LockdowN

A Bit of History

The Format: The Basics

The card pool follows current the Standard format guidelines (this means that rotation and the latest Standard Ban List are in effect), with the following modifications:

• Each legal Runner and Corp ID has a score attributed to it. The scores are calculated from the ratings provided by members of the Lockdown Council (all Top 4 players from all previous editions) or from the global meta information, as provided by Know the Meta.

• Players are allowed to freely pick any legal Runner and Corp ID to participate with, as long as the sum of their scores (their "ID score") is 10 or less. This includes any IDs the Runner wouldcore to add as part of DJ Fenris' effect, if that card is being used.

• There is a pool of banned Runner and Corp cards, as selected by the Top 4 players from the previous edition. Additionally, "Rebirth" is banned by default for Runners.

As an extra incentive to pick less powerful/popular IDs and diversify the field, the combined "ID score" is considered the primary tie breaker for Swiss ranking in this format. For example, if two players both are at 12 tournament points after round four of Swiss, the player with an ID score of 4 would be ranked higher than the player with a an ID score of 9.  In case of a tie, Strength of Schedule and Extended SoS will still determine final ranking, as per usual.

Participants of an event may also be asked to vote on a single card they would like to ban for the next event. This "(Un)Popular Card Ban" is then announced for the next event, at the Tournament Organizer's discretion.

The Format: Experimental Approaches

What would Lockdown be without a bit of experimentation on the side? From time to time, new twists to the general formula outlined above are introduced to spice it all up or make it more fun to build decks and tweak the meta.

SEASON 2 - Maximum Lockdown

[with enhancements credited to Dunsch97 / Shorty / The Rosenheim City Grid / other members of the Lockdown Council]

v 1.0

Additional extra incentives! Both for Runner and Corp decks that meet any of the requirements listed below, you will be awarded a tie-breaker modifier. This means that your ID score will be downgraded (= made better in comparison to others) for each of the requirements your decks meet to make it more competitive:

• The deck uses fewer than the maximum allowed influence points for the ID it has.

• The deck includes only incomplete play sets of all cards in it (fewer than 3 copies of a card in most cases, fewer than 6 or 1 copy in other cases, as per text on the card).

• The deck does not include any neutral cards.

v 2.0

Both for Runner and Corp decks that meet any of the requirements listed below, your final ID score will be lowered by 1 (one) extra ID point for each requirement that you meet. How does that work in quasi-mathematical terms?

1. You choose a Runner and a Corp from the pool the sum of which does not exceed -1 or 10 (as per the usual Lockdown rules).

2. You build your decks following the regular deck building rules and the Lockdown ban lists.

3. You check them for the optional requirements below.

4. If your decks meet a requirement, your final ID score is lowered by 1 ID point for each requirement met per each deck (to a maximum of 8 points).

All of the following are optional and each one is worth 1 ID point for the purpose of the tiebreaker ID score:

• The deck uses 2/3rds of the IDs printed influence points (rounded up to the nearest full number) (that means: 17 for 25 influence point IDs, 12 for 17 influence point IDs, 10 for 15 influence point IDs, 8 for 12 influence point IDs, 7 for 10 influence point IDs)

• The deck includes only incomplete play sets of all cards in it (fewer than 3 copies of a card in most cases, fewer than 6 or 1 copy in other cases, as per text on the card).

• The deck does not include cards of all different types available for the side (Corps: Asset, Upgrade, ICE, Operation // Runners: Event, Program, Hardware, Resource).

• The deck is bigger than the legally minimal amount of cards that are listed on the ID (Corps: printed card minimum + agenda point modifier of +4 cards // Runners: printed card minimum) by AT LEAST FOUR CARDS For example, if your ID says that the smallest amount of cards you can have is 45 for CORP, you need to have at least 53 cards in it for it to meet this requirement. For a 45 minimum card RUNNER deck, the requirement would be at least 49. (thanks for all the feedback, Lockdown 13 will see this one tweaked!)

v 2.1

Both for Runner and Corp decks that meet any of the requirements listed below, your final ID score will be lowered by 1 (one) extra ID point for each requirement that you meet. How does that work in quasi-mathematical terms? 

1. You choose a Runner and a Corp from the pool the sum of which does not exceed -1 or 10 (as per the usual Lockdown rules).

2. You build your decks following the regular deck building rules and the Lockdown ban lists.

3. You check them for the optional requirements below.

4. If your decks meet a requirement, your final ID score is lowered by 1 ID point for each requirement met per each deck (to a maximum of 8 minus points if both your decks meet all the optional requirements).

All of the following are optional and each one is worth 1 ID point for the purpose of the tiebreaker ID score:

• The deck uses 2/3rds of the IDs printed influence points (rounded up to the nearest full number) (that means: 17 for 25 influence point IDs, 12 for 17 influence point IDs, 10 for 15 influence point IDs, 8 for 12 influence point IDs, 7 for 10 influence point IDs)

• The deck includes only incomplete play sets of all cards in it (fewer than 3 copies of a card in most cases, fewer than 6 or 1 copy in other cases, as per text on the card).

