This weekend, May 9th, at Epic Loot and Games in just south of Dayton, Ohio, the first of the Great Lakes Circuit (GLC) Qualifier Tournaments was held. The GLC is part of the ANR Pro Circuit, a fan driven tournament circuit with the prizes including, but not limited to, a 500$ travel voucher to go to the FFG Worlds LCG Tournament. It is quickly growing in events, and should lead to some very interesting effects with a tournament scene that is outside the official FFG process!
This weekend I attended the Dayton Qualifier, bringing two slightly less than calibrated and a bit off the wall decks: NBN, Making News (which I called the Season Finale Cliffhanger) and Quetzal, Quintessential Anarch.
Season Finale Cliffhanger (GLC Dayton Qualifiers Top 8)
NBN: Making News (Core Set)
Agenda (10)
3x AstroScript Pilot Program (Core Set)
3x Market Research (Fear and Loathing)
3x NAPD Contract (Double Time)
1x Project Beale (Future Proof)
Asset (5)
2x Jackson Howard (Opening Moves)
3x Melange Mining Corp. (Core Set)
Upgrade (2)
2x SanSan City Grid (Core Set)
Operation (16)
1x Celebrity Gift (Opening Moves) •••
1x Closed Accounts (Core Set)
3x Hedge Fund (Core Set)
1x Midseason Replacements (Future Proof)
2x Predictive Algorithm (The Valley)
2x Psychographics (Core Set)
1x Scorched Earth (Core Set) ••••
1x SEA Source (Core Set)
1x Shoot the Moon (The Source)
2x Successful Demonstration (Creation and Control) ••
1x Targeted Marketing (The Spaces Between)
Barrier (4)
3x Eli 1.0 (Future Proof) •••
1x Wraparound (Fear and Loathing)
Code Gate (5)
2x Pop-up Window (Cyber Exodus)
2x Tollbooth (Core Set)
1x Viktor 2.0 (Creation and Control) •••
Sentry (7)
2x Data Raven (Core Set)
2x Gutenberg (Breaker Bay)
2x Uroboros (A Study in Static)
1x Virgo (The Source)
15 influence spent (max 15)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Breaker Bay
Deck built on NetrunnerDB.
Quintessential Anarch 1.3
Quetzal: Free Spirit (First Contact)
Event (24)
2x Day Job (Order and Chaos)
3x Dirty Laundry (Creation and Control)
2x Déjà Vu (Core Set)
2x I\'ve Had Worse (Order and Chaos)
3x Legwork (Honor and Profit) ••••• •
2x Quality Time (Humanity\'s Shadow) ••
2x Queen\'s Gambit (Double Time)
2x Retrieval Run (Future Proof)
3x Stimhack (Core Set)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)
Hardware (7)
2x Deep Red (Mala Tempora)
2x e3 Feedback Implants (Trace Amount) ••••
3x Prepaid VoicePAD (Second Thoughts)
Resource (6)
2x Armitage Codebusting (Core Set)
2x Kati Jones (Humanity\'s Shadow)
2x Symmetrical Visage (The Valley)
Icebreaker (6)
1x Cerberus \"Cuj.0\" H3 (All That Remains)
1x Cerberus \"Rex\" H2 (All That Remains) •••
1x Knight (Mala Tempora)
3x Overmind (Honor and Profit)
Program (2)
2x Medium (Core Set)
15 influence spent (max 15)
45 cards (min 45)
Cards up to The Valley
Deck built on NetrunnerDB.
Tournament Report
Round 1 vrs Joe, at Table 7
I foolishly, perhaps, choose to stick with an opening hand of Urborous, Astro, Beale, NAPD, and Hedge fund. This Ken Deck was an Oracle May event draw - Every turn he named event, and every turn he drew and gained two credits. It seemed that he was only running a single copy of each breaker to ensure the Oracle May draw engine continued, using Special Order to find them and many many events. Foolishly I played the Targeted Marketing naming Desperado - Sure Gable would have been a better choice, a mistake I did not make for the rest of the day. Nothing good came of this, as I struggled to protect R&D, scoring eventually out the Astro, but losing in the end to a Legwork that finished me off.
Loss.
I wasn’t sure what was going on with this deck. I expected to see Assets, so kept my pair of Queen’s Gambits in my opening hand. I saw only two Jacksons and I think a pair of Daily Business Shows during this game - he says the Assets are in there, just were buried. I Legworked after about seven or eight turns finding a Utopia Shard, NAPD (which I steal) and finally Punitive. I sigh, realizing that he can easily finish me (as I have three cards in hand) so make a glory run on R&D… and pull Hades Shard off the top of the deck, for the (surprise!) win.
Win.
Corp 0-1, Runner 1-0, 2 points.
Round 2 vs Briam, at Table 8
The method of this deck came out very fast - Big Breakers (Torch, Garrote, Femme) scavanged from the London Library into play, or Test Run and Scavanged. It set up fast, having its very big, very efficient rig up by turn three. But the Astro Train was started, and as no SMC and no Clot was revealed, it was score, score, score, all off of SanSan City Grid, and finishing with Market Research using two of the Astro tokens and a credit.
Win.
Ugh, this match up was tough for me all day. I face checked a Cortex Lock on turn one click two, and spent the rest of the turn recovering. A Celebrity Gift revealing a Nisei MK II set me running on a lightly defended HQ until I got lucky and stole it, not wanting to see that MK II token later in the game. I kept up pressure on HQ, trying to snipe agenda’s before they could hit the board. A stimhack after face checking an Eli over archives got me into the remote to steal the second MK II,through a Kominu, Swordsman and a Wall of Thorns. I broke just enough of Kominu to be able to take the net damage on Swordsman, which took out my Overmind, but Knight was still on Wall of Thorns to get me through.
