals (probably RnD since Sneakdoor Beta can bypass HQ)
• Snare! should always remain in hand

Notes and Lessons

It is difficult to draw conclusions from a deck that was only meant to win one game. I can say that Attitude Adjustment is very good and had I found room for it earlier I think I would have had much more success overall this league.

You can watch the game here with some fantastic commentary from ManBunBatty and BlackCherries. I think the games really show the idea behind my decisions and while everything does go right for me I think the games were overall fantastic with lots of options (and mistakes) on both sides.

Very Final Thoughts

SOCR7 was super fun. I really thing that tweaking your decks for opponents and the play & counter-play that brings is a fantastic challenge and makes for some very interesting re-evaluation of IDs and strategies. I really enjoyed my newfound (very friendly) rivalry with RepoRogue.

Finally I would like to thank everyone I got to play games with:

• MercyWheel

• tolaasin

• theoneakaneo

• jose-san

• RepoRogue

• CritHitd20

• mbzrl

I enjoyed my games with each and every one of you and I hope you felt the same way. This league is fantastic and friendly and I'm so happy I got to be a part of it. I will see you all in SOCR8