Hearts vs Minds – 2nd, 4-3, @ 2024 East Canadian Nationals

I’ve always been cursed with some kind of contrarian disposition which leads me to play shaper decks when crim is better, and crim decks when shaper is better. So, at the PATH meetup the Wednesday before Nats, I was eager to be convinced out of playing criminal. However, reg Zahya felt just as smooth as it had in testing games during the previous couple of weeks. Lat was the alternative, and on paper the safer choice, but I couldn’t deny that my win percentage with Zahya was simply higher. The heart wants what the heart wants, and it wanted to play blue.

It seemed that the heart’s whims were contagious because after our discussion on Wednesday, Josh was also seriously considering running Zahya. Of course, wiser minds urged us not to, but (in my case) to no avail.

In the end, the heart didn’t let me down: This Zahya deck went 4-3 over the course of the tournament, losing twice to Kill Azmari and once to Cody’s spicy RH, but it honestly didn’t feel as though playing crim was the reason I lost those games. In fact, various blue cards gave me at least a fighting chance against Jon’s Azmari in our first game during Swiss.

My general thoughts on this are twofold: First, I don’t think that crim has gotten worse after RWR (not withstanding Tributary’s brief time in the sun). If anything, it’s well-positioned into a meta dominated by rush HB and various other decks that want to go fast. Criminal has simply suffered by comparison to shaper after its significant buff. Second, this experience has emphasized for me how much more important it is to play a deck that you have reps in and suits your playstyle than one which is abstractly more powerful (ideally those considerations wouldn’t conflict, but alas, the contrarian disposition).

This particular Zahya deck is reg to the bone, so there’s not much to be said about the card choices. Of course, it would be nice to free up some influence for better breakers (especially to sub-out the cursed Shibboleth), and it’s possible that it’s correct to cut Paladin for Unity and some other one-influence card. Zahya rewards a traditional, aggressive crim playstyle and I think that a second copy of Twinning is absolutely crucial to support this. Inside Job and Boomerang feel really good right now, and Pinhole and Miss Bones pull a ton of weight. If you expect Kill Azmari, a third Class Act (or even a Caldera if you expect a lot of Azmari) would probably be a good call. There are two reasons I decided to play Zahya over Sable: First, the 40 card deck feels far more consistent, which is important in a faction with poor draw. Second, Zahya’s ability means that you can play aggressively out of the gate and address the threats put forward by fast corps without losing as much tempo.

Nationals itself was an absolute blast. All of my opponents were super friendly and a joy to play against. So many incredibly close, interesting, and intense games that underscored all of the reasons I love Netrunner. Massive thanks to the tournament organizers and volunteers who put an incredible amount of work and passion into pulling off an awesome event!