Lat succeeds where Arissana fails at US East Coast Nats

Even PD is unable to outpace the Ethical Freelancer

US East Coast Nationals
27th - 28th July 2024
Norton, MA
33 Players
8 rounds SSS, Cut to top-8

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In the Megacity of Norton Massachusetts, the second largest event of a very busy Netrunner weekend paints a somewhat different picture from the results seen at the UK’s South West Regionals.

The faction breakdowns are similar to other events that we have seen recently. Shaper (52%) made up more than half of the Runner's side and HB (38%) was once again the most represented Corp faction.

Criminal (21%) and NBN (18%) are still solidly the least represented factions—suggesting that, maybe, the excitement surrounding the newer deck archetypes for these factions at EMEA is yet to make it’s way across the pond.

Lots has been said of the power level of World Tree Arissana, but perhaps the deck’s analysis-paralysis inducing play style is proving too difficult for those who are just now picking it up, as a 39% [11/28] win rate–the lowest of any shaper identity–suggests that the list may be too much to handle (if you're not a TAI Breaker).

Arissana’s woes were starkly contrasted with Lat’s wins. Lat players boasted a 65% [11/17] win rate overall and 75% cut conversion. Exactly what these Lat decks were packing is something of a mystery, but it may be safe to assume that the Ethical Freelancer is a more approachable (and potentially stronger) pick for those looking for success with Shaper.

Without decklists for the tournament we are reliant on the rumor mill to understand how each of the corp decks that made the cut planned to win, but both PD and AgInfusion managed an impressive 50% conversion rate implying it was a good day for any Corp looking to score cleanly and quickly.

2 NBN decks made the top 8, with different flavours of tag punishment. A familiar asset spam/kill NEH (with a much revised agenda suite) and an asset-heavy, scoring R+ deck (with a 80% [4/5] win rate) both performed well for the “dead” faction.

It’s hard to draw too many conclusions from Netrunner’s GOAT emerging victorious with decks that he’s been piloting since the start of the season (he’s just that good), but, for those looking for something fresh and new, QTM players piloting tag-me Freedom and core damage Sports suggests there is still new spice to be found in the RWR meta.

In total, Corp win rates at the tournament were at 53% [63-55-8] in Swiss and a similar 50% [7-7] in the Top Cut. An indecisive result for those looking to declare this a Corp or Runner meta.

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Final standings

1. Sokka (The Future Perfect) - AgInfusion [4-1-1] / Lat [5-0-1]

2. Paillu (QtM) - Sports [5-2-0] / Freedom [5-2-0]

3. Rongydoge (Snare Bears) - NEH [4-1-1] / Sable [3-2-1]

4. Rohit (TAI Breakers) - R+ [4-1-1] / Lat [3-2-1]

5. Dan McCarthy - PD [4-1-0] / Ari [2-3-1]

6. Analyzechris (Snare Bears) - PD [2-3-1] / Hoshiko [4-1-0]

7. Gordie - PD [3-1-1] / Lat [2-2-1]

8. RayS - AgInfusion [3-2-0] / Padma [2-2-1]

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Raw data analysis is available here
24.05 meta analysis is available here