Geek Weekend: Netrunner and Warmahordes Tournaments

I haven’t been here in forever. I really need to apologize for that, but I think everyone can agree that as much as you love your hobbies, sometimes life gets in the way. Work has been crazy in the past few months, and I haven’t even touched the paintbrush for at least a month.

I’m lucky enough to be able to come up for a bit of air for the next few weeks though, and I definitely intend to take advantage of that. And what better time than now, with some major tournaments (Netrunner on the 25th of May and Warmahordes on the 26th) coming up in the next week or so?

I’ve talked about Netrunner in my previous posts, and it’s certainly been developing into quite the craze in my local game shop, Gamersaurus. In the time since the last netrunner post, it has run almost one full cycle of monthly small expansions, with Future Proof set up to be the last small expansion, followed by the deluxe expansion Command and Control, and then the start of the next cycle of LCG expansions, Opening Moves.

Since the start, the meta of Netrunner has been in constant flux due to the addition of cards every month. Factions that had seemed to be underpowered when only the box set was available have seen a rise in prominence and power. Unfortunately, two factions are still languishing, but it is my hope that with the additional cards they will soon see their time in the sun. At least one (Shapers) should get a significant shot in the arm in the deluxe expansion, since they will be one of the factions being focused on.

In addition, the art and extras produced by Fantasy Flight really keep the interest in the game. Their tournaments throw out quite a lot of prizes, including themed playmats, plastic tokens and even alternate art cards. For example, the next tournament (May 25th) is the Singapore regionals, and prizes include plastic versions of the identity cards. The next cycle of competition brings alternate art (and full bleed art) for cards, which is always something cool to have. I for one am looking forward to the alternate art of Kate, one of the runners I play.

Speaking of cool prestige stuff, the day after the Netrunner Regionals will also hold Gamersaurus’ Warmahordes Gargantuan release tournament. While it’s been a while in coming (delays in shipping and all that jazz), it comes with fun stuff to win (like all the medals). More exciting, the casual release event system comes with some additional fun rules to mix it up as opposed to a normal tournament. Specifically, two warcasters or warlocks. TWO! I haven’t had a lot of time to play recently, but hopefully the event will revitalize the players going into the convergence of cyriss period.

So this Vesak day weekend will be full of gaming competitions, and I hope to see you guys there!