Get in the Bin (7th, AU Northern Nationals, 20/7/2024)

blindidiotgod, LockeGL and I took this list to the Australian Northern Nationals, where it went 6-5 for the three of us across the tournament.

Although a few more wins on the day would’ve been great, I still think that Esa is a solid choice in the current meta. Xir matchups are generally at least decent, and some have been very favourable for me (particularly Asa and PD).

The Spark of Inspiration was an idea that I shamelessly nicked from jan tuno, and I think that it’s a good one. It pulls double duty as a tutor and an econ card, and was invaluable in my game against Inactivist’s Glacier AgInf, allowing me to set up the Begemot / Laamb combo real fast and be able to challenge his remote right from the early game.

I’m happy with the list as is, but there’s still some room for tinkering:

• The Sure Gamble is a flex slot. I settled on it just to have a little bit more econ, but it could instead be something like a third Labor Rights, a Retrieval Run or a Mad Dash. blindidiotgod went with the latter option, and it was a game winner for him at least once!

• The Stoneship Chart Rooms are a meta call. They’re useful for kill matchups, but if you’re not concerned about those then I’d suggest spending the influence on a Legwork instead.

• Light the Fire! is another possible include, and LockeGL ran it in his list as a 46th card. I ultimately left it out because the deck already has two Pinhole Threadings for troublesome upgrades, and the HB matchups felt favourable enough to me anyway.

Lastly, Ashen Epilogue is a notable exclusion from this list. I think leaving it out and spending the influence on something else is the right call. I had it at APAC and didn’t play it once, and wouldn’t have played it in any of my games in this tournament either.

My results with the deck were:

Round 2 - Win vs R+.
Round 4 - Win vs AgInf.
Round 5 - Loss vs Ob.
Cut Round 1 - Loss vs AgInf.