I do apologize and need to say right away this post is going to be long. This isn't going to be a strategy write up on the deck. There are tons of great resources online about how to pilot this deck.

Instead of focusing on strats, I will be using this space to reflect on my time at worlds and share some of its magic with anyone who cares to listen.

I guess that makes it part journal and part write up of the event?

I will do my best to run through the matchups to recap them and to help me immortalize them in my own memory. Every single game I played at Runner was an absolute banger.

If you would like to see just how I did on the day, skip down to RUNNING HOT.

Mostly this is a journal so I would always have it on hand to remember. Worlds weekend will sit forever a treasured memory and one I don't want to forget.

======>Last Click?<======

Worlds 2018

I've been with the game since the beginning and Netrunner was something important to me in the before times. My meta (Humboldt County/Eureka) is a small pond and I was the chief organizer for my humble stomping ground. Although we never quite got more than ten people to play at its height, the game gave me a huge sense of belonging.

Shout out to @Spags who on a whim showed up to play against us bumpkins while on a family vacation!

When FFG announced the end of ANR, my tiny meta rallied. We held our last competitive event and my two die hard meta mates made the trek out to Magnum Opus so we could see the game off.

I wasn't all that proud of my showing on the day (the 200s). It wasn't my day, but I still had a great time making the journey with friends and playing against some really great opponents. I even got a game in against @Paranoid31 in swiss and got him to sign my card! Check it out!

====>Scorched Earth. <====

End of a playgroup

I was more or less done after Opus. I had some big life changes and with the pandemic my group had more or less evaporated after worlds. To make matters worse, two close friends of mine passed away in close succession and work kept piling on responsibilities.

I had heard a little bit about Null Signal's stuff, but I didn't have the time or brain space. My meta was gone and I didn't see much reason to play at all. The fire had run down.

I did try to catch some content every now and then from a few creators online. Andrej's content was great because I was getting in to Arkham at the time, but I felt Netrunner and time slipping away from me.

Years passed, my cards collected dust and I was getting ready to move to a new place. Looking to downsize I started to do an inventory of the game and prepped a listing to sell a lot of it online.

Out of the blue, one of my two old meta mates @Brainchipsahoy texted me to see if I wanted to play some Netrunner for old times sake.

With everything sorted I thought what the hell. Should be easy enough to get it back together to sell it when we play. After all, I missed the guy!

========>Rebirth<========

Back in the saddle again -

(shoutout to @ksodiya for the idea)

Coming back to the game was rough. My play was sloppy. Turns took forever and I had to basically relearn what every single card did. Under the rust, I could occasionally feel the muscle memory for tempo. Knowing when to dig and when to press, but it was a struggle.

Through it all, I gravitated back towards Anarch and quickly discovered that Esa and the suite of cards released around her were all in my wheel house. Being a punk-rock MaxX player from back in the day, I am all about those big runs! Cards like Raindrops and Bankhar made me fall in love all over again.

I was hooked.

We played a little bit off and on for a few weeks and then life kind of got in the way again. We fell out of practice and things kept rolling. That was until the worlds announcement in February.

======>Drawing Up<======

Montage

Okay, so San Fran is only a four and a half hour drive from me. I was having a hard time justifying the trip though. I am (still) in the midst of trying to sell a house and am strapped for cash.

It took some convincing for me to go and a lot of back and forth with my wife and @brainchipsahoy to get me on board with going to worlds. I didn't feel ready and the cost of going was going to be difficult.

With some pushing I came around in the last two months leading up to the event. I started binging Metropole Grid and getting in as much practice as I could in person with @brainchips. We talked shop and coached each other through a few parts of the game. I started creating goals and we built decks to test against so we wouldn't have as many surprises at the event.

The coat of rust was starting to shake off. I could feel it. I wasn't as ready as I wanted to be, but I was going to go to worlds and do better than I had last time. This time, my goal was to place in the top 100. By my count that would mean four or five victories on the day. I picked Anarch because it felt natural and I kind of just nabbed the first corp deck I felt comfortable with.

Together, chips and I decided Crowns would be a great way to cut our teeth after being out of the game for six years. Thanks to the discord, we found our third @ksodiya. Boy, was I glad we made the trip.

=====>Running Hot<=======

Worlds 2024

Chips and I left at 3AM from Humboldt County to arrive in the bay area on time for Crowns. Although I was super sleep deprived, Crowns was a great time and it was a fantastic warm up.

While I didn't do great at Crowns, I did have the chance to reflect on my play after the day. It was a great warm up and while my Corp game left something to be desired on the day, I felt like my runner game was great!

Round 1 Runner v @cocoro WIN

Cocoro was on a really fun restoring humanity regenisis with holoman. I had a lot of reps vs Jinteki and knew to keep my hand size over drawn so I could account for a random snare!. Because of that I was able to keep ahead of things and just keep the pressure up enough to win. Cocoro was an excellent opponent. He was fun to talk to and helped me get over my early morning jitters.

Round 2 was Corp v @nullromo WIN

I luck sacked into my tools as PD and won. PD being PD. My gearcheck ice held out and I drew all my pieces in the right order. Nullromo was on shaper (Lat I believe?).

Round 3 Corp v Ksodiya - LOSS

Ksodiya is such a gigachad! He had the air of a practiced player and he was my teammate the day before so I had seen him in action! He played a tight game and just handed me my ass. I had a great time and couldn't have asked for a better match to learn a few things. My lack of experience against criminals in my testing was evident and he ran circles around me. He ran 4019 and was the only criminal I faced all day.

Round 4 Corp vs Abyss - WIN

Corp game held out despite a few sub plays by me. PD did PD things. Thanks Abyss for helping me with a few gentle trigger reminders. I appreciated your patience. Abyss was on shaper, although I cannot recall if it was kit or lat.

