A Smoke Supreme (2nd @ Polish Nationals, 7-2 overall)

This is pretty much my Ultimate Smoke (https://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/51553/the-ultimate-smoke-4th-both-wroc-aw-katowice-regionals-) adjusted to the current MWL.

The return of Clone Chips from the restricted list made the inclusion of Clot and substituting No One Home with a Misdirection pretty much a no-brainer. The option to reuse SMCs also justified the third Stimhack.

The MWL's separation of Skorpios from Hunter Seekers and PUs from Obokatas made the Swiss Army Knife of Silver Bullets that is Film Critic less of a priority, so I went for just a single copy, slotting another Ghost Runner for some early aggression instead.

The changes above left me with an unacceptable number of 41 cards, and I figured the least powerful one must have been Interdiction, assuming my opponents would play around it anyway.

Here comes a short recap of my games with this deck during the Polish Nationals:

SWISS:

Round One: WIN vs Robert (on 6-Agenda Azmari)

I decided to pretty much ignore the Azmari ability and go for an aggressive setup, but an early access of Degree Mill made me shuffle an SMC and Refractor back into the stack and slow me down much more than I would have liked. As a result, my opponent managed to score an SSL Endorsement and a Degree Mill, while securing RnD with double Endless EULAs! An Indexing into Stimhack got me an SSL, but my opponent being at 6 points meant that I had to check everything he put on the remote out of fear of an Echo Chamber. I was nowhere near that kind of economy, so I just went for a glory Turning Wheel run on RnD to access six cards... which gave both my opponent and myself a heart attack, as the winning agenda was obviously the card number 6!

Round Two: LOSS vs Dagguh (on 7-Agenda Pālanā)

This was the game where my Film Critic turned out to be an MCA Informant, allowing my opponent to score an Obokata Protocol pretty much uncontested. With Data Loops on both RnD and HQ I decided to just keep turning my wheel with zero cards in hand and see if I can get a non-Obokata agenda on a random access. An Indexing showing me a Breached Dome made me realize how insanely risky that was... but it also showed me a The Future Perfect. Unfortunately, one of the 3 ice on RnD turned out to be a Miraju, so the TFP ended up in my opponent's hand. In his turn Dagguh went IAA behind a 3-ice remote, which turned out to be a triple Kakugo! I had started the run with 3 cards in hand and drew one more mid-run with Net Mercur, so once I saw the third Kakugo I already knew I would die to a Gene Splicer, but if I jacked out and it turned out to be the TFP after all I would be both an idiot and a coward. So I proceeded and died a hero (and also an idiot).

Round Three: WIN vs Baltar (on FA Titan)

I won with a mix of Clot lock and sniping Hostile Takeovers from HQ while turning the wheel. In order to limit the TTW farm to one counter a turn my opponent decided to sacrifice a scored New Construction to rez an Archer, which was probably a good move, but also a desperate one. Pressuring centrals eventually gave me all the agendas I needed.

Round Four: WIN vs Jander (on Political Dealings MTI)

Having just lost a game with my corp due to being overly careful, I went quite aggressive in this one - which proved to be a very good idea, as my opponent started with three agendas and no ice. I got them all before he drew a DNA tracker - by which time I already had a Refractor and Cloak installed. The next ice would have been a Komainu, so I decided to unload my 4-counter TTW on RnD the turn before Jander could have it installed, and got the winning agenda as the card number 2.

Round Five: WIN vs Longi (on Azmari EdTech)

Same as before, I ignored the ability of Azmari and did not hesitate before playing Peace in Our Time to give 9 credits to me and 7(!) to my opponent. As a result, Longi had all the money in the world and then some more, but was unlucky to draw into nothing to spend it on. As a result, I could pretty much waltz through his servers consisting mostly of Wraparounds, Enigmas and IP Blocks to just collect any agenda that turned up.

Round Six: WIN vs Apo (on CTM)

Unable to contest Apo's assets, I focused on pressuring centrals, which gave me three points early on. At one point I ended up Hard-Hitting-Newsed with only 2 credits in my pool and 2 on Ghost Runner, but with no Misdirection. In that moment I made my most epic play on that day, running on unprotected Archives on click one to Clone Chip > SMC > Misdirection paying with the two Ghost Runner credits and gaining a Net Mercur credit in the process. That way I could credit up click two and have just enough to remove the tags. I was still extremely poor against an insanely rich opponent on 5 points, though, so I would probably lose if not for a misplay on his part, in the form of not rezzing an Amani Senai while I was going back to RnD after an Indexing. Having to reinstall pretty much any element of my rig would likely mean the end of the game for me, but I managed to maintain the RnD lock and get my two final agendas - and a place in the Top Cut!

TOP CUT:

Round One: WIN vs Apo (on CTM)

This game was much quicker than the previous one. I was able to score four points from centrals early on, before my opponent rezzed the Amani Senai. I was planning on Stimhacking her first click on my winning turn, but a last-minute card draw from Astrolable gave me an Indexing, so I went for RnD instead, seeing three more points. TTW counters allowed me to access them all in one click and make Amani bounces irrelevant.

Round Two: WIN vs Inermis (on FA Outfit)

My opponent managed to build a monstrous server with two Bulwarks in it and had me walk through it twice - once for an SSL and once for an NGO bait. There was no way I could get in for the third time, so when he was on four points and install-advanced something in it, I went for a deep dive into RnD. There was an unrezzed Bulwark on RnD that could have stopped me, but after advancing the agenda in the remote (which turned out to be an Atlas) my opponent was exactly one credit short. I failed to notice that, of course, and voiced my Bulwark-related concerns before the run, to the surprise of all spectators. In any case, the glory run gave me my winning agenda.

THE FINAL: LOSS vs Selverin (Mti Glacier)

My opponent played extremely well, and even though he started with all economy and little to no ice, he eventually managed to lock me out completely with a Nisei counter, a Bio Vault, and a Marcus Batty. This was also the first game during the tournament where I was short of stealth credits, as Selverin was smart to put either sentries or a DNA Tracker on all central servers to prevent me from farming the Net Mercur.

The tournament was absolutely amazing and I would like to thank all the great people I played against, as well as those who supported me in my first Netrunner finals ever. You guys rock!