Don't Trip (1st at Last Polish Nationals)

This is a riff on Baa Ram Wu's excellent Flippy Sh*t list

In the light of recent ban list update, people decided to ditch the frog. Turns out the frogs are still great, you just have to learn how to hop the ice.

The deck felt unbeatable on the day and the losses it suffered in swiss and top cut were entirely due to pilot error and misevaluation of board states. In better hands, I believe this list could join my corp in being undefeated on the day.

This Ari list is designed to set up at a reasonable pace while putting enough pressure on the corp to not let them run away with the game. Between Propeller, Physarum Entangler and Slap Vandal we have ways to get into any server defended with a single piece of ice. Playing four copies of each (love ya' Angel) means that we should always be able to contest servers early and without too big of a hit to our economy. Between four copies of spec work + Aesop's, we have just enough bounce back to get back into the fray.

The old engine of Aesop's + Better Cache is still excellent and turbocharged by printing of Envo Testing and Muse. Between the power of them and MOpus the deck feels like the strongest late-game monster in the game.

Hush is the best card in this deck and if you want to lose more cut it. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but the amount of things that little seemingly insignificant program does is unparalleled. Would you like to break The Big Guy without sacrificing your firstborn child? Hush is here. Pesky Wall Enthusiasts crimping down your style? Put it into play with simulchipped Muse after you break subroutines and watch their smile fade out. An Armadillo keeps bouncing around trashing your trojans?

I was a doubter when it came both to Cupellation and Q-Loop, but both of them outperformed any expectations I could have for them on the day. While not enabling as many kickflips as I would like to Q-Loop is an amazing card draw replacement if your Lilies decide to hide in the bottom part of your deck. Cup on the other hand being a turbo legwork was ending games left and right on the day. And that doesn't even begin to cover the ability to steal Seamlesses, Punitives, Sansans against scored ARES and so on.

Thank you so much for showing up to the Last Polish Nationals. The tournament wouldn't be the same without you all. Personal shout-outs to

essence.32, CptnButler and Katopris for being an amazing bunch of guys I get to play against every week.

mily for being an amazing brother, who picked up a game and decks in a month to show up by my side.

giventofly and gruntownie for helping me with the tech side of recording the top table and taking care of it when I wasn't around.

All the opponents I had the pleasure to face on the day, games against you were amazing and even on that day I learned a lot thanks to every single one of you. (One day I will know how to play against asset spam.)

Apo for being an absolute monster to face in the finals. I don't think I need to say that I was shaking at the end of our games.

And obviously Zombiak for organizing an amazing and unforgettable event. It couldn't happen without you. Hopefully the next time we will get to play too.

ARB