This story involves both Germany and a submarine, so you can safely go ahead and click that 'like' button based just on the name. It's okay, I'll wait.
This last weekend I was supposed to be on holiday in Germany. However, due to poor weather there on Thursday evening, my flight was cancelled. And with no alternatives until at least Sunday, the whole trip was cancelled as well. After crying myself to sleep, I woke up on Friday thinking of what I could do rather than spend the whole weekend feeling sorry for myself. I turned to Slack, and instantly saw much hype for the Aldershot regional.
With almost no thought whatsoever, I packed a bag, threw some good cards in a box and headed to the train station. I had plenty time to think about, but ultimately decided that as I'd just got a shiny new Val ID I'd go with the GenCon winning deck. I made the recommended swap of PolOp for Maxwell (I used it once on the day, as there was a surprising lack of CI), and tinkered further with +1 Same Old Thing, Ice Carver, -1 Mining Accident, Stimhack (the former good, the latter less so).
4.5 hours later I arrived in Farnborough (near Aldershot) and was collected by rotage. We headed to the pub and were met by extrac, swiftie, johno and more. We had beers and played Monikers. 10/10 would hang out again.
Into the tournament, and it started in disaster. The Outfit rushed past me, and Titanium Maxx threw all my ice in the bin. 0-2. I'm not entirely sure what happened next, but somehow I managed to win 10 games in a row, to finish KoS and make it to the Winner's Final. Unfortunately I dropped the last two, but I'd already surpassed all my expectations so was still delighted with the result.
Huge thanks to rotage for hosting me all weekend. To he and swiftie for managing to run a tight ship (Das Boot - tight ship, get it?) despite the heat. And all the others I played with and chatted to, who helped me have a great weekend even if it wasn't what I was expecting.
P.S. For a more 'sing-a-long' version of the above tale please see my corp list write-up.