Luck to Burn (2024 East Canadian National Champion, 4-4)

I present to you… a pretty basic Spark of Inspiration Kit. This is more of a tournament report / ramble.

My Corp deck was, one-for-one, Dial EA for Murder. EA Sports certainly understand that it’s in the game, and I owe them for the list. (That said, I despise how good it is and how many lines it has to fork Runners. Azmari EdTech: Shaping the Future is a university that wants to kill you, and it will. I went undefeated on Azmari in both Swiss and top cut, and that is a big part of how I managed to win.)

How Kit Almost Cost Me The Love Of My Life

In 2015, I found myself really interested someone. We were about to embark on a two-month shoot, Kate had just come on as production manager, and she was so damn competent. We clicked. So I promptly blew it by inviting her to a show and failing to show up because Rielle “Kit” Peddler carried me into my very first top cut at the 2015 Store Champs. Disruptions to the tournament venue meant it went WAY too long, I felt awkward dropping, and I was just late enough to the theatre that they wouldn’t let me in. A Kit deck won me a Kit playmat, but I sat in the theatre lobby and tried to think up how I could apologize for standing this incredible person up on our not-a-date-but-who-are-we-kidding.

Kate didn’t hold it against me.

Fast forward nine years, and my now-fiancee has awoken from a nap to me lying next to her, agonizing over what to bring to East Canadian Nats while staring at NetrunnerDB on an iPad. We’re staying at our friends’ place in Scarborough the day before the tournament. So Kate whispers in my ear, “Let’s jam a few games, so you can lock in, and stop stressing out.”

I’m the luckiest card-playing idiot in the world.

How I Let Kit Down By Making Dumb Choices

I’d been testing Spark of Inspiration Kit but with a few modifications that, in retrospect, were less-than-great. I removed Bahia Bands, one Pinhole Threading, Ashen Epilogue, and Miss Bones for Bravado, DJ Fenris, and Overclock. I wanted money; I wanted to beat Punitive Counterstrikes. And for some reason I didn’t anticipate too much Jinteki: Personal Evolution or Haas-Bioroid: Precision Design.

Fully one third of the tournament were on those two IDs, and they’re the only Corps I played against in the cut.

Whoops.

My Kit went 4-4 across both Swiss and the cut, but that’s still a higher-than-average win rate for Runners at the moment.

Here’s how it went.

---

How I Found Enough Luck in TorSaug Day 1

Firstly, every player got some gorgeous alts of Mimic, Mitosis, and Trick Shot. (I’m convinced that the Mitosis and Trick Shot were responsible for the heavy representation of Jinteki PE and Shaper.)

(Those in Top 8 got these in foil, too, which just makes for them to be DOUBLY cool.)

Immediately I swap the Trick Shots in, because I’m no fool. Scott Uminga art feels like a good luck charm.

In Netrunner, a good portion of your games are going to be determined by sheer luck. It’s important to recognize when you need to give yourself up to luck and hope.

Round 1: Mikhail (Jinteki: Personal Evolution and Rielle “Kit” Peddler: Transhuman)

I’m fed an early Sting!, but Kit eats a triple-advanced Cerebral Overwriter and I’m taking three core. Aniccam is nowhere to be seen. I’m in serious trouble and it’s just the first round. That’s when Mikhail plays yet another Mitosis, and now I know I’m forked. A Sting! or Fujii Asset Retrieval will kill me if scored on his turn. A trap will kill me. Kit’s dazed, she’s had half her brain erased, and all she remembers is how to play pool.

So I give in to luck, because to play tentatively would be a definite loss. I overdraw and Trick Shot with three cards left in hand. I rip a Fuji off the top of R&D, lose the rest of my hand, and then pick the Mitosis’d Fuji on the table to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Kit’s essence disappears into the ether of the Net, but at least she got seven victory points before she went, and that counts.

An alternate-timeline Kit (Mikhail’s) goes to university and gets flatlined. We’re killing Kit all over the place. Mikhail and I have plenty of time left in the round, so we play a few more reps of Kit vs. Azmari since there are two others floating around the tournament. Mikhail’s got an infectious sense of humour and was a great first opponent, so I can feel the adrenaline bleed from me a bit.

Round 2: Brandon - The King Himself - Hoshiko Shiro: Untold Protagonist and Azmari EdTech: Shaping the Future

Oof. Normally, the idea of facing a version of Azmari is going to be unpleasant. But it’s The King, and that means two things:

• There’s likely to be spice
• You’re grinning while he decimates you because his nickname comes from, as far as I know, his awesome energy and attitude at the table

And I was right. Kit did not survive. I’d say it was my fault, but Azmari is BRUTAL, so I’m not sure what else I could have done in this matchup. Sometimes you assemble Exodia.

