ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
Okay, I have returned. Warning, long.
Let's just jump into games and I'll collect my thoughts at the end. I made a last minute decision to play AstroBS. Like ten minutes before I had to leave last minute.
Round 1:
Game 1 vs NEH - Guy had turtlebacks which was very unexpected for me out of NEH. He got two pretty quickly and was just dropping assets and stuff all over the damn place. I lost really, really quickly in this one. He rezed Early Premiere, advanced Breaking News once, and then Traffic Accident into Scorch. I had some issues getting going as well. Noise 0-1.
Game 2 vs Maxx - This is the first time my hole had ever been keyed in real life and oh god is it annoying. Keyhole three times in one turn is just ever so obnoxious. It's also super deflating feeling. "Yep, just look at all my shit and pick the best one for you. I hate you." I eventually got some ice in front of it but he parasited it and it got back on the annoyance train. We eventually got to him leading 6 to 4 with my NAPD in archives protected by a femme'd architect. My notes are sparse here so I guess he didn't run it. I won on a last turn Biotic, install Beale onto SanSan City Grid, Shipment from Sansan, score, install Breaking News, use astrotoken, score for the win. NEH 1-0.
Round 2: 1-1 overall
vs Noise - This was a long horrible slog. Scored out an Astro naked (I might rely on that trick too much) and I did a Beale the same way. I think I installed the Beale behind an Enigma or something to score it out, and then I drew the Astro next turn so I put it out there and scored them the hard way on consecutive turns. Won on a NAPD in a server behind Ichi/Tollbooth. Turn after install advance x3 + Astro to win. NEH 2-0
vs HB FA - This game went super long. I ran out of cards. We didn't score any points until like halfway through the game. This one just kind of got out on my reach as his R&D was dwindled down to a few cards. I had Medium out but he kept burning turns to purge counters. His R&D was Architect/Eli for the longest while and I had Mimic so I just kept clicking through and paying to get in once a turn. Towards the end he rezzed an Ichi that I had no way to do anything about (I had two cards in hand I think at this point and no sucker tokens due to repeated purgings). He blew up Mimic and Medium and used the Architect to install an agenda from his R&D into his scoring remote. Had no way to possibly get into that server, it was something Davidable and Ichi, would have taken that last click to install David. He won on the next turn. Noise 0-2
Round 3: 2-2 overall.
vs NEH - This was the worst round of the tournament for me. Noise got basically nothing going early on. I had an okay start with Cache and Imp, but he had a CVS installed that I ran on which prevented me from trashing his economy or Sansans. From there he kind of got everything he wanted and needed while I struggled to get the pieces together. He scored out pretty quick. Noise 0-3
vs Reina - I am an idiot and I could have won this one. I got a little hosed early on in this game money wise but I scraped back into it. He had a turn 1 or 2 Peddler which just sat out forever which in my mind definitely became Clot. I should have known it was definitely NOT that, when I scored out a single turn Fast Track Astro onto Sansan with Biotic SFSS. I think in my head though I thought that he would just save it for game point which we were both on. Later, he ran on R&D with Medium with two or three counters after Crescentusing the Tollbooth out there so it was defended only by a rezzed Pop Up. I didn't have cash to rez Tollbooth again. I had CVS installed and I could have popped it but I felt at this point he'd just keep rerunning the R&D the whole turn and get back up there anyways. Who knows how burning the CVS would have changed his mind though. I could have hoped he whiffed on it and then purged, basically keeping him from seeing anything new. Unfortunately he plucked an agenda in like the first two cards. I could have installed NAPD on Sansan, advance x2 and Astro counter but I was too afraid of the Clot. Had he clotted it, it would have definitely been game. I think I should have realized that Clot on that Peddler was really, really low percentage and risked it. Three events on the Peddler. NEH 2-1
Round 4: 2-4 overall
vs NEH - I die all the freaking time. We got through the game, I think I stole something like a Beale on a lucky first turn access on an undefended R&D. From there I was like "Okay, I'm ahead, I can take a little bit of time to get set up and get my stuff and make a big push for the late game." He installed something behind a piece of ice in a remote and advanced it. I was like "I think I can get in there but I think it's NAPD and it's not really worth it." I had David and Faust in hand so I'm reasonably certain I could have broken in. Didn't do it. It was Breaking News. Advance, scorched on three cards in hand. Dead. At that point I also had no idea whether it was FA or Butchershop either. Noise 0-4
vs Kate - Not an anarch! I managed to bait out a lot of his money on runs by installing assets behind what I had established as my scoring server. One turn he stimhacked and found Sansan and Jackson. Oops! I think this was the game where I found and installed all three Jacksons, so I let him trash it. He never really got into a position to Clot me as he either didn't have the Clone Chip or money. Won it on another complicated Fast Track instant install score astro nonsense. I did that a surprising amount of times. NEH 3-1
Round 5: 3-5
vs Maxx - AstroBS is so good. I think he also got pretty unlucky on his Maxx mills. He had Clot in the bin real quick but he just didn't have money when I actually wanted to score out. The backbreaking move was one turn I double installed CVS and Beale. He installed Imp, immediately ran CVS. That's so deflating. He didn't run the other one. I'm pretty confident that when I do those plays they're pretty bad but I got really lucky. That swung the game 4-0 in my favor and he never came back. This was a longer game and NEH just grinded it out. NEH 4-1
vs HB FA - Film Critic did WORK this game. Two NAPD's. That's worth it. I got set up really quickly. He scored an early Chronos Project with my only Medium, a Cache, and a Parasite in the bin but it really wasn't that bad at all for me. This game went close, 3 to 5 or something in his favor. My final turn I ran and found an ABT in HQ I think, and installed it onto Film Critic out of an abundance of caution. Third click I found a Vitruvius in archives I think, which made me regret hosting that ABT. He had his scoring server and a facedown card in it so I was pretty confident I was going to lose the game. It was Adonis Campaign. He showed me Vitruvius or ABT in hand with a Sansan. Oof. That's tough. Noise finally wins, 1-4.
