turtles on motorbikes (1st @ Warsaw CO, 3-2)

I've been in love with Swift since it was released, trying fruitlessly to make it work in Ken, Sable and even Az. It never seemed to be worth the prized crim console slot. The 419 version was tried as a meme... yet here we are.

This cursed pile of cards, while carried by its paired Precision Design deck, pulled its weight enough to land 1st place in a 16 player CO, winning increasingly improbable matchups against @Baltar's Asa, @Matuszczak's Ob and @apo's Restoring Humanity.

We keep the corp poor and off balance and slowly accumulate 3-4 points, while setting up Swift, DD in hand, any run event, and some way of getting into all three centrals. There is no inevitability, we extend midgame by making the corp overcommit to their scoring remote and HQ then hope for the best. Somehow this deck wins often even without firing DD and without multiaccess, which leading crim scientists are still trying to make sense of.

What works:

• the 419 tax drags out the game, giving more return to Swift, Maemi and Class Act; on paper Sable should be way better but in my testing that's not the case
• Swift is the centerpiece of the deck, laughing at click compression attempts and giving us massive value. A solid 80% of our turns will be 5-click once it is online
• Mystic Maemi fuels the engine and increases the return on otherwise breakeven econ denial turns
• Aumakua slows the game further by forcing purges
• Boomerang & Inside Job let us casually walk into the scoring remote whenever we want, and can set up a DD turn
• Bahia Bands is amazing in this deck, it was a last-day experimental addition and if I knew I'd slot three
• Carpe Diem is a run event that doesn't require running, we can get +3 cr clickless even during complete lockout, this is a huge deal
• Sneakdoor Beta provides an extra way to charge turtle, punishes lazy corps that drop mavirus into archives and consider the turtle problem settled, can set up a trivial DD turn if the corp doesn't react - best dropped after the corp advances something in the remote and you don't feel like contesting anyway
• Class Act is always great, but in this meta it lets you survive RH's nightmarish Punitive Counterstrike check - never waste it for value in punitive matchups
• breakers are cheap to install and used as backups. there is no fracter and it wasn't missed, a 1-strength Aumakua is a serviceable fracter in this meta

Flex slots:

• Wildcat Strike - play for free with Maemi, if you are poor and get cards you can bounce back anyway with Carpe Diem, Dirty Laundry, Falsified Credentials or Bravado. Neat, but inf can go elsewhere
• Nuka - nice but not critical
• Jailbreak - alright, but it can't decide if it's tempo or multiaccess, a bit awkward to use
• Pinhole Threading - disarms anoetics and tucanas, lets you run archives for DD without accessing nasty things
• Cat's Cradle is okay but it's probably better to be boring and play Shibboleth

What doesn't work:

• Poison Vial was tech against Anansi and Bran, got used once during the entire tournament, in Az it's a no-brainer but in 419 I'm not convinced

Cards that aren't there, but maybe should:

• multiaccess - Twinning was tested but it's slow and annoying without Cezve, R&D multiaccess events have antisynergy with Deep Dive, implants have the risk of knocking DD from your hand. Docklands Pass?
• Contaminate - purge lockout is a real thing and it could happen to you, 1 inf to mitigate it is fair
• Katorga Breakout - tech against damage and rigshooters, it was a dead draw too often but maybe it is worth it

Thanks to the TOs for a great event to start the year, my opponents who made every single game of the event difficult and engaging, and the Gdańsk meta for playtesting and suggestions :)