Punitive Azmari sends a message to EMEA

and reeducates runners on the value of minimum deck sizes

Jul 06, 2024

European, Middle East and Africa Continental Championship
29th June 2024
Bergamo, Italy
111 Players
7 rounds DSS, Cut to top-16

Watch the Swiss and Top Cut streams on the official NSG twitch. Find the Top Cut decklists here.

EMEA was the final in a series of three continental championships, each acting as a gateway to the prestigious Intecontinentals Championship, and each offering some incredible prize support. It was also the largest in-person event this side of the Atlantic, with 111 friends from across the world gathering at the Spazio Polaresco for three days to eat pizza, drink beer, and, of course, to play netrunner.

The faction preferences at EMEA were similar to those at APAC, with HB (42%) and Shaper (47%) being the most popular. Shaper proved to be an excellent choice (53% win rate, 17% conversion)—HB slightly less so (51% win rate, but only 11% conversion). NBN was the least popular faction, but had the highest win rate (60%). Jinteki and Weyland had identical attendance (22%) and win rates (50%), but Jinteki struggled to convert these wins into Top Cut placements (12%) whereas Weyland had the highest faction conversion (21%). Criminal was both somewhat unpopular (23%) and also underperformed, with a 40% win rate and a measly 8% Top Cut conversion (well below the tournament baseline of 14%). Anarch did well enough, with an okay(ish) 48% win rate (shared equally between Hoshiko and Esâ) and a perfectly respectable 15% conversion.

Going into this tournament, World Tree Arissana was largely tipped to be the “best” Runner archetype, a reputation which will be maintained by Arissana’s 59% win rate and 21% cut conversion. Lat and Kit were both (slightly) preferred as the Shaper identities of choice, but neither performed quite as well as the frog loving Street Artist. Their win rates were 55% and 49%, respectively. However, it’s well worth mentioning that a whopping 27% of the 15 Kit players converted into the cut. If your goal for the tournament was to make the cut, then Kit was a great choice of runner identity …

… and would have been well paired with Ob, which managed an even more impressive 44% conversion rate (albeit out of a smaller sample size of only 9 players) and an incredible 65% win rate! Several different Ob archetypes were on display in the Top Cut—some wholesome, some less wholesome, but all at least were regulation size—and fans of super heavy container ships will be delighted to see the Weyland Borealis identity reclaim some of its lost glory.

More incredibly, 65% was neither the highest win rate of any identity, nor the second highest! The silver medal goes to the 2 x R+ players (win rate of 69%), and the gold medal goes to the 8 x Azmari players who achieved a frankly terrifying 76% win rate (as well as a 37% conversion rate). The explanation for these staggering numbers out of a “dead” faction? A murderous spin on a classic reeducation archetype that spices things up with a Punitive Counterstrike fork. Similar kill forks were deployed in traditional RH and AgInfusion decks with more modest, but still significant, success (65% and 58% win rate respectively).

For those Corp players less inclined to orthogonal—some might even say unfair—win conditions, PD continues to win a solid 51% of games. Hoshiko (59%) and Esâ (75%) seem to be favoured matchups, whereas Kit (40%), Arissana (29%) and Sable (27%) are more of a struggle. Despite this, a solid 18% of PD players at EMEA converted into the cut. Asa enjoyed a higher win rate (54%), and was particularly good against Arissana (73%), but converted poorly (7%).

Overall, we saw a continuation of the pattern that has emerged in previous tournaments this season. Corp win rates continue to drop, but are still (for now) holding at 51%. Similar to previous tournaments, and for some unexpected reason, Corp win rates in the Top Cut were higher than in Swiss (67%).

The question now is what will the 15 top continental players, and the returning Intercontinental Champion, choose to bring to ICC?

Meta-Breaker (Runner): Hyperbaric Kit

As if trick shot wasn’t powerful enough on it’s own, Hyperbaric gives the runner a way to dump any excess money into a permanent advantage. A festival of other “neat” interactions make this deck a whole heap of fun to play, and terrifying to play against. Expect to see this all over j.net, and, potentially, on the frontpage of NRDB as the decklist of the week.

Meta-Breaker (Corp): Punitive/Djupstad Azmari

The orthogonal win condition of this deck will not appeal to everyone, and some players will find themselves uncomfortable with the play pattern of drawing lots of cards only to discard them. But the deck gets results, and it gets them fast.

As Runner, you should learn your lines and pack your pinholes, because you will not have that many turns to deploy them. Play with caution, but do not hesitate. Make them prove that they have it.

Final Standings

jan tuno (QtM) - Ob [8-1-0] / Esâ [5-3-0]
ryanbantwins - Ob [8-3-0] / Lat -[5-5-0]
AugustusCaesar (TAI Breakers) - AgInfusion [5-2-0] / Arissana [5-1-0]
Kikai (EA Sports) - Azmari [6-1-1] / Steve [5-3-0]
CobraBubbles (EA Sports) - Azmari [6-1-0] / Hoshiko [3-2-0]
Bridgeman - RH [7-2-0] / Lat [4-4-0]
testrunning (NWE) - Ob [4-1-0] / Esâ [5-1-0]
xiaat (TAI Breakers) - PD [4-4-0] / Arissana [5-3-0]

~~~ Intercontinentals Championship Invite Cutoff ~~~

Rhahi - PD [6-0-0] / Kit [3-3-1]
not_yeti (EA Sports) - Azmari [6-0-0] / Hoshiko [2-5-0]
J0N4LD (TAI Breakers) - Ob [4-4-0] / Arissana [5-2-0]
Quercia - Outfit [3-4-0] / Sable [4-4-0]
belazor - Sportsmetal [3-2-0] / Hoshiko [4-1-0]
snoobz - Asa [3-3-0] / Kit [5-1-0]
JamesHarrison (NWE) - Issuaq [3-3-0] / Kit [3-3-0]
GoldenWitch - PD [4-2] / Kit [4-4-1]

* due to some players either being unable to play in the ICC, or having already received invites to the ICC, invitations were extended to placements 6, 7 and 8