Originally published at: The Devil and The Dragon Community Review and Meta Predictions (Corp) - StimHack
Discuss the latest article here.
1 Like
A Nisei Mk II counter for only IAA? Sign. Me. Up. And it only gets better when you realize it’s an upgrade. You can put it into your remote if you want it protected or to bait a run, or you can put it into Archives if you want to keep it safe and out of the way. You can even put it on R&D while you’re setting up and don’t yet have a strong scoring remote.
Nope. Bio Vault can only be installed in remote servers (which seems to be the thing for the Off-site subtype).
3 Likes
It’s weird to be how low the Brain Damage traces are in this pack, because they all have counterplay outside of setting off the trace. Like, did the playtesters find some broken combo with Tempus, Kill Switch, and Rutherford grid? Primary Transmission Dish? I don’t get it.
Brain damage aside, corps got some neat pieces. The Weyland cards in this pack feel pretty weird to me. SSO is at the intersection of two niche and somewhat sub-par abilities. Whether or not we hit some strange critical mass of either is yet to be seen. Really, it just makes me mad that Transparency Initiative doesn’t let you install the agenda in the same click like Casting Call.
This pack was a relief for runners, as we finally got the linchpin pieces for mediocre cards we’ve been seeing throughout the cycle so far. I think 419 will be the defacto crim until Kampala drops, as the Power Tap engine is the only way that faction will have any real money.
6 Likes
Brain damage is a tedious mechanic. Everyone ignores it except for players who play “brain damage decks” (teenage goths, Magic players, Russian bots on Jnet). It can never become too good or we’d have to take it seriously, but FFG can’t just get rid of it outright at the risk of offending someone who “enjoys that playstyle” (see above list).
Yep.
Whoops.
Read it again a day before this went up and didn’t revise my statement. It’s still really good out of the remote as an IAA, since it forces them to run the server or risk letting you have 3 points, and then if they don’t do that, it sits in that remote to kill the run on the actual agenda.
So it’s a little weird. I don’t think we have any linchpin cards, strictly speaking, just cards that give some amount of payoff for the strategies being pushed earlier in the cycle. The closest one is 419, but the Expose deck can be played in Silhouette instead and do almost as well. Because 419’s ability plays best when the Runner has an econ denial strategy, and Criminal isn’t quite there yet. (Diversification of Funds will change that. You can import Mining Accidents, I suppose.)
Re: Power Taps…Nah, the GPI Net Tap Expose deck makes money, too. When trying to make a 419 deck, I had to eventually choose which strategy I wanted to make money with: Exposes or Power Taps.
I started drooling when I saw Kill Switch, then cried when I noted the influence cost.
I’m not surprised Kill Switch didn’t excite anyone else, because very few people play the Jinteki kill deck like I do. In my deck, landing any amount of brain damage makes your kill shot that much easier.
The idea that I can boost the 3 trace to 5 really cheaply makes for a painful choice, especially when stealing an Obokata against PE. Pay 5 credits and 5 cards? Or (supposing they won’t die) 6 cards including a brain? Pay nothing, eat the brain damage but leave Obokata? Pay 5 to avoid the brain but leave the Obokata?
These are all great for me at the low cost of 2 credits for those nasty choices (3 if you include the current cost). That extra input from me is flexible based on my game state, and can make for extra punishment when I go for a kill shot.
Downsides for me are the high influence cost, and that a Runner current clears it. I have some room to juggle so I will probably make space for two and see what happens.
Not a tool for most people, but I see its potential.
1 Like