I wrote a series of posts on slack since joining the UK Netrunner community. The posts were titled "Tr1s meets the wonderful UK meta" and in many ways they were a precursor to this blog. In them I would reflect on the experience I had had at a particular tournament, and thank the people that gave me those experiences. Most of them have been lost to cyberspace (including one that I wish I could have shared here, detailing my first year of playing Netrunner - if anyone has a paid slack account please get in touch as we still may be able to retrieve it!), however, I did save one of them following the European Championships. I have shared to the Facebook Communities, so there is nothing new here but I think it is worth archiving both for myself and others who want to know why competitive Netrunner is as important to me as it is.
Dear Netrunner community,
Before my game against @terrificy, @vinegarymink asked me whether or not this was going to be my last big tournament in the UK so that he could mention that fact on the stream. It's obviously been on my mind a bunch recently given how close I am getting to the end of my stay (I refuse to jinx the interview I have been offered - fingers crossed super tight). But I think hearing someone else say it brought home to me just how likely it is that this will be my last one. I had to put the thought out of my head in order to carry on with the tournament, but it has been rattling around for the last few days and that has motivated me to write this.
On Saturday evening @tclifford and I sat in our AirBnB room and had a long conversation about how we got into the game. I told him what I wrote in my anniversary post here - that my start was down to me marching in to our FLGS and demanding the owner teach me - but what struck me most about that conversation was what our two stories shared: we both got into the game because of a friend we could play with. Many other activities I've done in my life have been fun because of the competitive element of it - and in this respect Netrunner is no different, competition is fun. But this to me feels like the first activity I have found where I was invested in the competition because of my friends and not making friends through the competition if that makes any sense?
I write about the UK community frequently and I think the reason I keep doing it is because whenever I tell people about this child's card game, it's not the competition or the results that excite me (like it was with other stuff) but these great moments that I have got to share with friends. I tell people often about @catherine's attempt to double parasite my Ichi 2.0, or @knails and I having an awesome current fight at Brighton, or @shmeguy murdering me with his fabulous killer penguins deck. These were cool for me because even in a high stakes environment, these felt like genuinely special moments I shared with friends. I had goals coming into Euros, and I massively exceeded them but what has been really humbling in reflecting on how the weekend went has been the realisation that I wouldn't have enjoyed it any less if I hadn't and had just spent the weekend playing games with people, talking about netrunner, and cheering on my friends. That is a great feeling, and it helped me realise how great this tournament was and how much I am going to miss it when I can't do this kind of thing as often.
While I met many great Netrunners and had tons of awesome, tense, and downright hilarious games this weekend. I wanted to share two stories from the weekend that encapsulated what I am talking about. The first is my game against @mediohxcore. For those that have heard me bang on about it, he and I have had a remarkably onesided rivalry. Shortly after coming here, I played against him on Jnet during a stream he was doing to practice for worlds. He crushed me and then proceeded to quip that beating me was "trivially easy".
I remembered.
And during every subsequent Jnet game we played, I have tried my best to beat him to prove that I am not as trivially easy as he thought. I came close, but never could do it. As a newish player, I never thought I would have the opportunity to play Dan in person, certainly not without lucking into having him drawn against me in the early rounds of something like Worlds. So when we were paired up at Euros, I was helluva intimidated but fired up. I have never wanted to win a game as badly as that one. But after we had sat down to play, and he had unrolled that sick Apoc mat he shook my hand and we proceeded to play like two friends playing a game on the kitchen counter. It was a great game, filled with banter and hilarity. in that moment, the result I had been desperate for didn't matter and though I eventually managed to win that wasn't as important as the game we played. It was great fun and I am really thankful I got to play it :)
The second was the sad moment from the weekend. The incident has been discussed tons from a rules perspective, but I don't think I have shared what it felt like hearing the judge call in the game between @rotage and I. I think the only person that managed to see my reaction was @shanodin after I took a walk away from the tables and screamed profanity into my beanie. That result SUCKED. It is probably the low point of my Netrunner career. But in saying that, I think it reflects exactly what I am talking about. My lowlight isn’t a game I threw away or a tournament I did badly in. It was a game I “won”, just in the wrong circumstances against a good friend. The me that did other activities would have just taken that and moved on – it was a result and I got it, but Netrunner me hated it and needed the support of a community to get back into the game. Thankfully, as you have all proven time and time again, the community did come and give me that help so to everyone that pep talked with me after that match, thank you. It made a huge difference.
So I have written an epic here, and it hopefully it doesn’t come across too much like grandstanding. I hope instead that what I have written gets you to think about what motivates you to keep playing Netrunner and come to the same realisation that I have. I’ve made wonderful friends in this community, and you have all contributed to making my time in the UK incredibly special. No matter whether I stay or go, I am privileged to have had this experience and to have met you all. I don’t know where this game is going to take me next, but I seriously cannot wait to see who I get to meet as a result!
Stay amazing and thank you for all the friendships old and for all those still to come.
With all my love <3
tr1s
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