Mags cracks eggs at Megacity Canberra
But AU Co. is still the gold standard
AUS Capital Megacity Championship
24th - 25th May 2025
Canberra, AUS
39 Players
7 Rounds of SSS, Cut to top-8
It’s been just over a month since Elevation was released, and our 3rd Megacity Championship was in Canberra, Australia. There is another Megacity Championship happening in Adelaide late in July, but this was the first chance for players in the APAC region to compete for a continental bye, a Clean Getaway playmat, as well as loads of great alt-art prize support as well.
But what did they play? And how did they perform?
Magdalene refuses to settle for just ‘good’
Although Sable (9) was the most represented Runner ID, other Criminal IDs were not as popular as they have been at recent events. Instead, Anarch (18) was the faction of choice—with players preferring Hoshiko (6), Seb (6) and Phoenix (5). Shaper (7) was, again, light on attendance, with almost all green players choosing to play Magdalene (6). Perhaps inspired by DeeR’s performance at the Summer Showdown, these players did very very well.
Magdalene managed a whopping 70% win rate (over 23 games) and a 1.63x cut conversion. This put 2 of the 6 players into the Top Cut. Although their highest placement was only 4th (Miles—who unfortunately had to drop from the tournament in order to make their flight), Magdalene was still technically the only high performing Runner ID at the event.
Despite winning the tournament, and making a decent showing in the Top Cut (1.6x), Sable’s win rate of 49% (35 games) is just not that impressive by comparison. It looks like the problem is net damage. Budding virtuosos should be looking to Vale for advice specifically on the AU Co. matchup, as he was one of only two Sable players that were able to win against the golden egg (the other being CR4TER). Sable went 4-7 against AU Co. overall. Worth saying that all three Sable in the Top Cut were on Deep Dive.
It was a similar story for Seb who converted well into the Top Cut (1.63x), but with a disappointing win rate (42%, 24 games). Just like Sable, it was the AU Co. matchup that proved the most difficult—with Seb going 2-6 against the gold standard of Corp IDs. Both AU Co. in the Top Cut were playing three copies of Semak-samun—a potentially awkward piece of ICE for any runner that doesn’t play a fracter.
Yet another AU Co. list
AU Co. continues to be the most popular Corp ID (12), and not by a small margin either. The gold standard for Corp IDs won games (55% win rate over 44 games), but didn’t convert as well as you might expect (0.81x cut conversion). Hoshiko (1-5) and Magdalene (2-6) both proved to be stubborn matchups.
Those AU Co. players that did make it into the Top Cut were on a Holo Man list that is just as interested in scoring out as it is in flatlining the careless Runner. Interesting to see the number of different competitive builds continue to increase—could this variety be the secret behind AU Co. success?
Nebula (4) was the only Corp ID that we can reliably say performed well (53% win rate, 15 games, 2.44x cut conversion). The highest placement was on a Touch-ups + End of the Line list that went 5-0. There is limited counterplay to Touch-ups other than hard tech, but—with AU Co. still the biggest meta threat—Runners may be feeling torn between having to tech for both tags and assets.
LEO put one player into the Top Cut (0.98x), but had a terrible day otherwise (28%, 18 games). James Adams, the only PD player at the event, on the other hand, went 4-1—winning games against Seb, Phoenix and Magdalene with a core damage + Measured Response build and finishing in 2nd place.
The highest placing Weyland was Nuvem (13th), which managed a respectable 55% win rate over 11 games. Zwicky also had a decent 54% win rate over 13 games. The unsubstantiated identity’s highest placement was 17th. There were no Weyland in the Top Cut.
The overall Corp win rate was 48% in Swiss (129 games), dropping to 43% in the Top Cut (14 games).
Final Standings
Vale (TAI Breakers) - AU Co. (Holo Man) [5-0-0] / Sable (Deep Dive) [4-2-0]
James Adams - PD (Measured Response) [4-1-0] / Seb [4-3-0]
Sohum - Nebula (End of the Line) [5-0-0] / Seb [3-3-0]
Miles (TAI Breakers) - AU Co. (Holo Man) [3-1-0] / Magdalene [4-1-0]
RJorb - Prav [3-1-0] / Hoshiko [3-1-0]
Thomas P - RH [2-3-0] / Magdalene [4-0-0]
Bluestar - LEO (Holo Man) [2-3-0] / Sable (Deep Dive) [3-0-0]
Zane - Nebula (Kingmaking) [2-2-0] / Sable (Deep Dive) [3-2-0]
If you’re enjoying your weekly dose of competitive stats and analysis then the best way to support The Surveyor is to get out there and play some netrunner!
There are casual tournaments happening next weekend in Sheffield (UK), Saint-Petersburg (RU) and Linköping (SE). The next MegaCity Championship will be in Denver (US-CO) on Saturday 31st May. If you can’t make any of those then there is also an online AMT.
The second best way to support The Surveyor is by supporting my caffeine addiction.
Just a quick correction, the Nuvem listed as highest Weyland was 13th, not 11th. (It was meeeeee)
RIP Miles being in TAIB got lost somewhere