Spark of Windfall (Gunslinging at Worlds)

It's been over a month since Worlds, but now we have the gunslinging scoops up I wanted to share my decks with the world.

The two Runner scoops at Worlds were Concerto and Spark of Inspiration, otherwise known as Stimfall and "wait can I read what that card does first?" The idea behind this deck was to fully play into the gimmick with Paragon and Prognostic Q-Loop, and a single copy of the highest-power programs I could fit in.

This deck definitely has a lot of problems. Most notably Q-Loop is actually a bad card I stopped bothering to install by the end of Saturday, and using Paragon to time the perfect Concerto is significantly not as good as just playing a tempo Concerto. The most value I ever got out of one was intentionally drawing a Class Act to trash an early Tranquility Home Grid. I never hit the jackpot with Amina.

Spark was a mixed bag. A few times corps would leave R&D open turn 1, and I'd get to punish them by revealing the top 29 cards of my deck to install Stargate. More often than not I'd miss though. It's still so much fun to do though, and the choice to preview Spark in this way was perfect:

"Are you feeling lucky?"

"Uhh..."

I throw Spark at the Corp and start flipping cards from my deck across the table

I think Spark is the card with the biggest disparity between experiencing it in person vs on jinteki.net. If you get a chance to sleeve it up and play it in meatspace I can't recommend it enough.

My aim when building these decks was less to build the best deck I could, but to give the best experience I could to players while still providing a challenge. I didn't keep track but I think I won around half my games, and despite all its flaws this deck was so much fun to show to people. My highlight was snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat with a Mad Dash against Plural's Reality+.

Epilogue

(The following appears identically on my other gunslinging decklist)

I didn't actually play in any of the events at Worlds, instead spending the weekend at the reception desk by the entrance. If someone handed you a bag of complimentary masks and some alt arts that was probably me. While this might sound less fun than playing I had the time of my life.

A big shout out to everyone who came by the table to challenge me or just to hang out. It was wonderful meeting so many new and old friends, including many people I'd until then only met online. A big shout out also to all the people who thanked me for doing a thankless job. Jokes aside I do appreciate it.

By the end of each day I'd played possibly more Netrunner than I would have if I'd competed, and my brain was routinely mush. That said I don't regret a single game I played and I was happy to accept anyone who challenged me to a game. I got to experience the full spectrum of decks at Worlds.

Highlights of the week include:

• Pubrunner with the UK team

• Losing every single agenda I left in HQ for over a turn in quite literally every game except one, where my luck turned and I accidentally absolutely destroyed someone (soz)

• Hanging out with the artists at the artist table (complete with signed postcards from Scott Uminga)

• Playing Jamie's prebuilt eternal decks - there's something humbling about having to play Trypano in Noise

• Beating icecoldjazz's regular eternal deck - there's something humbling about beating a runner that Account Siphons you turn one and mills half your deck

• ExtraC coming back after his lunch break to brag about winning a fight against a pigeon

• Visiting Niagra Falls before my flight home