• The deck does not include cards of all different types available for the side (Corps: Asset, Upgrade, ICE, Operation // Runners: Event, Program, Hardware, Resource).

• The deck is bigger by at least 4 cards (Runners) (than the printed card minimum of the ID) or smaller by at least 3 cards (Corps) (than the printed card minimum + agenda point modifier of +4 cards). For example, if your ID says that the smallest amount of cards you can have is 45 for CORP, you need to have at most 46 cards AND 20 Agenda Points in it for it to meet this requirement (or 22 Agenda Points and 51 cards, etc.). For a 45 card minimum RUNNER deck, the requirement would be at least 49 cards in the deck (or 54 for a 50 card minimum, etc.)

Event Structure & Participation

Each regular Lockdown event follows a similar structure:

1. Players meet on Discord (around 20 minutes before start of Round 1).

2. Players play regular Swiss matches (as Corp and as Runner) during 4 rounds (65 minutes maximum for each round). There are breaks of 5-10 minutes between each round, at the Tournament Organizer's discretion.

3. The Top 4 Cut (as agreed with the qualifying players after the 4 rounds) is played after a break. The Top 4 Cut is a series of double elimination games (40 minutes maximum for each round). The decklists might be public, depending on the decisions of the Top 4 Cut participants. 

4. The games in the Final are not timed.

5. The finalists are invited to a voice chat on stream after the games are over.

Participating in a Lockdown event requires:

• A stable internet connection

• Access to jinteki.net and an account on that website

• Two decks that are Lockdown-compatible (they do not contain any banned cards and their Corp and Runner identities match the format requirements) and ready to be used on jinteki.net

• Access to Discord - discordapp.com (with voice communications being optional) - the #lockdown channel (hosted graciously on NSG's Online Event Hub) is the main communication space during each event

Signing Up

Anyone and everyone is welcome to sign up, as long as you can participate in both the Swiss rounds and the Top Cut games.

Registration takes place through a separate online form that is announced and linked to from the event's Always Be Running page.

Registration usually closes around 24 hours before the start of the event.

Last minute registration might be allowed in case of an uneven number of players.

(Sur!)Prize Support

Lockdown is a series sponsored by the community and there are never any entry fees associated with it.

You can see a list of Lockdown's supporters on the Fans <3 page.

The winner of each event gets immortal glory & a streamed final game with commentary as a bonus.

The physical prize pool depends on the amount in the tip jar. Donations are entirely optional and not required for the event to take place.

Season 1 Summary

After 10 long sessions full of streaming, jank, fun, and memorable moments, I can only say that I am as happy as I can be and am looking forward to running more Lockdown events in 2021!

If you like to crunch numbers, the inimitable mcg / greenhaggle (never missing a Lockdown in Season One!) has put together some sweet numbers for you to bite into.

A few choice bits of information:

• It was the first time I got into streaming Netrunner (and games in general) seriously. I did consider approaching other streamers for coverage, but the concern about time zone differences and "can do (well try!) it myself" attitude made me go for it on my own.

• Season One saw 105 people signing up across all 10 events, with an average of 22+ people per event.

• Cpt_nice, the originator of Diversified Portfolio (the core source of Lockdown as a format), dominated the field thanks to their supreme meta-reading skills and cool-as-ice plays.

• 26 people made it into the Top 4, meaning quite a few of them managed to achieve this more than once. They make up the original Lockdown Council (the player group I consult about the format).

The Meta - Runners

• Runner meta based on Top 4 results in 10 different events:

  • Shaper - 3 x 1st, 3 x 2nd, 4 x 3rd, 2 x 4th = 12 placements & 31 prestige points

  • Anarch - 2 x 1st, 4 x 2nd, 3 x 3rd, 4 x 4th = 13 placements & 30 prestige points

  • Criminal - 4 x 1st, 2 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd, 2 x 4th = 10 placements & 28 prestige points

  • Mini-factions - 1 x 1st, 1 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd, 2 x 4th = 5 placements & 11 prestige points

The Meta - Corps

• Corp meta based on Top 4 results:

  • Jinteki - 6 x 1st, 4 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd, 2 x 4th = 13 placements & 42 prestige points

  • Weyland - 2 x 1st, 5 x 2nd, 6 x 3rd, 2 x 4th = 15 placements & 37 prestige points

  • Haas-Bioroid - 2 x 1st, 1 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd, 4 x 4th = 8 placements & 17 prestige points

  • NBN - 2 x 3rd, 1 x 4th = 3 placements & 5 prestige points

Fun Facts

While the Lockdown HQ remains for now within the EU, its participants have been logging in from all over the globe, including (in no particular order):

Spain, USA, UK, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Malaysia, Austria, Sweden, Hungary, Canada, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Australia, Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Norway, France, Finland, Russia, and South Korea. Whoa!