5-5 overall.
Okay, thoughts!
I think Film Critic is something you just have to install. You're GOING to run into NAPD Contract and it's going to be good. Against the first HB FA game where I drew out of cards, I accessed a NAPD in archives with three credits. Next turn when I went back he had already installed Jackson. Would have won Noise that game.
Literally never saw the Plascrete in any matches where it would have mattered except for the one where I drew every card. It would have saved me, just really, really unlucky. I guess it's not that unlucky. I died so fast it's not fair to blame the Plascrete. Each time when I died I felt pretty safe due to having not run at all the prior turn, or having money to evade a SEA Source or Midseasons. Didn't matter. I'm not sure what to do about that. I guess I have to find room for IHW.
Trope was again only seen I think in the game where I drew out my deck. Honestly that game it would have mattered maybe a tiny amount but the rest of the games it's just not something that came up. This lines up with my OCTGN testing in that I knew that drawing out doesn't come out that much. I think I'd still like to test it some more.
On Noise. You know, after the third round I was really down on him and I don't think it's entirely fair. Two of the games he just never got going, I either couldn't find Aesops or draw or whatever I needed at the time. That's just kind of how he is and I think you have to be willing to buckle down and draw or something. I think also you have to realize some games are just going to get away from you while you're setting up. I did find myself thinking "This shit wouldn't happen to Kate." I'm not sure how I feel. There's another ANRPC tournament I'm going to next sunday and I'm going to have to sit and think. Honestly, one game was well within his ability to win and the rest of them could have been coin flippy. IHW might have made the difference but who knows.
NEH is so good. Honestly Clot was never a problem even remotely except for the phantom Clot. I think Butchershop would have been almost equally as effective. I think I just feel safer with AstroBS. I feel like I have more things under my own control. My last minute thoughts were that Butchershop can be hosed by both Film Critic AND Clot, and has no tool to deal with Clot in a scenario that I have to score out (no CVS to pop). It is definitely the corp deck I will bring.
I think those are all my thoughts. Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Thanks for reading all this.
Also, swag!
Weird french not real alt art Noise. Also got Swordsman and CT alt arts.
Oh, yeah, I completely forgot I got one of those custom ID's as well at GenCon. Titan.
They had a lot of them, everyone there got one. Some of them were pretty awesome. I picked Noise because the super awesome NEH and BS ones were taken and the Noise one seemed the coolest out of the playable ones. There was an ETF one that was pretty fantastic. Where do they come from?
0
Options
Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
I think maybe you could play around threats more against nbn? If you'd had another card when he scorched you, for example. I dunno. I found in an arch vs nbn my deck didn't matter so much as lots of experience and planning for the match up did
0
Options
ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
Got to play in a little tournament over the weekend in a neighbouring province. Their main game store, during their big move, found that they had two of the GNKs with AA-Datasucker / Adonis campaign. I'd talked with @Cerberus about this beforehand and had been playing his Quetzal deck to good effect, but wasn't happy with the corp side. I kinda wanted to put Grail into Blue Sun, and his UK-pal had done quite well at regionals with one, so I used that as a baseline. I messed with it a bit because there were elements I didn't like, but at the end of the day I'm not sure that was going to make a big difference either way. :P
We had 15 people turn out, which was decent enough. Four rounds and naturally yours truly gets the bye first round, so ... enjoy hearing about all 6 games I played!
Round one, despite (spoilers:) losing both games, wasn't bad. Kit is probably one of the most interesting innately bad matchups for Grail because you simply lose your teeth and can't make them dig for a lot of programs in short order. I didn't see any agendas for a while, which probably wasn't great, but then he ran R&D 3 times across 3 turns and found 3 of them, so that was definitely not great. This one didn't really get off the ground as I drew into power shutdowns too late to matter, and he was easily able to run amok.
