The Netrunner Weekend Experience
We're going to start off by talking about the decks I've taken, and then move on to the tournaments themselves, Cardiff first, followed by Gloucester
Note: Apologies in advance to my opponents, as most of my notes recall more about the plays I made then the plays you all made against me. Will hope to write more inclusive notes in the future...
Runner Deck
MaxXimum Destruction v2
MaxX: Maximum Punk Rock (Order and Chaos)
Event (23)
1x Account Siphon (Core Set) ••••
3x Day Job (Order and Chaos)
3x Déjà Vu (Core Set)
1x Forked (Order and Chaos)
3x I've Had Worse (Order and Chaos)
2x Knifed (Order and Chaos)
1x Levy AR Lab Access (Creation and Control) •••
2x Retrieval Run (Future Proof)
2x Spooned (Order and Chaos)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)
2x Wanton Destruction (Order and Chaos)
Hardware (5)
3x Clone Chip (Creation and Control) ••••• •
2x Grimoire (Core Set)
Resource (8)
2x Armitage Codebusting (Core Set)
3x Liberated Account (Trace Amount)
3x Same Old Thing (Creation and Control)
Icebreaker (6)
1x Corroder (Core Set)
2x Eater (Order and Chaos)
2x Femme Fatale (Core Set) ••
1x Yog.0 (Core Set)
Program (7)
1x D4v1d (The Spaces Between)
1x Datasucker (Core Set)
1x Imp (What Lies Ahead)
1x Medium (Core Set)
3x Parasite (Core Set)
We're going to start off discussing the MaxX deck I took to both events. In the last 3-4 Store champs, and a few of the GNK tourneys beforehand saw me playing Steath Op Andy that I'm really happy with, but as I wanted a change in deck for no other reason than because I could (Note: this is never a good idea in the middle of a tournament season, always play with a deck you're familiar with and comfortable running. However, let it be known that I never take my own advice
)I have to admit this is not a deck of my own construction (Save your boos and hisses
), but something I was testing for someone in the local meta, and decided that I really liked it in it's base form. Before Cardiff, I played it precisely twice, once at the local meat up on Wednesday, and once on OCTGN the night before Cardiff. Again, this is a terrible idea. However, I found the deck to be speedy enough to deal with fast advance, flexible enough to deal with Seb's foundry BS ( ), and I hoped would be able to make the slog through Glacier servers (More on this later). Not having built the deck, I can't really comment on the construction of it, but I have found it to be a real pain for opposing corps. As has already been discussed to death elsewhere, being able to tutor for nearly anything in the deck is fantastic, though the recursion is certainly limited. In this regard the MVP for me was certainly the Retrieval runs, which allowed me to make interesting plays (Usually with Femme) to get into servers that I wasn't supposed to get into. Account siphon is a strong include, and certainly helped in a number of matchups even if it was just as an Econ tool rather than econ denial for the corp. You'll probably notice the lack of Keyhole, which I approve of - I think it's going to be teched against far too much currently (And I certainly see that in a variety of decks).
I'm hoping to get my head together after reporting this to discuss how I'm going to improve the deck. I'm currently considering putting more breakers in, but at the cost of what is the question. Also considering getting another Data Sucker in there for consistency, as Yog+Data Sucker (Plus maybe a morning star?) works fantastically. Eater is great to facilitate ice destruction and allows me to (Usually) face check with impunity.
