Introduction

Welcome to the SadBad Set Review, I'm SadBad your host. I've played like five games of Netrunner total, so I probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but this is the internet so that doesn't matter, and my evaluations are definitely as equal and valid as everyone elses. Here are my reviews of the cards in the upcoming NISEI set Downfall!

Table of Contents

Runner Cards

Isolation

It's a Runner IPO, sure, but you have to have a resource installed to trash if you want to play it. And that install is probably going to cost you a click, so is it really worth it for two clicks and two cards for seven credits?

Well, it depends on what you're going to trash. If you install a resource, you're probably going to want to use it, so you should probably trash a resource that has outlived its usefulness. So, maybe a Bank Job with one credit? Maybe a Daily Casts or Crowdfunding that's about to run out? Maybe you're Adam, and you want to free yourself of a pesky directive. Or you misread the Corp and installed the wrong tech card. Either way, this card can get rid of it for you and make you a healthy refund in return.

I'm sure many an Anarch deck will run this card, so if you do, you won't be alone. And at 1 influence, it might see some play out of faction, but unless you need to make a surprise run, or plan to challenge the Corp econ, you'll need a good reason to run this instead of Peace in our Time or even Stimhack.

Demolisher

I'm glad that Eddie finally has a console, but something makes me question why anyone would convert their hydraulic press into a console. I mean, maybe if they're in the workshop all the time, but if you're out breaking things, you probably don't want to lug that thing around.

A 4 cost console is approaching the expensive side for only +1 MU, but its abilities are definitely worth it. A Skulljack stapled to a console, with an additional credit the first time you trash, leading to a Scrubber for the first trash each turn and a reduced trash cost for the rest.

Additionally, the bonus credit applies to any kind of trashing, whether it be ice or Imping agendas or smashing operations out of hand.

Definitely strong against asset-heavy decks and digging through HQ and R&D. There is a slight amount of buildaround potential, and at 2 influence it might be imported to other factions if asset-heavy decks come out on the fore. But definitely not a problem card.

Chisel

Now, I really like cards that modify strength. Anything that tweaks your icebreakers to make them that much more efficient, or brings the ice down into a range that your breakers can deal with. I love the fixed strength breakers, with their efficiency and sadly faceplacing Archer with Mimic. They're great.

And Chisel looks like a nice way to do it. As a balanced Parasite, it can't be used with Datasucker, so it can't be Clone Chipped as easily to instantly take care of ice, being only able to instantly kill 0-strength ice. This reintroduces a weakness to lower-strength ice that was missing since the rotation of Parasite, and now cards like Tour Guide can't just stack subroutines and gearcheck. Although with cards like Ice Carver, Scrubbed (probably rotating soon), and our favorite unplayable identity Null, you reach more ice that you can easily trash.

Another fun part about Chisel is that you have to encounter the host ice, which means it's going to be harder to trash ice that's deeper into their server. Additionally, because it's on-encounter, spiky, high strength ice is going to be hard to trash. Want to trash an Archer? Six encounters, costing 9 credits and getting cheaper as you go along for each encounter (another great piece of flavor) before you can finally get rid of it, hopefully before the Corp purges virus counters. Bypass effects also add counters (which frustrates me with Security Nexus), but if you have a Femme token on a piece of ice, you probably don't want to trash it.

Unfortunately, if you're Chiselling a flat piece of ice ("End the run." subroutines only) on the outside of a server, then you can just bounce off it, gaining counters and Turning Wheel counters while you're at it. I personally feel flat end the run ice is becoming a detriment to Corps rather than useful gearcheck so I dislike this interaction (along with The Turning Wheel).

You can also...turn it into a free virus counter every run for Khumalo? Some additional synergy, but probably not a main draw.

The only concern is that there might be a critical mass of ice destruction that would negate an entire card type and shift back to asset spam only, but the 4 influence cost will likely keep this card firmly in Anarch. I'm not sure if we're there yet, but that's probably a something to be kept in mind.

Also, it's not called ICEpick. -3/10.

Stargate

Stargate is a reworked Keyhole, a card that...nobody liked playing against. Now it's back with caveats.

Functionally it's similar to a triple-access-on-a-stick that combos with Eater, but now it can only be used once per turn. It also no longer forces a shuffle, which means that the Runner knows what the next 2 cards that the Corp will draw. I personally think this is a bit strong; if you always trash any ice you see, the Corp won't be able to draw into any ice, leading to snowballing. The Corp needs to spend two clicks to draw into a card that the Runner didn't see, and the probability of 2 or more ice out of the 3 cards you see is pretty low.

I could see a deck with this, Eater, a bunch of drip econ (Cyberfeeder, Demolisher, Trickster Taka), and maybe some ice destruction being oppressive to play against. But the 2 MU cost does make it more difficult to run with regular breakers, or Data Folding, or Rezeki. But at 3 influence and 2 MU, I don't see it seeing play out of faction, or rarely as anything but a build-around. As a support card, you're running low on memory with 3 for breakers and 2 for this, when you could the memory for other support programs (Datasuckers, anyone?).

The art and flavor text are a nice fit. I'm looking forward to meeting z\h/r; I hope they turn out better than g00ru.

Utae

Utae is a cheap decoder, something Anarchs have been severely missing. At 2 to install, a 1 to pump and 1 to break ratio it ranks quite efficiently, but with 1 base strength it's definitely not the cheapest choice repeatedly break a DNA Tracker (still costs 1 less than Black Orchestra!), but as an in-faction option, it's the clear prima donna.

The interesting thing about this card are the restrictions. Sure, you can break the first code gate each run no problem, but if you're approaching a second unrezzed piece of ice, you'll be rolling the dice. Getting up to three virtual resources is no small feat, since fair number of them are unique, but if you time it right you should be able to find them before the Corp can find another code gate to block you out.

As Anarchs classically have the worst decoders, at 2 influence it's unlikely that any of the other factions will want to import it over their in-faction breakers, which gives Utae a nice, sturdy home in Anarch.

Climactic Showdown

Now this is design I can get behind. You have to install it a turn beforehand, so the Corp knows what's coming. The Corp has a choice; either to make the targeted server weaker, or give you the chance to access more cards. And it always fires off, whether you want it to or not (unless you have Dr. Lovegood). Truly a delayed event.

I guess with this and Divide and Conquer, Anarch gets conditional multiaccess, as opposed to Shapers' R&D multiaccess and Criminals' HQ multiaccess. I would be cautious venturing into this space, since Anarch don't generally have strong, unpurgeable multiaccess, and the flexibility to choose which server you want to use it on is also very strong, along with the fact that if you make Anarch good at everything, there's no reason to play any other faction. However, this is balanced by the fact that the Corp can...not let you get multiaccess, but that would be balanced by the fork of trashing an installed piece of ice on the chosen server. But given the Corp has a whole turn to prepare by installing a junk piece of ice to protect the scoring remote or shoring up R&D/HQ, I think this card will lead to very interesting decisions, and on the whole not be absurdly strong.

This card will be extremely strong out of Omar, and any deck that Rebirths into him, since your ice will be spread even more thin across all three centrals. The remove-from-game clause also keeps it somewhat in check, so you can't use Levy AR Lab Access or Labor Rights to use it again and again.

The 5 influence seems a bit excessive but thematically appropriate, and the art is beautiful. It's unique, but not limit 1 per deck, so it's not really the climax. The wand looks like a conductor's baton. I really want a musical Runner (with...classical musical instruments. Not Turntable s).

Fencer Fueno

It's a buddy!

I like buddies. They are fun to play with. They're like connections but on the Net. Not like The Helpful AI or The Woman in the Red Dress who only help you when it's convenient, buddies stick with you through thick and thin!

I do hope the continue to use this subtype, even if they change the mechanics.

Anyways, this card looks alright? It's a 0-cost unique drip economy card, where the credit can only be used for post-successful run shenanigans, so usually for trashing cards or paying traces. Now, this limits the card a fair bit, but you can also use paid abilities here too, so it can also be useful if you can find a way to leverage its effect. And at 1 influence, other factions can probably import a friend for asset trashing or card abilities.