On the flip side, this was Quetzal's one genuinely bad game of the day. He was playing ETF and his economy quickly outpaced mine. I did my duty trashing Adonis and such as they came up, but I got too many Siphons with no way to use them, and his opening was kinda wonderful between DBS, Jackson, and all those other assets. It all streamed together pretty well for him. I looked through my deck after he won and found that all the enonomy minus the single Liberated and Sure Gambles I drew were in the last 10 cards of the deck or so, which was just tragic. Who needs money against HB anyway? =_=
Round two saw me facing down Blue Sun, which after a run on my first turn was confirmed as the variety that wants to kill you (Hello SE). He made a boatload of money, with an OAI on Janus giving some interesting insight, but he wasn't rezzing his ICE. I let him score a Cleaners (didn't really want to face-check Janus), but got very lucky and found a PriReq on R&D in response. This was the only time I've triggered Turntable to date! A turn or two later, he installed another card behind his 4-deep remote, and I ran on it with Eater to see what I could see. He rezzed Janus, which I broke and jacked out. Retrieval Run for Femme targetting said Janus, and I ran again. He rezzed none of the other ICE, and I stumbled into Government Takeover for the game. I gave him mad respect for trying it. Turned out it was a 6-agenda deck, and the ICE on the server from inside to outside was Hadrian's, Janus, Curtain Wall, Curtain Wall. He couldn't afford to rez any combination of them to keep me out. :P
The reverse if this I felt I really just lucked out on. He was playing Noise, who while he didn't mill any agendas had an annoyingly good hit rate on my Grail ICE. :P However he spent a huge chunk of the game drawing to find the cards he really needed, and in the meantime I hit him with a few power shutdowns, and an Archer. It turned out that both his copies of Faust were the very last, and third last cards in his deck, by which point he didn't really have the cards to use them. He ran R&D, found a Merlin that hadn't had the pleasure of being rezzed all game, and I revealed a second one. He only had 2 cards in hand, so he couldn't break both net damage, and flatlined. Had Faust not been so far down in his deck, I don't think I would have been able to win this one.
Round three was my favourite of the day. I've enjoyed the few games I've played with Nicole so far, but this saw me facing off against her NEH which I knew was running grail too, and I was super happy about that. We both set up quickly, and this time I was able to find some economy, and quickly pick up an Eater and Keyhole. Sadly, my Keyhole runs were pretty damn terrible, finding a single agenda in 4 runs, and forgetting to check that her new remote wasn't Jackson before going for it. But whatever, one down! :P This game escalated as I did manage to score 4 points from somewhere, and she applied some pressure back scoring a baseline Beale and a Breaking News. While I had done a good job keeping my economy up (and risking big by floating tags at points in the process), we were both at a low point after she scored an NAPD. She took a pretty decent gamble, Fast Tracking for an Astroscript and taking 2 credits (she had a rezzed San-San I couldn't do anything about, and another not yet rezzed even if I did). I kind of looked at what I had on the field and accepted that there was only one thing I could do. I had an installed SOT, so I clicked to draw, used SOT for Account Siphon, and used click 4 + my free break to get through her HQ Eli, taking her 2 credits and gaining 4. Basically, getting a small amount of money and buying a turn. Naturally, in response, she took 3 more credits to threaten it again. The only thing I could do at this point was Retrieval Run and hope she couldn't rez whatever ICE was there - she couldn't - and bring back Femme targetting Eli. With the 4 credits and 3 clicks I had left, I could get in 3 times. I got incredibly lucky and sniped the Astroscript on my first pull, so took a few more cards. Next turn she scored the Breaking News she drew just so I couldn't get it and Turntable it. I gambled and played a Day Job to get back on my feet. She didn't draw another agenda, but installed a card. Keyhole through two Galahad's showed me a 2-pointer, and her new install wasn't Jackson Howard, so that was game. We both enjoyed how close this one was, and the game's highlight of 2-credit Siphon.
The flip side I ALMOST pulled out. I got a few cards a little late, and she played respectably cautious because she knew I was using Grail as well. I ALMOST set up a Blacklist shutout, but she had just the right answers at just the right time, and had pretty free access to R&D with a Medium, so I was pretty much locked. Thankfully she found the agendas pretty quickly and ended it.
In a true show of how weird a day it was, despite us splitting and not being in the top tables, we actually took 3rd and 4th place. The top tables swept, knocking the losers below us, and everyone else lower split or didn't finish 2 games. It was all very strange, but I can't complain because now I have a shiny new AA Datasucker. ^_^
As far as the state of the game goes right now, I'm not happy. The majority of the people playing yesterday (and even the day before when I practiced with locals) are running Anarch ID + Wyldside + Chronotype + Faust. It has so many pieces you can't reliably trash any of the programs, and it's hard to get rid of those resources because they're very easily replaced. I find it pretty boring as we've already had an "AI Breakers FTW" meta, and it feels like Anarchs have too many of the right tools for every situation right now. Their breakers are great at strength 3 and below, while Faust now readily covers their 4-strength weakness, and David continues to handle 5+ with ease. It feels like Anarch also has the best in-faction draw and economy so ... it's becoming hard to identify why you would really want to play anything else (especially since pretty much any Anarch ID is valid to fit your play style) since they have such an easy time bringing in the best cards from each other faction.
It's a hard time to be a corp, guys. Film Critic won't help. :P
Pleased that Quetzal keeps doing work for you
I think it's a very strong build now and different enough from other Anarchy tricks around.
Regarding the game state, I think what you are saying about Faust being everywhere is pretty key. Noise is very tough to handle currently, but at least you know cards like Turing and Swordsman are going to do good work. That said, putting a Corp deck together that can deal with Noise and Kate is tough!
