This past weekend saw the premiere of KoboldCon, a new gaming convention in Colorado Springs. It was host to various role-playing game sessions as well as board game events and several tournaments. One of these was a Netrunner tournament. As such, I chose to attend and give some decks a further test.
Transition - 45 cards
Identity - Andromeda: Disposessed Ristie
Programs
Au Revoir - 3
Golden - 2
Peregrine - 2
Saker - 2
Self-modifying Code - 3 (9 influence)
Snitch - 2
Hardware
Akamatsu Mem Chip - 2 (2 influence)
Reflection - 3
Resources
Aaron Marrón - 2
Eden Shard - 1 (1 influence)
Kati Jones - 3
Temüjin Contract - 3
The Turning Wheel - 2 (2 influence)
Events
Account Siphon - 2
Fisk Investment Seminar - 3
Inside Job - 3
Rebirth - 1 (1 influence)
Special Order - 3
Sure Gamble - 3
If this looks like it is supposed to be a Nero Severn deck, it is. This originally started out as a concept for Nero Severn, but the deck had issues drawing into the cards it needed. Frankly, it still does have problems, as I have had players suggest I should be running Earthrise Hotel instead of Fisk Investment Seminar. It is also why I put Self-Modifying Code in: to serve as a tutor for Au Revoir, the main economic engine of the deck. Once those are found, there is not much need for the other economy cards, but they can be useful until you have 2 or 3 copies of Au Revoir installed. Probably the other big issue with the deck is the lack of recursion, so losing both copies of any of the icebreakers can be a problem that may make it impossible to win.
Explosions 2: The Sequel - 49 cards
Identity - Harishchandra Studios: Where You're the Star
Agendas (21 points)
15 Minutes - 1
AstroScript Pilot Program - 1
Breaking News - 2 (-2 max influence)
Explode-a-palooza - 3
Restructured Datapool - 3
Ice
Data Raven - 3
Pop-up Window - 3
Resistor - 3
Tollbooth - 3
Turnpike - 2
Wraparound - 2
Assets
Jackson Howard - 3
Operations
Archived Memories - 2 (4 influence)
BOOM! - 3 (9 influence)
Closed Accounts - 1
Exchange of Information - 1
Hard-Hitting News - 3
Hedge Fund - 3
Psychographics - 1
Sweeps Week - 3
The All-Seeing I - 1
Traffic Accident - 2 (2 influence)
This is the follow-up to my previous deck Michael Bay Presents: Explosions!, only I have made changes with the new cards available from the Flashpoint cycle. Scorched Earth has become BOOM!, Midseason Replacements is now Hard-Hitting News, additional tag punishing cards have been added, and the agenda suite has been shuffled around. I am still tinkering around with the idea of the deck, and will likely to return to it at some point in the future, since there are still problems with the build as it is. For instance, the economy is weak. There is no real drip economy, as the Pop-Up Windows could be ignored by the runner until they are ready to make their move, and the more expensive cards are somewhat dependent on the runner hitting an Explode-a-palooza, which may not happen in the course of a game.
But with my experiments out of the way, it is time to recount how they did.
Round 1: vs. Scott
Andromeda vs. SYNC: 7 - 5 W
Harischandra vs. Leela Pattel: 3 - 4 W (flatline)
On turn 1 of game 1, I had a hand that contained Sure Gamble, Kati Jones, Self-Modifying Code & Au Revoir, so I played those out in order to get my economy started up. I was able to score a Global Food Initiative early, but he was able to score an AstroScript Pilot Program and an Explode-a-palooza. I got Aaron out, which helped against his TGTBT. I was then able to complete my rig and started digging into R&D thanks to building up counters on The Turning Wheel. I had to take 2 copies of News Team, but still stole enough agendas to overcome them. Game 2, I ended up having to toss 2 copies of Restructured Datapool along with an Explode-a-palooza and 15 Minutes into the Archives, which could have ended the game. Fortunately, I was able to use Jackson Howard to put the Datapools and 15 Minutes back into the deck, giving him the Explode-a-palooza and me some extra cash. I was able to score out a Datapool, and used that to start piling on the tags, draining the counters off of his Aaron as well as his credit pool. Eventually, I had enough tags on him that I was able to land a BOOM! to win the game.
Round 2: vs. Tim
Andromeda vs. Personal Evolution: 3 - 7 L
Harishchandra vs. Ken "Express" Tenma: 0 - 7 L
I think this was the worst possible match-up for my runner, especially since my deck has no recursion. I did start with 2 SMCs, so I was able to get Au Revoirs out quickly. My economy was decent, but he was putting everything out in the open, so I was attacking everything I could. I ended up stealing 2 copies of Project Kusanagi, which did not help me at all, and he scored a Gila Hands Arcology, giving him a decent economy. However, I did get my rig set up, giving me a massive economy and the ability to get into any server. By that point, he had scored a House of Knives and a Fetal AI. He then managed to score a copy of The Future is Now, which then allowed him to use Biotic Labor to score a Philotic Entanglement, which would have killed me except it won him the game first. Second game was a disaster. I opened by placing a Wraparound on HQ to protect against Account Siphon, and put a Turnpike on R&D as a bluff. The bluff did not work, as he ran there first, which meant he lost a credit and took a tag, but for his second click, he used Indexing to rearrange the top of the deck. He then played Mad Dash to run R&D again, stealing a Datapool bringing him to 4 points. He ran R&D one last time and stole another Datapool to win. The only way I could have prevented that would have been to put the Wraparound on R&D, leaving the agendas in HQ exposed, or to play the Jackson I had in hand, which would have let me shuffle once, but I genuinely thought that the play I made was the best in the situation before circumstances proved otherwise.
Round 3: vs. Alexis
Andromeda vs. Jemison Austronautics: 0 - 7 L
Harishchandra vs. Sunny Lebeau: 4 - 7 L
I suspect if I had played a bit smarter in the first game, I might have had more of a chance. Namely, I was able to install a SMC on turn 1, but instead of getting Au Revoir with it, I used it to get into HQ by tutoring a Peregrine with it, despite having a Peregrine in hand. It would have been better to just let the Quandary that was there just end the run. I was able to get 2 copies of Au Revoir out, and even trashed a copy of Oberth Protocol. That did not matter much, as I let through a Public Support, and she used Friends in High Places to install Oberth Protocol along with SanSan City Grid. Although, she did not get to effectively use SanSan City Grid due to lack of cash, she still got out a very effective Oaktown Renovation as well as a Project Atlas. Add to that the Hostile Takeover she had scored and she was at 5 points. At one point, I was able to see she was holding a Hollywood Renovation in hand, but was unable to steal it, and the turn after that she scored another Project Atlas. Game 2 was okay. I gave up an Explode-a-palooza early, but was able to score a Datapool, though the ability on that would not help much. I then scored 15 Minutes, but her rig was ready at that point. She was able to use Vamp on me twice, the second time bringing me down to 0 credits. She then put out a Keyhole and used that to burn a copy of Jackson, a copy of Datapool, and another copy of Explode-a-palooza, which gave her the game.
Now here comes the weird part. There were only 6 people in attendance at this tournament. So despite my poor performance, I ended up taking 4th place. Add this to the time I placed in the top 4 at a 2013 Store Championship due to the fact that only 4 people attended to the list of weird Netrunner related victories. Still, it was not really an official event, so I ended up taking an alternate art version of Sunny Lebeau as my prize. Plus, I got 3 copies of the alternate art version of Mushin No Shin, which is a nice looking card.
So until next time, watch out for drones with cameras.
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