TICKETS

Intro

Patriot Games loved the atmosphere last year so much that they're hosting the UK National Championship again in 2023. We're excited to welcome people back and aim to make this a fun long weekend of Netrunner and socialising. This is the listing for the main event, but the overall outline of the weekend is:

Friday 10th: Team tournament (teams of 3) - see separate listing
Saturday 11th: Main event swiss
Sunday 12th: Main event cut + side events (startup + classique)

Timings

Swiss rounds of the main event will be on Saturday 11th. The store will open at 09:00, with registration from 09:15. We aim to have the player meeting at 10:00. Please try to be on time - it's a long day of Netrunner!

On the Sunday, the store will open at 10:00 with the top cut signing in at 10:15 and the cut starting at 10:30. Side events will start at 10:45 (you can sign up for side events during the day on the Saturday).

Format

The main event will be standard format. Decklists are REQUIRED and must be submitted on paper on the day. The main event is a 'competitive' tier event for the purposes of judge calls and floor rules.

The number of swiss rounds depends on player numbers, but is likely to be between 5 and 7. Rounds will be 65 minutes of double-sided swiss. We will not use the optional additional tiebreak rounds, so cut will be determined on SoS and ESoS.

Proxies & Alt Arts

Printed proxies and alt arts are allowed as long as they are legible, approved by the TO before the event begins, in good taste, and indistinguishable from other cards when sleeved. If you do not have access to a printer, then please contact the TO (Paul Gillibrand) at least 2 days before the event and he will help with proxy printing. That said, please be considerate to your opponents (and maybe stream viewers) when building your decks and stick mostly to official arts where possible (whether cards or proxies). Thanks!

Card Sleeves

Please pay particular care and attention to your card sleeves to ensure they are unmarked and fully opaque (especially when using mixed card backs) as the older Nisei / Null Signal Games card backs in particular can show through many 'opaque' sleeves. If you have any concerns about if your sleeves are ok, please come and chat to a judge before the event starts. The venue will, of course, have suitable sleeves available to purchase!

Prize support

Participation: TBC special alt art for UK nationals

Top 64: 3x Anoetic Void alt art by Cat Shen

Top 32: 3x Engolo alt art by Adam S. Doyle

Top 2 in each faction: Faction enamel pin badge

Top 8: Hush playmat by Scott Uminga

Winner: Winner's plaque by Jakuza, free and reserved ticket for 2024 or 2025 world championship, and invite to the Circuit Breaker Invitational

Side Events

We will be running two "official" side events on the Sunday, starting at 10:30am. Players are also welcome to organise other side events (eternal, cube draft, etc.) and we will endeavour to provide some prize support if possible! All side events will be 'casual' level events.

Ciara Maxey Memorial Classique: In this event, players will compete in pods with pairs of curated decks from Netrunner's past. The official list of decks (and notes on the match-ups) will be released closer to the time. For this event, an optional donation can be made to Gendered Intelligence in memory of Ciara.

Participation: 3x alt-art Pelangi (art by Scott Using)
Top 4 per pod: Plastic Hoshiko (art by Luminita Pham) OR plastic Steve Cambridge ID (art by Benjamin Giletti)
Winner of pod: Tollbooth playmat (art by N. Hopkins) OR Rezeki playmat (art by Jakuza)

Startup: This will be 4 rounds of Swiss using the Startup format.

Participation: 3x alt-art Liberated Account (art by Kira L Nguyen)
Top 4 per pod: Plastic Quetzal OR Plastic Ayla ID (art by Benjamin Giletti)
Winner of pod: Always Have A Backup Plan playmat (art by Olie Boldador)

More Information

Patriot Games' store has a lot more space, and an in-store cafe. Outside food and drink is permitted, but no alcohol. There is a small amount of on-street parking directly outside the store, and plenty of local car parks. The store is a 10-15 minute walk from Sheffield station.

If you'd like more information or help with travel / accommodation planning then feel free to email pauly@me.com or join #uk-nationals-2023 on Stimslack.

To help with planning travel, accommodation, and things to do, I've made a Google map with various local places highlighted.