As far as the state of the game goes right now, I'm not happy. The majority of the people playing yesterday (and even the day before when I practiced with locals) are running Anarch ID + Wyldside + Chronotype + Faust. It has so many pieces you can't reliably trash any of the programs, and it's hard to get rid of those resources because they're very easily replaced. I find it pretty boring as we've already had an "AI Breakers FTW" meta, and it feels like Anarchs have too many of the right tools for every situation right now. Their breakers are great at strength 3 and below, while Faust now readily covers their 4-strength weakness, and David continues to handle 5+ with ease. It feels like Anarch also has the best in-faction draw and economy so ... it's becoming hard to identify why you would really want to play anything else (especially since pretty much any Anarch ID is valid to fit your play style) since they have such an easy time bringing in the best cards from each other faction.
It's a hard time to be a corp, guys. Film Critic won't help. :P
All Seeing I, Archangel, and SYNC are looking to put hate on runner strategies that require resource combos, and Chronos Protocol and Genetics Pavilion should hopefully hinder Faust/Pancakes so Anarch might get worse in the future.
0
Options
ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
The sad part of that (to me) is that it still yields NBN as the faction with the answers.
The sad part of that (to me) is that it still yields NBN as the faction with the answers.
Better the hate be in NBN and thus priced efficiently enough to work rather than in Weyland and unusable expensive. *Sigh* Student Loans and Housekeeping you could have been good :<
You know, some days I wish Imp wasn't a thing. There's so many cool assets out there that don't get used because whoops Imp just trashes them for free.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
I'm still really sad I couldn't end up making nationals this year. It was extremely frustrating that whoever was in charge of organising it took a very long time to do so and didn't give very much notice for those who had complicated arrangements to make. I'm not sure anyone from my state ended up going, and prior to the announcement at least 6 of us were planning to under the assumption it'd be in September like last year.
0
Options
ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
Am I the only one who strongly disagreed with his statement about Netrunner being a children's game? :P
As someone who struggles with depression in games this really resonates.
+1
Options
ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
I count myself lucky that I don't personally deal with such feelings (at least to any truly deep levels - I've been depressed before, as many artists have, but I've never been to the levels he discusses in the article), and that I love this game for the game and the community. However I know this is a state for many of us, and I hope that I'm a decent enough person to play against, and that at the end of the game, win or lose, I can talk and laugh with my opponent.
The Anarch bandwagon is interesting to see, especially after history and the whole "Andy Andy Andy" mentality people had for a while.
Unlike that ID, though, it's a whole faction. There's not really a bad Anarch ID now, is there?
just some that are only good depending on the meta
like, as a whole the game is pretty operation-light right now so Kim doesn't do all that well
but it will swing back and there will be a time when he's a really solid pick and Whizzard is not worth looking at again
+2
Options
ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
Dumb rules check I think I'm right on but want to make sure:
Reina VS Blue Sun - Since she "increases the rez cost" of the ICE rather than makes the corp spend an additional credit, Blue Sun does get the extra credit back it spent rezzing that ICE when it triggers its ability, yes?
Dumb rules check I think I'm right on but want to make sure:
Reina VS Blue Sun - Since she "increases the rez cost" of the ICE rather than makes the corp spend an additional credit, Blue Sun does get the extra credit back it spent rezzing that ICE when it triggers its ability, yes?
I don't think so (could be wrong)
Because it's the first rez each turn and the game doesn't remember which ice it applied to.
Something like Xanadu which is an on going effect on all ice, you would.
+1
Options
ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
Mm, Xanadu was easy. I didn't think the game would forget this though. Rather wish they had just made it an additional cost to rez the first piece of ICE. :P
I'm not sure. I believe the game remembers the rez cost of, say, constellation ice with counters on it and that affects the dough Blue Sun gets from it, so I dunno.
that's something else, I guess. Does the game remember the rez cost of constellation ice when those counters are spent using Trick of Light or something?
Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
edited August 2015
the card's still face up and the counters are still there, so it's not so much remembering the cost as recalculating it the same way
if the counters go away then the rez cost of the ice is no longer reduced
edit: if reina runs HQ, and you rez a hive for $6, and she breaks it, then uses Emergency Shutdown, and runs again, I think you can rez it for $5
Powerpuppies on
+2
Options
ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
Tracked down an official answer as this was getting interesting.
"Reina Roja's ability only lasts for the duration in which the Corp is paying to rez the ICE."
Not a surprising resolution, but I wish there were more concise rules on the duration of such effects.
Anywho, carry on with your days, ladies and gents.
tzeentchlingDoctor of RocksOaklandRegistered Userregular
Yeah, the basic idea is that if there is a static effect that changes the rez cost (Xanadu, Rook, Breaker Bay Grid, advancements on space ice) then Blue Sun must use the modified value, but if there's a temporary effect that happens only the first time an ice is rezzed, then Blue Sun only looks at the static value.
0
Options
Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
not that I don't think people should talk about this stuff here, but if for whatever reason it is urgent, ANCUR is great
0
Options
ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
I'm really torn on what to bring to my next tournament this sunday. I was prepared to just chalk the Noise games up to variance and go again with him with some slight modifications but I feel like there's not enough time to test it. Should I drop the Film Critics and go 3 Clone Chip again? Find room for IHW? Drop Trope? I don't know. PPVP is way easier.
0
Options
ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
Oh, this is the Titan list that won the tournament I was at. I never played him. As I understood it he was really crushing it. It looks really interesting, I'd like to try it out but I'd feel weird bringing it to a tournament where I'd run into the guy who made it.
