Criminals pick a pocket (or two) at London Regionals
Some head-scratching results from the first event of the season
London District Regionals
8th Feb 2025
EMEA / UK
44 Players
7 rounds SSS, Single Elim Cut to Top-8
Top Cut decklists are available here
You can watch the Swiss and Top Cut streams on Kakurainbow’s youtube channel
Historically, the netrunner season would kick off with a set of small local tournaments—casual level events that provide a relatively relaxed environment, where netrunner players who haven’t sleeved cards since before Christmas can dust off their cyberhacking implants and stretch their card gaming muscles. Not so this year.
2025 has started with a bang. Districts season is now underway, and already we are off on our race to the World Championship! Were players ready to compete for their chance at a Megacity bye, a wooly mammoth playmat, and regional glory? Well, no, not really, no.
Throughout the tournament—all the way from round one of Swiss to round one of the Top Cut—new and experienced players all fell foul to decklist errors. On top of this, some sloppy play on top and bottom tables alike led to game losses being awarded like unexpected prize support. And the Top Cut decklists exposed some disconcerting icebreaker choices.
Netrunner is hard.
So, how can we make sense out of all of this madness? And what does it tell us about what to expect at the rest of the District Championships?
HB: Engineered for Failure
Weyland did incredibly well at the CBI, and it was no surprise to see so many (16) players choose to play this audacious faction at the first event of the season. Ob (54% win rate, 0.79x conversion) remains the ID of choice, but a number of people were inspired by NotAgain’s Rigshooter Outfit—a particularly mean archetype that, despite a 57% win rate, ultimately failed to convert into the Top Cut.
NBN was the least represented faction, with only four players choosing to play Azmari (53% win rate, 1.38x conversion), and only one of those players taking it all the way into the Top Cut.
It was an especially sad day for HB. Although they had the largest ID diversity of any faction, the price of this variety performance. The overall HB win rate was just 35%—that’s lower than any win rate that we saw for any Corp faction at any event in 2024. In fact, the only HB ID to achieve a positive win rate—at this event—was Asa Group (2 players, 71% win rate, 0x conversion). Even PD (4 players, 36% win rate, 1.38x conversion) faltered.
Jinteki, on the other hand, had an incredible day, with PE (7 players, 71% win rate, 1.57x conversion) doing particularly well on both the top and bottom tables, and EV’s asset based Bring Them Home list going undefeated.
Y’all are quite good at playing Crim
Criminal win rates (57%) and conversion rates (1.83x) were through the roof. The blue Runner faction was the least represented (27%) in Swiss, but the most represented (50%) in the Top Cut—which featured Jetinho Sable, Reg Zahya, Tag-Me Zahya and Bankhar Steve.
The three Sable players, in particular, performed exceptionally well. They achieved a stonking 77% win rate across 13 games, beating everything from PD to Azmari to Ob, but failing to land a blow against Asa. Notably, they were also able to dodge the single AgInfusion player in the field.
Neither Anarch (46%, 1.1x) nor Shaper (43%, 0.32x) performed anywhere near as well. Hoshiko (4 players, 57% win rate, 1.38x conversion) and Lat (4 players, 54% win rate, 1.38x conversion) were the only two IDs of note. The Hoshiko in the top cut was Aniccam Crew Hosh, the Lat was Swift Lat.
What should I play at districts?
Something that stood out at this particular event was the success of players playing decks that they know well and that they are comfortable with. Xccam has been cooking Jemison since UK Nats 2023. King Solomon played his aggro Zahya build throughout all of last years regionals. Bankhar Steve is probably too specialised to be considered an S-Tier deck, but practice with it as much as DullBulb has and you too could go undefeated.
So, if you’re looking for success in this years Districts season then think of the decks that you have the most reps with, learn a wide range of matchups from across every faction, and feel free to express yourself in your deck choices.
Final Standings
Kikai (EA Sports) - Ob [5-1-0] / Hoshiko [3-1-0]
not_yeti (EA Sports) - Azmari [2-3-0] / Sable [5-0-0]
xccam - Jemison [3-1-0] / Esâ [3-1-0]
DullBulb - Sports [2-3-0] / Steve [4-0-0]
King Solomon (QEH) - PE [3-0-0] / Zahya [3-2-0]
EV (Rigging Up) - PE [4-0-0] / Zahya [2-2-0]
lif3line (Steel City Grid) - NEH [3-1-0] / Quetzal[2-1-0]
Fox (EA Sports) - PD[2-2-0] / Lat [3-1-0]
The UK regionals season continues in Scotland on Saturday 22nd Feb!
Come and compete for your chance at a Megacity Bye, a Wooly Mammoth Playmat, and a set of unique UK Regionals alt arts
