Valpocalypse (1st, Australian Nationals, 30/11/2019)

In the lead-up to Nationals, the Sydney crew tried a few different Runners (including the dreaded Liza), but ultimately @inactivist, @chickenslayer and I settled on Apoc Val. The deck had performed well at Worlds and in a number of recent tournaments and, at least from our limited testing, seemed to have decent matchups across the board.

The night before the tournament, @chickenslayer told me to cut the "cute cards" for more econ, which turned out to be an excellent suggestion. Dropping cards like Amped Up and some of the copies of Wanton and Stargate meant that the deck could fit Laundries and Stimhacks. That extra money allows the deck to more easily pivot to just being a good stuff Anarch if necessary (usually when the Corp commits too many ice/upgrades to centrals to reliably land the Apoc).

The deck went 5-1 over the course of the tournament, with the following matchups:

Round 1: Bye.

Round 2: Beat Gagarin.

Round 3: ID'd (but played and lost to Outfit).

Round 4: ID'd (but played and beat Azmari).

Round 5: ID'd (but played and beat Outfit).

Cut: Beat Argus, beat AgInfusion.