Even without it, a 0-cost recurring credit to trash things is pretty good, but that's when the third clause comes in. After 3 credits you have to pay a real credit to keep your earned money or trash it, so you end up not making any more money after three turns without use, so you either have to keep making runs and trashing things, or you have to bank real credits into Fueno credits. Or you can trash your buddy and get Wasteland triggers.

I love how the buddies are basically bankable recurring credits. Recurring Scrubber credits only give you value if you run ever turn, but Fueno credits let you wait a bit before doing whatever needs to be done.

Also, they get a credit when you steal an agenda, which I don't think is a common enough occurrence to be relevant. Although it's a bit hilarious if you accidentally steal an agenda, and then need to pay to keep Fueno around.

Apex also loves buddies. They taste quite nice.

Not sure how a narwhal breaks walls by trashing assets though. -2/10.

The Nihilist

Noise is back, baby! The newest DJ at the Wyldside club, presiding over Furry Thursdays, he's back installing viruses, milling cards, and drawing up!

...okay, not really. The art is amazing, and it's great to see that DJ Fenris is just his Sacrificial Clone, but the card itself doesn't seem super exciting. It requires virus synergy in order to do anything at all, and even when it does something the Corp has the option to choose the worst option. And since it's once per turn, the Corp has a lot finer control over the mill potential.

The upside is that it generates two virus counters for the first virus install per turn, and that it can use virus counters from anywhere. I'm not a big fan of this flavor-wise, but design-wise the space is interesting but a bit small to be useful, only helping Freedom Khumalo, Yusuf, and Musaazi. It feels like NISEI is going to continue to explore this space, which makes this a card to look out for in the future.

But at 4 cost and 5 influence, this likely isn't going to see any play outside of Anarch, or even Freedom Khumalo.

But I'm glad you're still laughing.

Trickster Taka

This card...isn't a buddy. You're the buddy. It is you.

For one credit, it's an unconditional drip for runs, a stronger Cyberfeeder or Cloak. Doesn't take memory, and is stealth on the side, and has the ability to bank up to 3 credits. Sure, if you don't run for three turns you either need to take a tag or trash the resource, but you can just burn credits boosting strength during a run, even if you don't need to break the ice (again, flat ice hurts the Corp). However (thankfully), I don't think you can remove the tag you get from Taka with Citadel Sanctuary, unless you're already tagged. This card will definitely see play in every Anarch deck.

At 3 influence, it's a bit expensive to import into Smoke where it'll do the most work with stealth. I was excited for an emergence of Stealth Anarch, but BlacKat is probably rotating. But my fingers are still crossed that other factions get some stealth potential.

such a sneaky foxy boi.

Az McCaffery: Mechanical Prodigy

The son of Kate, Az inherits a similar ability from his mother, both discounting hardware, but Az getting cheaper connections and jobs instead of programs. I don't remember her mother that much, but Mac's ability seemed...fine? Outside of Prepaid VoicePAD, she seemed to save about 15 credits per game, which is strong but reasonable?

Anyways, her son doesn't save money on programs, which is a bummer since that's what you use to break ice. They both save money on hardware, so nothing new there, but Az also saves money on connections and jobs. Jobs aren't worth talking about, since there are only two that benefit from the discount (Armitage Codebusting and Bank Job). There are a wide variety of connections though, all supporting different game plans. I haven't seen an Off-Campus Apartment party deck in a while, but maybe Az can host some parties at their place.

But it's the hardware that's more interesting. Shaper hardware is mostly for boosting breakers and making efficient runs, but criminal hardware, just like connections, are all over the place. It's hard to find any specific cards that Az will want to be playing, but that's the interesting part: his ability discounts a wide variety of cards, which can allow you to build what you want.

Whether or not you can find anything good is another question.

I'm a bit concerned about GPI Net Tap and Aumakua, but, well, that's nothing new.

The extra link is a nice balance piece. I don't like Security Nexus and that's what link enables, but otherwise it's a nice boost to running through IP Block and other intermittent traces.

Always Have a Backup Plan

It's like Inside Job! Except you get to choose the ice you want to bypass! But you have to faceplant it first! My favorite thing to do!

Well, not quite choose; you have to end the run there. Strong against flat ice, but weaker against, say, our favorite Archer, because using a facebreaker on spiky ice is the best feeling in the world hurts. Also, if the Corp gets to choose when you end the run with Border Control or Nisei MK II, they can disrupt your bypass plans.

Alternatively, if you have facecheck protection, you can dodge through the ice of your choice. Flip Switch is the obvious choice for full protection, but if you're fine with half-measures Street Magic is your friend. (Street Magic is always your friend. Please play more Street Magic. That and Showing Off)

I love the design; it's the middle ground between Inside Job and Spear Phishing, but also has its own downsides.

Of course, Kati Jones is back, and it's great to see that she's reliable as always, helping Runners until she's thrown Under the Bus.

Blueberry!™ Diesel

Looks fine. It's Diesel, but slightly worse, which is what you expect out of Criminal. Two cards instead of three cards, but you also get to filter a card out, so...it probably compares to Build Script? But as in-faction, it's a nice draw effect if you don't want to deal with the timing restrictions of Fisk's Investment Seminar). Probably won't be imported into any other faction, unless they're going full Diesel tribal, in which case we're all doomed.

Also, they trademarked Blueberry!™. There is nothing more insidious. Or possibly blueberries are extinct.

There is nothing worse than a world without blueberries.

(Which Corp makes Diesel? Maybe Jinteki?)

Flip Switch

Facecheck protection! Decoy! Disrupter! By your powers combined, you are...FULL CHEESE IT!!!

Nothing makes me happier than this card. I designed a card with a similar jack out ability (rather, it was "End the run.", to get around jack-out prevention), but stapling unplayable cards together feels so...right.

Best used as an early game card, you can facecheck with abandon with Flip Switch installed. Sure, if you're facechecking ice these days you'll probably hit a DNA Tracker or Anansi pretty soon, but hey, you've drained the Corp of some credits (and then they play HHN). I never liked HHN either, as it discouraged early runs, but with Flip Switch installed you can save yourself a tag, since you can't use it to reset the trace on the Corp's turn. Late game, you can flip a switch to reset the trace of a Surveyor as you're cheesing it through a server.

The switch still gets the discount from Az McCaffery, but it's not Decoy, so you can't invite it to your Off-Campus Apartment party. But it definitely knows more party tricks than that old lady. And at one influence, you can import it into any deck that wants to go full throttle.

Makes me feel like designing a joke card, like Baron Von Count, except you change the speed of your runs, bypassing ice, except you might run past the Edge of World. Ludicrous speed.

I love any card that encourages facechecking, and I fully support this card. 12/10 cheese it.

Lucky Charm

Lucky Charm, on the other hand, is less fun. Such a let down after cheese it.

Lucky Charm prevents an "End the run." effect, but only after a successful run on HQ. At it's most basic, you can force your way though some ice that only have one "End the run." subroutine. So for hail mary runs you can wash your face with Archer and still get through. Otherwise you can use it to get through flat ice with only one subroutine. It's also unique and removes itself from the game, so you can't have a stack of them in play and trust that luck will get you into any server.

But what it's designed to do is to get around Nisei tokens and Border Control. It's a silvery bullet, which can be splashed at 2 influence, but I don't really think this was a problem in need of a silver bullet. My main concern is, by printing a silver bullet, NISEI will print more "End the run." effects. (See Employee Strike). Please don't.

But if it's got one thing going for it, the art is just gorgeous, so that's nice.

Maybe more Ash 2X3ZB9CY effects, if we're lucky.

Masterwork (v37)

You were so preoccupied thinking whether or not you could fit a Sports Hopper in your arm, that you didn't stop to think whether or not you should.

Masterwork doesn't need too much work for it to pay off. Comparable to Astrolabe, this balling mechanical arm gives you 1 MU and a draw on install for 2 credits, which is not bad if you just need the MU, although Paragon would usually be the slightly more expensive option. Where this card shines though is when you have a hardware-focused deck. Most decks don't run too many pieces of hardware, but with this masterpiece you can clicklessly install them and draw a card to boot. Sure, it costs 1 credit more, but with Az as your Runner, you can discount the increased cost, allowing you to throw out Spy Cameras while making a run. Definite strong value, but only if you have enough hardware to support it.

