The World Premiere

Based on the Smokey McPot deck from Jackmade. I figured with all the CI likely to be at Worlds, I needed to play something that could keep Clot on the table. Having never played Lady Haley before, but having played Smoke at a couple of Cache Refresh events, I looked for a Smoke that I could understand. Also, in a strange turn of events, I ended up leaving all my Diesels at home in a rotation-related filing mishap.

While it was very popular at the top tables, after a first round loss, I played only Jinteki decks the rest of the day. I went 3-3 and definitely went on tilt after one bad play in Rd. 3. More than my fair share of good luck on this side, though, and a lot of fun.

Rd. 1

Against Jacob H from the Seattle meta, I struggled valiantly but ended up getting my Brain rewired. He was credit perfect on combo-ing through a Political Operative that I had got down on a very early turn, and was surprised when I wasn't even aware that there was an interaction with PolOp and CVS. (There turns out not to be anyway.)

I did learn somewhat to my embarrassment that you have to have a hand to run through Loki. I did get a couple of agendas off the top of R&D, but not enough.

Rd. 2

Against Mark of IceIceHedgeFund fame on an Obokata Protocol AgInfusion with Eliza's Toybox. This game went second in our series of a mirror-match where he indicated he expected me to show him how it was done. I didn't know about all that, but I was able to put my Film Critic to good use before time expired. He got good value out of Eliza's, but I did get enough multi-access on the other side of a DNA Tracker to take the game. I believe I was able to get to 6 before time expired, leaving his agenda he was about to score as not enough.

Rd. 3

Against CowboyHatValor on Mushin PE. Several Mushined cards on the board meant can't really survive a Komainu reliably, and I'm more than half-way through the deck without a Self-modifying Code or Switchblade but with all the rest of the setup. I finally draw to an SMC and install it, passing the turn. It gets Best Defense'd, and I tilt and start running literally all the wrong remotes, and died to Ronin.

Rd. 4

Against Obscurica of Medium and Twitter fame on Obokata AgInfusion with Punitive. An early Celebrity Gift showed me three Obokata and two Punitive, so I knew what to do. I kept Film Critic in hand until I was set up and ready to go, including dropping Beth Kilrain-Chang the turn before. Beth got hit with MCA Informant immediately, meaning I could host an Obokata and get rid of Beth on the crucial turn. Seeing the Film Critic sort of put James on tilt a bit (understandably) and I took it home from there.

Rd. 5

Against Joel Broad on Obokata AgInfusion. Similar to last round, an early Celebrity Gift showed me an Obokata and a Nisei Mk2 without Critic down. I had enough to make it through to a win.

Rd. 6

My last game, against the British gentleman and music aficionado sixtyten on Obokata AgInfusion again. He got me with two Batty's on an Inazuma / Cobra remote and 1/2 of the psi games. Should have had the coverage with all the Sacrificial Constructs and having only used one on a Tapwrm. But trashing the Switchblade meant I lost the Refractor as well, and it was just a load of running Chiyashi after. I conceded via a cardless run into a Breached Dome archives for the flatline.

Takeaways

Worlds is amazing, you should go. I have to figure out how to go every year now.

I clearly did miss those Diesels in the one important round, but in general, Professional Contacts really pulled its weight. Having played a run-based Smoke in Cache Refresh, and experienced it definitely running out of resources, the ProCo curve seemed a good match for me after all.

PolOp did tremendous work, and The Gauntlet was fine. Tapwrm was pretty good and was indeed quite a good combo with Peace in Our Time.