Corp Deck
Blue Sun Fun v2
Blue Sun: Powering the Future (Up and Over)
Agenda (10)
2x High-Risk Investment (Order and Chaos)
3x Hostile Takeover (Core Set)
1x NAPD Contract (Double Time)
3x Project Atlas (What Lies Ahead)
1x Utopia Fragment (The Source)
Asset (7)
1x Adonis Campaign (Core Set) ••
1x Aggressive Secretary (Core Set) ••
1x Executive Boot Camp (All That Remains)
3x Jackson Howard (Opening Moves) •••
1x Shattered Remains (First Contact)
Upgrade (2)
2x Crisium Grid (First Contact)
Operation (13)
3x Hedge Fund (Core Set)
3x Oversight AI (A Study in Static)
3x Restructure (Second Thoughts)
3x Scorched Earth (Core Set)
1x SEA Source (Core Set) ••
Barrier (8)
2x Curtain Wall (True Colors)
2x Fire Wall (Order and Chaos)
1x Hive (Double Time)
3x Ice Wall (Core Set)
Code Gate (6)
2x Lotus Field (Upstalk) ••
2x Tollbooth (Core Set) ••••
2x Wormhole (Order and Chaos)
Sentry (3)
2x Archer (Core Set)
1x Taurus (Upstalk)
15 influence spent (max 15)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Order and Chaos
Decklist published on NetrunnerDB.
So since Up and Over Hit, Weyland have been on the up and up since Blue Sun hit, and I've had very little excuse to want to move away from the giant(corp) running the Beanstalk. There have been a few tweaks in the run up to the weekender with the ice, and the agenda mixup was swapped when O&C hit. First change made was swapped 2 Prio. Reqs to High Risk Investments, which can often get me a bigger credit swing then the 14 creds a Prio.Req'd curtain wall could.
Next up I took a look at the ice. I really wanted to up the Tax i force the runner to pay, and Wormhole is a fantastic option which becomes free with 3 advancements (Bargain), and I threw the Firewalls in as extra Barrier tax. It does mean I have less cheap ice as I threw out things like Enigma, so the Ice is still probably where the deck will be changed the most in the future. The operations are a fairly standard mix to include the kill shot on the (Getting increasingly rarer) chance of blowing my opponents up. The assets are again fairly standard outside of the traps, which I have to admit are not seeing play - either they sit in HQ waiting until I think I've got the chance to trick runners into hitting them, but they actually end up trashed out of HQ, or they get ditched out of R&D. Not sure what I'll do with those deck slots yet, but keeping an open mind...
Cardiff Store Champs @ Firestorm Games
So starting off with the Venue - this was my first time netrunning in Wales, and so I've not seen the previous location, but I was seriously impressed with the huge gaming space and store. Not only did they have a Netrunner event going, there was also a miniature tournement (Warmahordes I think), and a Airbrush painting workshop for the weekend, and I think there was other card games throughout the day. A really busy place, and Jake (the TO) ran a really tight ship. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make my ususal purchase to support the store (Other than my entry fee), as there was too much month at the end of my money for the board game/miniatures I really fancied... but I'm looking forward to going back at the next opportunity with a gang from gloucester for more Netrunning goodness, as I had to make this trip alone (Luckily I was able to gain temporary membership to the Bristol crowd for this event
)With the agreed format of 5 rounds of swiss and a cut to top 8 (Single elimination rather then double), pairings were called and I'm placed on the top table, facing my first opponent of the day...
Game 1 - Andrew from Swansea
Paired up against Andrew, and neither of us had a preference as to Corp or Runner, so a tag/BP flip later had me running into Space against Gangarin. My econ here was great, and a poke at centrals showed me an enigma on R&D and something else on HQ. Unfortunately I'm not drawing or milling Yog, or any parasites for the Enigma, so I throw down a Femme to bypass it, and begin some medium digging. This scores me a few points pretty early, so Andrew replaces the enigma with another piece of ice. Stumped on getting into R&D as I'm still not seeing any breakers, I install a data sucker over the femme, and retrieval run it back out so I can continue accessing. It's nearing match point for me at this point, so Andrew installs 3 cards behind a mystery piece of ice. I take 8c off of a Liberated, and run into the server. Andrew chooses not to rez the ice at this point (I may have had a better range of breakers at this point), and rezs Red Herrings, and Ash. This is 3rd click, so I allow the trace, pay to access Ash and trash him. 4th click I go in again, access the NAPD and pay 10 to steal (Ouch).