But at 4 influence, it probably won't be run outside of Criminal. Shaper might see some use out of this though, with their plethora of hardware lying around.

...I wonder what happens if Az doesn't run his console. He just uses...one arm?

He also probably has all the previous prototypes lined up in a row somewhere. Although with the incremental changes in the flavor text, I don't think they're all that different.

Bukhgalter

Baklan leaves his feelings at the door, but not me. My feelings are all up in this review.

Bukhgalter is an accountant. They solves problems, shuffles some numbers, and gives you some money back. But the problems this accountant deals with are people (well, virtual people). And he deals with them. Forever (okay, not forever).

At 1 to pump and 1 to break, Bukhgalter reaches heights of killer efficiency never seen since Garrote (RIP Garrote, I love giant expensive breakers). Now, whether the reduced 1 strength makes up for 1 less MU, 4 less to install and the 2 credit refund is a hard question to answer, but I think Bukhgalter is pretty good, up to Na'Not'K levels of efficiency, even better if you can get some permanent strength boost on it. Now, I know that Shaper usually gets the good killers and Criminal is usually shafted, but I'm glad we have a playable killer out of Criminal, but at 4 influence you'll be hard pressed to import this into other factions when you could import Na'Not'K instead.

The second question this killer raises is whether or not this barely precedented level of efficiency a such a low cost (plus tax return) is because killers have classically been underpowered, or because sentries have become too powerful. Killers have always been inefficient as part of their design, balancing with the relatively high cost of sentries, but now with cards like Trebuchet, Surveyor and Anansi, (relatively) cheap high strength sentries are absolutely the norm. This is probably due to most Corps moving away from gearcheck and more towards taxing ice, given the speed that Runners set up and can find cards that get through anything (Laamb, Engolo). But Bukhgalter as a flexible breaker for both low and high-strength sentries will definitely see play.

The third question is that Bukhgalter is an accountant, not a killer. So what's in their briefcase?

"Baklan" Bochkin

Oh Mr. Bochkin, you've been hanging out with Maxwell James, haven't you? Maxwell James was a mistake.

Maxwell James was intended (and errata'd) to only work immediately after a successful run on HQ, so that when you ran the server, the Corp had the opportunity to rez the ice again. MJ was meant to be a credit denial tool, and when Mary Jane Watson turned out to be worded differently than intended, it saw absurd amounts of play and made Corps very sad that their ice does nothing.

Now, I personally dislike derez and bypass on the same card. One or the other is fine; I really like the design of Crescentus since you have to break it, but then you can derez it. But put both together and the Corp has no reason to rez ice, much less include any in their deck at all, if all it's going to do is cost them credits.

So now pre-reboot Spiderman's girlfriend is back, this time with a lot more balance. Let me count the ways.

He costs 1 more. He costs 2 more influence. He doesn't give you link. He gives you a tag. You have to charge it up.

Does this balance the Iron Spider? The extra influence definitely helps preventing him from running rampant, and the lack of link helps him to not synergize with Nexus decks, which I don't want to talk about. He also gives you a tag, which is nontrivial (outside of Citadel Sanctuary Nexus decks, which I don't want to talk about). He also costs one more (I'm not sure what effect that has).

The main interesting part is charging. It charges on every run where there is ice to encounter, which means you can't use a surprise Baklan to suddenly derez ice. But if you have a fully charged Datasucker, well, surprise!

However, my issue is that even though the Corp sees Mr. Bochkin, there's barely anything they can do. Sure, they can throw him Under the Bus, but since there's no way to interact with power counters (Helium-3 Deposit, anyone?), the Corp just watches as Mr. Bochkin slowly ticks up, with nothing they can do, hoping to draw for a card they may or may not have teched for. Although as a connection, there are more tools for the Corp to deal with them, and with the numerous targets choose from, anti-resource tech will probably be a staple in the meta.

One odd point: I'm a bit confused by NISEI's use of remove from game versus trash. Was Baklan really weak enough that it doesn't remove from game, whereas Climactic Showdown and Lucky Charm were? Who knows, I'm not a playtester, I'm just some person on the internet using the power of feelings to talk about cards (I brought them in with me).

Also: Maxwell James was probably some sort of corporate executive, who can go in, turn off some ice, then disappear, if you can get to him and tell him what to do. Mr. Bochkin is...a hitman? So he goes in, shoots up the place, turns off the ice, and makes a getaway? Maybe. Just maybe.

The Class Act

Hey Andromeda, thanks for taking my message. I hope you're enjoying your Beach Party with your Liberated Accounts, wherever you are. Now, I've been hoping to ask you a favor...

Everyone loves Andromeda, and we all shed a tear when she went On the Lam, betraying us all by showing that she did, in fact, have brown hair. Ayla tried to replace her, but she never really got there; the click cost was a bit too much. But now Andromeda's taking a short break from her vacation, and willing to help a Runner out.

Four to install is a bit pricey, but it (almost) immediately pays off, as at the end of your turn you draw 4 shiny new cards. Now, this might be confusing to people coming from Magic the Gathering, but the discard phase in Netrunner is before the End of Turn triggers, so you get to hold onto those shiny toy cards and play them next turn. Since your maximum hand size is effectively 9 for that turn, you can survive even the most targeted of BOOM!s (poor Whizzard should have been better friends with Andromeda). Plus, you can overwrite one copy of The Class Act with another, just in case you need survive another targeted missile.

Now, the second ability is where things start to shine. I've always loved card filtering, I love Daily Business Show, but on the Runner side, things were a bit more lackluster. You had Mr. Li, and you had Blockade Runner. You had Angel Arena. I find myself running into Slot Machine to filter away cards I don't want. But now, with The Class Act, you don't have to!

The other cards don't compare to The Class Act; it applies filters to all sources of draw, rather than just the activated ability. It still only filters one card, so you can only put one on the bottom of your deck, but the fact that it applies to any draw ability means you no longer have to spend clicks drawing to trigger the filter. Granted, it only applies to the first draw per turn, so sometimes Beth Kilrain-Chang and others might force you to filter early when you might want to dig for a card to put on the bottom, but I think it's cautious design, given how strong Daily Business Show is.

And at 5 influence, The Class Act probably won't see any play outside of Criminal, but it's a cautious introduction to playable runner card filtering, and I hope they print more that other factions can splash.

And it's nice to see that Andromeda is still taking calls from struggling runners, while at the beach in the Villa Straylight.

Lat: Ethical Freelancer

Lat doesn't need too much lateral thinking to pull off; if you want to trigger his latent ability each turn, you'll probably want some way to draw up and play down, and a sink for those pesky additional clicks. I don't see you having less cards than the Corp all that often (unless they absolutely positively are trying to kill you), so you just need to play cards to match the Corp's hand size, and either make runs with your extra clicks, or find some way to spend them more efficiently (The Artist can help, and I guess some Tri-maf Contacts?). You probably don't want to be too reliant early resources, but rather a regulated, one isolated install per turn game plan, drawing up steadily, one card at a time.

It's not a card design that I immediately latch onto, but the extra link does help.

Maybe in a later set we'll see some more exciting interactions with Lat.

He's also quite handsome. Did I mention that?

In the Groove

When you're In the Groove, nothing can stop you. Racking up those 100 combos, rolling through those double tap, the runs, the rolls, the syncopated sections, you hands gripping the bar behind you...

...oh sorry, wrong game.

In the Groove, on my first look, seemed a bit boring. Gain 1 credit or draw a card when you install a card costing 1 or more, but it's a priority event, so you can only play one, and you have three clicks left. So really, how many cards can you install in three clicks?

...I still don't know the answer to that question, but with Clone Chip, Self-Modifying Code, Street Peddler, Hayley Kaplan, Masterwork (v37), conspiracy breakers and others, there's a fair number of instant-speed installs in the card pool. Without any of them, In the Groove is a somewhat more flexible Easy Mark, but just one more install brings it up to a 0-cost Sure Gamble. Sure, you can't install 0 cost cards, and you'll probably want to spend all your clicks installing, but I'm warming to it.

And at 4 influence, I'm guessing that it's pretty good in the right deck.

Khusyuk

Khusyuk is Indexing 2.0. Sort of. It's interesting.