0
Options
jakobaggerLO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTOREDRegistered Userregular
Apparently some British dude came over and stole the Nordic Championship:
Scandinavians are supposed to raid England, not the other way around, you goof!
That is a dude from my local meta! Oh man that is awesome. I will probably see him tonight at the weekly Netrunner meetup.
Tell him to stop stealing our womenjobs tournament prizes and also something something closed borders.
But in all seriousness, that's pretty cool. I was sad I couldn't go (cards in storage with all my other stuff, had dumb work to do etc). Congratulate him from me.
Had my first forfeit the other night. Playing reina headlock eater/keyhole against tenin. Had a slow start and just got to where I had no answers to multiple lotus fields/ 7+ str ice/fire walls on servers when my only breakers are eater and knight. Also, who the heck is still playing chrysium grid? It was the PERFECT shutdown on his part.
Also, please explain to me power shutdown. Having not played with/against it, it seems like its almost destined to only hit cheap things on the runners side? Which isn't nothing, and of course the runner WANTS their whole rig, but I don't see it hitting 2+ cost stuff very often? Or is it good mostly because the current meta with runners using fairly minimal setups and some amount of one ofs that they really really don't want to lose?
Power Shutdown's tricky, the concept is that you basically want to tune it so that the thing you want to trash is the only target that's possible for the value you set it at.
I know I mostly just fire most of mine at 0 or 1 to clear out SMC's or Clone Chips. The less recursion available, the more devastating face-planting that Archer is going to be.
PMAvers on
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
+4
Options
Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
here's a thing that happened last week I forgot to say anything about
Played a game as runner in which I got nine bad pub
I lost that game
It was a haarpsichord deck with nothing but 1-pointers, midseasons, and meat damage, eventually he was able to stick a tag with breaking news and hit me with closed accounts
PMAvers is correct, but there's other ways to use Power Shutdown. Uncorrodable was a deck that relied on Power Shutdown, Archer, Grim, and then nothing but barriers. Essentially you never have to Power Shutdown for more than two, because (at the time) Corroder was the only barrier breaker being used. With Archived Memories and Jackson, you could recur PS up to 15 times, so long as you didn't deck yourself in the process.
TBH, you could reasonably slot 3 in to every single deck, just to dick over Faerie, Clone Chip, and Datasucker. If it hit anything better than that, it's gravy.
Oh, yeah, and Power Shutdown at 2 is actually pretty handy since you might be able to clear out a Parasite that's eating your ICE if they've got nothing cheaper on the board.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
here's a thing that happened last week I forgot to say anything about
Played a game as runner in which I got nine bad pub
I lost that game
It was a haarpsichord deck with nothing but 1-pointers, midseasons, and meat damage, eventually he was able to stick a tag with breaking news and hit me with closed accounts
I've been playing something like this, but without the closed accounts. So much fun. Film critic and imp can kill it dead if they come out early enough, though. Scored three Profiteering in a game tonight and took allllllll the money. Killed that guy, and almost killed another, but hit an I've Had Worse with a Traffic Accident before the Scorched. I knew he had one, and figured TA was less likely to hit it and give a chance for the kill, but ah well.
Posts
Round 1:
Game 1 vs NEH - Guy had turtlebacks which was very unexpected for me out of NEH. He got two pretty quickly and was just dropping assets and stuff all over the damn place. I lost really, really quickly in this one. He rezed Early Premiere, advanced Breaking News once, and then Traffic Accident into Scorch. I had some issues getting going as well. Noise 0-1.
Game 2 vs Maxx - This is the first time my hole had ever been keyed in real life and oh god is it annoying. Keyhole three times in one turn is just ever so obnoxious. It's also super deflating feeling. "Yep, just look at all my shit and pick the best one for you. I hate you." I eventually got some ice in front of it but he parasited it and it got back on the annoyance train. We eventually got to him leading 6 to 4 with my NAPD in archives protected by a femme'd architect. My notes are sparse here so I guess he didn't run it. I won on a last turn Biotic, install Beale onto SanSan City Grid, Shipment from Sansan, score, install Breaking News, use astrotoken, score for the win. NEH 1-0.
Round 2: 1-1 overall
vs Noise - This was a long horrible slog. Scored out an Astro naked (I might rely on that trick too much) and I did a Beale the same way. I think I installed the Beale behind an Enigma or something to score it out, and then I drew the Astro next turn so I put it out there and scored them the hard way on consecutive turns. Won on a NAPD in a server behind Ichi/Tollbooth. Turn after install advance x3 + Astro to win. NEH 2-0
vs HB FA - This game went super long. I ran out of cards. We didn't score any points until like halfway through the game. This one just kind of got out on my reach as his R&D was dwindled down to a few cards. I had Medium out but he kept burning turns to purge counters. His R&D was Architect/Eli for the longest while and I had Mimic so I just kept clicking through and paying to get in once a turn. Towards the end he rezzed an Ichi that I had no way to do anything about (I had two cards in hand I think at this point and no sucker tokens due to repeated purgings). He blew up Mimic and Medium and used the Architect to install an agenda from his R&D into his scoring remote. Had no way to possibly get into that server, it was something Davidable and Ichi, would have taken that last click to install David. He won on the next turn. Noise 0-2
Round 3: 2-2 overall.