With 2 points to me, we swap over and I'm ready to defend my Blue Sun servers against Noise. I was anticipating the usual CacheShop plays, but Andrew opens up really early with Progenitor + Hivemind, and two Festers. At this point, I'm concerned as purging counters is going to get expensive quickly, and when Andrew puts down two Virus Breeding Grounds, I know purging to be futile. I begin scoring out, so Andrew throws down a Chakana, forcing me to advance my High Risk Investment to 6 to score it. I follow up with Project Atlas, and score out with 2 Hostile Takeovers for the win. Unfortunately, with the 1st Hostile both myself and Andrew forgot about the lonely Chakana on the board, and only realised several turns after (Before scoring the final Hostile). Unable to come to a decision on how to rectify this, we call Jake over for a TO's call. Jake ruled that it would be down to Andrew to ensure the effects were applied, and I felt really bad for how the game turned out on the back of this. I feel that I probably would still have managed to score out, but the misplay didn't sit well with me. Luckily Andrew is a fantastic sport, and didn't take it badly.
This puts me on 4 points now, and I'm starting to feel good about the day as we hear the pairings for round 2.
Game 2 - Dan
I have to apologise for this, I actually didn't take where Dan was based when I was making notes after our game, apologies Dan! A flip sees me Corping first and Dan pulls out Chaos Theory, and after a mulligan I'm staring at a pretty bad hand (But not as bad as the first). I had an archer, my 2 traps, a jackson, and something else of little consequence (Think it was restructure) I put the archer over R&D, and Jackson draw. I end up drawing into Wormhole, which I OAI for some cash over HQ, draw into Tollbooth and Curtain Wall. I throw these down and can finally breath a sigh of relief as I've finally secured centrals by turn 3-4. At this point I've got loads of Econ from bouncing ice, and I score out Utopia, Atlas and hostiles again for the win. Swapping sides and MaxX is running against HB. I have to admit that my note taking after this game is pretty lax, as the game went passed in a blur. I pulled lots of agendas out of R&D thanks to the Codegate favourite Yog.
Two more wins leaves me on 8 points, and as round 3 is called out, I'm left on the top table in a giddy state.
Game 3 - John from Cardiff
Hats off to John, he gave me possibly the most enjoyable games of netrunner all Saturday (Though this is a tough call). I end up running first again, and it's time to test MaxX's speed against NEH. This game was going so well, with lots of early game pressure against R&D and HQ, but John is running advancable ice, and tricks of light an Astro and scores a beal. I keep the pressure up, and hammer HQ, stealing an Astro and Beal of my own. This leaves HQ empty, so I take the opportunity to build up my econ/rig some more, but this is the absolute wrong call as John draws into more agendas and scores out.
Feeling the pressure as I want to keep my top table spot, I'm determined to blow up John's house with Blue Sun, but he's playing Reina, and I've no idea what to expect out of this runner. To make matters worse, a poor opening hand leaves me with big ice on centrals turn 1, and not enough ice to rez them as John puts a Rook over my Tollbooth. I get some cash together and John gives me the opportunity I thought for an early win, so I play Sea Source, and land a Tag. A scorched earth, and I pick a card from his hand for him to keep. Unfortunately, John ditches an I've had worse in the hand. Knowing I can't kill him now, I decide to land the 2nd scorch, and force him to ditch the hand so I can try to regain some tempo whilst he draws up. No such luck, as he has another I've had worse in hand from the card draw
I kept trying to get some econ together and secure my centrals, but I'm having no joy until I draw into some Ice Walls (Really saved me for a few turns). Unfortunately it's all a little too late as John takes a 3 pointer I tried to sneak out, and I cleared my credit fund trying to defend it. John takes advantage of this, and waltzes into my servers for the remaining 4 points he needed.