For 3 credits (same as Deep Data Mining) you access one card. Hooray.

But wait! There's more! You can choose a number (any number (not any number, any natural number (for some definition of the natural numbers))), and you count the number of cards you have of the printed install cost, and you can look at those cards (to a maximum of six)! And pick one to access!

And then the Corp shuffles.

This card definitely needs some build-around, but can definitely apply some very strong late-game pressure on the R&D. A six-card dig is nothing to sneeze at, especially for that last agenda, and you only need to drag yourself through R&D ice once as opposed to twice with Indexing, although in the early game it might sit dead in your hand. And at 2 influence to import, it can definitely see play out of faction. A truly engrossing card.

I really like this choose-a-number space; there could be interesting interactions for counting the occurrence of that number on ice. Punishing including multiple copies of the same ice is definitely one way to force diversity.

Can I also mention that I love the art on this and Pelangi. They're so pretty I want to make Rainbow tribal.

Spec Work

A similar type of card to Isolation, Spec Work also gives a net gain of 5, this time split between credits and cards, but before you can start printing money (and cards), you need to trash a program.

I feel that this sounds better than Isolation, because a fair number of programs run off counters, and when a program runs out of counters, they usually stick around before being overwritten, or sold to Aesop's Pawnshop. Now Spec Work lets you make some money off these empty programs and ships them out for recycling.

As with resources, you can also trash programs that have outlived their usefulness, like the surprise Sneakdoor you used for a couple turns.

With a syngery with viruses that run out of counters, and only at 1 influence, I can definitely see Anarchs playing this in their decks. Clearly a high note of the set.

Supercorridor

Lat's console looks quite strong. Costing 4 and giving +2 MU and an additional hand size (75% of a Box-E), Supercorridor will definitely take you places, but where all hinges on its last abiltiy.

And its last ability is on point. Thematically related to Lat's ability, this console pays you for shepherding your (and the Corp's) credits wisely. You can't go barreling down your own game plan with this console; you have to look at your money, look at the Corp, and see which one needs some balancing. Too many credits? Go spend some. Too little credits? Earn some, or force the Corp to rez some ice. Two drip credits per turn is nothing to laugh at, and will probably have you laughing all the way to the bank.

Hey, if you have 1 too much at the end of your turn, you can boost one of your breakers and earn back an net 1. Profit!

But if you let the Corp bring the differential too high, it might be hard to turn Supercorridor's ability back on, in which case, well, you're left with 75% of Box-E (But much prettier. But just as blue).

Unfortunately, similar to Comet, Supercorridor's ability doesn't quite synergize with its Runner's. Balancing one is doable, but both is a balancing act that only the most dedicated of decks (and delusional of players) can pull off. It would be challenge. And that's where all the fun is.

Gauss

Real talk: I liked the old art better, but the new one is still good.

Fake talk: It's like Corroder, but slightly less efficient, and one less base strength, so if you're importing, you're probably importing Corroder. Both of these downsides punish it quite a bit, making it a bit under curve, but now it also comes with an on-install of 3 strength!

I don't think that's enough for a resurgence of London Library Chameleon with LLDS Processor, but it's a good card to hold in your hand and play when you need to get in. Installing a fresh one isn't the most cost effective measure, but something like Rejig can be a helpful surprise if the Corp thinks you can't get in.

But Shaper finally gets a cheap, relatively efficient fracter to get around Wraparound (I'm looking at you, Inti).

Pelangi

Happy beetle farting rainbows. What isn't there to like?

One thing bugs me about this card, and that's a critical mass of Tinkering-like effects. Currently with Kit and Engolo (or Laamb), you have a number of cards that make all gearcheck ice fail at doing their job. Shapers no longer need to run and find their breakers (or even a Self-Modifying Code, they just need to grab one of those two and break through whatever scoring server you build. One ice falls, two ice falls to Kit, three ice will fall to Pelangi. Our beetle overlords will rise from the pile of worthless ice, and rule over the desolate wasteland that was once our servers.

Okay, not really. But with a greater prevalence of Tinkering-like effects that are not on events, you shift further into a territory where runners don't have to search for their breakers. And in my opinion, that's bad.

But Pelangi looks so happy! I can't stay mad at it for long.

Also, wih Knobkierie, you can paint a piece of ice every turn.

I'm also glad that they're continuing the secondary Virus shaper theme. Shaper can definitely have some interesting designs with viruses, which aren't all about smashing.

11/10. they're good beetles Brent.

Rezeki

Rezeki is a basic piece of a sustainable economy. Dripping in at 1 credit per turn, it takes two turns to refund the install cost and takes up 1 MU. All and all relatively balanced; given the rotation of Underworld Contact, the only other non-unique drip econ is Data Folding, which also competes for memory. With Self-Modifying Code, you can tutor these babies out for 4 credits with Kabonesa Wu if you want to setup your economy early, but you'll still need to find some room for your breaker suite.

It's all round good design, and I think I'm going to have a ball playing with it.

The Artist

Oh hey, come on in. What? Running? Nah, I don't do that anymore; it was fun while it lasted, but I found a...less dangerous outlet for my art. Sorry, I can't do the job for you, but if you need help with tuning up your rig, I'll be glad to help out...

Kate is back, this time with even more money! Get into contact with her for a low low price of 4 credits, and then you can borrow her Magnum Opus to make it back, while saving credits on hardware and programs besides!

To be fair, Tri-Maf Contact has the same first ability, rarely sees any play, and costs 2 less to install (and is more dangerous to trash); the once-per-turn limit makes this card nothing like Magnum Opus, but at the same time, there's a reason why NISEI chose to rotate it out. But if you're playing this instead of running with the gangs, you'll need to be using the second ability as well.

And the second ability is also...somewhat lackluster? You have to get her down before you have most of your rig set up, and you save 1 credit on an install once per turn. At best it's drip econ tacked onto a gang member, and is that conditional drip econ (and not being hurt when they leave) worth the extra 2 to install? After all, Tri-Maf Contact is 1 influence, easy to import. Unless you have a way to find her early, and have lots of projects for her to help out with, it just might be better leaving Kate to her art.

And at 5 influence, nobody else is going to bother her. She'll have all the time in the world to paint you a picture.

Direct Access

Syfr is back! And this time, he's not in the washroom!

This card is Employee Strike 2.0, and while similar, you can't directly compare the two cards. Sure, both of them blank the Corp's ability, but Direct Access also blanks your own identity, and functions as a run to boot.

Now, we all knew that Employee Strike wasn't going to stick around forever, and this seems like an adequate replacement. There's too many identities that get shut off to list, but all of the problem ones are there, plus a couple that aren't. On the Runner side, this shuts of a few strong Runners but leaves others in the clear, making it a bit hit-and-miss if it was attempting to balance the Runner side of things (which it probably wasn't).

On the upside, Apex gets to install non-virtual resources during the run, which means you can DaVinci out Aesop's during the run. I guess you have direct access to other people as well.

On the downside, it's a run (which doesn't benefit Ken due to timing, unfortunately), which means you can't combine this card with high-value runs, like The Maker's Eye or Stimhack, despite saving you a click versus Employee Strike. It also only lasts the run, which I think is a lot more fair compared to a current.

Direct Access also comes with built-in recursion, which feels a bit strong. It allows itself to be seen more often as the game goes on, which leads to stronger late-game Runner inevitability. I feel that Runners should be stronger late game, but not by too much, and this might lead to an interesting meta where the Corp can no longer rely on their identity ability late game.

But if Oracle May helps the Runner along, then Runner late-game inevitability might be all but inevitable.

With the release of this card, I'm guessing Employee Strike is banned, so you can probably flush it down the toilet. There's a fat chance that E-Strike remains restricted while Direct Access remains unrestricted, but if both are in the card pool, I don't quite see a point playing this over E-Stike.

Rejig

It's a Scavenge that beats Skorpios plz nerf.

Word is on the street that Scavenge is rotating out, and Rejig is a nice replacement. I personally liken this closer to the nearly unplayable Uninstall. Scavenge could bring back cards from the heap, which made it a nice bit of recursion when you wanted to swap out one support program for another. But Rejig hits both Programs and Hardware, allowing you to swap out an installed card for one in hand. Or the same one again, to refresh counters.

