I don't like this deck - 1st at Worlds 2020

Limes 835

OK, first of all, stop reading this description and go check out the decklists that Klokotze has put together. They're an absolute genius at deckbuilding really unique and powerful stuff, and came up with the original idea for this list. I'll wait.

...

See? Told you so. Next, you need to go and congratulate your nearest Nisei person on running such a successful tournament, and thank them for being so successful at maintaining such a wonderful community since 2018. Go and do that now. Again, I'll wait.

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Right then. This is the deck that I used to win worlds 2020, and was definitely the stronger of the two. It only dropped two games in the whole event, in rounds 2 and 3 of the Swiss, and in both cases this was due to the runner sniping two Project Vacherons off centrals by about turn 4, allowing them to sit back and relax before I could catch up.

The deck is built around a big combo turn using Game Changer and Fast Break to score a lot of points in one go. You enable this by having the runner steal a lot of your 1-pointers, forcing them to take News Teams or Meridians, and then building up a lot of money with Stock Buy-Back. Keep installing your 1-pointers naked on the table - if the runner doesn't steal them, you can score some and threaten a victory that way. The Hyperloop Extensions and the first copy of Megaprix Qualifier are probably more valuable to you stolen than scored, though. The Meridians go on centrals - R&D if you're worried about Stargate, otherwise HQ.

As I mentioned on the stream, although I'm obviously stoked to have won, I'm not sure it's a good thing that this style of deck is so powerful. It ignores a lot of the fun of netrunner - no need to think about icebreakers or scoring windows, and other things like bluffing or runner economy are very minor concerns. With that in mind, here are some tips on how to beat this deck:

Finally, I think including a picture or gif is basically mandatory in this sort of writeup, so under pressure from certain individuals who will remain unnamed (and one who will not), here you go:

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16 comments
11 Oct 2020 themeanlady

WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!! We are all so amazed and impressed and couldn't be happier to call you a Coloradan :D

11 Oct 2020 neuropantser

SPORTS META SPORTS META

12 Oct 2020 ValkyriezGaming

Not the type of Sportsmetal: Go Big or Go Home I love to play (it's my favourite ID) but I'm super happy to see the ID take 1st at the big dance. Congrats.

12 Oct 2020 Cpt_nice

I don't like this deck either but I am still thrilled it won Worlds! Congrats!

12 Oct 2020 ctz

S tier username. Excellent work

12 Oct 2020 Klokotze

Thank you for mentioning and remembering about me but I think all credits should go to you. You managed to pilot this deck to the first place of our beloved game! Unfortunately I couldn´t participate on this weekend. I just came on time to see the top cut. And after an amazing semi-final I was curious what the deck of the upper seated player would look like and well … I was just speechless for a whole minute. And then I started to laugh and cry at the same time. But of happiness :D

I think vesper wanted to hear the story behind this deck but I didn´t see the message during the stream ontime:

Well it all started started with my Breaker-less Gnat which I took to a GNK of Andrej to troll on everyone with that mill idea I had. It was a pretty small tournament compared to worlds and I managed luckily to be unbeaten that evening. So I wondered if I could create an ICE-less pendant to keep trolling. Et voilà!

This deck is interesting because it keeps its strength even when the opponent knows what your plan is. (This is different with Gnat because when the Corp knows from the beginning that Gnat is trying to mill, our kid has a bad time). Against this SportsMetal the Runner needs specific cards to stand a chance.

As you mentioned above Stargate gives this Sportsmetal a hard time especially the Project Vacheron loses its protective ability in archives. Furthermore Stargate is ubiquitous right now. Cards like Artist Colony, Data Dealer and an perpetual Imp are an instant lose in my opinion. If none of the four above is being used against you, you are most likely to win.

I found the changes you made very interesting. Especially the Meridian. Seems like it served you well.

The Community is a very nice one and everyone is very friendly. Some people asked me politely to play normal decks against them since Gnat and Sports cause NPE (negative player experience) by being none interactive or just frustrating to play against. Even you yourself dear Limes called this one „I don´t like this deck“. Probably you are right, that decks like this one shouldn´t be allowed or at least that good in winning. Me for my part I love to explore those unorthodox/2nd win conditions. Especially to mill the Corp filled me always with joy since this is the most difficult one. At this point I really would like to apologise to anyone who was annoyed to play against any of my decks. I didn´t want you to have a bad time.

Anyways long story short, I am really happy for you, Limes our new World Champion of 2020 that you could win this amazing tournament

A big shout out to the NISEI Team,the casters, the Jinteki.net creators and everyone else who participated during this tournament. You are the people who keep this game and amazing community together, every single one of you! Thank you!

12 Oct 2020 Diogene

Congratulations for your well earned win at World. Since I've been trying the Iceless archetype a lot since Klokotze publication, I feel the archetype deserve some considerations.

First, it teach how to use effectively assets and operations. Because it has less moving parts, it is much easier than normal decks, to get to know the assets and operations of a given faction.

Second, it is actually quite vulnerable. Basically, if the runner has Stargate, the win rate goes from 90% to 50%. That is a huge swing for an deck archetype. The same goes if the runner has chosen the "decking" archetype, with tools like Fear of Masses. And since Stargate is the most used tool for multiaccess, Iceless (or near Iceless) is quite vulnerable.

Third (and final) is the fun of playing shell game. The Iceless archetype is not a prison deck. There is a lot of interactions possible. The only thing is that the runner must follow the corp game plan, rather than their own. The archetype still allow the runner to make multiple choices.

Again, congratulations for the change you made to Klokotze deck. You've played beautifully. Thank you for giving the world this amazing demonstration of an archetype that is seldom played. It is an archetype that will now be considered. Giving the corps an additional archetype is huge. Your success will create a lot of discussions. You are the best!

12 Oct 2020 MELLONE75

good job limes a beautifull good job

12 Oct 2020 koga

Beautiful. I've always played fake points Sports and I'm so happy you made it through, although this is a little more combo-y thank I like.
Congrats!

12 Oct 2020 Watzlav

I had to downvote myself on reddit because of you. Congratulations. Are you happy now? ^_^

In retrospect...

12 Oct 2020 Watzlav

Oh, I cannot comment with an image.

13 Oct 2020 OpticalDillusion

Congrats! Great to watch!

13 Oct 2020 Simone Suka

Fun stuff:

after @Limeswon, all players on jinteki just put data dealer in their decks

13 Oct 2020 Saan

Oh shit, I took a modification of your SYNC deck to Worlds and went almost undefeated with it on day 1B. The only reason I couldn't ID into the cut after 4 rounds of swiss was because literally no one had as many points as I did, so I had to play out the games, and eventually lost to a boneahead mistake on my streamed game with Heinzal (threw away BOOM! when I should have kept it). I hadn't realized til just now that you were the eventual winner of the entire thing.

Grats, my dude!

15 Oct 2020 Shorty

Great performance & so happy to see Sportsmetal took home Worlds 2020! Well played!

23 Nov 2020 FightingWalloon

Would this deck be playable if Medium or Indexing were cards still?