Three-ofs MaxX 20-02-08 (9th @ Domecon)

I still think your deck is better than mine.

– adquen, 2020 Domecon Champion playing Apocalypse 419

I think this might be the best runner deck now.

– lostgeek, 2018 Eternal Champion

By playing Apocalypse you're choosing not to use brain.

– Vaporwave, some online nobody complaining Apocalypse is "unoriginal" while playing Comrades' PE themself

I am struggling to find a runner deck I would enjoy playing. So much so that for the first time ever, at German Nationals, I played a criminal. That event saw NWE shaping the meta very horizontally, which prompted me to play a few games with Apocalypse 419 to a moderate success. Trying critd20’s as well as aptly named Heinzel’s take on my favourite faction was another brief detour on a journey to an enjoyable deck.



Then I decided that I should extend my tradition of playing MaxX at Domecon to a fourth year. Intrigued by Gachapon but in the end not having found the truth, I took a look at another promising virtual resource – DDoS. This pulled me in a predictable direction. After some good results I ran my first draft by Dante and Krasty, who are more familiar and accomplished with the Apoc playstyle. Dante suggested replacing Embezzle with Wanton Destruction and Boomerang, as well as slotting playset of each breaker. The latter hint led to this form I deemed flawless.



In the first round of the tourney I played against D7LLRK, a player notorious for winning playmats in Berlin. However, thanks to some lucky Wanton Destruction, his glacier GameNET didn’t give me nearly as much trouble as his Inversificator Maw Kit.



LukeNukem also played GameNet, but his variety was more akin to Rushin’ NEH or Und Nutzen! CtM. The only hurdle for Apocalypse victory was MCAAP.

I met the eventual champion adquen in a very interesting duel. If the gif he put in his write-up is not convincing enough evidence for you, let me tell you the story.
 It begins with scoring False Lead on second turn, me making money while denying CBGs, a Drudge Work and an Atlas, letting another one pass.

Later when adquen trashes an iced Marilyn and advances twice, it is the time for Apocalypse. I run the only iced central and after I spend six credits to break Border Control, my run ends unsuccessfully. I have to contest the remote, because letting Gagarin on matchpoint means having to check any new server – a losing proposition. Spending another six to break an Afshar yields an SSL for me. Having spent a lot of money, I liberate the last 4and then make a run HQ, reading the aggressive play as flood. Wrong.

Adqen deliberates for a long time and then installs, steals 4 from me and bankrupts himself to land four tags. With I have left, I remove two tags. But the Rashida he installed last turn "gets the job done" topdecking BOOM! The games decided by one credit difference are the pinnacle of competitive Netrunner for me. It was very exciting and I was shaken.



Gammagurke played what seemed like the labbES' list. I wasn’t familiar with the list enough to know it doesn’t play Crisium Grid, so the Cayambe with no advanced ice did good enough job delaying the looming Apocalypse turn by an eternity. Eventually, after several more rounds of nothing I got really bored, installed Stargate as my last card and then, missing one credit, died to Mausolus net damage. Note to myself: Click for one more credit against Weyland.



Miri was returning to the game after a year long pause with her Jinja prison deck and another great performance. But I capitalized on her sub-optimal ice placement and prevailed in the end.



I lost the game against lostgeek on Spombo Asa. I got anxious at one point and without calmly assessing the threat level, Apocalypsed maybe one turn too early, flipping my ~10 worth of economy. By the end I ran out of money to maintain pressure and lost a very close game.

The 50 % winrate is not very impressive, but I think that's due to my inexperience with this playstyle.

I believe everything that could be said about Domecon has already been said, so I'll just add: Thank you. To all of you.