1-2 @ Intercontinentals - 8th Place - The Apoc Guru

First of all I'd like to credit @SimonMoon after seeing his list perform so well at the America's Continentals I thought that it was the right call to run apoc with how many ASA decks are around, although I didn't want to commit as much to the apoc so I was more well rounded against other match ups.

This may be due to lack of experience in the game as I've only been playing since the revised core set launched so i wasn't confident in my ability to be able to make all the right decisions in certain match ups.

The Guru didn't do much during the tournament but I only faced 1 kill list and once it was on the table I didn't much care for any of their shenanigans.

I think for the most part this is a pretty standard shaper style build with the out that you have apoc for asset spam type decks.

Round breakdown:

Round 2 - @YsengrinSC - ASA Lakshmi: I started off with a turning wheel turn one and ran HQ to steal an early Project Vacheron, kept the pressure up with a Stimhack to trash a Jeeves and checked R&D each turn for TTW counters, Cybernetics Court was up so he was flush with cards but no Lakshmi yet, ran through a Drafter to sweep the hand with 6 TTW counters and found a Vitruvius in the process. Ran into an Engram on R&D and lost Stargate and Hyperdriver, YsengrinSC then double Dedication Ceremonied a Reconstruction Contract for a lot of Vitruvius token and that unfortunately sealed the game. I didn't have a very accelerated start with not seeing a Professional Contact, Hyperdriver or Aesops Pawnshop and so couldn't keep the pressure up, one life down.

Round 3 - @CableCarnage - ASA Lakshmi: I had a good start, Diesel into Daily Cast with another Deisel and Aesops in hand, installed both and Guru to purely sell to Aesops, ran HQ a couple times, second Diesel drew me into Apoc.

Carnage accelerated with Rashida's and RLC and scored an early Cyberdex sandbox with Dedication Ceremony & Reconstruction Contract, HQ & R&D were only Drafters and so I ran through them for the Apoc, unfortunately he drew into two Jeeves and that allowed him to recover quickly, Lahksmi showed it's face and I trashed it early, I perhaps should've aggressively Stimhacked to trash the Jeeves and could've pulled off a Hayley install of Engolo that was in hand by using my Harbinger/Simulchip to be able to threaten his remote after, unfortunately I didn't do that and he scored a second Sandbox.

I trashed the Jeeves and he then installed his second one, I had another stimhack and perhaps should've killed the Jeeves with it getting Engolo down at the same down, again i chose not too and stimhacked HQ and ran into a Drafter and IP Block which i simulchiped my installed Gauss to install Engolo from hand and sniped a Project Vacheron, i checked Archives as there was 5 facedown cards, completely forgetting there was a CVS in the bin and that gained Carnage 8 credits which ultimately came back to haunt me. RLC to draw 2 and gain a click, install asa install an ice, install two more ice on r&d and archives and then Jeeves click for the advance, I trashed Jeeves with Dirty Laundry to stall him, draw draw adv, I run the server, Hagen into Gatekeeper, 4 credits remaining and that's GG. the CVS money came back to haunt me indeed.

Round 5 - @syd7 - Kill ASA with Hellheim servers & Tyr: I got a good start with an early Proco, Beth and Hyperdriver, sniped an early GFI from HQ and set up with Aesops and Daily Cast and PolOp, drew into Apoc but unfortunately syd's list has Crisiums, so i wasn't able to get the apoc off so just decided to play normal shaper, got Engolo down and ran into a Gatekeeper with a Rashida and Hellheim Servers, i PolOp'd the Hellheim so he couldn't pump Gatekeeper and trashed the Rashida, another Hellheim was installed on R&D so I was feeling okay remote locking, stimhacked to steal a Vacheron from his remote and didn't manage to die as he only had 6 credits and I was on 8 with a full grip, I found Guru and that turned off his kill threat, ran HQ and sniped a Sanbox, on winning amount of agendas with 1 counter left on Vacheron, install adv adv in the remote, I proco into diesel and find a stimhack but i had 15 credits so didn't need it ran into Tyr & double Hagen and simulchiped for Gauss since i trashed a harbinger with aesops and that was game. i was able to pressure him and shut him down a little early and I think having Guru out was a nice confident boost against the Vacheron punitive play.

All in all I enjoyed the deck and felt it performed well against my worst match up, the ASA Lakshmi.

just a few shout outs, firstly to all my opponents who all played amazing games, never in a million years did I expect to be playing against the big names in Netrunner, to the Adelaide City Grid my local meta and to @Valkyriez_Gaming and @Maxellsg who helped with lots of practice games and support and of course a massive shout out to the Project Nisei team and especially Akira (aka @AnOrdinaryHackerGirl) who was very accommodating and put in so much effort throughout the lead up and running of Intercontinentals.

PS: I don't normally do write ups so apologies if this is long winded.