He installs Caprice on HQ and I fight her a bit, but in the end just ignore her - she is not much of a threat in RP on centrals, and while he is also packing Ash, the upgrades didn’t make it into the remotes.
He installs ICE over the Wall of Thorns to trash the Knight, and eventually a card goes down in that server, advanced twice. I’m fearing a Junebug, but he is sitting on five points (Clone Requirement, NAPD, and another that I forget) and can’t let him score anything. Another overmind and a stimhack to get through, and he forgets two crucial pieces - first, Swordsman doesn’t end the run and it's the last piece of ICE on the server, and The Future Perfect can’t protect itself when installed. I steal it for the win. He had an NAPD in hand, and I think I was only at three credits when I hit that The Future Perfect, so his play mistake lost him the game.
Win.
Corp 1-1, Runner 2-0, 6 points.
Round 3 vrs Eric, at Table 3
It was a no luck game this time. Without seeing any form of money, the Nisei’s were scored and Caprice was properly on the Remote it was just too much for my poor Quetzal to deal with. It was over fast.
Loss
Headlock Reina came to the table, and although I tempted him with a single advanced NAPD + Predictive Algorithm on a SanSan City Grid, he decides to decline the opportunity. I left it there for a bit while trying to build money - Targeted Marketing did good work, he says, having Sure Gamble named and he not wanting to play it due to the strategy for Headlock. Eventually I draw an Astro and decide to clear the NAPD by scoring it, to open up room for the Astro’s to follow. That was when Keyhole + Crescentus hit the table, and I simply couldn’t get ICE over RD beyond a single Eli. As I went broke, Keyhole found a way and that was the end of that game.
Loss
Corp 1-2, Runner 2-1, 6 points.
Round 4 vs Ross, at Table 9
A typical PPvP Kate deck, in this game my NBN scored up an Astro quickly, and we dived right into the train. While my making news deck is not an optimized Fast Advance deck, it can do so, and the cards aligned this time, bringing in a quick Astro train - I scored them off SanSan City Grid, leaving their tokens for the final four for two to cap the game out. He saw none of his Voice PADs and not a lot of economy, being even forced to click for four one turn.
Win.
One server made, and no Agenda’s to be found, I quickly started seeing the Punitive Counterstrikes and Scorched Earths in hand. Taurus does mad work for him - trashing two E3 Feedback and two Deep Red’s over the course of the game. It became a money race, and my deck just played lovely - at one point I had over sixty credits. But then I made a math mistake, thinking I was safe to run and steal that agenda - I had three points, he had none, I should have let him score it - it was the Cleaners, but I thought I was sound in my math on SEA Scorched Scorched. Only, I wasn’t. I forgot Quetzal doesn’t have a link, and he had -exactly- enough money to pull off the combo, and I with only four cards in hand and no I’ve Had Worse. If one of them had been an I’ve had worse, I would have drawn up and prayed, but... I took kati for 3 credits cause I thought that kept me safe, instead of being right at the line. I found out next round that it was a Government Takeover deck, no wonder I couldn’t see an Agenda in RD! Daily Business show had buried most of them before I could trash it, and it made me so very much wish for a single Showing Off I had thought to put in against DBS...
Loss
Corp 2-2, Runner 2-2, 8 points.
Round 5 vs CJ, at Table 5
I’m pretty surprised to have jumped up to table 5 after the double loss, earlier, but feeling pretty good as I’m usually not even a 50% win rate kind of guy at any card tournament. So I’m happy with my play, and hope I can at least split this round to go out with a 50% win rate.
This was another London Library deck, and Femme on Stick was used multiple turns, dropping onto the library to run on a server, and picking up. Even at one point he dropped two to get through a 2 ICE server with Femme, but both ICE were face down and it was an NAPD in the server, singly advanced. He ended with three credits at the end of the run, and that was the start of the rest of the game. Astro came down the line and Kit ever saw a Decoder, though he did Test Run a Magnum at one point - never played it out again, and the tempo hit of that is what gave me the opportunity to score out as my deck handed agenda’s to me.
Win.
Ah-ha! Something interesting, and my day is already looking up for the fact that it was going to at least be a 50% win day. A couple of lucky R&D and HQ access steals me up to 4 points, and I’m trashing Brain Taping Warehouses as I can find them. It doesn’t bother me so much - with E3 and Overmind, Quetzal doesn’t run early against Haas Bioroid like other runners, so Brain Taping wouldn’t have done too much work. Eventually a card goes in a remote and get’s advanced once. I don’t run it, not having the economy yet and instead grab money. It only gets advanced one more time that next turn and I consider - do I go in? Three unrezzed ICE in front of it. I Stimhack into the server, and he starts rezzing. I’m freaking out - I have 3 cards in hand and a brain damage coming from the stimhack, is it a Overwriter? He rez’s the first, then the second,and finally the third - when he rezzed the third piece he went broke so I went ahead and accessed - and stole a Shard to win the game. I told him after if he hadn’t rezzed that last ICE (Viktor 2.0) I wouldn’t have accessed as it could have been a kill moment.
Win.
Corp 3-2, Runner 3-2, 12 points.
Final Placement: 6th out of 21
Overall the tournament was a great experience and a lot of fun for seeing the greater Ohio meta. It was mostly Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo area netrunners, but Replicating Perfection, while certainly visible at the high tables, was not as prevalent as I thought, and runner’s were all over the board. I did see that Clot was very few and far between, making my Fast Advance alternate strategy very possible, which probably helped my corp game a lot. Without a lot of Clot possible play, how that leaves Fast Advance is for greater minds than mine to consider.
Thanks for reading everyone! This has been a GLC Dayton Qualifier tournament report from a rather middling player who got to a better position than he thought he would ever do! Hope it was an enjoyable read!
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