Okay, this looks way fun! EmergencyShutdown.Net set up a fantasy draft allowing you to put together a team of five players for Netrunner’s World Championship tournament in November, and compare your scores with others based on their performance. Whether you plan to attend the event or not, this looks like a great side-game to play while we’re all following/watching the results of the World Championship tournament’s top cut.
The players available so far have “draft values” based on their performance at recent premiere events and other evaluations, but you can submit write-ins for cheap picks if you can think of any people that would be a steal. While my name is in the pool, I couldn’t tell you whether I’m under- or overvalued.
With Fantasy Flight Games’ floor rules disallowing any gambling at its tournaments, the site makes sure to note, “This is not a gambling or betting website. I neither solicit nor accept wagers. The news, information, opinion, and recommendations on this website are for education and entertainment only.”
Tony is sad ⧉
Why is Stimhack Slack’s mascot and illuminati overlord so down? Maybe it’s because the retriever has to wear that cone around his head while he recovers from an infection? Or perhaps Tony is just tired of waiting for Weyland to become tier one again. 😤 😤
His owner, Ran Cao, is the best Weyland player in the world. I’ve begged her to do a profile with us for more than a year now, but since we haven’t been able to make that happen, here’s her dog instead. Cheer up, Tony. Mausolus comes out in just three more data packs.
King of Servers double-sided ID prize ⧉
Organizers for the King of Servers team tournament – arguably the most fun you can have playing Netrunner – provided us with an exclusive look at one of the participation prizes for the fan-run/ANRPC event. Made out of carbon fiber, these Blue Sun and Argus Security IDs were produced by the lovely Tony Sarkees, whose awesome work we’ve featured here in the past.
Unfortunately, sign-ups for King of Servers have already hit the cap at 36 teams, but there is a waitlist you can get on (if you’ll be in the area for the FFG Worlds Championship at Roseville, MN headquarters this November), and crews looking to fill out their rosters of four! You can still enjoy this dope flyer I made for the event, too.
Gen Con 2016′s Netrunner crew ⧉
You make a lot of friends after playing a game for a couple of years, traveling to different states for big tournaments, joining or spectating countless online matches, messaging people to get their thoughts on decks or strats, and chatting in Slack or forums. It was great to see so many familiar faces at Gen Con this year, and meet a few I’d only known by their online handles.
The folks gathered here are some of the best from Netrunner’s community, and I don’t mean that from a competitive sense (though there are nearly 20 regional winners and five national champions in the photo) – you’ve got ANRPC event organizer Scot Pags, event streamer and miracle worker Ben Torell, national treasure Zach Cavis, and so many others who make this game a joy to play.
This was shot well after the 220+ person tournament ended, when we were all hanging out, drafting, playing Codenames and Skulls, and sharing leaked secrets about upcoming data packs. Much thanks to Claudia Rivera-Quimpo for getting us all together for the photo, a souvenir I’m cherishing even more than the Wall of Statics and acrylic Chaos Theory that were handed out. Props also to eFay for making a Hacktivist Meeting alt art using the pic. I hope to see all of these faces (and new ones, too) in next year’s group photo!
The Future of Running ⧉
I’ve written a lot about race in Netrunner, mostly celebrating the diverse cast of identities in the Android universe, so it was no surprise that the topic came up again during a brief chat I recently had with the game’s lead developer Damon Stone. He didn’t share any hard-hitting news (trace⁴), but I learned a few details about the backgrounds for a few runners.
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I can’t think of a more perfect person Fantasy Flight Games could have collaborated with to produce its NBN-centered novella. The company says we should be able to pick up a copy next month:
“Although Monitor will be made available as a digital download, Android fans who order the hardbound copy will not only receive their copies before the download becomes available, but they will also find sixteen pages of bonus, full-color setting details and backstory.
Want to learn more about anarchy and consumerism in New Angeles? Want a more detailed exploration of Jackson Howard’s Child Programming? Do you need to know the Android setting’s Top 5 Children’s Content Streams by Ratings? This information—and more—becomes available to you only when you pick up your hardbound copy of Monitor.
