Mushcalibur (9th at Helsinki Regionals)(My first regionals)

My first (and sadly last) official regionals since I got into running only 3 months ago.

This list is based on Mti Mushin by Persopheus and I really enjoyed playing this. As I'm fairly new in Netrunner, any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Main idea of the deck is to offer opponent 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' -scenarios with available cards. You can also play mind games with this but it is better than mind games to Mushin Obokata and either win by score or flatline whatever path runner takes. And of course kill the runner with faceplant -Cortex Lock if given the chance. If your hand can rush out early SSL Endorsement with some good ICE to protect it, you usually find a window to score another 5/3 sooner or later, otherwise just build up resources and board state while waiting for the scoring window.

In the regionals I made some serious beginner mistakes on both sides and not being familiar with all the deck archetypes really hindered my game but I still had great time and I'd like to give really big shoutout to all the players in the tournament for being so supportive and encouraging.

Agendas: This suite is the way to go with this built (IMHO). It means runner has to steal three and you have to score three agendas or two 5/3s and gene splicer that was sitting on the table all along from round1. Chronos Project can win you the game and even if stolen it makes runners much more careful. This deck needs money so much, it is sometimes worth considering (though not always the way to go) to offer them a costly run to steal SSL in order to open window for something else.

Asset: NGO and Rashida are base economic assets that you can also use to bait expensive runs. If runner does not bite, consider IAAing 5/3 on the table (at least if you have some good ice in hand to protect it. Gene Splicer doubles as a trap and possible final score (sometimes also as Tithonium rezzer, but most of the time not).

Upgrade: Basic idea of Daruma is to make runner access either something worthless or lethal. The dream is to combine this with Mti:d Excalibur to win the game, but I did not have a chance to do it ever so might be too inconsistent.

Operations: Economic ones for money. Scarcity to make runner lose tempo and clear currents. Punitive/Consulting Visit to flatline too eager runner. Mushin opens up wide array of options for both traps and scoring but the precise use depends on the board state and what kind of opponent you are playing against.

ICE: Majority of the suite seems to be what is needed but still not certain about the minor tweaks. There is good combination of cheap and expensive faceplant -ice but this is bit poor on the cheap etr-area. It could be better to go with two copies of either Himitsu-Bako or Thimblerig but I couldn't settle on either beforehand.

Formicary combines nicely with Id ability and/or Obokata Protocol. Just create a new remote when drawn and you can surprise runner with 2 or more new ice on a run.

I really like Sadaka as an idea to snipe critical resource out is compelling and on the other hand I have been able to do it only once. I'd consider another Excalibur or Daruma for consistency but on the other hand I'd like to keep this in as well.