Moon Melter (1st Place Southern California Regionals)

After my disappointing performance with a Temujin Whizzard at the NorCal Regionals, I knew I needed to change the deck. I still felt Whizzard was right, especially since I expected a lot of HB asset spam Mooninites style decks. Inspired by @ctz 's third-place COIN_FLIP, I made some changes based on conversations with both him and @cerberus, plus a few tech cards of my own. Last year I nearly won NorCal Regionals with a Siphon-Eater-Keyhole MaxX deck, so this felt a bit like coming back to an old friend.

There are a few changes from the COIN_FLIP deck and I'll talk about them here. Rumor Mill instead of Employee Strike is probably one of the bigger ones, and might have definitely bit me if there were more Skorpios or Ag-Infusion decks there, but I think it's less needed right now in this meta. Honestly, I think with good play you shouldn't need the Strikes, and Rumor Mill turns off too much, especially against Estelle Moon decks who like to put Caprice on HQ and deny siphons that way. I swapped out the Day Jobs for Queen's Gambit, primarily because I expected to see a lot of assets and Friends in High Places and this saves me two clicks to keep doing things. If they rez early to deny me money, then I know what their assets are when they install and can target my runs better. Of course, I faced two Cerebral Imaging during the tournament where these just went in the bin, but I still like the include. Liberated Account was @cerberus 's idea, and it was a good one. More money is useful and it tides you over when you can't quite Account Siphon just yet. Immolation Script was a last-minute include and was originally a second Spooned, but I figured with the Keyhole pressure and other cutlery, there was a decent amount of ice that could be in Archives, so why not play a card that costs 0 and doesn't require you to break the ice to trash it? It was mildly useful on the day, but I'm not ready to cut it yet. The Plascrete Carapace was there since there's a decent amount of kill in the region, while the one-of Vigil is mostly just nice to have. I only installed it once, against a Moon deck where it did little, but again it's a nice to have and the passive draw can be quite useful, and the mild pressure it puts on your opponent to not keep a full hand helps when you Wanton Destruction or just run HQ a bunch.

SoCal Regionals, May 27-28 2017, had 26 people attend, with some of the best players in both NorCal and SoCal coming. The tournament was 4 rounds, cut to top 8. My first round was a Store Champ bye, so @sirris, @raphaeln, @chih and I all chilled. The second round, of course, I pull @tmoiynmwg, a rematch from NorCal a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, our first game goes long, and I only have about 6 minutes to run against his Ag-Infusion deck. Still, I manage to pull a Future Perfect from his hand when he doesn't rez his HQ ice and win on time. The last turn did feature a Mad Dash run into his hand, where apparently there is a 5/3 agenda hiding, but I miss the 1/5 chance and have to settle for the timed win.

The third round pairs me against a young gentleman named Steve playing Hasty CI, who had also won a store championship elsewhere. My Whizzard deck does what it is designed to do and siphon locks him, then keyholes for a relatively quick win.

Fourth round I'm in 6th place overall, with only the timed win worrying me slightly. @nobo and I are paired in the last round and decide to ID, as I hold out hope that the three tables below me will all split or that my strength of schedule is strong enough anyway. Turns out they do and I end up in 6th going into the cut. Note: byes and IDs are stupid in a 4-round tournament.

In the cut the next day my first match is against Mike Summers, an LA guy who is on @sirris 's CI "Erratashop" build (MCA Informant + an unrezzed Corporate Troubleshooter + Scorched Earth, in the last tournament where this combo is legal). I'm dreading this matchup, as if he gets a good start I'm not sure how I win. Fortunately, I mulligan into a god hand of two Account Siphon, a Wanton Destruction, a Deja Vu, and a Same Old Thing, while Mike has a disasterous mulligan into 4 agendas and no ice. Drawing on his turn gives him another two agendas and still no ice. The game did not last long, as I continued to siphon/wanton lock him and eventually run archives to find literally all the agendas. Sometimes your deck just kills you.

Second game is against @raphaeln and his fast-advance HB. I again get a good start, drawing into Eater and Keyhole and my siphons. After he Biotics out an agenda he dips low enough on credits that I can siphon and keep him low enough that the only ice he can rez is smaller stuff I can deal with. Despite an Arc Lockdown that hits two siphons, I draw the third ("You have a third?" he exclaims in disappointment and disbelief) and go broke Keyholeing to find the last agenda and Mad Dash it.

Third game I'm corping against @nobo, and thing time I flood early and he's aggressive. Game's over in 5 minutes.

Third place game is against @chih, and I'm corping against his Frantic Whizzard. He never runs my well-iced/Caprice'd remote and I'm able to turn a mild flood into slams of agendas and score out.

Finals is a rematch against Noah, who is actually on his own version of Moon asset spam! Finally, I get to do what my deck was designed for! The first few turns are spent drawing up, trying to find breakers, and keeping down his assets. A timely Rumor Mill gets rid of an ELP and lets me run while nuetering Moon, while Queens Gambit has the pressure I want and forces him to rez things as he installs them, rather than keeping them a surprise and helping me make decisions about what and when to run. Liberated Account keeps me flush while trashing Mumbad Virtual Tours. Finally, I siphon through some ice, melt both a Fairchild 3.0 and a Wall of Static on HQ with Spponed/Knifed, and steal 8 points from his hand.

The last game is my corp and I'll describe that in the write-up for the corp deck. This was my first Regionals win despite coming close the last few years, so I'm glad to have finally made it, especially in the tough California meta. Thanks again to everyone who helped craft and test this deck with me!