But in return, I killed the Magical Girl. Brandon and I were both hoping for the chance to enter IDTown (thanks a ton, DSS) but looks like we shattered each other’s hopes. We enthusiastically wish each other well for the remainder of the tournament. I resolve to do the best I can to help The King’s SoS.

Round 3: Zack - Jinja Precision Design and Sebastião Souza Pessoa: Activist Organizer

I’ve played Zack before, in the Startup tournament at Worlds 2022, so I’m immediately pumped to sit down since Zack is just as fun to play against as my previous two opponents. Jinja PD successfully locked Kit out of the remote, and I could not for the life of me get Cataloguer to find any agendas. (Here, I knew my best chance was to hammer centrals, since the remote was going to be impossible to crack more than once. There’s two Surveyors and a Seidr Adaptive Barrier on it, for crying out loud.)

But Sebastião went to university, and we know how that ends.

Zack lays claim to one of the coolest hairstyles in TorSaug and an easygoing laugh to match. Seriously, if it isn’t clear already, go play Netrunner in Toronto. They’ve got cool folks over there.

Round 4: Ark1t3kt - Haas-Bioroid: Precision Design and Zahya Sadeghi: Versatile Smuggler

Zahya doofs me right off the bat, but I manage to recover economically while she gets set. My first chance to kill her is thwarted by Ark1t3kt installing Andromeda over Andromeda, thus escaping Punitive Counterstrikerange. The university is well-funded, however, and thus they can still afford to give scholarships for their flatline program to those who steal from them. I still eke out a kill (though I don’t remember how).

But the real battle here is my Kit against a very solid PD list. I have all the econ that I would need in the world, but I cannot find card draw — and thus I cannot find my breakers in time. Ark1t3kt is clever and stacks his remote with three barriers, so it’ll be even harder to crack it open on someone who isn’t running a real fracter. The remote becomes an absolute fortress, so I’m forced to find luck in my pivot to ripping cards from R&D. Cataloguer decides that I don’t deserve to see agendas.

Ark1t3kt is a thoughtful player who I really enjoyed breaking the game down with afterwards. I immediately get the impression that this guy has a shot at the title.

Round 5: Shane - AgInfusion: New Miracles for a New World (2-4-1)

Before the match I try to figure out with Andrej whether or not I should attempt an ID or 2-4-1. He encourages me to play. I’m tired at this point (I spent way too much time at the Rec Room in downtown Toronto the night before, because I’m a responsible adult), and so when Shane offers a 2-4-1, I realize that it’s probably my best option. Especially since there’s a 50-50 chance I’ll play Azmari, which is undefeated so far.

Instead, I must play Kit. And she’s 1-3 at this stage. Oops. Also: no one in my meta plays AgInfusion. They just don’t. I’m not sure why. I very, very rarely play on Jinteki.net, so my exposure to the ID is pretty limited.

But I resolve to play as best I can, slowing my pace down (we only have to play one game in the round, after all) and trying not to make mistakes. That turned out in my favour; Shane unfortunately forgot at one point that he had only one card in HQ, thus turning off Anoetic Void. This cracks the game open, so calm steady play meant that Kit came clutch when it counted. She went 2-3 on the day.

Shane was quite gracious in defeat and I hope I get the chance to play again with him soon. He’s a tricky player to get a read on, which means he’s born for Jinteki.

My Strength of Schedule puts me at the top of Swiss. I faced a heck of a gauntlet to get to the end of Day 1. Brandon IMMEDIATELY comes over to me and thanks me, since he’s been IDing and still made top cut (while others did not — there was a 10-way tie for first place).

Kate has wandered to the venue to meet me, so we leave together. In the wealth of food options that exist in Toronto, we opt for the Swiss Chalet close to where we’re staying, since it’s late, we’re hungry, and apparently we have no appreciation for culture. It was so damn delicious.

(Maybe it was because I was just brain-dead after playing such high-intensity Netrunner.)

---

Day 2: How the Love of My Life Gave Me Kit

A subway outage stranding some players delayed the start of the top cut, so I sit, relax, and take a deep breath. I figure I’m playing with house money, now. No matter the outcome, I’m already feeling great about my experience so far.

Game 1: Mikhail Redux - vs Rielle “Kit” Peddler: Transhuman

As the higher seed, I choose Corp, because it is by far my stronger deck this tournament thus far. I lucksacked my way to victory against Mikhail’s very strong PE in round 1 the day before, and I don’t want to test my luck THAT badly.

I realize, however, that I went over the best strategies against Azmari with Mikhail yesterday, too. Whoops.

