Six Clicks Machine - 19th @ UK Nats 2024

I lowkey hate Deep Dive, but playing with 6 clicks a turn is kinda cracked. This is why I knew I wanted to play Swift Sable at some point and ended up being the top Sable and second best Crim at the event!

Alternative deck names:

• Getting Better at Crim

• Swiftest Rock Smash

As you'll notice immediately, this is not a full Deep Dive deck, but rather a more control-ly type of build, where DD acts as a good finisher. That way, you can mostly just make sure your opponent doesn't get to win, but also push through to snatch the game on the spot if the situation requires it. Ideally you also have a second copy to close games a bit more quickly (which is a real thing in in-person tournaments), but I really wanted to spend influence on other things.

Shoutout to Brandon The King for reminding me to slot Aumakua the night before, it was crucial during the day.

Some specific slots mentions:

• Raindrops Cut Stone: I absolutely love this card in Swift Sable. It sits in the middle ground between Bravado and Dirty Laundry, creating win-win situations when you play one on the marked server early on and allowing you to speed yourself up even against asset decks. They're not vital slots, you may want to play a second DD + Bahia Bands or whatever.

• “Baklan” Bochkin: this card cooks Tatu-Bolas and Border Control tricks, doubling down as later tech for big ice like Bran and making things a little easier against some AgInfusion boardstates. It's not insane or whatever, but I also wanted to have some fun.

• Flip Switch: lets you facecheck, acts as additional click during clutch turns in NBN matchups, deals with Surveyor once against A Teia: IP Recovery, helps you get Baklan to 2 to facecheck Saisentans. What more could you need?

• Verbal Plasticity: I almost played double Blueberry!™ Diesel over these. Don't get me wrong, blue Diesel is a fine card and most people just crap on it for funsies, but Verbal is just too good to pass here. Playing with 6 clicks means you are ok taking slightly lower-value clicks compared to regular Runners and drawing 2+TCA every turn is amazing.

Tournament record was 3-1-1.

Game 1 - loss against Palmtree on NBN: Reality Plus. I control pretty much the entire game, almost no points show up. He jams something in a remote just before time is called, meaning I have to check it as the Dive just nets me a Tomorrowʼs Headline that brings me up 3 to 2. I make the call to check the remote knowing I may die for it, which is hindsight is probably simply wrong. I die to Mindscaping End of the Line with him telling me "I have no idea how you didn't win this game". I really wish I had a Pinhole Threading there.

Game 2 - win against Ish on Thule Subsea: Safety Below. There is... not too much to say about this. I keep a starting hand of Info Bounty, Cezve and some econ, playing a deck with 6 clicks against someone who's trying to tax them out. I have a good advantage in the matchup, find agendas on the board early, get hit by a Wage Workers Orbital Superiority Hypoxia which breaks his econ and pretty much shows his board, so I can just keep everything in check with the help of Aumakua from there, through purges and losing clicks time and time again to Mr. Hendriks, eventually stumbling into a win.

Game 3 - win against Atien on A Teia: IP Recovery. This game is incredibly slow. I get a very early Carmen and stay somewhat poor due to Tatu-Bolas on centrals, keeping her poor by trashing an early Charlotte Caçador and Vovô Ozetti. A single access when she starts getting back up nets me a Bacterial Programming and again I stumble into a win while getting the central runs for a DD when she's starting to properly stabilize.

Game 4 - win against Kamikami on Thule Subsea: Safety Below. The game is technically different but mostly similar to the one I played before. The main difference is that turn 1 shows him go Install->Advance, making me immediately realize it's likely on Cerebral Overwriter. A big Oppo Research + False Lead makes me fear for my life, so I drop a Cupellation and blitz through HQ finding a Hypoxia, making things a bit harder for him and having him waste some time to get that first core in. I let a Wage Workers sit on the board for many turns favoring checking facedowns before my econ is in a good spot, control from there, stumble into a win for the third time.

Game 5 - tie against Marbles on Jinteki: Personal Evolution. We start a couple minutes late not realizing the timer has been ticking down for a little, leading to another super long match where points mostly just don't show up. She scores a House of Knives right away, I control the board for most of the game, she never gets to Moon Pool out agendas nor set up any Bio Vault or Prāna Condenser behind Data Loop. The moment time is called I get my DD sniped by the last HoK counter (1 in 7), proceed to whiff the Cupellation accesses (1 pointer and 2 pointer in 7) but manage to find a False Lead at the last moment, tying the game up 1-1. Once again, my opponent's reaction is something along the lines of "I have no idea how you didn't win this game", while knocking both of us out of top cut contention.

The entire trip was a blast and easily in my top 3 of favorite tournaments ever, being the first time in the UK and in a TAIB airbnb. I'll treasure all the memories and memes for the longest time, can't wait to do all that again.