Want to bet Anarchs get the Fracter and Shapers the Decoder instead?
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It might be part of a ‘set’ with that fracter the shapers got?
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I really like this.
Very cool breaker. I’m impressed with how FFG keeps finding interesting icebreaker design space. Still, I wish the costs on the two abilities were swapped- that would be a card I could see finding a permanent home in crim. As is, it might see some play, but probably a bit of a niche card.
Which fracter would that be?
Ankusa, I think. Odd to give Shaper a new fracter and not decoder while still giving Crim the killer, but if it means that Anarch gets a new decoder I’ll be happy. I find myself unhappy without one, but also frustrated running Yog plus AI breakers in many lists.
[quote=“benjaminwald05, post:850, topic:4340, full:true”]
Very cool breaker. I’m impressed with how FFG keeps finding interesting icebreaker design space. Still, I wish the costs on the two abilities were swapped- that would be a card I could see finding a permanent home in crim. As is, it might see some play, but probably a bit of a niche card.
[/quote]I dunno, there are a lot of sentries with two subs, only spending 1c on them is nice.
I just kinda wish they bumped the install cost a bit and made it usable more than once per run, maybe reduce its strength by 2 (no minimum of 0, recall) for the run so each successive sentry costs more? I dunno. It doesn’t seem cheap enough to not need Datasucker support to help with 4-str sentries, but if you need to run more than one it takes more card slots than Mimic does even with the influence savings. Could maybe see it with Nero, but I’m just not sure.
I guess it fills in as a reusable Faerie after that rotates, kinda? Much more expensive to use, but good for hitting big things in conjunction with something else? Mongoose plus Mimic might actually do pretty well so long as you have the cash.
But yeah, the big issues I see are:
- the costs for repeated installs,
- the need to run more than one taking more card slots than it saves unless you ditch Faeries,
- the fact that Mimic isn’t much influence in the first place so there’s less being freed up,
- that it seems like it’ll still want datasuckers so you’re still encouraged to run those if you were,
- the persistent lack of MUs in many Criminal decks.
All this being said, I can see it being useful because:
- While not as good/cheap as Faerie it can fill a similar slot repeatedly,
- Geist in particular might enjoy having an emergency permanent sentry breaker than can be pumped early on,
- It’s not substantially more expensive than Mimic on most common sentries,
- You can run it without datasucker or Faerie support if you decide to,
- It will save a tiny bit of influence and while not a huge amount it’s enough for a shard, multithreader, datasucker or stimhack.
So I’m a bit frustrated with the restrictions when Criminal has so few useful in-faction breakers, but another usable in-faction breaker is nice to see for them even if I wish they had a fracter already. Doesn’t need to be equal to Corroder, but that’s 2-4 influence that every Crim deck just loses right out of the gate and I dearly wish it was not so.
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Because I’m interested in Street Magic but feel it’ll likely not be worth it, I thought I’d compile a list of the ICE that it helps with in any meaningful way.
Ice which you can ETR instead of getting hurt running into:
Archer
Datapike
Enigma
Fenris
Galahad (and any Grail ice combo that includes Galahad)
Heimdall 1.0
Heimdall 2.0
Little Engine (not that it’s painful normally, but Street Magic turns it into free money if you don’t break)
Markus 1.0
News Hound (if a current is active)
Orion
Rototurret
Viktor 1.0
Viktor 2.0
Wall of Thorns
And here are ice that it doesn’t wholly defang, but it helps with somewhat:
Caduceus (firing the ETR trace first to deny the corp money)
Muckraker (assuming you’re tagged, you can hit the ETR – if you aren’t, you can pass that first and then pick up tags to continue on)
Shadow (let the tag trace fire if you’re going to contest it so they can’t use the cash they’d gain to help)
Shinobi (face the biggest trace first and let it ETR before you die)
Uroboros (run the ETR trace before the “no more runs” trace)
Viper (run the ETR trace before the click-loss trace)
Architect (they have to install the known card before they learn anything about R&D’s composition)
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Both types of Viktor should be on that list too.
It also makes Architect slightly less painful since they have to install the known card (HQ or Archives) without the hidden information about the top cards of their R&D. Still not a good ICE to faceplant obviously, but ought to tone down some of the jankier install combos slightly by firing in reverse order.
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What Criminals want for X-Mas is an in faction way of breaking Architect/Caduceus for 2. Mimic remains the highest strength killer in the game.
Switchblade 
You didn’t say what kind of credits.
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Also Faerie does it for one credit, Shiv does it for zero and Femme Fatale does it for two credits if you want a permanent solution for a problem Architect/Caduceus.
Not sure criminals can complain about a lack of options in that particular case!
Femme is 3, right? 2 to pump, 1 to break?
Yeah, but two to bypass if it’s a single problem ICE.
But why would you spend 9 to Femme an Architect?
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Interestingly, I think you can use mongoose on the same ice multiple times in a turn. Something I didn’t immediately notice.
Added both, Architect was supposed to be on the second list and was the reason I MADE the second list at first, and then I forgot. Whoops. Thanks for the catch.
[quote=“erinrockabitch, post:855, topic:4340, full:true”]
What Criminals want for X-Mas is an in faction way of breaking Architect/Caduceus for 2. Mimic remains the highest strength killer in the game.
[/quote]While nice, a fracter that’s good enough to not require Corroder imports to have any chance of functioning is probably higher on my faction wishlist.
Mimic might still be the best, but it’s a cheap import and Mongoose is decent enough to see play over it, I think. If Breach wasn’t Centrals-Only it’d see more play, but as things stand Criminal needs to import Corroder or another fracter, which eats up more influence than Mimic does and leaves them less able to import other interesting cards.
Each Corroder could be a Clone Chip, Parasite, RDI, or even Scavenge. That’s a lot of value to be forced to leave behind.
[quote=“whirrun, post:861, topic:4340, full:true”]
Interestingly, I think you can use mongoose on the same ice multiple times in a turn. Something I didn’t immediately notice.
[/quote]…Yes? You can also use it on different ice in one turn. The restriction is one ice per run, as I noted above. You still want two out if you can (to get through double-sentries), but after that you’re probably okay against most decks.
Oh yeah, reading the card, this is why I shouldn’t stay up late watching worlds. 
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I love the art on Mongoose. And I like this in conjunction with Alias, Shiv, Faerie, etc.
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Worst thing about Mongoose is that it’s infficient against snake ICE. (3 Caduceus, 5 mamba/uroboros/viper)
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I like to think of the mongoose as Nature’s meta for snakes.
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