vs NEH - This was the worst round of the tournament for me. Noise got basically nothing going early on. I had an okay start with Cache and Imp, but he had a CVS installed that I ran on which prevented me from trashing his economy or Sansans. From there he kind of got everything he wanted and needed while I struggled to get the pieces together. He scored out pretty quick. Noise 0-3
vs Reina - I am an idiot and I could have won this one. I got a little hosed early on in this game money wise but I scraped back into it. He had a turn 1 or 2 Peddler which just sat out forever which in my mind definitely became Clot. I should have known it was definitely NOT that, when I scored out a single turn Fast Track Astro onto Sansan with Biotic SFSS. I think in my head though I thought that he would just save it for game point which we were both on. Later, he ran on R&D with Medium with two or three counters after Crescentusing the Tollbooth out there so it was defended only by a rezzed Pop Up. I didn't have cash to rez Tollbooth again. I had CVS installed and I could have popped it but I felt at this point he'd just keep rerunning the R&D the whole turn and get back up there anyways. Who knows how burning the CVS would have changed his mind though. I could have hoped he whiffed on it and then purged, basically keeping him from seeing anything new. Unfortunately he plucked an agenda in like the first two cards. I could have installed NAPD on Sansan, advance x2 and Astro counter but I was too afraid of the Clot. Had he clotted it, it would have definitely been game. I think I should have realized that Clot on that Peddler was really, really low percentage and risked it. Three events on the Peddler. NEH 2-1
Round 4: 2-4 overall
vs NEH - I die all the freaking time. We got through the game, I think I stole something like a Beale on a lucky first turn access on an undefended R&D. From there I was like "Okay, I'm ahead, I can take a little bit of time to get set up and get my stuff and make a big push for the late game." He installed something behind a piece of ice in a remote and advanced it. I was like "I think I can get in there but I think it's NAPD and it's not really worth it." I had David and Faust in hand so I'm reasonably certain I could have broken in. Didn't do it. It was Breaking News. Advance, scorched on three cards in hand. Dead. At that point I also had no idea whether it was FA or Butchershop either. Noise 0-4
vs Kate - Not an anarch! I managed to bait out a lot of his money on runs by installing assets behind what I had established as my scoring server. One turn he stimhacked and found Sansan and Jackson. Oops! I think this was the game where I found and installed all three Jacksons, so I let him trash it. He never really got into a position to Clot me as he either didn't have the Clone Chip or money. Won it on another complicated Fast Track instant install score astro nonsense. I did that a surprising amount of times. NEH 3-1
Round 5: 3-5
vs Maxx - AstroBS is so good. I think he also got pretty unlucky on his Maxx mills. He had Clot in the bin real quick but he just didn't have money when I actually wanted to score out. The backbreaking move was one turn I double installed CVS and Beale. He installed Imp, immediately ran CVS. That's so deflating. He didn't run the other one. I'm pretty confident that when I do those plays they're pretty bad but I got really lucky. That swung the game 4-0 in my favor and he never came back. This was a longer game and NEH just grinded it out. NEH 4-1
vs HB FA - Film Critic did WORK this game. Two NAPD's. That's worth it. I got set up really quickly. He scored an early Chronos Project with my only Medium, a Cache, and a Parasite in the bin but it really wasn't that bad at all for me. This game went close, 3 to 5 or something in his favor. My final turn I ran and found an ABT in HQ I think, and installed it onto Film Critic out of an abundance of caution. Third click I found a Vitruvius in archives I think, which made me regret hosting that ABT. He had his scoring server and a facedown card in it so I was pretty confident I was going to lose the game. It was Adonis Campaign. He showed me Vitruvius or ABT in hand with a Sansan. Oof. That's tough. Noise finally wins, 1-4.
5-5 overall.
Okay, thoughts!
I think Film Critic is something you just have to install. You're GOING to run into NAPD Contract and it's going to be good. Against the first HB FA game where I drew out of cards, I accessed a NAPD in archives with three credits. Next turn when I went back he had already installed Jackson. Would have won Noise that game.
Literally never saw the Plascrete in any matches where it would have mattered except for the one where I drew every card. It would have saved me, just really, really unlucky. I guess it's not that unlucky. I died so fast it's not fair to blame the Plascrete. Each time when I died I felt pretty safe due to having not run at all the prior turn, or having money to evade a SEA Source or Midseasons. Didn't matter. I'm not sure what to do about that. I guess I have to find room for IHW.
Trope was again only seen I think in the game where I drew out my deck. Honestly that game it would have mattered maybe a tiny amount but the rest of the games it's just not something that came up. This lines up with my OCTGN testing in that I knew that drawing out doesn't come out that much. I think I'd still like to test it some more.
On Noise. You know, after the third round I was really down on him and I don't think it's entirely fair. Two of the games he just never got going, I either couldn't find Aesops or draw or whatever I needed at the time. That's just kind of how he is and I think you have to be willing to buckle down and draw or something. I think also you have to realize some games are just going to get away from you while you're setting up. I did find myself thinking "This shit wouldn't happen to Kate." I'm not sure how I feel. There's another ANRPC tournament I'm going to next sunday and I'm going to have to sit and think. Honestly, one game was well within his ability to win and the rest of them could have been coin flippy. IHW might have made the difference but who knows.
