Maktaba - 1st At Dark Sphere, London Regional

I've been messing around with a few corps since CV/Zero started hitting tournaments hard and always ran into the same issue: 5 points is easy(ish) 7 points is super challenging, and flatline is even harder unless I get ace early draw. So I asked myself: how do I turn an early game advantage into a late game one?

Well, turns out nisei is as good as it has ever been if you score it early.

Econ: Pretty standard setup, if you're on less than 8 your facecheck threat (bar cortex lock) is low, which means your ID threat is low so maintaining good money is a must. Celebrity gift is occasionally useful to break the 5c/8c barrier but often you don't want to reveal what your Mti install could be or what CV will hit, good in a pinch. Marilyn, had a spare inf and a spare slot in assets so added this, can be surprisingly useful to gain whilst you're placing elsewhere and most critically will get out of the single remote punishment free when it's nisei time.

Upgrade - Batty, whilst cortex lock is a pet card of mine and cortex lock flatlines from 4c are always nice he's mostly there to either end the run or force an excalibur fire (swiftly followed by a nisei). I preferred over code replicator due to the flexibility in use and the deterring "if this fails, you'll have to do the whole server again".

Operations: nothing special, pre-emptive for NGO everytime, Scarcity is a good card especially early game.

Ice: fairly standard to Mti with a few modifications. Surveyor is obviously good, and news hound is a sod to break (and especially delicious if the runner activates it with emp strike). Thimblerig and Excalibur can punish the runner heavily (and repeatedly) for not running an AI and IP block punishes if they do. Rez<break cost on most of these for anarch.

Agendas: 3x Nisei and 14 other points. Obokata over GFI because influence and mandating a cortex lock/DNA break (or some serious overdraw). I opted for SSL over TFP as more money is always nice and if the runner is in a position to steal off central often they can poke over and over until they win the psi game, might consider swapping though nonetheless.

Had a very fun day playing against a lot of very fun people in a very boiling room. Big shoutout to Alex for doing so well on Wu and a brain draining sports day deck and to Tagore for running the day so efficiently and effectively

Maktaba apparently means "library" in Swahili :)