John gave me a really hard set of games, which are always the best sort. I wish john luck for the rest of the day
Game 4 - Sean from Swansea
So a small spoiler here, Sean later made it to take the top prize, and whilst I had no idea what to expect, with us both on table 3 I knew I should expect some really good plays from Sean, and he certainly didn't disappoint.
First out an unexpected match up of the day, Sean pulls out an Ian Stirling deck, and I'm thinking I should be okay with my glacier blue sun build. How wrong can a man be! I was blown away by the sheer economic advantage Ian had throughout the game with his drip fed econ thanks to Data Folding and Contacts, not to mention his ID ability. I was keeping HQ secure with a Curtain Wall throughout most of the game, but by the end he can walk through it and not care for the 11c spend. Even my super scoring server of Tollbooth x2, Archer, Ice Wall and Fire Wall isn't enough to deter Ian from swooping in and taking all the agendas for himself.
Shaken after having less money then a runner (On a game where I had all my econ pieces come together too!), I pull out MaxX and know that I need to salvage this game to keep in the top 8 players. NEH is my opponent once again, and I've got to play fast before he scores out. I get some great early accesses into HQ and R&D thanks to Spooned taking out the ETR ice that I can't get through otherwise, and steal 6 points early on. I've got a Yog out, as well as Eater, and Sean goes to score some more points behind a lotus field, which I spoon again and grab the winning agenda.
A split puts me on 10 points, and I'm moved to table 4. I've managed to keep my hold on the top 8 place so far, but it's all to play for with loads of great players snapping at my heels. Across the table I find myself face to face with a new netrunning-rival from Bristol.
Game 5 - Alex from Bristol
As often as Alex protests he's still a newer player, he's still in the top 8 at this point, with our match to go before the cut. Once again neither of us have a preference of what to play, so Alex starts loading a virus into my servers with Noise. Unfortunately Alex's ID ability doesn't give Alex any big scores, and I ensure that I jackson if I ditch anything and Alex is on (or trying to get to) 7 credits in case of the suspected Hades Shard splash. I manage to score out again with Hostiles once again being my win condition.
We swap up, and I groan as I see the first RP deck of the day for me. Alex has a good start but sees no asset econ (But plenty of burst). I start running, and after a few turns of accessing ice (and seeing galahad off R&D), I should start slowing up, for I'm some sort of fool and do no such thing, hit some painful grail and recover afterwards. I find a TFP off R&D and fail the Psi Games, and Alex draws into it, so I keep trying to hit HQ to steal it. I get to the point where I need to Levy, and I find no econ afterwards, this gives Alex the opportunity to score out for the win.
Whilst RP was never my strongest match up, I'm feeling better running against RP with MaxX in a way I never did with Stealth Op Andy, so I'm really happy with how the deck played here, I think Pilot errors here lost me the game. The split gives me another 2 points, bringing my total to 12.
We have a really tense break whilst Jake works out who has made the cut and who hasn't. (Couldn't cut that tension with a blow torch). I hear that a lot of the tables near the top 8 had splits in the last round, and with my split against Alex I might just be able to keep a hold of top 8 by my finger tips... Unfortunately the Subject gives it away. The rankings for swiss get called, and I've managed to hit top 8, along with Alex and Sean. With this news I could collapse, I've finally made it to the cut, and I'm in the running for top 4 and a playmat!
Or so I thought...
Game 6 - Jack from Bath
To my dismay, the pairings for the cut put 8th seed against the first seed. I'm nervous now, as a wrong move can easily wipe out my chances of making it to top 4. With this being single elimination, I only had to win this game and my personal goal is complete! As we're playing both sides, Jack and I flip for first side, and I'm running against NEH.
I begin my early game pressure, and find a Data Raven over R&D. At this point I'm almost certain that Jack's playing a NEARPAD style deck, and I begin checking all remotes. I hit a snare whilst Jack was too poor to trigger, and check other remotes and lose the Psi Game for Psychic Field. I draw back up, and continue hitting remotes, and I snag a few 1 pointers. I'm trying to be as careful as I can, and I manage to get 6 points, but Jack's scored an Astro, and the game is certainly not over as he manages to score out a few more agendas. It's coming down to who can find the Agenda first, and unfortunately Jack finds something he can Astro Token out for the win.
