Errand Boy is an exciting piece of ICE, imo. Currently there are only 3 pieces of ICE that give the Corp credits (Pop-Up, Caduc, Shadow). Errand Boy adds the option of gaining cards instead of clicks.
Mathematically, it seems to be a strong piece of ICE.
Assuming it is not broken upon first encounter, it gives the Corp an entire turn worth of tempo, 3 clicks.
Taxing, with 3 subroutines. I imagine Runner behavior vs. this card will either be to break all the subs, or none.
1 influence
The card has some immediately apparent weaknesses:
Vulnerability to parasite; however, plenty of other strong decks run cards that are vulnerable to Parasite. Pop-Up is a staple of NEH and many others; Pup is the core of PE; Komainu/Tsurugi are the cores of RP.
4 to rez; expensive for 1 strength.
Porous
At 1 influence, I think this deck is theoretically appealing to many Identities. an obvious synergy IMO is with Midseasons. You need the Runner to steal, so the porosity isn’t an issue. moreover, it can help you dig for a Midseasons, or credit up to pump the Midseasons even further. I think it may be easier to stomach splashing these into NBN at 1-each than Midseasons into Weyland or CB at 5-each.
for the same reason, the upcoming Argus Security might like this card, as stealing agendas taxes the runner.
What are some more thoughts on lil Errand Boy? Here is a Christmas jingle for my new favorite piece of ICE
Come, little Runner, pa rumpa card cred Free data here for you, pa rumpa card cred I have some work to do, pa rumpa card cred To grease the Corporate gears, pa rumpa card cred rumpa card cred, rumpa card cred
One thing to note is, if you rez it when you know it will land its subs (i.e., early game), it can almost pay for itself on that one encounter. I love cheap little taxers, and this one is a welcome variation.
also, don’t forget, no matter which Weyland ID you play, whether it’s Blue Sun, Blue Sun, the ever-popular Blue Sun, or last but not least Blue Sun, you can consider this a net gain of 3 credits when you bounce the ICE back up.
Taxing ice is almost always relevant. The obvious comparison is Caduceus. I think whether Weyland decks want this depends a lot on what runners are popular (the more runners with link, the more appealing it becomes compared to Caduceus). But the fact that it’s 1 influence gives it a big leg up over Caduceus out of faction.
Makes Weyland a more painful face-check early on, too. I’d spend 4 credits for 3 cards in Weyland, or 3 for 2, especially since it’ll just stick around and keep causing trouble (or get bounced, tee hee).
The salient difference is that Caduceus still has an ETR sub. I actually think of Errand Boy being more like Architect in that both ‘threaten’ the runner with exclusively corp-beneficial subs. Fun trend.
Now I just want a Jinteki codegate designed along those same lines that has a Scry sub (with a deeper dig than Shiro or Yagura) so I can finally include Mutate in a deck.
This might be the ice that’ll get me to dust off NEXT Design. NEXT usually suffers from not enough econ, so this ice (for the low low influence of one) helps in that regard.
This is better out of faction than Caduceus is (due to the low INF) but I’m still not loving this card. It might get you some credits and some cards if your opponent doesn’t break it, but with most people not running until they have a sentry breaker anyways I really question how many times this is going to fire. Unlike something like Architect, which pretty much does great things even if it only fires once, this is more than likely only 3-6 cards or clicks.
With Jackson being a thing, I’ve never felt like I really needed to draw cards as the corp, and I’m not sure I want to spend four credits and a click getting anywhere from 3-6 credits back. It’s a brand new piece of splashable ice but it’s so easy to break and the runner can still just run right through it.
I think the main point here is the weird position you put the runner in when something like this is in front of, let’s say, R&D. Yeah, you can run right by it, but what are a runners options for doing so? 1) let the subs run, granting significant econ/click benefit to the corp, given that you will likely run that central multiple times per game, or 2) pay 3 over and over to break a relatively cheap ICE that had a good chance to pay for its own rez cost.
which of these is bad for a corp? not saying this is any sort of must-include, but when you’re looking for more cheap, taxing ICE this is a great include or splash.
It’s a good point. Sometimes as a Corp I can get focused on my own credits, and fail to see that sometimes just having the runner break subs is a victory enough. In faction I still think Caduceus pays for itself much quicker (and has ETR to boot) but the card draw is not to be underestimated. I also had Mimic and Yog’s cost to break subs confused for a second, so I thought it was free for Mimic, and not $3.
I’m really interested in Errand Boy as a potential way to make people install their Mimic vs. Weyland, or more likely, just accept that they’re going to be giving up some serious economic advantage; unlike Caduceus, they can’t get around it by having link or beating the trace with the corp’s bad pub. Blue Sun seems like the obvious home for Errand Boy, given the vulnerability to Parasite.
Also, you can Daily Business Show on the runner’s turn! With the rising popularity of DBS, that seems like a combo that might actually happen, since both cards are quite good on their own.
I don’t think you appreciate how OP a free 3-6 clicks for a 4 rez piece of ICE is. Also, if it only fires once or twice then that means the runner is spending resources to either (a) destroy it, or (b) break it. Or, I guess the runner leaves that server alone. All those results is fine by the corp, I think.
Errand Boy is a bit expensive, but one helluva taxing piece of ICE.
Errand boy will most likely go off if a runner is trying to aggressively dig your centrals. Or, he doesn’t run your centrals, at least for a while. Or, a parasite is used on it in non blue sun decks. So, which of these is bad really?
Also, a 3 credit swing is what you should aim for. Runners will get through your ice eventually, why not be responsible and let them run through this. Sometimes, medium digs for 5 end up turning up nothing but untrashable cards, if there’s an errand boy still on r&d with any etr ice, the runner is probably not paying 3 each time, and you’re not drawing cards. Enjoy your affordable Janus/Wotan/Curtain Wall. Also, Midway Station Grid definitely needs more taxing ice. I put errand boy in front of my Adonis and Eve, and really didn’t feel so bad when they got trashed. Errand boy ftw
