I had no intention of doing well at nats. I wanted to have a nice time, win some Netrunner games and say a formal goodbye to the official community and play my favourite IDs, CTM and Smoke.

This deck is based on Catherine Underwood’s excellent Strong Female Characters with the addition of a couple of pet cards; Archangel and Arella. Archangel did manage to bounce a Maw, which makes it a worthwhile include. Arella was also present.

Until Thursday before Nats this deck had 50 cards in, with 3x Calibration Testing. I was getting increasingly panicked about what card I was going to cut.

Game One

Mark, on Ayla, Win.

This deck goes really fast when it has to, and I managed to have two ARSE* out nice and quickly, and he decided quite not to contest my bankers. What followed was a lot of turns which started with me taking 12 credits, drawing 4 cards, and then scoring. I ended the game with 70 credits. Please trash bankers.

Game Two

Ian G, on Val, Loss

Oh no I did too well in the first round and I found myself on Table 6. I am not a good netrunner player. Ian finished 8th. I lost. It was brutal. I also got deck checked during this game and was 100% convinced that I had left the list at 50 cards, which would have presented an issue.

Game Three

Theo, on Val, Loss

After lunch I came back and Theo was kind enough to hand me my lunch as Val. I don’t really have a handle on the Val game, even after training for Nats. I lost, it was sad.

Game Four

Phil, on MaxX, Loss

I was very much at my ebb at this point, and I honestly don’t remember a single thing from this game. I’ve played Phil several times in the past and he is an absolutely lovely opponent, a talented player and very cruel man. It was a fun game in which I got demolished.

Game Five

Kar-Fai, on Leela, Win.

Tragically I can’t remember this game. I remember it being confusingly fast. I wish I could say more, Kar-Fai was a great opponent.

Game Six

Mazza on Eddie Kim, Win.

It was the end of the day, and Mazza seemed to be having a pretty bad time of it at this point. Again, my bankers didn’t get trashed, and he went tagme. It wasn’t tough to punish that. Sorry pal, you seem like a real cool guy.

Game Seven

Duncan on Gnat, ID

I sat down opposite actual friend Duncan at the start of Round 7 with both of us on 6-6, and we gave each other a sad, deflated look and agreed to ID rather than wrecking someone’s record whilst playing a sad, tired Netrunner game. We both finished 7-7 and went for a lovely pint.

**This is what the card is called, and if you disagree you are wrong.*

Always Be Running