I'm surprised by the difficulty of refreshing counters on cards in Netrunner. Flicker effects are a staple in Magic the Gathering, but before Rejig the most commonly used one was Brahman. Rejigging D4v1d or a Femme Fatale is a nice to move counters around, but since it's not repeatable I think it's in the clear.

And because it's no-influence Neutral and not Shaper, now everyone can have the fun of rejigging their viruses.

Get (re)jiggy wit it!

Whistleblower

I love the art. The corporate drone is doing her work when a new project appears in her inbox. She opens it up, and brings her hands to her mouth. They're restarting the Fetal AI project. So much pain. So much suffering. They cancelled the program for a reason. She needs to tell someone.

And that's how we get Edward Snowden Whistleblower! Designed as a more fair replacement for Film Critic, she costs one more at the same amount of influence, but this time for all factions.

But that's where things fall apart. She's nowhere near as good as Film Critic; you have to trash her in advance, name the exact agenda you're going to access, and then access that agenda. Only then can you steal it without cost. A lot of hoops to jump through, making it near impossible to work properly in the HQ or R&D. And although you prevent on-access effects and skip paying costs, you're still stealing the agenda, so Lakshmi Smartfabrics and Divested Trust still keeps you out, and the Corp can still return a Punitive Counterstrike on the next turn.

Is she too weak? I say no: this is the power that Film Critic should have been. Admittedly, it's a bit weak against the HQ and R&D, but the most oppressive agendas (I'm looking at you Obokata Protocol) are usually included in decks where the Corp wants you steal it, and you likely know where they are. It takes some forward planning and meta knowledge to play this card well, but most of the other self-defense agendas, even without Film Critic, are fair.

(As for centrals, pack an Imp)

If NISEI bans Film Critic on the release of Whistleblower, there'll be few options left to avoid stealing agendas after the Runner accesses them. I feel that this will lead to Runners being slightly more cautious around "if an agenda was stolen last turn" cards.

Will this card take Obokata Protocol off the restricted list? Hard no. But it'll bridge the gap until Obokata Protocol is finally removed from the card pool.

Corp Cards

MirrorMorph: Endless Iteration

Beautiful art, I'd love to work at that place, but the ability just confuses me (and judging by discussion, everyone). Nobody knows how to use it, or whether it's good or not.

So, in short, the best card.

If you want to trigger the ability, you need three unique actions. You rarely want to click to draw or click for credit, so you want to install, play an operation and...advance a card? You'll probably want to play 4/2 agendas given the amount of install-advance turns you'll have.

But what about card abilities you ask? Well there's a number of them (MCA Austerity Policy, which I don't like, springs to mind), but you still have to protect your clickable assets.

Another issue is that, if you're following your ability, you're going to run into installation issues. Not many Operations or Assets help you install cards, and installing one card per turn is a bit slow.

All and all, we'll have to wait and see how MirrorMorph shapes up. I'm excited by how confused everyone seems to be about this card, and that's always a good thing (until it turns out to be completely broken and has to be banned. RIP Cerebral Imaging).

Architect Deployment Test

At first glance, it seems pretty good. Gone are the days where scoring a Priority Requisition was what you needed to get a free rez, nowadays if you want to build your server, you can score one of these instead. Similar in design to Remote Enforcement, you give up restrict from searching your entire R&D to the top five cards for ignoring the install cost and the flexibility of installing it on any server you choose, and the ability to also install upgrades and assets. You also don't shuffle, which is nice.

Now, with ice, we've been there before. You can rez an Archer, or a fat Chiyashi, but this time you can add it to the very top of the skyscraper you built with Jinja City Grid.

But it's the assets and upgrade that intrigue me the most, because this is the first time (outside of Eliza's Toybox) that the Corp can rez them ignoring all costs. The most interesting, of course, are those which require you to forfeit an agenda to rez: Corporate Town, Ibrahim Salem, and Oberth Protocol. All strong must-trashes, but most of them missing their trigger at the start of turn. But hey, you didn't pay an agenda for them, so dragging the Runner through your scoring remote is good value.

Of course, you also rez cards with daunting rez costs. Unfortunately, all the 6-cost upgrades have rotated out, so you'll have to stick with Old Hollywood Grid to get the most out of your value.

It's basically firing Architect first subroutine, but you get a free rez thrown in as well. Good value, but a shaky foundation if you are relying on it to hit something good.

I love the art, I don't know what it is but I love it, and the new agneda points symbol looks like the old one from above. Or maybe a Jigglypuff.

Calvin B4L3Y

Not many people like Calvin, and I'm not sure why? They give you 2 cards, one turn at a time, and when the Runner ends up murdering them in cold blood you also get two more cards. All for one install, free to rez. What's there not to like?

The 3 trash for 2 cards is a pretty good trade if the Runner doesn't want to give you more cards, but the main issue is that you'll likely not want to spend too many resources protecting them and naked servers are a detriment in this run-based economy meta (I'm looking at you, Aumakua). You could throw them in your scoring remote and overwrite them when you find an agenda, but the limit one per turn makes it harder to use in a dedicated rush deck. And at 1 influence, other factions can use them for rush as well.

So what do they do? Their best.

Nanoetching Matrix

Nanoetching Matrix, on the other hand, looks a lot stronger, because while not everyone wants cards, everyone wants credits. A click for 2 credits once a turn is half of The Artist, and this one even gives you money when the Runner spends 3 to trash it. This still has the same problem with Calvin in that naked servers aren't in a great state in the current meta, but no matter what the runner does it's going to make you money. The question is whether the money you make is worth more than whatever benefit the Runner gets from you having it.

Or you can throw it in your scoring remote, draw an agenda next turn, and barely make a profit compared to clicking for credits. Oh well.

It's not the greatest piece of econ, and at 2 influence you might consider importing it, but probably not. After all, the campaigns are clickless.

Hagen

Hagen's design is beautiful. It's an early game barrier that says "NO" to low-strength AI, and trashes them. Or other support programs. Even against regular fracters, it's still a early game 5 strength end the run for 4 credits. But late game, when the Runner has all their breakers out, it drops down to a 3 strength, 2 subroutine barrier for 4, which is stll decent, taxing a credit less than Eli 1.0. But the first subroutine might not always be relevant, so the Runner might sometimes just let it fire, in which case they can bash their face into it with The Turning Wheel and "Baklan" Bochkin to farm counters. But early game you can definitely score some agendas from out behind it if you're trying to rush. Although at 3 influence, it's not likely not strong enough to be imported into all but the most dedicated rush decks.

Although it looks like a samurai? Isn't that Jinteki's territory? Such a shiny, pointy boi.

Fully Operational

At the very worst, this is for 1 draw or gain 2. At that point, you might as well click for credits or draw.

At one server, it's draw or gain 4, which puts it on par with Beanstalk Royalties, but with a base cost of 1 and a bit more flexibility in converting cash into cards. Again, not great, but alright.

At two servers it's an IPO. And it just goes off from there.

I like how this card specifies iced servers, which make not broken out of asset spam. Although requiring something to be in the server might be difficult if the Runner can check all your servers and trash all the things. At 3 influence, it's a bit pricey to import, but some NBN: Controlling the Message decks that go wide with some Data Ravens might see some use out of this.

I'm impressed by the art. You can still tell that it's deep-dreamed, but it still looks like a fairly normal cityscape. With just...something off.

-72 Hours Remain-

Red Level Clearance

It's like Green Level Clearance, but more flexible!

It's not a very exciting card (apparently. I'm always excited by new clearance levels!), but the flexibility helps out both MirrorMorph and Jeeves Model Bioroids, especially with the ability to refund a click. For instance, now you can Install, Red Level Clearance, Shipment from Tennin, Shipment from Tennin, gain a click, Shipment from Tennin, and fast advance a Vanity Project. Subliminal Messaging could have been used before rotation. And MirrorMorph can use it to convert operation clicks into installing cards.

Red Level Clearance doesn't give you massive value, but the amount of flexibility more than makes up for it.

Cold Site Server

Something wicked this way comes, and in this case, it's a chilly server who likes 4/2s.