He gets Aniccam down, steals Reeducations1, then 2, and know I can’t rip through him with a double Punitive… but I can mandatory topdeck to TRIPLE-Punitive Counterstrike him. And credit-perfect, too. I can’t believe my luck. The third Punitive Counterstrike was the only out I had, and I drew it.

Luck, folks. I don’t think I could’ve closed out the game with Mikhail on six points and a stable board. But “that’s Netrunner” just kept sounding in my head.

Game 2: chouxflower - vs Jinteki: Personal Evolution

I’m a deep lover of Netrunner artistic expression, and chouxflower has it in spades. Consistently one of the best-looking setups, whichever playmat, alt-arts, and even phone cases she’s choosing to rock. And she’s written flavour text for cards we’re playing. The Netrunner cred runs deep. Good thing she’s as fun as everyone else seemingly is in TorSaug.

I struggle to find the pieces I need and chouxflower is double-Bladderworting me into oblivion. A House of Knives is doing damage, too. My stack is shrinking fast. Each time I draw up to stay alive, another crucial piece gets nabbed: a Diesel here, an Aniccam there, DJ Fenris (dammit)… it all goes away. I cut Ashen Epilogue, but in this game, I’m CERTAIN it would have hit the bin anyways.

I stabilize just enough to destroy the Hostile Architecture that’s been protecting those Bladderworts, trash both of ‘em, and I know I can stay alive a few more turns.

Except my stack is empty.

And I have two cards left in hand.

All I have scored is a Blood in the Water and a Sting!.

So. I’m facing complete annihilation. Last time against PE, Kit only remembered how to play pool. This time, she doesn’t remember ANYTHING. I decide to not give up, but go out in a blaze of glory. I run R&D.

House of Knives, steal. One card left in my grip.

Run again. Blood in the Water, steal. No cards left in my grip.

Since we’re playing in a church basement, I can faintly hear the choir above us singing.

Run a third time. I do not remember what agenda it was, but it was an agenda, and that meant I stole the right agendas, in the right order, ripped three times consecutively off the top of R&D. My Kit, again, dematerializes in the Net, but not before she wins the game.

I get up and walk around a bit. And chouxflower is JUST AS KIND AS MIKHAIL. My last move in both those games were impossibly lucky, but they’re both exceptionally gracious to me anyways.

(I know that it’s disingenuous for me to imply that I won purely out of luck. Both players are facing luck. And you have to play to your outs. I’m still feeling like I’ve been granted some odd blessing at this point.)

But my luck’s about to change.

Game 3: Ark1t3kt - Haas-Bioroid: Precision Design, again.

I’ve already lost to this deck once. We both grin and reminisce about the previous game: where things went right and wrong for us both. His recall of the game is superb. We both shuffle for what seems like five minutes.

This game starts similarly to the last one: lots of economy, less card draw, but I stabilize faster and keep him from running away with things. I Trick Shot into R&D when he’s at 4, I’m at 2. I steal a 2-pointer on the first card accessed, but the second is an Ikawah Project. I would win… if I had a click remaining.

When Ark1t3kt draws it, he makes a face. He knows that I know it’s there, and that it likely isn’t safe in the remote just yet, either. So he draws up to protect it in HQ. I run several times in there to try and find it, but I just can’t. He slaps the Ikawah in the remote once he knows he has me locked out of there. I desperately try to find the second Ikawahin R&D, not knowing that it was ALSO in HQ, and I just missed it.

My luck has turned. I lose this game and I get sent to the loser’s bracket while Ark1t3kt gets to wait for the grand final.

I leave the venue. I want to buy a Sharpie so I can get alt-arts signed. I also eat a quesadilla. Soon after I’m pinged on Discord: they’re ready for me in Loser’s Final.

Game 4, Loser’s Finals: Mikhail - vs. Kit THRILLOGY

I have to hand it to Mikhail: he comes in smiles even though he has to face against this jerk of an Azmari deck for a THIRD TIME.

Well. Actually, the sixth. Remember, we played practice matches after Day 1 Round 1.

I swept Mikhail the first round in Day 1, and he battled his way back into Top 8. I handed him his first loss game 1 in the cut. And here he is, battled back once again, and I have to—

— fork him with Exodia. (Two Punitives, just in case.)

Mikhail, one day, I hope we get to play again, and you get to grind my face into mush with some other degenerate kill deck.

Game 5, Grand Final: Ark1t3kt - vs. Zahya Sadeghi: Versatile Smuggler

I beat this Zahya once before, but it was close. I’m happy to be playing Ark1t3kt again, because the previous games were so fun, but I’m worried about my chances. I’m also worried that I have only so much mental energy remaining.

