You Only Run Twice (2nd Place Helsinki GNK)

3-0 at GNK. My first Top 3 placing. Feels good man.

Weirdrunner is here... and Hank Scorpio is feeling fiiiiiiine.

I was running with the Axeidents Happen deck for a bit before rotation. tl;dr of the deck plan - Only run Barrier ice, and snipe their tools when they try to use them. I haven't had a chance to try out new deck ideas, so I set on adapting an old one. And oh wow has dropping Our Lord And Savior and GFI made this deck even more fun. Look at all them there influences I can spends!

Playing the original deck made one thing clear - as soon as you break a runner's toys, the game grinds to a halt while they work out how to get them back. The original deck was almost passive, waiting for the runner to run before attacking. What needs to happen is that you need to pressure the runner. And to do that, you need to speed the game up yourself and keep flashing juicy agendas at them.

I was originally considering Illegal Arms Factory, but after running with Daily Business Show I'm convinced that's the right option. This deck doesn't need extra credits; and with all the AI breakers floating about having cards you can't throw back in R&D easily is just a liability.

MCA Informant is specific tech against Film Critic, who still seems to be a popular splash. Never had to play it once in my matches though. Eh. I'd regret not having it. Two Consulting Visits also mean I don't feel bad for only having two copies of all my other operations.

The true stars of the show, however, are Tithonium and Wraparound. You don't even need as many operations to snipe their rig if they're unprepared for a Tithonium; and hearing a runner groan as you rez that third Wraparound is well worth it.

Unexpected star is the Utopia Fragment. I was expecting it would only ever be used as bait. Scored it in two games. Those Oaktowns suddenly became NAPD Contracts after I installed them. Delicious.

Feels like it's about time to discuss the games, yeah?

Game 1 - vs Apex

Ah, Apex. This deck was piloted by the Helsinki Regionals champ. Always a pleasure to play against him and watch him play.

I played against his Apex in the old meta, a very close game where he won with a Mad Dash. I was a bit fearful of the Apocalypse coming late enough to ruin my game plan, but it was not to be for Apex today. For he ran at an agenda and faceplanted my Tithonium guarding it. Having only scored an Oaktown by that point, I spent the 9 credits to rez it. Out goes his Reaver and his game plan slows right down. I score out that Utopia and another Oaktown for a surprisingly quick game.

Game 2 - vs Laramy Fisk

I encountered a Fisk deck during my recent trip home to Australia at a casual night in the Melbourne meta. I didn't know what to expect. I got dominated. But now that my game plan is all about drawing cards and making the game quick, Fisk just helped me out there quite a bit instead. He was running all the spicy tech too - HQ Interface and Gang Sign. HQ was clearly not the safest place for my agendas.

Baiting archives with Hostile Takeovers wasn't working though, so I eventually Preemptive'd them back in to R&D. A bit of hilarity happened when I Hatchet Job'd his Aumakua back to Salem only to discover he had a second one in hand at the time. Eventually he got a Mammon on board and started to be a threat. It was getting pretty hairy, I was getting close to being decked and no one was winning.

And then he dropped a surprise Black File. Spicy. I pushed out a Hostile Takeover to bring me to 7 and let him know he has a time limit on the game. He's convinced I have agendas in HQ though and keeps hammering with Mammon. Every time a Fisk fires, I keep pulling operations in and returning any agendas I find thanks to the Daily Business Show I had rezzed. And he keeps getting multi access... and on the last possible access he could make, he still manages to not hit the Oaktown I've had in there for several turns. That's some bad luck right there. GG. Fisk seems like a power player these days though. Keep an eye on that slippery crim.

Game 3 - vs Sunny

First time facing Sunny. Only lasted ten minutes thanks to the marathon CI game I played (check my Smoke deck for that story). My Wraparounds were as good as Vanillas to her Sherman, but it didn't matter. I pulled Hostile Takeovers, scored them as I pulled them, and he kept coming up blank on his runs. 2 points after ten minutes to me and I win the game on time.

Overall

This deck still has teeth. Correction. This deck is like our man Jaws from James Bond. His teeth are sharper, pointier, and have more comedic value in the sequel. Cheers to @podoboyz99 and you other crazy bastards involved in making the original deck.