At 0 to rez and 3 to trash, it's something rather economical to play, and it seems to have a pretty cool ability if you're scoring anything other than 5/3s. Double clicking after installing a 3 advance agenda, and the Runner has to run this either first or last click, or not at all, with a 2 credit tax to boot. Even Install Advance click gives you a click and credit tax, which is nothing to sneeze at, especially in combination with other click taxes, like MCA Austerity Policy and Enhanced Login Protocol.

Cold Site Server also combos very well with MirrorMorph, giving you another card ability to spread your clicks among.

It certainly feels strong; the click denial deck might seal the scoring remote off forever and force the Runner to pivot to centrals. But at 3 influence and click denial in-faction, I don't see it being imported all that much.

My only complaint is that it's hard to run this with Helium-3 Deposit. I mean, you need to click, then score Helium-3 Deposit, then install something else in the server, and by then your turn is basically done.

Hyoubu Institute: Absolute Clarity

How are you doing? I'm fine, Hyoubu?

By itself, this identity is...intriguing, but not interesting. Sure you can click to peek at a card and gain a credit, but that gives you information, and nothing else. Which isn't bad, but not a strong identity ability by itself.

Of course, the rest of the cards are where the interest lies. So I'll move onto them.

Jinteki's green and red aesthetic really calls to me. It just feels so happy, and clean, and safe. Definitely safe. They're just looking at my cards. They're not going to hurt me.

Project Yagi-Uda

Oh look it's finally a replacement for Braintrust. We've been waiting on this since the Spin Cycle.

The problem with Braintrust was that nobody ever overadvanced it. Oh sure, I did a couple of times, like after a turn 1 Mushin, but two extra advancements is worth a Beale, not an ice discount that saves you at most ten credits a game. So now we have another 3/2 with overadvancing abilities. Is it worth it?

It's hard to say. 3/2s are always good, and most factions have only one (whether this is good design or not it's hard to say; more 3/2s means more rush, more fast advance; HB had two before rotation), but Jinteki was stuck on Philotic Entanglement, which was limit 1 per deck. Bringing more 3/2s to Jinteki definitely feels nice, and will likely open up new strategies, like running multiple 3/2s in parallel.

But does it feel good to recieve a token from overadvancing? It depends on how you play. Swapping a card keeps advancement tokens, which allows you to pull off extreme mind game shenanigans. Was it an agenda before? Is it an agenda now? or is it a Project Junebug? Unfortunately, Damura never saw much play, so a counter for mind games might not be worth it.

Edit: It seems that swapping removes advancement counters, so Project Junebug is out. But Snare! is still in.

But how about swapping ice? It might be good for installing a piece of ice that they're missing a breaker for, but the runner is given the ability to jack out if they want to. So you can't guarantee a facecheck.

But what if they're already invested? They play an Inside Job, you swap out for an Anansi, and you fry them for 3 net damage. But the card comes in unrezzed (probably), so you stll have to pay 8 to rez.

I'm pretty sure you can't install operations. Pretty sure.

In the end, if you're overadvancing this, you're in for mind games, and that's the best kind of game to play.

Sting!

It's a 3/1, which nobody runs, unless you're Jinteki and want to cut the Runner into tiny little pieces.

Great design for this agenda; it's 1 net damage up front, plus additional damge depending on where the rest of them are. At most it'll deal 3 damage, which is Ronin danger zone, but in order to do that you need to give up at least one copy. With all three copies you're dealing either 3 or 5 damage all game, which isn't that much, so I don't think Sting! will do much work in most decks.

In Personal Evolution, on the other hand, you'll be dealing 6 to 8 damage per game, with a big oomph at 4 damage (if you can get it). The last copy can deal anywhere from 2 to 4 damage, and since the Runner is forced to steal it, if they're unprepared you can get a flatline right there.

All and all, it's another kind of trap; definitely strong against multiaccess when mixed in with Snare!s, but you'll need to run it out of PE if you want the most milage out of your scorpion.

Public Health Portal

An interesting piece of asset econ; you reveal the mandatory draw you make each turn in exchange for 2 credits.

On one hand, revealing draws is worth a fair bit. On the other hand, 2 credits is quite a lot. Bug prices card reveals at 2 credits, so it looks like it breaks even? But as this is a Corp card, you're designing your deck around showing the Runner what you have, so you don't mind showing the Runner your Snare!s and Breached Domes.

But still, at 3 to rez and 2 to trash, it's a bit fragile to use as an economic asset. Maybe in your scoring remote if you're sitting back and clicking for credits, but otherwise it'll see better play in a horizontal, something like Replicating Perfection.

You can also combo this with Daily Business Show if you want to shuffle the card away again, making it harder to figure out exactly what's in your hand.

It also combos with Hyoubu Institute, giving you an extra credit every turn, but then you have no reason to run any cards that reveal the Runner's cards, so even then it might not work.

I'm not too hot on this, but you might want a second opinion, because I do think it might be good in the right deck.

Storgotic Resonator

One. I don't think this works out of rigshooter.

Two. I'm pretty sure this is supposed to combo with more damage. You deal damage, trash a card from their grip (I'm assuming here that Corp damage trashes the card, not forcing the Runner to trash a card at random), and if it matches their faction, you get a counter to trash another one. At best, it's one damage per turn like Bio-Ethics Association but it takes a click to trigger and needs another source of damage to get it going, and it's also unique, meaning you can't stack three of them procing off each other.

You'll want to run it in some deck where you can guarantee damage, maybe out of Personal Evolution or possibly with Hostile Infrastructure. You'll also want some way of protecting it, because at 2 to rez and 2 to trash, it's definitely going to be a target as soon as it has any counters on it.

I don't see this card seeing much play with all its limitations; maybe as a way to generate additional value with a grindy Potential Unleashed-like deck. And without other factions doing much reliable damage, I don't see this card being imported either. Unless you really like damage.

Three. I like the art. It's pretty.

Saisentan

You don't need a sharp eye to tell that Saisentan is a state-of-the-art piece of ice, dealing a maximum of six net damage when the Runner faceplants it turn one. It takes advantage of knowledge of the Runner's grip, a theme with these Hyoubu cards. It's likely a flat upgrade to Tsurugi, it costs one less to rez but loses the conditional end the run subroutine, while gaining the potential to deal a lot more damage. At two strength though, it gets run over by all the killers, Mimic and Bukhgalter and Na'Not'K, but as a facecheck with the potential to instantly win, it works, and still costs at least 3 credits to get through once rezzed.

At 3 influence it's a bit expensive to import, some NBN decks might want it with to combo with their wide variety of grip revealing effects, or more likely Jinteki will splash a bit of yellow into their red.

Complete Image

Combined with the previous cards, we have a pretty good idea of what NIESI is trying out for Jinteki this cycle. At 4 cost and a bunch of hoops to jump through, this seems like Neural EMP number 3 through 6, but this card again has the potential to win the game outright, and this time the Runner doesn't even need to facecheck anything. Out of Chronos Protocol, if you know at least one card in the Runner's grip, this card is guaranteed to deal at least two net damage, and if you know all the cards in the Runner's grip, well, it's time to pull out a graph:

However, the hoops to jump are something of a pain. The Runner needs at least 3 agenda points, which makes this a mid-to-late game card, but if the Runner sees it, they have the opportunity to trash it for the low low cost of 2 credits. They also need to have made a successful run, so if they're playing around a Neural EMP then this card faces similar issues. And finally, it's a terminal, so you can't play more than one of these per turn, so you have to make your choices count.

Currently, it looks most interesting to play after a stolen Obokata Protocol, because usually the Runner ends up low on cards after they steal it. And, given the graph, you have the best chance of getting a kill then.

At 4 influence, it's unlikely that this will see play outside of Jinteki (again, maybe in NBN), but Jinteki will definitely want to import some yellow cards. Standard Procedure is only 2 influence, making it easy to take a look what the Runner has up their sleeve.

Letheia Nisei

Letheia Nisei is an interesting design. Some say she's a replacement for Marcus Batty, but I disagree; she doesn't force you to encounter the outermost piece of ice, only to approach it, so in this case she acts more like a 1 cost replacement of the never-forgotten Caprice Nisei, forcing you to go through the entire server again. Unlike her sister, Letheia doesn't end the run, so it saves the Runner a click, but she also trashes herself on successful use, making access into the server more than a random psi game.