I start the game by overdrawing for some value off Your Digital Life, and chuck two Send a Messages into Archives with a Spin Doctor on the table.

Zahya runs Archives. No way.

I do some mental math. I have the Punitive Counterstrikein hand and can kill if he has no protection (either through massive credit gain or another Class Act rescue). I could just Spin the agendas away and hope for a more decisive kill.

But I know that I need to retain enough mental energy to survive against the upcoming battle against PD. I let him steal. He has no answer. I kill him on turn 3 with a single Punitive Counterstrike for 6 to the body.

We shrug. That game’s out of the way. Azmari has done its job for me and gone undefeated, but I still have one game to go.

Game 6, Grand Final: Ark1t3kt - vs. Haas-Bioroid: Precision Design

Half of my losses this tournament were to this deck, this pilot. I’m screwed. I feel like luck needs to be with me on this one, too, and I’m lucked out.

Especially since he scores four points early as I’m setting up. I drew BOTH my Lobisomem and Orca into hand in this matchup.

But I slow down. I start making jokes as I watch my three smoking podcasts tick down simultaneously. I’m joking because adrenaline is building, and I need to bleed it somehow. (I remember consciously thinking that I should only joke when it was my turn to think, so as not to disrupt my opponent’s play. I sure hope that’s what happened.)

I’m also joking because I think I’m going to lose, and I want to enjoy myself.

However, this is the game where I feel like I made my own outs instead of relying on luck.

I spent my lone Pinhole Threading on an obvious Rashida Jaheem. That could make the remote impossible to get into later through Manegarm Skunkworks and Anoetic Void, but I had to slow him down.

And then, with him on four points, he drops an agenda into the remote and advances it once. I know he has Seamless Launch in hand. I know that it’s an Anoetic Void AND a Border Control (and a spent Gatekeeper) protecting the remote. It’s an Ikawah Project for certain. I’ve got one turn to go, but I’ve been saving one card, just in case.

You have to give yourself your own outs sometimes.

Click 1: run the remote. Break through. He stops me with Anoetic Void. Three clicks left. Three cards in HQ.

Click 2: I play Burneron a Drafter-defended HQ. Two credits and I’m in, so I see all three cards: two Seamless Launches and an Architect Deployment Test.

The Launches go away. He can no longer fully advance the Ikawah and he’s low on credits

Click 3: I need him to burn the Border Control, and he does.

Click 4: I can no longer steal the Ikawah Project, since I don’t have a click to do so, so I go back into HQ to steal that ADT that is his only card there.

The following turn, I run in to trash the Anoetic Void and steal the Ikawah Project, since PD is low on creds, low on cards. I’m up to 5 points.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see that the friends I’m staying with, both who know nothing about Netrunner, have arrived after a 30 minute drive. They brought Kate and are watching. I have no idea when they showed up. (Turns out they walked in just about this point, so they arrived just in time.)

The next turn, I Trick Shot into R&D, get past three ICE (two Hagens), and use Cataloguer. I’m running low on funds and I don’t have many resources left (I had to ditch DJ Fenris earlier as I needed to keep that Burner). Cataloguer hasn’t been great all tournament…

… but it shows me two Offworld Offices in the four cards.

One more counter off the Cataloguer for the win. (I had an extra power counter on it, so I could have stolen the other one if necessary, but it was not.)

After I pulled myself out of my daze, I thanked the TO and flung my foil Azmari ID away from me. I hit Zeebag with it accidentally. That’s how graceful I am under pressure. Ark1t3kt signed the Burner that turned the tide, which was awfully kind of him.

Yeah, there was luck involved. But in all the games I played in the tournament, this was the one where I felt I made my own luck. I kept Burner because I figured I needed to take out Seamless Launches. I knew not to panic or give up even being down 4 points with the winning Ikawah Project sitting in a server protected by Anoetic Void AND Border Control.

That’s how a 4-4 Kit won East Canadian Nationals. Through giving myself enough luck to burn.

I have to thank all of my opponents over the course of these two days, because you proved to me that Netrunner has the best community, even as we’re all trying to kill each other.

The tournament judges and organizers did a fantastic job with the event, and I left with swag that rivals Worlds. You made all of the out-of-towners feel so welcome and you ran a hell of a show. All of TorSaug is amazing, and I can’t wait to see you swing by NANPC Montreal.

JT, Eric, how are you so supportive of me when you don’t even play the game? You’re both the best. Thanks for showing me a great time in Toronto!

But mostly, to the person I almost missed out on because of Kit nine years ago: Kate, you’re the one who settled me down, helped me test the decks, and encouraged me all the way. You’re the one who gave me the luck I needed to win.