Charging Cable Sable

This is the deck that made me 127th of 254 at Worlds 2023, making me officially the world's averagest netrunner player. You may not like it, but this is what average performance looks like.

The game plan of this deck is simple, you kill the corp economy while you set up your very annoying engine. Maw + WAKE Implant gets you the win eventually. You're going to be running a lot so Mining Accidents help you either kill the corp econ or make it easier for you to run. You've got some Credit Kitings to help you install either Maw or Amina, and a Baklan to help mess with the timing of Border Controls.

Day of the match we were hanging around table 107 in a corner while we were waiting for announcements and pairings and I noticed there was a socket there where I could charge my phone. I spent the first day of Swiss getting relentlessly beaten. My first match was against Odol and I got shown in no uncertain terms that this was not the level I was competing at. I got swept and went from table 30 down to the 80s or 90s somewhere. But let's be real, I had no real hope of winning worlds or even placing very highly. I'm here for a good time not a great time. Or something to that effect.

Second round of Swiss I got swept again and I was doing the worst of all the crew from Norway. So it became a running joke that my strategy was to make it to table 107 so I could charge my phone. I was in the 120s at this point and I badly needed a win.

Round three. I got one! I swept my opponent and skyrocketed up in the rankings.

Welcome to round 4. I had shot up to table 86. The question at this point was whether I needed a split or to get swept to go down to the appropriate level. There was a lot of strategising during the break, plus taking full advantage of stepping out into the slightly cooler cafe just outside the main hall. I faced up against my opponent with sinking feeling in my stomach, going up would mean going further away from table 107. It would mean leaving my ailing phone battery to its own devices. Fortunately I got swept and remained at 6 whole points.

Round 5. This time I get table 117 and we're fairly confident that what I need at this point is a split. I set up at 117 put down my playmat and get my tokens ready, across from me is a finn and we banter lightly about this being a scandinavian face off when a third player comes along and says they're supposed to play this table. So we rush off towards the main stage where PSK and Ysengrin are helping people find their tables. Turns out, the finn was supposed to be on table 107. Fate is showing me the way. We split and at this point I'm so jittery and used to sweeping that I accidentally fill in the form wrong (twice) failing to indicate right kind of split and accidentally giving myself an extra three points. Luckily we catch it before I go to hand it in. I do have to ask nice people at HQ if they can interpret it because I had to cross out so many things so many times. The heat and the tension is getting to me. 10 rounds of high stakes netrunner is a lot and I'm from a cold place, these kinds of temperatures are not a thing I'm used to.

We gather in the cafe. Consult our pairings, so far I'm doing the worst out of the three norwegians there. But I'm so close, so close to my goal I can feel it.

Round 6 pairings are up. We struggle with refreshing phones and getting to somewhere where it's listed.

The time has come.

I am at table 107.

I can charge my phone while I play a round of netrunner.

I end day 1 of the 2023 world champhionship with 98% power on my phone and a sweep. The plan has worked. I got there.

Day 2 wasn't as eventful, I start with a sweep and then ID and ID to get the points I wanted. For the last round my entire table ID'd, I think everyone was very tired and very hot that day. I do end it as the best Norwegian in the tournament and as #127 out of 254. Perfectly average.

So this deck was not good I do think there's something there, but the amount of Outfit I ran into on day one meant my mining accidents did nothing and the self tag tech like Baklan (who is also there for Bee points, let's be real) and Credit Kiting was just a massive liability against the R+ deck that proved way better at econ denial than I was. Used to be there was a hijacked router in this to help with the econ denial, but I already so have so many other cards I need slots for. Two copies of DreamNet also left the deck in favour of an extra copy of Zenit Chip. I do like having Maw in this deck, if for no other reason than to show the absolute rules weirdness of having to roll a die to figure out what card to trash.

And for anyone wondering about going to worlds and feeling like the competitive nature of it isn't their jam. Just go and have fun. It's great. I've gone twice now and ended up middle of the pack despite my dodgy decks, but I've had a lot of fun every time and I've met a lot of great people and played some really fun games of netrunner. Thanks to everyone I played, I'm sorry I can't remember everyone's names. The heat of the venue kind of boiled my brain.