Remember Maylee, the 11-year-old “mini-assassin” profiled here last month? We asked her for any tips she could share with players who are just starting out, and Maylee offered this important advice:
“I think that you should find something that is comfortable for you. For example, I am very comfortable with kill decks. Some people are comfortable with glacier or trap decks. I think that you should find a deck, original or copied, and adjust it to fit your play style. After a while, you will find your perfect deck.”
If you missed it, make sure to read our profile on Maylee!
I'm not sure what it is about Netrunner, but you don't see many younger players in the community -- I can count the number of teenagers I've witnessed playing the game on one hand. Maybe that's part of why Netrunner is seen as having a more mature crowd, but I believe it would be better for the game and its future if more kids picked it up. We need Chaos Theorys and other wunderkinds to pass the torch to, when all those Stimhacks and tags catch up with us.
That said, given the dearth of young talent in our community, imagine my surprise when I spotted an 11-year-old sitting across the second-best Netrunner player in the world at a Regional tournament last month (see photo after the break)! Maylee Witte isn't a new player either; she's spent three years now hacking megacorporations and flatlining runners. The middle schooler explained to us why she loves the game:
"Netrunner challenges me. I enjoy the whole background behind Netrunner. I love that there are so many different identities and combinations. I also like the different genders in this game, and that the whole game doesn’t revolve around male characters. The game is so different from any other card game. Many Netrunner games are like chess with a little twist. Netrunner also makes you think outside the box and maybe use a card in a totally different way than its original purpose."
We talked more with Maylee to learn about her experiences with the game and its community for her profile!
Based in: Berkeley, CA
Plays at: Eudemonia Games and Games of Berkeley
Tell us about Maylee Witte.
I am a 6th grade student, and I have been playing Netrunner tournaments for two years. I started playing Netrunner when my dad wanted to try more complicated games, because we were playing simpler and “kid friendly” games. When he bought the game, he went over the game for hours, making me watch videos and listen to him go over the rules. Eventually I got the hang of the game, and I enjoyed the complexity.
Tell us about your meta.
We have good players, and we have a lot of different tournaments, almost every weekend. Many of the players in the Bay Area are very talented and hard to beat. We have a nice, smart group of people. A lot of the players have a background in software engineering, are grad students or have finished grad programs, or are very artistic.
What do you bring with you to a Netrunner tournament?
I bring my phone (sometimes a charger too), earphones, homework, play mats, money for snacks. We also bring extra alt-art cards. If one of our opponents is playing that card but doesn’t have the new art, we’ll give him or her a playset of the card.
What's your favorite way to play or deckbuild?
I don’t have any friends who play, but I enjoy playing at home with my dad, and I really enjoy seeing the guys at tournaments, but especially the girls (Girl power!). I usually play kill decks. I have tried other corp decks, but they are not as fun in my opinion. I usually play a deck with two different ways of winning. It makes my deck more powerful against different identities. My dad finds decks for me, and we sometimes adjust them. I have tried deck building, but I think it is way too overwhelming. I tried just putting a bunch of cards together that I enjoy playing, but I ended up with about 70 cards.
What impact has Netrunner had on your life?
Netrunner is a great way to develop thinking skills. Netrunner, in my opinion, is the best game I have ever played. I love the variety and the different combinations. What I think I love most about the game, which may sound cheesy, is the different genders. In some games, it is all dudes or the girls are sidekicks. In Netrunner, girls are used in many great cards. For example, there are Leela, Chaos Theory, Sure Gamble, and my favorite card, Scorched Earth.
At first, Netrunner is very difficult. I am still learning, and I have been playing for two years! I used to be getting last place in tournaments and losing most of my games, but now I sometimes place in the middle of the group. Netrunner is a game with a lot of variety and combos. It is a great game, and I think if kids are willing, they could totally play.
Playing with all the adults is awesome. My favorite part of playing as a little kid is that when you beat an adult, they are saying, “Wow, an 11-year old beat me!” Also kids are used to being ordered around by adults, but at tournaments, we have the exact same power as they do. I think that if we experience the same power adults have, it gives us way more independence.
When I am playing with all the guys, I see a bunch of geeks (no offense), but they make me feel good because I feel at home with my fellow geeks. School is full of popularity contests, and if you are popular you are supposedly “better”, but I feel that if you focus on school you will become successful. At Netrunner tournaments, I compete against successful people, and they make me feel better about myself.
What do you hope to see in the future of Netrunner?
I hope to see more effect when a corp gets Bad Publicity. I think that when a runner gets tagged, the corp can kill them in one turn or trash all their resources, but when the corp gets Bad Pub, the runner only gets a credit during runs. There are a few cards that punish bad pub, but they don’t guarantee you a win, at least not as much as tags. I also really want to see more kids playing. I think kids are the future of Netrunner, so we need more kids playing.
Psi bet (0, 1, or 2?)
Well, this is sort of cheating, but if I had to tell you, my answer would be: If I am the corporation, I always bet 2, but if I am a runner, I bet 1 or 0.
We’ll also share tips from Maylee on how you can run better soon!
