Dear Mr. Bost -- 17th at Worlds

Dearest Mr. Bost,

You must know by now that it's over. There was a time that I found you lively, vivacious, with an appetite for adventure—the kind of man to run last click. But that time has passed, and I cannot suffer your presence anymore. You see, I've found a new man—a certain Mr. Muntal. He exudes confidence, adventure, charm, and sick rips off R&D. He's won my heart. Just last week, when I told you I was visiting my mother, I was actually accompanying him to Barcelona for a tryst... and, of course, to play competitive Netrunner in the 2023 Null Signal Games World Championship. How did it go? Glad you asked!

This list took me to 17th at worlds, which is way higher than I could have ever expected. Thanks to the lads for having such lively discussions about this archetype and convincing me to give it a shot at our pre-worlds CO. I absolutely floundered there but it gave me the experience I needed with the deck to do well in the real deal!

Bost has been tinkering with rush Ob since last meta, but the rotation of bin breakers presented the ability to terrify runners with every unrezzed ice. So this sort of mishmashes the best parts of our earlier lists and BathtOb. We're big believers in Seamless so ended up slotting that over Skunk.

Basic idea

• Stavka/Hafrún is messed up. Most runners are forced to find two breaking solutions for sentries before they can interact freely (simulchip notwithstanding). This gives you time to score SDS Drone Deployment off the table and snipe a key breaker. As such, this deck can afford to play a bit slower than its predecessors as its gearchecks are really really mean.
• Always keep a rezzed 3 cost card or a facedown upgrade on the board if you can. This forces them to respect the combo all the time.
• Try not to use Spin Doctor for tempo if you can help it. You'll need it to shuffle Hafrún back multiple times throughout the game.
• Don't go broke, and don't give BP too early if you can help it.
• Use Tucana for 2c and 4c ice, not 3c ice. I know it's tempting, but there aren't that many 3c targets and you want value from Border Control in late game. Exception to this is if you can't get a 3c ice rezzed and you need to put the fear of Stavka in your opponent.
• Don't pop Mavirus for Tucana like you would for other rushy Ob lists. Mav is way more valuable as a board threat.

What's new

• SDS Drone Deployment replaces our sweet child GFI. That said, SDS can be devastating in a bin breaker-less format. Early game you can often force the runner to make the hard decision.
• More Stavka! 3x lets you get the pressure set up so early or so evenly across servers. This card is crazy good; even making the runner pay 6c to break without a Hafrún connect is often worth the rez. Remember, you can always trigger it later with Mavirus.
• Hostile Takeover was a slot we debated internally. Several of us were fans, and the intercontinental champion was not :P. The argument against it is that increasing agenda density makes the deck more fragile to Hermes, but I ended up taking it because I feel like it gave me more outs in iffy games. I'm glad I included it, but it's possible that with better piloting it's entirely unnecessary.
• Sprint: My only complaint about this deck leading up to worlds was that sometimes your draw is really bad. All ice/no agendas or vice versa is not super uncommon. You need cards in a useful order for this deck to work. It also importantly can get Hafrún back in R&D where it belongs. Sprint saved my bacon I think twice during Swiss in that respect, so I'm happy to have had it.
• Owl is an amazing rush ice, especially with Tucana. I love this card.
• Ice Wall is one of those cards that actually requires you to think several turns in advance. Sometimes you wanna rez stavka just to trash a 2c ice and fetch Ice Wall so the following turn you can Extract Spin Doctor on the board and save some pieces urgently. Very useful as a one-of tutoring piece, not that useful as an ice. I'm lukewarm on it.
• Envelopment is less useful in a Botulus-light world. Sandstone simply does the trick for cheaper. That said I wanted to keep one because it totally secures a server for 2 or 3 turns, which is great for FA closing against centrals pressure. In retrospect I would probably cut for 3rd Sandstone because the deck has 1 fewer 3c ice than I would like to have.

Game Reports

• R1: Tāo (W). Trashed a lot of programs faster than simulchip could bring them back. That's the beauty of 2 subroutines baby
• R2: Esâ (W). Very close game. Laamb + Begemot can get through Stavrun, so one has to be careful. I opted to trash a Laamb instead of Begemot with an SDS score which proved to be a mistake, but narrowly managed to snipe Esa's remaining pieces and achieve a lockout.
• R3: Hoshiko (L). Got mulched. This archetype is a problem for this deck, but additionally not knowing what was about to happen resulted in a very sub-optimal early game for me. That said it still ended up being pretty close? That's the nice thing about Ob, it feels like you always have outs.
• R4: Esâ (L). I sabotaged 2 cards off R&D in the early game. They were combined 4 points worth. I had no way to save them. That said, Kikai piloted very well and took advantage of the situation expertly. Another loss where it felt like Ob could have pulled it out.
• R5: Sable (W). My opponent was unfamiliar with the Stavka/Hafrún thing, which is pretty game ending.
• R6: Lat (W). After a quick jaunt into psuedo-asset spam, I was able to rush out with 2 pieces of ice installed. Bad draw for Lat here.
• R7: Arissana (W). MU-related game loss, felt bad.
• R8: Sable (W). See it on stream!
• R9: ID

So what am I supposed to do, Mr. Bost? Mr. Muntal elevates my tournament play to levels you never could. I have no choice but to file for divorce. I'm keeping your last name, and I'm keeping the children.

Do not try to contact me directly, and please, if you have any respect, do not reach out to Mr. Muntal. He is pure of heart, and does not need to know of my past.

Regards,

Ms. Bost