NEH is so good. Honestly Clot was never a problem even remotely except for the phantom Clot. I think Butchershop would have been almost equally as effective. I think I just feel safer with AstroBS. I feel like I have more things under my own control. My last minute thoughts were that Butchershop can be hosed by both Film Critic AND Clot, and has no tool to deal with Clot in a scenario that I have to score out (no CVS to pop). It is definitely the corp deck I will bring.
I think those are all my thoughts. Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Thanks for reading all this.
Also, swag!
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
They had a lot of them, everyone there got one. Some of them were pretty awesome. I picked Noise because the super awesome NEH and BS ones were taken and the Noise one seemed the coolest out of the playable ones. There was an ETF one that was pretty fantastic. Where do they come from?
We had 15 people turn out, which was decent enough. Four rounds and naturally yours truly gets the bye first round, so ... enjoy hearing about all 6 games I played!
Round one, despite (spoilers:) losing both games, wasn't bad. Kit is probably one of the most interesting innately bad matchups for Grail because you simply lose your teeth and can't make them dig for a lot of programs in short order. I didn't see any agendas for a while, which probably wasn't great, but then he ran R&D 3 times across 3 turns and found 3 of them, so that was definitely not great. This one didn't really get off the ground as I drew into power shutdowns too late to matter, and he was easily able to run amok.
On the flip side, this was Quetzal's one genuinely bad game of the day. He was playing ETF and his economy quickly outpaced mine. I did my duty trashing Adonis and such as they came up, but I got too many Siphons with no way to use them, and his opening was kinda wonderful between DBS, Jackson, and all those other assets. It all streamed together pretty well for him. I looked through my deck after he won and found that all the enonomy minus the single Liberated and Sure Gambles I drew were in the last 10 cards of the deck or so, which was just tragic. Who needs money against HB anyway? =_=
Round two saw me facing down Blue Sun, which after a run on my first turn was confirmed as the variety that wants to kill you (Hello SE). He made a boatload of money, with an OAI on Janus giving some interesting insight, but he wasn't rezzing his ICE. I let him score a Cleaners (didn't really want to face-check Janus), but got very lucky and found a PriReq on R&D in response. This was the only time I've triggered Turntable to date! A turn or two later, he installed another card behind his 4-deep remote, and I ran on it with Eater to see what I could see. He rezzed Janus, which I broke and jacked out. Retrieval Run for Femme targetting said Janus, and I ran again. He rezzed none of the other ICE, and I stumbled into Government Takeover for the game. I gave him mad respect for trying it. Turned out it was a 6-agenda deck, and the ICE on the server from inside to outside was Hadrian's, Janus, Curtain Wall, Curtain Wall. He couldn't afford to rez any combination of them to keep me out. :P
The reverse if this I felt I really just lucked out on. He was playing Noise, who while he didn't mill any agendas had an annoyingly good hit rate on my Grail ICE. :P However he spent a huge chunk of the game drawing to find the cards he really needed, and in the meantime I hit him with a few power shutdowns, and an Archer. It turned out that both his copies of Faust were the very last, and third last cards in his deck, by which point he didn't really have the cards to use them. He ran R&D, found a Merlin that hadn't had the pleasure of being rezzed all game, and I revealed a second one. He only had 2 cards in hand, so he couldn't break both net damage, and flatlined. Had Faust not been so far down in his deck, I don't think I would have been able to win this one.
Round three was my favourite of the day. I've enjoyed the few games I've played with Nicole so far, but this saw me facing off against her NEH which I knew was running grail too, and I was super happy about that. We both set up quickly, and this time I was able to find some economy, and quickly pick up an Eater and Keyhole. Sadly, my Keyhole runs were pretty damn terrible, finding a single agenda in 4 runs, and forgetting to check that her new remote wasn't Jackson before going for it. But whatever, one down! :P This game escalated as I did manage to score 4 points from somewhere, and she applied some pressure back scoring a baseline Beale and a Breaking News. While I had done a good job keeping my economy up (and risking big by floating tags at points in the process), we were both at a low point after she scored an NAPD. She took a pretty decent gamble, Fast Tracking for an Astroscript and taking 2 credits (she had a rezzed San-San I couldn't do anything about, and another not yet rezzed even if I did). I kind of looked at what I had on the field and accepted that there was only one thing I could do. I had an installed SOT, so I clicked to draw, used SOT for Account Siphon, and used click 4 + my free break to get through her HQ Eli, taking her 2 credits and gaining 4. Basically, getting a small amount of money and buying a turn. Naturally, in response, she took 3 more credits to threaten it again. The only thing I could do at this point was Retrieval Run and hope she couldn't rez whatever ICE was there - she couldn't - and bring back Femme targetting Eli. With the 4 credits and 3 clicks I had left, I could get in 3 times. I got incredibly lucky and sniped the Astroscript on my first pull, so took a few more cards. Next turn she scored the Breaking News she drew just so I couldn't get it and Turntable it. I gambled and played a Day Job to get back on my feet. She didn't draw another agenda, but installed a card. Keyhole through two Galahad's showed me a 2-pointer, and her new install wasn't Jackson Howard, so that was game. We both enjoyed how close this one was, and the game's highlight of 2-credit Siphon.
