Big Maw MaxX (Toronto 2nd after Swiss, 7th place)

MAW, MAW, MAW!!!

Leading up to Toronto Regionals, I had been playing a lot of the Big Boy's latest MaxX deck. I figured Whizzard and lock Shaper were more favoured in the meta, but I had a lot of confidence in my ability to pilot this deck so it got sleeved up on the day.

Corp deck here.

Not a lot of changes from the original, but here's some thoughts on some cards:

Maw: Such a good card. The old build with Grimoire couldn't handle Moonspam, but with Maw, your odds go up significantly. It also gives you outs in difficult matchups, or ones where the Keyhole plan becomes too costly. It's 100% worth the extra 3 credits.

Archives Interface: I had toyed around with 2x Salsette, but this card does almost the same work for one less deck slot. I also expected to see some IG/PU prison decks, and this is great tech in those games.

Forked: This is the 46th card. It got cut a while back because Architect was the only sentry you cared about. However, the Tennin matchup with this deck was bad enough before Colossus, so I added some tech.

There were 27 players, so we did 4 rounds of Swiss. Here's how it went down.

Round 1 vs. NEXT Design (2-0)

This game was a lot closer than I would have liked. My opponent saw a lot of money and ice early, and was able to rush out to 6 points before I was set up. Fortunately, I was able to Vamp them at the right time, and picked up enough points via Keyhole and Maw'ing HQ.

Round 2 vs. Gagarin (4-0)

My opponent was a Store Champ winner who came up from Michigan. He was on Gagarin Zealous Judge prison. Fortunately, I had a lot of practice vs. this deck thanks to some players in the Toronto meta, and I knew to not install Scrubber (gotta dodge the MCA Informant) and just "take 8" unless he's trying to score. I pulled an early 3-pointer from HQ and maintained a credit advantage. He then tried to score another 3-pointer behind a Curtain Wall. I stupidly neglected to Mad Dash, thus landing on 6 points. Despite giving my opponent a way back into the game, I was able to keep Museum turned off with Rumor Mill, and was eventually able to Keyhole the winning agenda.

Round 3 vs. Turtleback Moons (5-1)

My 4-0 record gets me paired against Canada's best Netrunner player and eventual tournament winner, @d1en. He's on Moonspam, and I mulligan into a great opener with Scrubber, Frantic Coding, Maw and Rumour Mill. However, that Frantic misses a Magnum Opus, and the tempo I lost gives Dien a big window to start building his board. I do my best to contest some key assets and keep Rumour Mill out to stop Estelle, but I just never get that tempo back and he's able to score out with relative ease.

Fortunately, my Corp deck continues its undefeated streak, so I get to 5-1 and can comfortably ID the next round and land in 2nd place. You can watch the games vs. Dien here (starts at 3h:50m).

Top Cut Round 1

I opt to Corp vs. Dien due to my earlier win. Big mistake, as I eat a first turn Siphon to the face and never recover.

Top Cut Round 2

Playing Austin from Michigan, who's on a bio-ethics PU deck. I get Maw, 2 Scrubbers and an Archives Interface on the table and score both an Obokata and Fetal early. I get to Levy, but then make a series of mistakes that ultimately cost me the game. I really didn't contest assets or trigger Maw enough, I let an Agroplex stay up that just ate through my deck faster, and opted to remove a Shock from archives instead of eating two net damage and removing two bioethics. Kudos to Austen for grinding it out!

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So, with that I was cut. I don't think I'd change much about the deck though. It's pretty finely tuned, and it's got decent to good matchups against most of the field. Just trust in the Maw!

Thanks to everyone who helped organize, run and stream the tournament. And thanks to the Toronto meta for being the best darn Netrunner meta anywhere on the grid.