Shipping Out of Boston | 5th at US East Coast Nats

I've been putting off this writeup for far too long. I started my Netrunner journey in August of 2022, diving deep into the game with my roommate. I joined the Boston/Cambridge/Somerville meta a few months later, and they have been such a wonderful community. This East Coast Nats was my last tournament as local before moving to Pittsburgh, and I wanted to make it special. Great timing for my first top cut performance ever.

World Tree Ari holds up. I took my list from TAIB's Don't Put Down Your Deck (great advice), with my flex slots including a 2nd Physarum, Light the Fire, and 2nd Turbine. On the day, Physarum didn't matter and I wished for a Cupellation far more often for some HQ pressure. I've been grinding this deck online + in-person at locals for awhile, and the reps paid off. Several of my games got close to time, but the deck still felt reasonable to operate in person when you know your favorites lines.

On the day:

Round 1 win against SebastianK on VentiOb: A pretty intimidating round 1 matchup that I hadn't practiced. My only gameplan was to use my Miss Bones and Light the Fire wisely, and I was able to keep my engine running long enough to contest Urbans. Penultimate turn, SebK uses Mutually Assured Destruction for 6+ tags. Time is called on my turn, so I need to win here or die. A burner into trickshot dig on Rnd brought me to 9 points.

Round 3 loss against Vergescu on PD: This was a tight game against my good friend and meta-mate, who crushed it in Swiss to also make top-cut. I was getting rushed out, and had a turn where I was checking Rnd with no clicks left. I had Pichacao in hand, and almost used Ari to get that extra click, which I thought was going to be too greedy. Ikawah Project was the top card, which would have won me the game. Very well played, congrats on your placement Gordie!

Round 6 win against Kyle on Ag Infusion: World Tree kept the pressure up, and Ag had a bit of a slow start. This game was certainly a thinker, and it's always a joy to play against Kyle. Visit me in Pittsburgh!

Round 8 ID into the Cut: This ID was not a guaranteed thing, but AnalyzeChris and I both felt it was the safe bet to make the cut. We were rewarded, though Kevinth certainly deserved a top cut spot as well.

Top Cut game 2 loss into Sokka on Ag Infusion: Despite getting the tree down and providing consistent pressure, Sokka get the game firmly in his control scoring out 7-0. Sokka was such a gracious opponent, thank you for all the advice and discussion in the carpool!

Top Cut game 3 loss against rohit on R+: What a meta call. I hadn't practiced into tags at all with this list, but it didn't matter. I mulliganed a bad hand into worse, and only ever drew programs or tech cards. A few misplays and not a single resource found, rohit closed the game quickly. Even with a tree finally down, Self-Growth Program fixed that problem. This was the only game that the World Tree deck bricked on me, which I'm grateful for.

Thank You

Boston has been my home for 8 years, but it's time for a new adventure. Netrunner is coming with me, and I'll be leaving a mark on the Steel City Grid I swear. Thank you to Jaime, Jeff, Ian, Erika and Holly for great games and vibes at Aeronaught. Thank you to Not Again, Kevinth, and Gordie for all your advice, practice, friendship and deckbuilding. Thank you to Eric and Nick of Neon Static for building the New Hampshire Meta, and thank you to DanB for all your New England Organizing Expertise. Shoutout to the Worcester Crew, to Izzy and Trillian in Vermont, and to anyone who travelled for a New England tournament. This scene wouldn't be the same without you.

Can't wait to see many of you at Worlds this year, at Mansionrunner, at next year's East Coast Nats, and of course, when Worlds comes to Pittsburgh.