The flip side I ALMOST pulled out. I got a few cards a little late, and she played respectably cautious because she knew I was using Grail as well. I ALMOST set up a Blacklist shutout, but she had just the right answers at just the right time, and had pretty free access to R&D with a Medium, so I was pretty much locked. Thankfully she found the agendas pretty quickly and ended it.
In a true show of how weird a day it was, despite us splitting and not being in the top tables, we actually took 3rd and 4th place. The top tables swept, knocking the losers below us, and everyone else lower split or didn't finish 2 games. It was all very strange, but I can't complain because now I have a shiny new AA Datasucker. ^_^
As far as the state of the game goes right now, I'm not happy. The majority of the people playing yesterday (and even the day before when I practiced with locals) are running Anarch ID + Wyldside + Chronotype + Faust. It has so many pieces you can't reliably trash any of the programs, and it's hard to get rid of those resources because they're very easily replaced.
It's a hard time to be a corp, guys. Film Critic won't help. :P
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
I think it's a very strong build now and different enough from other Anarchy tricks around.
Regarding the game state, I think what you are saying about Faust being everywhere is pretty key. Noise is very tough to handle currently, but at least you know cards like Turing and Swordsman are going to do good work. That said, putting a Corp deck together that can deal with Noise and Kate is tough!
All Seeing I, Archangel, and SYNC are looking to put hate on runner strategies that require resource combos, and Chronos Protocol and Genetics Pavilion should hopefully hinder Faust/Pancakes so Anarch might get worse in the future.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
Better the hate be in NBN and thus priced efficiently enough to work rather than in Weyland and unusable expensive. *Sigh* Student Loans and Housekeeping you could have been good :<
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
http://thewinningagenda.com/2015/08/17/modifying-yourself-only-love-and-positivity-should-get-a-ride-on-your-boat/
I'm still really sad I couldn't end up making nationals this year. It was extremely frustrating that whoever was in charge of organising it took a very long time to do so and didn't give very much notice for those who had complicated arrangements to make. I'm not sure anyone from my state ended up going, and prior to the announcement at least 6 of us were planning to under the assumption it'd be in September like last year.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
Damn, right in the feels.
As someone who struggles with depression in games this really resonates.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
Unlike that ID, though, it's a whole faction. There's not really a bad Anarch ID now, is there?
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
just some that are only good depending on the meta
like, as a whole the game is pretty operation-light right now so Kim doesn't do all that well
but it will swing back and there will be a time when he's a really solid pick and Whizzard is not worth looking at again
Reina VS Blue Sun - Since she "increases the rez cost" of the ICE rather than makes the corp spend an additional credit, Blue Sun does get the extra credit back it spent rezzing that ICE when it triggers its ability, yes?
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
I don't think so (could be wrong)
Because it's the first rez each turn and the game doesn't remember which ice it applied to.
Something like Xanadu which is an on going effect on all ice, you would.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
that's something else, I guess. Does the game remember the rez cost of constellation ice when those counters are spent using Trick of Light or something?
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
if the counters go away then the rez cost of the ice is no longer reduced
edit: if reina runs HQ, and you rez a hive for $6, and she breaks it, then uses Emergency Shutdown, and runs again, I think you can rez it for $5
"Reina Roja's ability only lasts for the duration in which the Corp is paying to rez the ICE."
Not a surprising resolution, but I wish there were more concise rules on the duration of such effects.
Anywho, carry on with your days, ladies and gents.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
ANCUR answers pretty much every question
not that I don't think people should talk about this stuff here, but if for whatever reason it is urgent, ANCUR is great
https://oneclickshort.wordpress.com/2015/08/18/nordic-national-championships-2015/
Scandinavians are supposed to raid England, not the other way around, you goof!
That is a dude from my local meta! Oh man that is awesome. I will probably see him tonight at the weekly Netrunner meetup.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Tell him to stop stealing our women jobs tournament prizes and also something something closed borders.
But in all seriousness, that's pretty cool. I was sad I couldn't go (cards in storage with all my other stuff, had dumb work to do etc). Congratulate him from me.
Gaz is such a nice guy, though I have eternal hatred of him for getting my name wrong in one of his write ups
Also, please explain to me power shutdown. Having not played with/against it, it seems like its almost destined to only hit cheap things on the runners side? Which isn't nothing, and of course the runner WANTS their whole rig, but I don't see it hitting 2+ cost stuff very often? Or is it good mostly because the current meta with runners using fairly minimal setups and some amount of one ofs that they really really don't want to lose?
I know I mostly just fire most of mine at 0 or 1 to clear out SMC's or Clone Chips. The less recursion available, the more devastating face-planting that Archer is going to be.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Played a game as runner in which I got nine bad pub
I lost that game
It was a haarpsichord deck with nothing but 1-pointers, midseasons, and meat damage, eventually he was able to stick a tag with breaking news and hit me with closed accounts
TBH, you could reasonably slot 3 in to every single deck, just to dick over Faerie, Clone Chip, and Datasucker. If it hit anything better than that, it's gravy.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
I've been playing something like this, but without the closed accounts. So much fun. Film critic and imp can kill it dead if they come out early enough, though. Scored three Profiteering in a game tonight and took allllllll the money. Killed that guy, and almost killed another, but hit an I've Had Worse with a Traffic Accident before the Scorched. I knew he had one, and figured TA was less likely to hit it and give a chance for the kill, but ah well.
I may stick a closed accounts in there as well.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3