When in Rome... - 19th @ UK Nats 2024

... do NOT do as the Romans do. It's a bait. Make them think they know what you're doing, then hit them with something different to flip the game on its head, confuse the hell out of them and gain some serious advantage.

Alternative deck names:

• Better Identity Program

• A Rad Oddish

Most people will recognize this as very reminiscent of London's and AnOddRadish' Stop Hitting Yourself R+ list. I had been playing Gatekeeper, Tranquility Home Grid and even Tatu-Bola in NBN for quite some time with Offworld Office and Artificial Cryptocrash, but seeing Better Citizen Program in action sold me on it.

You might disagree with the choice of ID. "Why are you not playing R+, you get money whenever they play a run event or install a breaker! It's easily better than Azmari!" ... I don't think so? See, my issue is that R+ mostly gives you money back once the deed is done, which makes it kinda ass. We are not an AR-Enhanced Security deck, where cards will get trashed and the draw actually matters a ton. Plus, I think you need the money upfront to get the damn BCP scored in the first place. The added benefit of forcing the Runner to take somewhat inefficient lines to play around the ID early game also helps you get some more advantage early on. Besides, if you know you bounced a pair of breakers you can just call Program, if you just call Event you're gonna make money on run events either way, even without the big bad agenda scored.

Some specific slots mentions:

• Pharos: this bad byatch makes Propeller really sad and can be advanced with Holo Man, making it a pretty solid choice for Shaper games together with...

• AMAZE Amusements: this is great for making people actually go tagme, like it happened to Seamus on Lat in round 8. It almost won me the game, though I was a little unfocused there at the end and missed a solid line. Triggers Tranquility Home Grid and lets you bait a little, what's not to love?

• Hydra: this is mostly a remnant of the Tatu Bola days where you were uber rich, it should probably be a 3rd Starlit Knight.

• Project Beale: we lose on 4 steals and win on 3 scores because this is the OG Global Food Initiative, while also opening up the door to some FA lines to close out the game by having multiple 3/2s.

Tournament record was 3-2.

Game 1 - win against RoseKolodny on Rielle “Kit” Peddler: Transhuman. She is a little slow setting up, draws Lobisomem at the wrong moment, BCP gets scored making it even harder to get on the board and I just close out in a few turns with little trouble.

Game 2 - loss against davz131 on Esâ Afontov: Eco-Insurrectionist. The matchup is really fun for me if I get a BCP early, which doesn't happen. I draw all the tag cards and keep milling the punishment while he floats and appears to draw all he needs to put me in a hole and does that masterfully, slowly but surely.

Game 3 - win against Kikai on Steve Cambridge: Master Grifter. I know very well what he's trying to do - but he appears to start very slowly and without Tsakhia "Bankhar" Gantulga. I score the first BCP, then the second, then a third before even a single Diversion of Funds is played. I'm still a little worried of losing to singles while he goes tagme, but manage to pull it off in the end.

Game 4 - loss against Seamus on Lat: Ethical Freelancer. I get a good start, vital against the scourge of the meta, with an early Pharos on the remote. After getting early points, AMAZE Amusements Ping make him to go tagme, but I cannot find the second Starlit Knight to seal centrals. After a big Self-Growth Program bounce he discards a bunch of crucial tools for the remote and I hesitate just a turn too long to push an agenda there, tunneling a bit on finding my Shipment from Vladisibirsk, losing to a Trick Shot just a second before drawing it.

Game 5 - win against not_yeti on Lat: Ethical Freelancer. Funniest game of the day. I get some points early, he manages to clear my Holo Man and Tranquility Home Grid remote going to 0 only to get big Oppo'd. What follows after that is him going tagme, getting a couple singles by throwing Revolver bullets at Knights for a while, ending the game with zero points, on 14 tags and with basically no ways of getting accesses on centrals. I take the longest time to close it because my Shipment from Vladisibirsk is in the bin and Spin Doctors don't show up, so I have to double FA with Holo Man from a remote that isn't really safe at all yet.

The entire trip was a blast and easily in my top 3 of favorite tournaments ever, being the first time in the UK and in a TAIB airbnb. I'll treasure all the memories and memes for the longest time, can't wait to do all that again.