Freedom Fries - 2nd Belgian Nationals

How people usually react when I mention my favorite smashy boi is good

via GIPHY

The reality after he smashed his way to 2nd and 7th in Belgian nats

via GIPHY

Why are you playing Freedom? Isn't Val just better?

My response to this is usually a polite smile, shrug, and something along the lines of "I just like the uniqueness of his ability" which while true, is selling this deck short. I really do consider Freedom to be on par with Val in a varied field, since it's significantly better vs Weyland and Ctm. I won't repeat the usual pro/cons since Val lists have been debated endlessly already, but I will dispel some common fallacies I keep hearing:

• Freedom's economy is slower and worse: You play nearly all the same econ cards as Val in a 45 card deck, so I don't follow how this is true. The BP from Val helps to break ICE, but you know what's a cheap way of breaking ICE as well? Smashing it. Also Yusuf, is a really really efficient breaker. Mti is worse, since BP especially with successful mining accident does a lot of work for Val. The 2 david and 2 sucker in my view do make up for this at least partially.
• You have to build around the ability too much to make it work: Again, compare the list with that of other Anarch decks. It's ~40 of the same cards with Yusuf being the only specific include. I play more david to offset breaking expensive ICE, and datasucker iso carver. Also, there's a bunch of 0 cost things you want to trash which require no setup whatsoever.
• The ability is not impactful enough to give up playing Val: You gain a lot of value against ctm, which is arguably the best corp since you can contest their board much easier and have a better out when going tagme if you find their 2 EOI and psycho. Against weyland, you gain huge value running HQ since you trash their econ warfare/HHN/HPT/TBTF and they can't afford ICEing it without giving up value on RnD or weakening the remote. Mti is your worst matchup for sure, but even trashing a crucial piece of ICE or Scarcity can go a long way.

To me, all of this sounds worth trying over 50 cards and a BP.

What's that falsified credentials doing in the deck??

It's anti-Mushin tech, since that card tilts me like no other and I was sure @ryanbantwins would be playing it. Turns out he wasn't, and I didn't get to play the scary mushin deck which made the top 8. Had some success with it sniffing out a fly on the wall in one of the cut games, and 2 times in swiss to confirm whether an IAA was worth stimhacking. I'd just play a career fair and extra turtle instead in hindsight, but I still think it's a fun card.

So how did the deck do?

Swiss 4-1, wins vs Mti, Ctm, Argus x2 and loss vs Mti. Top8 win vs Azmari, and loss vs Ctm (I'll never hear the end of that one). Overall very pleased, Mti loss I got stuck under early scarcity and made 2 wrong calls on what was in the remote. I lost my first and only game against Ctm at the hands of @massisi who basically flopped the nuts. Being the strong player he is, he subsequently buried me in tags before I could smash his ops.

Thanks to all Belgian players, specifically Driesel, Ron Zacapa ( <3), Clercqie, Q, SmokeElmo and Noobface (you know who you are). Also huge props to @massisi for winning the whole thing, and all the Brits for making the trip. Lastly, thanks to @clusterfox for organising, I had a blast.