The most interesting part of her design is that she only trashes herself on successful use, meaning that the Runner still needs to trash her if they win the psi game. 2 credits to trash isn't all that expensive, but this still allows you to play shenanigans, whether by using her sisters at Nisei MK II to end the run before the Runner gets to her, or even protect her behind a successful Ash 2X3ZB9CY trace.

Given that the runner needs to run through the server again, Letheia is best in deep, taxing servers, which makes her unreliable during the early game, though she does cost a bit more to trash. But her ability to force the runner through the entire server again cannot be underestimated, and even at 3 influence she might see import into some of the tallest glaciers.

Just remember that she's not her sisters (any of them), and you'll be fine.

(I almost forgot: The art is also beautiful. The blues and reds have an amazing interplay off each other.)

Remastered Edition

You calling me a scrub? Cannon-rushing is such a cheese that anyone worth half their salt should be able to scout it out and defend against it. I bet you try DT rushing if your cannons fail. Go back to silver.

Ahem.

It's Astroscript Pilot Program, except it's a 4/2. Being a 4/2 pulls it out of regular fast advance range (which was the main issue for the Astrotrain). So instead of that, we have the RemasterTrain, a trend in game development where, instead of developing new properties, they release Skyrim for the fifth time...

Ahem.

With the RemasterTrain, you can never-advance 4/2s, which is quite strong: after scoring the first Remastered Edition, the Runner has to check every installed card to ensure you're not choo chooing your way to victory.

Alternatively, you can use the Remaster token to fast advance a 3/2 out of hand (which is quite strong, bringing you up 4 points for a 4/2 score), or you can force a 3/1 score, if you really need that AR-Enhanced Security or Chronos Project.

All and all, cautiously optimistic. Just like every time they announce a remaster of a property from my childhood.

Like Netrunner.

Daily Quest

The theme of this card is amazing. It's like "hey, do you want money? money's over here! hey! free money! you don't want it? fine, I'll give it to someone else."

If you install it unprotected, the Runner is definitely going to run, and you'll give them free money. Not good. But since it's an asset, you don't really want this card taking up space in your scoring remote for too long.

So again, it's another middle-ground asset that you want to install between agendas, or in a secondary protected server. Although as soon as you rez it, the Runner is probably going to want to trash it, since 3 credits per turn is absurd, and it breaks even after a single fire. So this quest will proabably lead to the Runner wasting all their resources getting through your ice, just to trash the Quest, leading you none the worse off.

But at 3 influence, it's expensive to import, but I can see it being run in other glaciers; after all, NBN isn't the best at building tall servers, and forking the Runner on either paying a huge tax or giving you a huge clickless economic advantage is very much something a glacier wants to play.

Just remember to check back tormorrow for your next Daily Quest!

Tiered Subscription

It's not exciting, but not something to ignore, either. Tiered Subscription will, at the worst, give you 1 credit at the cost of 3 of theirs, but if they leave it alone, it acts like a PAD Campaign. Sure, it's not guaranteed to be every turn, but if you're ignoring the dangers of naked servers and going full asset spam, the Runner has to check some of the cards you're installing, in which case Tiered Subscriptions are going to pay off.

It's also an advertisement, so Spark Agency is going to enjoy it quite a bit, as there are very few advertisement assets in-faction for yellow.

It might see some play if other factions start playing horizontal decks again; 1 influence is cheap to punish the runner for checking your facedown cards. But the problem is that with asset spam, other factions aren't on the same level as NBN.

Congratulations!

It's Pop-up Window, but makes you even MORE money. A swing of 2 credits is identical to the pop-up, but you're gaining 3 while the Runner is gaining 1. Congratulations! also costs 1 more to rez, but the amount of money you're making if the runner just runs through it more than makes up for it.

Unfortunately for Congratulations! is that it's not taxing in the slightest. It's anti-taxing, as it gives the Runner money, so instead of a game plan of taxing the Runner, if you're running this you should have a plan for all the money you'll be rolling around in. Something to do with traces, probably.

And at 3 strength, it's likely going to cost the Runner at least 2 to break, which is relatively taxing for a 1 cost piece of ice. But I think Runners would rather run through it and collect their prize, or not run at all.

It's very unlikely that any other faction will want to import it; 2 influence is quite a bit for a card that barely supports a game plan.

Loot Box

I also love this card's flavor. NISEI should be feeling very proud and accomplished of what they've done this set.

I don't see when the Runner would not want to open this Loot Box, given it only costs 2 and they get a free card as well! Unfortuantely for the Runner, the free card is guaranteed to be the worst of all possible cards, and the Corp gains money off the back of it as well.

All and all, it's a trap that swings the economy in the Corp's favor, and feels more fair than a surprise Universal Connectivity Fee. It also gives the Corp information about the Runner's deck, something that might help out if it's being imported cheaply into Hyoubu Institute. And hey, you know the card that you added to the Runner's hand, so you can start building a Complete Image of what's in there.

Focus Group

So we did some testing and found that everyone loves Midseason Replacements combined with Psychographics, so we thought, great! We'll put them both on the same card!

Focus Group is, thankfully, not Midseason Replacements, because it doesn't give the Runner any tags. Unfortunately (or possibly very fortunately), it allows you to fast advance Government Takeover.

Focus Group is in an interesting spot, since you need to have your agenda installed before you play it, and thus should know how many advancement tokens you need before you play it. A standard turn might be Standard Procedure, install, Focus Group, but to take the greatest advantage you need have agendas of multiple advancement requirements in hand. You can also be a bit more risky and go install, Focus Group, advance, and with an educated guess you should be able to score a 3/2.

Here it's Project Beale's time to shine, since you can overadvance it and gain more points while you're at it. Remember that you still need enough money to pay for the advancement tokens.

Since most of the grip-reveal cards are in NBN already, I don't see this card being imported all that often. 3 influence doesn't make it impossible, but you have to have a good read on the Runner to guess exactly what they have in hand. Skill intensive and I love it. Until it's revealed be broken.

Game Over

What are we going to do now? Maybe we can build a fire, sing a couple of songs, huh? Why don't we try that?

Game Over ends the game, not FFG. It's so overpowered that there's no point playing anymore, as soon as the Corp includes a copy in their deck the Runner has no chance.

Just kidding. It's interesting design that punishes wide runners, which should hopefully push runners towards running earlier.

Now, with Game Over, you only want to play it mid-late game. Early game the Runner has nothing to trash, so if they steal an agenda it's not worth it to trash anything. Only if there's something worth trashing do you want to play Game Over, and try to trash whatever they have most of. It's a more balanced The All-Seeing I, since the Runner can pay credits to prevent trashing, instead of removing a bad publicity that the Runner may or may not have the ability to inflict. In fact, it might even be a bit weak, given how much money the Runners are rolling in at the moment, and the bad publicity isn't anything to scoff at.

I like that you can't trash icebreakers, because too many rig-shooters encourages slotting even more recursion. I also like that you can specify Hardware, just in case the Az McCaffery deck takes off. But the 3 cost to prevent might make it difficult to play, unless Runner economy takes a drastic hit.

Increased Drop Rates

I'm not a big fan of this card? Actually, maybe.

It's an ambush. That removes bad publicity. Which you might not have at the time the Runner accesses it.

So at that point, it's a waste of a card, so if you're planning on using it as an ambush, you better stack yourself with bad publicity early. The Outfit might like this, but then again, they don't really care about how much bad publicity they have; they just earn money and kill you.

This card gets more interesting when you have a chance to install it. Put it behind some illicit ice, and you get a chance to clear your name before the Runner even gets a credit.

Of course, it's a Runner choice card, which means that they can always choose the better option for them. But beware the Runner who doesn't trash it; if you're not running enough bad publicity, then the Runner can save 2 credits by leaving it be.

But if they do trash it, well, it still drops from the Archives.

Divested Trust

It's an agenda that protects other agendas! What's there not to like? It refunds...most of the credits and clicks spent scoring it, but returns the agenda to hand, so you have to try to score it again the next turn.