And supplies are limited so you’ll want to be sure to mark your calendars. Your can tap NBN’s network at Gen Con Indy. Just stop by our booth to pick up your copy. Or if you can’t make it to Gen Con, you can order your copy from our webstore, starting on Monday, August 8th!”
You can read FFG’s interview with Leigh about her book here.
How I Lucksacked My Way Into Almost Becoming a National Champion ⧉
You come up with a lot of explanations when you flounder at tournament after tournament, each tailored to respond to the failure you wore that particular day. Some are best saved as comforting mantras to distract you from getting down on yourself during the long drive home. Others are handy excuses right after you miss the cut at yet another Regional competition, and the guy next to you asks, “Aren’t you Eric C? Didn’t you win this tournament last year?” 😤 😤
Here are a few of the explanations I’ve tested, tweaked, and perfected over the course of the last Store Championship and Regional seasons:
- Everyone has gotten better. It’s tougher to win now.
- It’s just not my year. I can’t expect to be at the top all the time.
- I’m a streaky player, and this is a slump for me. A really, really long slump.
- I hardly practice anymore. I play fewer than half as many games this year as I did in 2015. Everyone else is hungrier than me now.
- A lot of us are relying more on high-variance strategies and decks now, and it’s easier for skilled players to have a bad day.
It’s the end of round three at Netrunner’s US Nationals (held at Columbus’ Origins Game Fair), half-way through the tournament’s first day, and I’m already almost out of contention. Players around me discuss plans to drop out now that they’re all but mathematically eliminated from tomorrow’s Top 8 elimination cut. My third round opponent tells me he doesn’t play Netrunner much, and that he came to the event to compete in tournaments for Fantasy Flight’s other card games (Star Wars, A Game of Thrones). As he fills out our slip to record his two wins against me, I rest my forehead on both of my palms. The explanation I come up with at this point in time is “I suck.”
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I have been waiting for FFG’s Android: Netrunner lore book to show up on Amazon with a reasonable price and Prime shipping for months now! Thanks to the publisher recently reprinting The Worlds of Android, you can now order a copy at Amazon for $30.39 (around $10 off its MSRP).
“The Worlds of Android is your definitive guide to Android setting and its unique vision of the future. A beautiful, 272-page hardbound setting guide and art book, The Worlds of Android features full-color art, stunning gatefolds, and a polyphony of narrative voices that convey the immense diversity of human experience in the rich, fictional universe made famous by Android: Netrunner and the Android board game.
Mankind has spread itself out across the solar system with varying degrees of success. The Moon and Mars are colonized. A plan to terraform Mars is well underway, hindered only by a civil war that has broken out on that planet. On Earth, a massive space elevator has been built, stretching up into the sky. It is the hub of trade in the solar system, and most people refer to it as the ‘Beanstalk.’ Enormous megacorporations, called corps by most, influence every facet of daily life: food, threedee, music, career choices.
Throughout its three sections, The Worlds of Android explores these corps and their most visionary innovations. It explores what technological advances and extraterrestrial expansion mean to a human population that no longer resides exclusively on Earth. And it explores the question of what it means to be human in a world filled with clones, bioroids, and other forms of artificial intelligence.”
Alice Rees: Rogue Rising Star ⧉
Well-behaved women seldom make history (shout-outs to Laurel Thatcher Ulrich), nor do they spend afternoons blowing up their rivals’ apartments and cars, but that’s the kind of incendiary violence Alice Rees employed at Birmingham’s Netrunner regional last month, on her way to becoming the first woman to win a major, Premier-level tournament for the game*.
She will also appear on the popular Winning Agenda podcast soon to talk about her win at Wayland’s Regional (credit to them for the above photo of Alice with the rest of the top 8 cut), so keep an eye/ear out for that! In the meantime, let’s learn more about Alice and her thoughts on the game in our profile below!
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Remember Maylee, the 11-year-old “mini-assassin” profiled here last month? We asked her for any tips she could share with players who are just starting out, and Maylee offered this important advice:
“I think that you should find something that is comfortable for you. For example, I am very comfortable with kill decks. Some people are comfortable with glacier or trap decks. I think that you should find a deck, original or copied, and adjust it to fit your play style. After a while, you will find your perfect deck.”
If you missed it, make sure to read our profile on Maylee!
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