Round 5 Runner vs Coldlava - WIN

Coldlava was a heck of a battle! He was on Asa big deal fast advance and I was sweating bullets on the last turn where a finality deep dive and sabotage won me the game. Absolute blast of a game! I love games that come down to the last click face off! You sir fought with honor! Thank you for a truly memorable game.

Round 6 Runner vs Mysterymerry - LOSS

@Mysterymerry's Torchic was great flair. I enjoyed our conversation about some of your passions in life. I was up against my favorite Weyland ID (The Outfit) and I laughed a ton in our game. Although I lost, I had a lot of fun watching credits shoot up and then back down as Mystery would rez something big and I would find an answer. In the end, my accesses werent enough and I got punitived, but I felt like I did fairly well! Thank you for the game and the magnet!

Round 7 Corp vs Chem - LOSS

I heard Ionfox mention later in the day he was given advice to skip lunch. Its a trap. Turns out, I need that trap now due to health issues, but I should have eaten lighter. Chem was on shaper and knew exactly what to do. He swept my legs and the game was over pretty quick. Good show Chem!

Round 8 Runner vs Sindarin - WIN

Sindarin was a lovely opponent to chat with and he was the only AgInfusion player I faced on the day. In testing I had A LOT of reps vs AgInfusion and I was able to keep my hand up. Highlight of the game for me was running through both a Saisentan and a Anansi for the game winning points in Archives off of a sabotage trigger. Sinadrin was a total class act. Thanks for sharing the bounty of your extra promos and the parlance of the humble credit! I hope I get to see you at Cascadia next year!

Round 9 Corp vs Ionfox - LOSS

Ionfox was playing Patchwork Hoshiko and was ready for everything I was bringing out. I had a fun time talking to him about his trip and his meta. I was a little sad that I didn't get to face him with my Esa deck though. He mentioned that he is the punching bag for perhaps the worlds best Esa and I wanted to see what I could learn from him!

Round 10 Runner vs Brianna - WIN

Brianna and I had a great chat about our similar interests before the game. Turns out we both love board games and play some similar games with partners. This was a close game. In the end, I just barely snuck out a win. It was close, but a lot of fun. Thanks for letting me pal around on Sunday Brianna! It was a lot of fun to watch the Root game you played with Lockemenos!!

Round 11 Corp vs Lockemenos - WIN

Alright, if there is one game I feel bad about winning it is probably this one. Locke was an excellent player and in the end thanks to a misplay on his part and a little bit of bad luck on an RNG access I walked away with a squeeker of a win. By all rights, he probably should of won. Thanks for the game Locke and thank you for teaching me how to play the game Compile on Sunday! I had a lot of fun hanging out with you and Brianna.

Saturday Wrap Up

My goal on day 1 was just to win 4. By the end of day 1, I was x and 4, but advancing to day 2. I had skyrocketed past my Opus performance and was now in open waters. That evening I had some greasy diner food and set a reasonable goal of winning 1 game in my 3.

Oh boy...

Sunday

Sunday hit me like a ton of bricks. The food did not agree with me at all and I slept awful. To make matters worse, I was feeling very ill going into my first match of the day. I kept down breakfast and was sipping water as I sidled up to my first opponent... Fi!

Round 12 Runner vs Fi - LOSS

Fi, it was really a pleasure to play with you and I hope you felt like you got a good game out of me. I was sleep deprived and my guts were churning from my indigestion, but I gave it my all. I made a messy play on the last turn that ran me into a six damage double punitive, something that I am still kind of kicking myself about because I saw the damn card off of the top of R&D. I had a good time and thankfully by the end of the match I wasn't feeling quite as sick. Fi was a great opponent and I remember chatting about your breakfast as well as your passions and your home vs mine. Thanks for humoring me and keeping me in good spirits.

Round 13 Runner vs iherdn3rfz - WIN

Iheardn3rfz's game was my highlight of the day. Not only was I feeling better, but I could actually formulate enough of a plan to play the tempo game against NBN. In the end, the game came down to the last two turns for me, wherein I managed to play four Running Hots thanks to Labor Rights and Esâ Afontov: Eco-Insurrectionist triggers. The sabo triggers won me the game. He was such a class act! When I mentioned my health issues, he offered me his personal cookies. Thank you iherdn3rfz for the cookies. They helped settle my stomach and set my diet back up right for the day so I wasn't going to be miserable. You really saved the day for me.

Round 14 Corp vs Booshy - LOSS

Booshy cleaned my clock. Complete blow out of a game, along with some sloppy plays with me due to my sleep. He also was on Kit and slapped down Lobi by turn 3. I wasn't keeping him out without some fancy play and I was running on fumes. In the end, he was a generous opponent and offered me a wooden boomerang token and talked a little about his role in the community.

Here is a final picture of my signed card from each opponent of mine from the weekend. You are all honorable warriors!

======>System Dawn<======

A Brave New World

I didn't think Worlds would have the effect that it did on me. When I left Humboldt, I was hoping to just clear top half and I had managed to finish 41, light years ahead of my placement at Opus. Now, I am planning to try and grow my playgroup again and plan my next tournament. I owe a lot of people thank yous.

Thank you to each and every TO, Judge and organizer who helped make Worlds possible. I didn't realize how much this game really meant to me until this weekend.

All of my opponents were kind and gracious to sign my swordsman. Thank you to you all for the games. I will carry the memories of our games forever.

Thank you to @ksodiya for agreeing to partner up with me and @brainchipsahoy for Wotan Clan CoS. We couldn’t have done it without you and I can't wait to see Cascadia in August!

And finally, thank you @brainchipsahoy. You are a wonderful friend and travel partner. Thanks for the hours of attention and practice that got me into fighting shape to compete and congratulations on your own placement in the top 100!