Prince of Thieves (4th Place Child's Play Tournament)

Leading up to the tournament, I had no idea what to play. I came across my Gabe ID and remembered how much fun I had with this deck and remembered how aggressively I could control the Corp's board state and make loads of cash while doing it. I also thought it would be ironic to bring this to a charity event for children.

The only changes that I made to the original deck was changing Passport to Abagnale which I believe was the most logical because I could now challenge remotes better. I took out R&D Interface to free up influence for Faust. Removing RDI freed up a slot so I just put in a Plascrete for damage protection. Aaron doesn't fit into this deck because he can't compete with the amount of tags that will be accumulated throughout the game and he will just get trashed anyway.

I thought about slotting in a current, maybe Interdiction or finding influence for Employee Strike, for AgInfusion or Skorpios. Right before the tournament started I asked my buddy @internet_potato if I should slot in a current and he gave me one of the best Netrunner advice I will always remember: "Nah, you don't need a current. Just steal an agenda."

This deck did a lot of work on the day. It was an absolute monster for my opponents to deal with. Gabe did not fail me on the day. The losses I had on the day was not because of the deck. It was from me.

1st Round: Alexi (Architects of Tomorrow)

He went all in early with a SanSan ABT score that left him broke. He never saw money for the rest of the game. Any ICE he could rez was immediately Shutdown. I piled on by using Fisk. I ended the game by using Inside Job on a double Eli Archives run because I couldn't find my Paperclip and found four agendas waiting for me.

2nd Round: Thomas (Harmony Medtech)

This was a fun game because I didn't know what to expect. I come to find out that it was a Political Dealings fast advance. I kept him poor most of the game by having him rez Kakugo 3-4 times throughout the game. I was able to steal two Medical Breakthroughs, but he scored the last one from hand. I was able to pick the last agenda from hand to seal the win. If you're ever in Delaware, Thomas is a fun guy to play against.

Best play of the day: while I'm on game point, Thomas seeks out a naked Merger because he has ice water running through his veins.

3rd Round: Simon (Jemison Astronautics)

This game went as well as any game could. I was able to steal two Hostile Takeovers back-to-back on my first turn on free R&D runs. I was able to derez his Hailstorm and Architect on HQ for me to hammer it over and over again for free to win.

4th Round: Jeff (AgInfusion)

This is the game I could have died multiple times but didn't. I faced checked a Chiyashi with four cards in hand. I almost made a run right after that on HQ with a face down ICE that would have bumped me to the Chiyashi and Jeff was kind of enough to say, "Are you sure?" There was also the time I had two cards in hand on my third click and decided to draw last click because, you know, reasons. Only to find out next turn that he scored out a Philotic that would have killed me if I didn't draw. Drawing last click saves lives. Who knew?

I was able to get a timed win by picking three agendas out of hand. But it was a bitter sweet victory because Jeff is my meta mate and I knocked him out of the cut.

Cut Round 1: Ian (Jemison Astronautics)

This was one the best and funniest games I've ever played. He scores out a Hostile really early. I face plant an Archer which blows up my Abagnale and Paperclip which locks me out of all servers because of Hortum. He blasts my Sneakdoor with Hunter Seeker because I Inside Job the remote to steal the best agenda there is...a Firmware Updates.

At this time, I drop down the Faust and able to steal a GFI from hand. Then, Ian basically for the next couple turns triple advances his Hortums. I start drawing to find my Levy which gave him the opportunity to score out a Vanity Project.

I finally draw my Levy, which ended up being my last card in my stack. But, baby, when I slapped the bad boy on the table, it felt like hitting the bell for Round Two. I was able to find my Abagnale again and Sneakdoor and pressure HQ hard.

The clock runs out on my turn and I'm down 5-4. I decide to FIS and run HQ because I have two HQIs. I steal an Atlas and see a Biotic. For my last click, I decided to Siphon to eliminate any fast advance options which left him with five credits. Turns out that it is just enough to score a GFI from hand with an Oberth.

Cut Round 2: Alan (SYNC)

This was another fun game and a true battle. You can find the game here. Alan is a great player who seems to have an answer for everything. He scores out Breaking News turn one which is always a bummer. I basically get tagged early and decide to rely on Faust for the game. I was able to keep him poor and eventually drawing into my Plascrete. I almost scrap a win together, but half the agendas I couldn't steal and I was a couple credits short from stealing NAPD out of archives. It also doesn't help when Resistors are strength 25.

Just remember, kids, SYNC can't kill you if they ain't got money.

Notable Cards:

Levy AR Lab Access- the reset button. It hardly ever gets played, but when it does, just make sure to look at your opponent's face and watch the sadness enter their eyes.

Fisk Investment Seminar - this is a difficult card to use. Timing is everything. There are three main applications:
1. You are about to Account Siphon.
2. You need to get into a server with Faust.
3. The Corp has no money and you want to pile on the misery.

Alternative application - you need to siphon right now and you are sure you will draw into a Same Old Thing or Account Siphon.

Drug Dealer - it is optimal to get one installed early because using a click to draw is for chumps. I generally don't have more then one dealer installed unless I am on the Faust plan. There is a rule of thumb I try to keep.
One Dealer - >10 credits
Two Dealers - >15-20 credits
Three Dealers - abandon all hope ye who enters here.

Emergency Shutdown - makes rezzing any mid to high rez cost ICE for your opponent a huge liability. It acts like an Account Siphon.

Inside Job - people forget this card exists. Most Criminal players are playing Andy who don't play Inside Job. But this card almost a sure fired way to get into any server I need to get into and cheaply, even if it's a central server. Don't forget the classic Account Siphon then into the remote server play.

Faust - the more I play this deck I have come to learn that Faust is more of a support or emergency breaker. There will come a time in the game where your main breakers will not be enough or will not be there and you need to bully your way to a server. On the day, I only needed to install it twice and that was in the cut.

Shout out to the Ghost Branch team for throwing an awesome event.