Wall Street - 2nd Swiss and 13th overall @ Euros 2018

419 is the newest apprentice of practised scammer and pension scheme embezzler; Hernando Cortez. Having taught Four Nineteen all he knows, our scammer hero is ready to take to the stock markets and scam the corps for all their worth.

Four Hundred Ten Nine was easily my best performing deck of the day and cruised through swiss with all the effort of a champagne soaked affair at the penthouse of the Earthrise Hotel. Beating Tennin, Argus, Skorpios and CTM this deck was a pleasure to play all weekend.

Round 1 - Tennin

Fairly new player as I remember but still Tennin is a MU that could pose significant problems for our budding rogue trader. Anansi is in faction and is the mortal enemy of every scammers dreams of cruising through corporate servers to get valuable insider info. Luckily early accesses and remote pressure got me to 6 points quickly allowing me to set up and dictate the pace of the game and eventually pick up the winning agenda.

Round 2 - Argus Security

Obviously my early successes attracted some unwanted attention from the old boys of Jinketi cos they sent some Weyland goons after me, lead by none other then my closest testing partner Twisty B aka Andi. Of course you cant get anywhere in finance without making a few friends then betraying those same friends only hours later. 400 10 9 capitalised on Twisty B's poor opening to control the score and maintain a smooth credit advantage. Our partnership with Citadel Sanctuary proved crucial in turning Andi's habit of trying to send me a high explosive welcome package into a source of valuable income. Falsified Credentials kept me once step ahead of all Andi's ruses (let it be known, you can't out ruse the rusefus). And it was all over once the man Hernando himself made an entrance.

Round 3 - Skorpios

So here's where I think my good fortune was too good even for CDXIX's standards (and believe me keeping yourself in coats as fine as his means you have very high standards). More Weyland goons, piloted by a Swede this time, were made short work of by most skilfully (and definitely not through the very unfortunate luck of my opponent not to draw a single Hunter Seeker) picking 6 agenda points. Adding insult to injury Hernando made her rez a Spiderweb for 7 credits. To counter my early Turtle a last ditch was made on her part by advancing a Hortum 3 times and going for an Atlas. However I had the Femme to counter, and that was that.

Round 4 - CTM

By now I was cackling over my good fortune to face possibly 419s best MU in the later stages of the tournament. If Anansi is 419s mortal foe, then Power Tap is to CTM what true nightmares are made of. By the end of the game my very nice Welsh opponent showed me that the remote he had declined to rez all game was comprised 3 IP Block. This game also had the best show case for Embezzle where I played all 3 over the course of the game. First Embezzle hit Closed Accounts. 2nd hit another operation. 3rd hit the Sea Source and the Exchange and probably all hopes my opponent had of winning.

From there it was late, I was tired and Four Ten Nine had done enough. Unfortunately by the time the cut came it turned out Four One Nine had neglected to disclose what breakers he was playing in his deck list... at all. A more fitting end for an amoral scammer if there was one.

Thanks for reading this ponderous write up. Quick acknowledgements:

Andi - thanks for being a great testing partner and a great asset to London Netrunner

Lane - thanks for convincing me to put the maestro Hernando in my deck.

Tagore - For keeping me in the game when I was thinking of selling up last year

Catherine - For giving me the skeleton list that this is largely derived from

Chris Dyer - For giving Catherine the list that she gave me and also for buying me a Toastie when we ID, I promise to pay you back on my word as a scammer.

The London Bell - For being by my side all through this crazy run and causing confused looks from Europeans and anguish and pain from Swifty.

Patrick aka Rotom - For being a fellow scammer, a good friend and winning the whole damn thing for scammers everywhere.

All the London crew - for being the best community in Netrunner

All the judges - for dedicating your time and energy to selfless pursuit of giving others great netrunner games.

To all Netrunners - You're the best, you deserved this more than me, you'll do better next time I promise.