Ultimate Showdown this weekend!

By Sam Keilback

 

Get excited as the first Ultimate Showdown Invitational takes place this weekend, November 15th! 

 

This invitational takes the best Netrunner players across the globe and has them duke it out in a unique elimination format. Each player has 3 “lives”. Lose 3 games, and you’re out! If you’re a fan of the intercontinental format from previous years, you’ll want to watch this event live!

This premiere event will be streamed live on Metropole Grid! Tune in on November 15th at 3:00pm UTC to catch the action!

 

But, how did players qualify for this event? Throughout the year players across the world have been competing in the online Showdowns. We invited the top 6 players from each online Showdown. All those who accepted the invites are:

 

 

We also invited the top performing players from the Circuit Breaker Invitational, each online Continental Championship and the World Championship. The following players were invited and accepted to play: 

Kikai: 1st at Circuit Breaker Invitational

tbu3k: 1st at EMEA Online Continental

Augustus Caesar: 1st at American Online Continental

ZomZraft: 1st at Worlds 2025

 

Lastly, we invited the top ranking players from the Beanstalk leaderboard to make a 24 player event! The following players were invited and accepted to play: Icecreamcollege, AlPi, rongydoge, analyzechris, Sauc3 and Bowlsley.

 

Players at the Ultimate Showdown get to compete for exclusive prizes! The champion will get a commissioned alt-art card featuring their likeness which will also be a prize during the 2026 Showdown series! The top 8 players will win unique acrylic IDs engraved with their handle and final placement. The Descent below is the featured participation prize for this event. But, anyone can pick up a free playset with any order from NetrunnerCards.Net within 72 hours of the event. If you want a set, just place an order and they’ll be included! 😀

With the competition at the Ultimate Showdown to be fierce, we wanted to shine a spotlight on one of the strongest players at this event: davz131.

 

davz131

From: Paris, France

Pronouns: He/Him

Testing Team: EA Sports

 

Notable Placements in 2025:

7th - New Years Showdown

Top 17 - Circuit Breaker Invitational

5th - East Anglian District Championships

2nd - Lodz Megacity

4th - Summer Showdown

1st - Basel Megacity

2nd - Hasselt Megacity

1st - EMEA Continentals at Cologne

7th - American Continentals Online

8th - Worlds Showdown

2nd - Worlds 2025

 

davz131 has shown himself to be a mainstay of the European Netrunner community. Playing tournaments across the continent, if there is a European tournament with a cut, davz131 was probably in it. Not limiting his reign of terror to just Europe, davz131 has been a force of nature in online events. davz131 has made the top 8 of each online Showdown this year. 

 

A two time continental champion, won the online EMEA continental championship AND the in-person EMEA continental championship in Cologne! While davz131 had several notable placements in 2024, it was the beginning of this year that davz131 began dominating the Netrunner scene and he hasn’t stopped.

 

Mainly a player of Anarch and NBN, davz131 started his year off with a top placing finish at the Circuit Breaker Invitational. A strong Neurospike Azmari player, with the rotation of Azmari, the question was where would davz131 go next? The answer was assets.

 

One of the first players to have competitive success with Epiphany, davz131 took 2nd at Lodz Megacity with Epiphany. It was during the summer that davz131 started playing AU Co., and his reign of jinteki terror began. davz131 took AU Co. to a first place finish at both EMEA Continentals, and a top 8 finish at American Continen

tals and the Worlds Showdown.

 

On the runner side, davz131 has always been a fan of offbeat anarch decks. davz131 has played Seb to several high placing finishes this year. Not to be pigeonholed, davz131 also took criminal to many high level finishes at continentals this year. Heading into Worlds, we saw davz131 switch to Hoshiko for the Worlds Showdown. Finally, davz131 stunned the community by taking an innovative Esâ deck all the way to 2nd at Worlds.

 

In terms of playstyle, davz131 has a precise style of play. Looking to be flexible, davz131 tends to play decks that offer him a variety of options instead of tunneling in on a specific win condition. This can be seen in his AU Co. decks that mix a

 scoring and kill 

threat. His 2nd place Esâ deck is more of a control deck, using sabotage and Dolls to slowly bleed out the corp while applying even pressure. In his own words, davz131 likes to play on thin margins, utilizing his deep understanding of the game to consistently beat players with small edges:

 

I love playing Corp games when credit totals are low and every decision on both sides feels amplified, when the marginal value of clicking for a credit or a card peaks, when the Runner is taken into a dark forest where 2+2 equals 5, as a Talented chess player once said. With that said, wanna scrap? -davz131

 

Keep an eye on davz131 as he competes in the Ultimate Showdown this weekend, November 15th. It’s a must watch as the best Netrunner players on the globe compete in an exciting knockout format! 

 

Catch the stream at 3:00 PM UTC on Metropole Grid! We hope to see you there!