Originally published at: Running on Italics: The Valley [Runner] - StimHack
Discuss the latest StimHack article here.
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I for one like the 60s throwback theme, and the upcoming “sunny” art (Beach Party!) in Breaker Bay. I think A:NR’s art has fully explored neon-highlighted geometric shapes and mythological beasts dwelling in matrix-like backgrounds.
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Loved this article. Lot of fun. Agree that the old school genetics art was awesome.
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That was a fun read, good job!
The tag “Cloud” refers to the MU mechanic – because when you have a fast enough connection the programs operate “on the cloud servers” instead of on your rig.
Like if you were streaming a song on Amazon/whatever instead of having it locally stored on your phone. Makes sense to me!
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I’ve imagined Spike as a kind of “focus” for the rest of your programs. The runner uses Spike to group them together to ram them into the ICE. The more programs, the bigger the spike, but the “cohesion” gets lost in contact, which is where spike gets trashed.
In this case, the art is quite flavourful. The runner is brutally hurling the entire mass of their hard drive at the “wall”, with a “spiked” point first.
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Even flavor ratings promote arguments. 
I am sad that cards like Clot with plenty of space for flavor text still don’t have any.
Either way, I like this idea for a review series, it’s fun.
Also, I’m pretty sure NBN borrowed Weyland’s Giant Space Laser, I don’t know that they have their own.
Love this, keep it up, and also revisit old sets later on as well?
I’m wondering if Paige Piper is a Silicon Valley (the TV show) reference. Their company is called Pied Piper. And there are constant Incubator references and buzzword filled conversations like that one.
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Yeah though the same.
Hey all!
We’re super stoked we got such a positive response on the series, and believe you me we will be continuing. We want to ramp into doing Classic reviews soonish, but that’s probably a ways away right now!
Yeah, Cloud as the current mechanic makes sense; we were just saying that that would have made Spike make more sense. I’m not super convinced that the “focus” interpretation works; it doesn’t explain why only icebreakers can contribute to the spike, and it also doesn’t make sense of the upcoming cycle, decoder and killer, with the same ability. Flavour has to be just as cohesive as mechanics, after all 
And yeah, Paige is clearly a reference to Silicon Valley. We hadn’t seen it, but I checked out the pilot yesterday, and that’s clearly the case. Good to get that mystery solved!
Great article! I especially liked the discussion about how genetics can be trashed.
This is my favorite article ever posted on Stimhack.
All those genetics advertisements scream Bioshock at me. “My daddy’s SMARTER than Einstein, STRONGER than Hercules and lights a fire with a SNAP of his fingers. Are you as good as my daddy, Mister? Not if you don’t visit the Gatherer’s Garden, you aren’t!”
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Oh man I never even noticed the Cloud sub-type on those cards. Cool stuff. And I agree, Clot could have better flavour.
Are you guys going to review some older sets, namely Genesis?strong text