So, first thoughts on all the cards in the set, woooo.
Bifrost Array – I feel like HB has more useful options, but could no doubt find a place in a deck that was actively running, I dunno, ABT and PriReq in the hopes of triggering both lots. The selection is nice, but makes it a bad Agenda to score first, which is awkward.
Sagittarius – Potential replacement for Ichi 1.0, doesn’t do the tag + brain damage trace but can’t be clicked through. Cheaper to break than Ichi but if they don’t break it you can make it costly and somewhat impossible to avoid.
Hostile Infrastructure – Muuuch better than Encryption Protocols in RP, I think, though also more expensive. The effect stacks, which is nice. Shame it doesn’t work against Noise (though that’s actually a really good thing objectively), it’s still a powerful effect, and it’ll cost them more to trash than it costs you to rez (well, the same, +damage).
Gemini – The worst of these trace ice. It’s cheap for its strength, but trace2 here is a disappointment in everything except maaaybe RP, and, well… 2 Net damage isn’t the most. Kind of okay for a glacier deck, I guess, but I wish it’d broken cycle and been trace3 since most Jinteki is pretty poor (though that might’ve been too good). Does more than Mamba to remove Mimic as a cure-all for running on Jinteki, though (which I’m not a massive fan of as an Anarch player), so that’s something for it.
License Acquisition – A nice ability to recur SanSan that will never get used because why wouldn’t you be running Breaking News if you care about your SanSan so much anyway? Maybe it’ll do something in NBN Glacier if that ever really exists as a distinct archetype (currently doubtful). God, everyone else would’ve loved this so much more.
Daily Business Show – Because NEH’s card draw is presently insufficient, apparently.
Superior Cyberwalls – Being the best of this little cycle of Agendas is very different from being a good card. Might actually be playable if you like barriers and REALLY hate Bad Pub, I guess.
Executive Boot Camp – Lots of fun! Might actually be nice with NEXT Ice elsewhere, but in-faction helps deal with the crappy “must rez to advance” Ice and provides a small econ boost. I’m curious if multiple copies let you rez multiple cards or just give one card the econ edge. Still good in Blue Sun, but can’t bounce whatever you rez that turn (though, for just 1 credit’s edge, would you want to?).
Lycan – Uuuugh. Changeling is actually good, why can’t this be? Hugely expensive, and flips between being broken by Mimic and broken by Yog. Both of those are being hated out, but still. Only even close to good in advance-ice decks, and even then probably not worth it.
Snatch and Grab – Meta call, not a huge fan (although connections are certainly a thing, so better than some, I guess).
Merlin – With this, the (good) Grail Ice cycle is complete so far as we know. And wow, yeah, all together I think they’ll be pretty darn tough. The potential, however small, of a Turn 1 flatline against NEXT or Foundry is kinda fun to think about, though probably less-so to have happen. Still unlikely, but it’s an obviously useful addition all around either way.
Shell Corporation – Only useful as an upgrade. Maybe put it in a server with a Cerebral Overwriter or something, I don’t know. Doesn’t seem worth it on its own, though I guess if you’re all about ONE SCORING SERVER at least you can protect it at the same time and have some steady-ish econ in play, even if it’s a liability.
Ekomind – I really want this to be good, but I don’t think it will be. All but requires Origami. Going to try for a Noise build and see how it goes, 'cause we’ve been spitballing this as an ID for some time now, but might not do enough as a console. Mostly worried about Komainu – too taxing to break with Mimic if this is working, but letting net damage land (especially in that quantity) will screw over your board position. Makes Deus X a bloody necessity, since you can’t Clone Chip parasite in reliably to save you from the hit as it happens. Oimoi.
“Cuj.0” – Feels like the worst of the Cerberus breakers, but might see play due to the growing number of good sentries Mimic can’t deal with reliably. Might still run Crypsis first, though.
Leela – As people can no doubt tell from the thread about her, I like her a lot… in theory. Whether or not she’ll prove to be as disruptive as I’d like is unknown. Might do well against both NEH and Blue Sun, though, and those’re looking more and more to be the matchups to beat in the near future here.
“Rex” – Probably going to replace Passport in a lot of decks that only run it and Femme to handle Code Gates on account of the others all being terrible. It’s not going to last forever, but it does reasonably well against most things (though tollbooth is UGH as usual). Passport is better if you only care about centrals.
Zona Sul Shipping – Decoy might make this actually worth it. Like a reverse of Marked Accounts where you just click to take the money off. With 3 of them, that means a 3-credit click every turn. Buuut requires dodging the two tags from Breaking News, and avoiding all others, so… probably not going to be much of a thing even if it’s got the potential otherwise. Not even a connection for that deck, alas.
Cybsoft Macrodrive – If you can’t afford the MU for Sahasrara, I guess? Doesn’t seem worth it, to me, except possibly as a Trade-In target, and there are better choices for that. Maaaybe in Stealth Kate, install this for 1, replicator off of this, and then Trade this In for Lockpick? I dunno, still doesn’t really seem worth it.
“Lady” – The best of the Cerberus breakers, though that’s not really saying a whole lot. Gets through Eli cheaply and is relatively decent against Heimdall 1.0 and other big barriers like it, and Shaper can do the most with the limited uses… but they can go out-of-faction for better.
Utopia Shard – Seems more generally useful than Eden Shard but less than Hades Shard. Goes nicely with Hades Shard, of course, but… yeah.
Overall, seems to favor the corp a wee bit, but not in ways I find tremendously exciting personally. Looking forward to the next pack for IT Department, Incubator, and Code Siphon, all of which DO excite me something fierce.
was already sweet with Atlas