This puts me in a real bind, not only do I need to beat Jack in my next game to win, but I have to make sure he has less then 6 points, otherwise the tie breaker is swiss standings, and as #1 player, Jack would win by default. Blue Sun is facing off against another MaxX, and I try to cover my centrals, Unfortunately Jack gets into R&D and pulls two 3 point agendas, and it doesnt get any better when a few turns later he goes back in and pulls a Hostile Takeover for the win.
Unfortunately this was the end of the dream in Cardiff, but it was still a fantastic day and everyone I played was a great guy, so no hard feelings!
Proud Lion Store Champs @ Gloucester Deaf Association (GDA)
Playing on the home turf! First stop of the day was the Gloucester train station to pickup Alex from Bristol, and we head on over and have a catch up with Dave H and Dan, our TO of the day. The GDA building is my local netrunning place on a wednesday evening, so I'm really familiar with the venue already. We're currently going through a bunch of renovations after the GDA sold a lot of it's old land, but the majority of the building is still in use. We had an attendance of 22 people for the day, but once we get the additional rooms re-opened we could easily host 60-100 people (A few years ago we hosted Minicon, a local gaming convention for 140 attendees). I've even half-jokingly suggested to the guys we could get Proud Lion to apply to host a regional
But I'd really like that to go to the guys in Bristol or Cardiff next year...Game 1 - Derek from Worcester
Derek came down to us from Worcester, and whilst I've never played against Derek before (I think), I've played plenty of the worcester netrunners and I know them to be a great bunch and a strong group of players. We flip for sides and I'm taking MaxX for a spin against NEH once more. Unfortunately for Derek, this game was short and sweet in the end, with Yog pulling it's weight against Derek's Quandrys/Enigma, and once I had seen the Merlin go down, a Data sucker followd up to continue to give me free accesses across the board, allowing me to access agendas as they came up.
With the sides swapped, I'm Corping against Derek's MaxX deck, and I'm taxing him heavily from the start with early Tollbooths that pretty much prevented any accesses for a number of turns. I score out an early atlas with a single counter, and start my econ going by bouncing Adonis for a few rounds. After I think I've got Derek convinced this is the play I'll keep making, I install another Atlas in it's place, and next round score it out. I have to Sac this for an Archer shortly afterward (Painful), but I make up for it by scoring a 3 pointer. I either scored the last atlas or some hostiles for the win.
Another good start to the day, and I'm in 4 points going into round 2. At this point with Dave H in the competition, I was slightly worried I would be paired off against him, but rationalised it's better to face Dave early and try to recover from the likely double loss, but as pairings get called, I'm (foolishly) pleased to be playing someone else...
Game 2 - Hazel from Norwich
Hazel was a lovely opponent to play and gave me a really good run for my money (quite literally in my corp game). Unfortunately I never got to a point as Blue Sun where I was comfortable playing against Hazel's PrePaid Kate, and aside from a couple of misplays that allow me to score a few agendas, she happily walks through my servers and steals 7 points in due course. Not too pleased with the result, but knowing it's not the end of the result, we swap over.
