I'm Still Standing: 9th-13th at Euros

Origins

For the last couple months I had been playing NEXT Design with little sign of changing. In fact I had developed a condition that I call "NEXT syndrome", which made me addicted to the 3 ICE openings that NEXT could offer, and made me unwilling to switch to other HB Ids people were using for Jinja builds. However the night before Euros, and not having played for a few weeks, I played some practice with Andy (my testing partner and mentee) and received an absolute drubbing vs his Apoc Val. Terrified of the repeated possibility of this the next day, I made a last minute pivot to Mirrormorph to improve the ability of MCA and rejig influence to include 2 Border Control and a Crisium Grid.

The Deck

What remained was still ostensibly a Jinja glacier deck that utilised a big remote and the click loss from MCA to pressure the runner and score out. Jinja is still I think most natural at home in HB for its synergy with ICE like Gatekeeper and operations VLC (recently released from the restricted list). The agenda suite seems slow but with Surveyor taking up your restricted slot it feels the most robust since you can't take Global Food. Mirrormorph also aids this agenda suite by allowing its free action to advance an agenda when using MCA on the 3rd power counter, meaning you can score a 5/3 a turn earlier than normal from an MCA pop.

The Identity

Mirrormorph definitely proved its utility during the day. Obviously its early game is awkward compared to the lightning setup of NEXT, but the economic boost that ekes through the game makes a difference. Throughout I noticed subtle things that were only possible through Mirrormorphs free action. Plus towards the end of the day I discovered the nice boost of using Pad Tap trash clicks to trigger the MM free action.

The Day

Overall the deck went 4-3 winning vs Crowdfunding MaxX, Crowdfunding Val, run-based Leela and Engolo MaxX and Lost to Apoc MaxX, Liza?!?! (damn you Ronan!), and finally got knocked out by a different run-based Leela.

So after all that worrying I didn't even face a single Apoc Val and lost to the only Apoc deck I faced... well I still enjoyed the deck so there!

The Future

Honestly, though I did well and liked playing Mirrormorph I don't think I'm done with the Id. It was obviously a very rushed build and cannibalised from a NEXT deck. So while I think this deck is fine and a lot of it will remain the same, I will probably try something a little different next time. I hope you enjoy the deck and tell me if you get success from it!

The Heros

I'd like to thank all the tournament organisers from the weekend for your tireless and intercontinental trekking commitment and all those at Nisei who organise, design, write and test, who keep this amazing game alive for myself and some of the most interesting, colourful and nicest people I've ever met in my life. Through your hard work and effort we have an excuse to still meet and share this game and its experiences. I wasn't even originally planning on making it to Euros, but once I saw the amazing prizes and effort Nisei were putting into it, I knew I was going. The title for this deck comes from the Elton John song which I have listening to a lot since I watch Rocketman a couple weeks ago, and was supposed to reference to the decks resilience. But really thinking about the song right now, I think more of how I was still glad to be at Euros, even after I lost, to remain standing with those who watching the Top 8 take place and another great chapter in this games history happen. Only through the amazing folks at Nisei would this be possible. Thank you, so so much. Continue the run.