Divested Trust might be a bit strong in combination with SDS Drone Deployment and City Works Project, since the Runner still has to access and pay the costs to steal the agendas, and forcing the Runner to do it two turns back to back is quite taxing. But it's also a 3/1, which are classically not the most effective to score. After all, why run this when you can run Hostile Takeover?

It doesn't quite combo with Jemison Astronautics, since your agenda goes back to the hand, but it does turn on Punitive Counterstrike, so if they try to steal that Government Takeover, they can say bye-bye to their face.

Of course, if the Runner wins the game before you can forfeit Divested Trust, well, the Runner wins, so you can only trust this card to defend your agendas if you're not yet on game point.

I guess you can use this to defend R&D, and bring the agendas to HQ? Hey, it's free draw.

I do like the art. It's all over the place, just like your investments.

SDS Drone Deployment

It think this is fair. If the Runner steals it, they can trash a program, probably a spare Rezeki or an empty Imp. But if you score the 5/3, you get to trash one of their breakers, like an Amina.

This card is the first defensive 5/3 agenda to also have an upside when scored, but I think the combination is weak enough that I'll give it a pass. Trashing a program is probably on the same power level as rezzing an Archer through Priority Requisition, so the on-score effect isn't too strong. But the trashing a program to steal is the interesting part, because that's going to encourage Runners to run more utility programs, instead of solely running breakers. It'll probably also encourage some recursion, but I think slotting utility programs is the cheaper option here.

How does a such a real-looking drone trash a program? I don't know (The USB drive has a knife! blam blam blam). Maybe they're virtual drones. Maybe they're super-precise and can shoot the memory out of the Runner's rig. Who knows? (it is a mystery)

Roughneck Repair Squad

Melange Mining Corporation, how I've missed you.

I loved Melange, but that was a time when Runners were slower, and they actually had to worry about giving the Corp an economic advantage. Now Runners Run Amok, fueled by Crowdfunding campaigns and Rogue Trading and Falsified Credentials. At this speed, Roughneck Repair Squad probably won't see any play as a economic asset, but I do see some cases where you spend a turn just to remove any bad publicity you've accrued. Three clicks for 6 credits isn't bad, and removing bad publicity on top of that is just great. Use it until you're out of bad publicity to remove, then you can overwrite it and install an agenda to score with all your money.

Afshar

I, um, hmmm. What?

Definitely very intriguing, and it's definitely going to trip me up. I love that it's a quasi-replacement for Meru Mati, and for 3 to rez, it's going to cost the Runner at least 3 to get through in front of the HQ. For other servers, it's a reasonable 2 credit tax for 3, but its low strength is going to see it unravelled by the likes of Chisel.

This feels like NISEI is replacing the famous person cycle? We'll have to wait for Uprising to see if we get replacements for the other pieces of ice.

Sandstone

Sandstone is so pretty! A digital waterfall of fire, it's great piece of design. A 5 strength barrier for 3 is quite cheap, but the issue is that every time the Runner washes their face with it, it's going to wear down a little.

It's pretty bad if it's on the outside of the server, since the Runner can just faceplant it at no cost, and would also charge The Turning Wheel and "Baklan" Bochkin, but as the innermost piece of ice, it's only going to lose 1 strength if they pay the tax of the entire server.

It might see a bit of play; the 5 strength Fire Wall costs 5 to rez, and sees a little bit of play. Unfortunately, importing at 2 influence doesn't make much sense with the taxing Eli 1.0 in the card pool.

Who knows? If you can bait the Runner into running it a whole bunch of times, maybe you can play a Reverse Infection and mill the Runner to death.

Trebuchet

Trebuchet probably compares most easily to Grim, costing 2 credits more to rez but with 1 more strength and 1 extra subroutine. But the extra subroutine functions as a quasi-end the run, strong on scoring servers, but only slightly weaker for centrals (as they can gain information, or still run into Snare!). It's a quasi-Archer, but doesn't require an agenda to forfeit (only a bad publicity).

Since it's "Trash 1 installed Runner card" instead of "Trash 1 program", there's no safe time to facecheck it. And at 6 strength it'll be expensive to break even with a killer out. Three Trebuchet three Archer server when? (Falls apart to Na'Not'K). Also pairs well with bad publicity removal, like the Roughneck Repair Squad. All of these upsides launches it high into the list of cards to watch out for.

Don't trebuchets break walls? How this this going to stop a Runner? They must have some serious aim tracking on that thing. Also, ice that trash resources are still a mystery.

Secure and Protect

Alright, it's an ice tutor. We haven't seen many of these, and while this one only protects centrals, it also reduces the install cost by 3.

Which...is interesting? I don't see many decks icing their centrals all that deep, and with that discount this card is definitely meant for mid-to-late game play. Replicating Perfection likes this card, but I don't see many other decks getting much mileage out of this card. And at 3 influence, that's a tall order to import into Jinteki.

And is that...Free Willy?

Reduced Service

It's a nice card for sure, you don't usually don't see a tax that high outside of Giordano Memorial Field, but this upgrade gets weaker when the Runner hits the centrals, much like Embolus.

If you rez it after you install an agenda, the Runner is going to have some interesting decisions to make. Do they pay the full 8 tax, planning to trash it when they arrive, and hope they don't choke on an Ash 2X3ZB9CY or a Border Control, or maybe a Nisei MK II? Do they hit centrals first, spending credits to try to save more in the future, but risking not having enough clicks to get in?

This card is definitely a tax to the Runners who sit back and wait, since this forces them to either pony up the 10 credits or actually start running on centrals. Although the tax might be high, I do enjoy that it forces the Runner to run, and given that it has to be rezzed before the run is declared, it looks like a more fair and more flexible version of Memorial Field.

It's also finally a great target for you to Divert Power from your Helium-3 Deposit. Who doesn't want an extra 12 credits of tax?

Vulnerability Audit

I like this card (more than I like Global Food Initiative). Sure, if the Runner steals this it's "real agenda points", but trading 1 advancement for 1 influence is a fair trade. After all, you can psyche runners out by getting 3 points on a single-advanced card, or even abuse some never-advance with Jeeves Model Bioroids, Jinteki Biotech: Life Imagined or even Remastered Edition. It's definitely stronger than Improved Protein Source which sees some play.

I also wonder about the math in the background. What does it mean? What secrets do you hold? Tell them to me.

CSR Campaign

CSR stands for Corporate Social Responsibility. I had to look that up.

Hmm. Since when did the Corps care about planting trees? Have they been doing this all along? Are the Runners the baddies?

No. It's the Corps who are wrong.

Anyways, I don't think this card is very exciting. It's a PAD Campaign that draws cards instead of credits, but is 2 less to trash, which makes it a lot more fragile. Does a little bit of work for rush decks, and maybe out of asset spam.

I'm a bit disappointed in the "may" ability, though. Force the Corp to draw! Make them regret the decision of including it in their deck! Wait, no, that's a bad idea. But maybe making it stronger and mandatory would lead to more interesting decision-making.

But the Corp's advertising game is on point. The art is really nice, and Spark Agency does enjoy advertisement assets. Maybe not enough to play this card though.

Rime

Rime is exploring a cool design space that should exist but NISEI should definitely be cautious with. One of the major issue with the Corp is they have no easy way of making constant abilities that are extremely difficult to turn off: assets get trashed, and currents are overwritten, unlike the Runner, whose resources usually stay in play forever after they install them. So the solution is either to raise the trash cost of assets, or find something even harder to trash.

Or make Runner cards easier to trash. But let's not talk about that.

And that's where we get Rime. Rime has instant-speed rez while the Runner is running on the server, and boost the strength of all the ice on the server, much like the rotated Experiential Data. Unlike Experiential Data, it can't be trashed once the Runner gets through, meaning that the strength boost will stick around, at the cost of 1 credit per ice install. It also has a 1 credit tax, which...it could have probably done without? Especially since it's a piece of mythic ice, which means it can't be trashed by any of the cutlery even by breaking subroutines.

Thus, the only way for the Runner to get rid of this is to find some ice destruction. Chisel, Hippo, Trypano and Prey are the only options, with Prey being the cheapest in terms of influence, so we might see Shaper or Criminal running that.

But if you put it on the outside of a server, you can eat an Inside Job, much to the Runner's chagrin.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to The Ancient Mariner in the next half of the cycle!