Hazel brings out a PE deck, and I'm instantly cautious for the flatline win. I get really lucky off the top of R&D, with Yog + Data Sucker pulling their weight once more, and steal 5 points off of R&D. I see my Levy milled and think nothing of it. Deja Vu gets play to bring out the aforementioned Data Sucker I believe, or one of my ditched events, and I see the first SoT get milled. Still not overly concerned yet, I continue hitting servers, and Hazel has replaced the ice over R&D. I've got a full breaker suite out at this point, and I run into R&D, to find Hazel has splashed for a god damn Archer! A painful trash of Corroder and Femme, and I'm a little concerned, but not to worry, MaxX is all about recursion right? I mill and draw, and my 2nd and 3rd Deja Vu hit the trash. Okay, this is really concerning now, but I can still find my 2 SoTs. I build up my econ ready for the Levy... and a few turns later both SoTs get milled at the same time. At this point I'm relying on being able to survive Net damage to hit HQ, but unfortunately I don't see any agendas. With no way of recurring my Levy or programs, Hazel has me locked out of a remote by a single Ice Wall, HQ is accessible but I risk taking a net damage minimum off Gemini, and R&D is secure behind Archer. I check archives and find nothing. I build credits and hope for something miraculous to come out of my stack, but I already know there's nothing left to do. At this point we've drawn a crowd, who have picked up on my dire situation. Hazel installs a new ice in front of Gemini, and the crowd is daring me to run HQ. I get down to 3 cards in hand, a boat load of credits and nothing to do with it. Expecting it to kill me, I ran into Kominu on HQ, and Gemini gets the kill.
This was a fantastic game that went from absolutely fantastic, to almost an instant game-over, with my big misplay on running an unknown ice with sod-all credits available to me. I got really cocky with my easy scores so far. It's a big teaching moment, and the one MaxX specific lesson I take from this is - Always keep a SoT on the board. Do not give up the chance to Levy! I give Hazel a good luck for the rest of the day, and I try and work out how I'm going to salvage the day in Round 3...
Game 3 - Si from Gloucester
Another local runner, Si and I have played a number of games against each other in the past, and Si knew I'd be packing Weyland as always. I knew as well the type of NEH deck Si would be running (Plenty of tag punishment). I put MaxX on the table, and I can't find any Econ, but luckily Si isn't making a lot of credits either. I'm keeping my credits close to Si's, and I cautiously poke into his servers. I want to find a Wanton to deal with the scorch threat in Si's HQ, but unable to dig it out, as Si gets a huge amount of credits, and scores out.
We swap up, and I'm holding Barrier ice in my opening hand against Quetzel - not great. Si's getting a single access on any of my servers during the start of the game. Si gets an early 1 or 2 point Agenda, and I draw up into more ice. I start double stacking my barriers, but Si gets into HQ a few times, and uses Imp to get rid of all my kill combo pieces before I can get the econ I need to do it. I score out 2 Project Atlas, and a Hostile, which I ditch to rez Archer in my scoring remote. I setup a server of Wormhole, Hive, Ice Wall and Archer, and install double advance a 3 pointer, which I expect Si to go and steal, as it's the winning agenda for me. Si doesn't disappoint, and he spends all his credits to take it from me. Unfortunately I've got the next 3 pointer waiting in hand, and I install double advance, and Si is left without a way to get into my servers to score the final point he needs.
With game 3 being a split, I'm now on 6 points, and I'm desperately thinking to myself, I need to double win the next set game to try and get myself back in the running for a top 4 spot, though this is becoming increasingly unlikely.
Game 4 - Alex from Bristol
After our games on the Saturday, Alex was not looking forward to dealing with MaxX again, or Blue Sun, and neither was I thrilled to be dealing with RP Bull once more (
). We decide to get RP out of the way, and we begin with me taking quite a while to setup a rig, giving Alex ample time to score not 1 but 2 Nisei. This really hurts my game plan, especially as ELP is on the board. I take a Nisei off R&D, and I keep hitting centrals to find the next agenda before Alex does. Unfortunately when I do it's TFP, and Alex win's the Psi Game, drawing the agenda into hand. I hit Alex with an account siphon, to prevent him being able to score his next agenda, and hammer HQ to try and steal it. Unfortunately trickle econ gives Alex the money he needs to score, and between ELP, having to hit a central and the Nisei tokens, Alex couldn't not score out for the win.We swap up, and we're back to Blue Sun Vs Noise. After the game the day before, I knew I could get a win here. My mulligan hand says otherwise however, with I believe 3 agendas in my opening hand. I aggressively draw into jackson, and overdraw into another one. I ditch some agendas and shuffle them back in asap to prevent an easy steal. I try and get the early 3 pointer out, but D4v1d denies me this, and Alex steals it from me, and scores a Hostile off an early mill. My econ simply isn't falling into place as Alex steals another 3 points and wins the game.
Losing to Alex on the home turf was tough, and we have a good chat about how the games went, and had a chat about his RP deck, and the game play choices he made whilst building the deck.
Going into the final round, I resolved myself to placing pretty low down. Dan calls out final rounds, and I laugh as I'm paired off against a regular opponent of mine from Worcester...
Game 5 - Nick from Worcester
Nick and I have played against each other at the Evesham, Worcester, and I think the Exeter Store Champs already this season, and it's usually a pretty good match between us. Nick is another Blue Sun player, and I had no idea how well MaxX would deal with this. We begin, and I'm instantly wary of the flat line threat, so I draw up into an I've Had Worse. I begin running again, and hit a Cleaners. I'm expecting a double Punative at this point, but Nick instead spends his great wealth on burning my house down with a traditional Sea Source Scorched Earth combo. This hits my IHW, and I'm still alive, so Nick holds off on further explosions. I clear my tag and draw up, and luckily I find the Wanton Destruction I need to clear out Nicks hand. Nick draws up to 5, so I hit HQ and trash 3 cards, and hope it's the kill shots, as I start trying to get into R&D or HQ. Unfortunately Nick just keeps rezzing a Hadrians and Curtain Wall to keep me locked out. I don't find any way to blow up these pieces of ice, and Nick keeps me locked out for the rest of the game.
We swap over, and I'm playing Blue Sun against Nick's MaxX deck. Nick gets a great economy setup with Kate, and I have to use Hostiles to setup my economy. Luckily however, I draw into not 1 but 2 Archers... I put them both into a scoring remote, and go to score the Atlases. Pretty sure Nick tries to D4v1d through the server, and I rez an Archer and he kindly allows me to take 2c off the first Archer. I rez the 2nd and get to trash some programs and ETR. Nick can't believe that anyone can be so cruel to have a double archer server!
I shore up the server with a Tollbooth and a Wormhole. Nick can still get into R&D, but he's not making big digs. He's got a couple of agendas so far, I've scored a 3 pointer and a Project Atlas so far, there's an NAPD in archives, and I know that even with my R&D being low on cards, there aren't many points left in R&D now, as I have the last hostile in hand, plus the last atlas. I install a crisium grid into my super server, and Nick runs in to access it, spending most of his money. I install and double advance the hostile in there as well, just in case Nick has a stimhack or something similar ready to run into my servers and steal the win. Unfortunately for both of us, he can't get in, and I score the Hostile next turn. The turn after, Nick still hasn't recovered econ wise, so I install and double advance a 3 pointer. Nick knows he cant get into the super server, so he checks R&D and Archives, but he can't afford the NAPD sat there, so I score out for the win.
Sunday was just as much fun as the Saturday, and placing ninth, I still manage to swipe some cool prizes due to the insane amount of prize support thanks to Dave H and Chris. Unfortunately my top choices went quickly (An alt art adonis, alt art melange and alt art Making News), but I get the Alt Art Weyland ID for my trouble, and the Kit Playmat due to top 8 players mostly having their own at this point. Whilst I can't say I truely earned it (By hitting top 4), placing consistantly over the weekend at both Cardiff and Gloucester, I was really happy with my results. I'm going to have a sit down at some point this week before Saturday and work out where my match ups went well, and where they went badly with MaxX, and try to improve my game plan for Bristol on Saturday, though I'm expecting the toughest crowd of all the store champs I've been to so far to be there.
Finally, To all my opponents over the weekend, I thank you for your excellent sportsmanship, and fantastic games, I hope I get to have rematches against you all in the future at Regionals or local events.
