I think Fairchild 2.0 would be better than Viktor 1.0 but I’m not sure its an auto include. It looses its face check value if you rez it via the ID and is still in Yog range. Theres a lot of good competition for code gate slots in HB but I think you need to be carefull not to turn your ice package into a Yog/Gordian wonderland.
I think Ravana is the probably closer to auto-include in this ID. Its cheaper to rez when the runner hits it first, can do brain damage, trash programs, give tags and end the run. All without gaining subtypes which might leave it weak to Sharpshooter, Deus Ex and Gingerbread. Endless Hunger can stay hungry too.
Also its early game weakness is almost mitigated in this ID. The runner can walk through once but at the cost of letting you rez something else.
I don’t think that even in here Markus can be better than Eli. Eli is still more taxing and cheaper to rez than Markus and I find that runners don’t always mind trashing something when it matters and they get to choose what gets trashed. I’d happily loose 1 credit of value from the ID for an ice that will more effectively tax the runner for the rest of the game. The best thing about Eli is its rez/break ratio. If you rez it for free it just got even better?
You rez it using the ID power: In this case, they both cost 0c. Eli has one extra strength, which makes it more expensive to break, and you can’t get through it with only 1 click the way you can with Markus. So here Eli is better.
You rez it as the runner facechecks it: First, Eli costs 1 less. For the one extra credit, you get a toothier first subroutine so that they have to either break both subs, letting you use your ID power, break only the first one, wasting a bunch of money/a click, or trash one of their cards.
Overall I think you’re right - Eli is much better when it’s rezzed for free, and it’s debatable whether Eli or Markus is better when the runner facechecks it, because the runner will have a lot of options on how to deal with it.
This means it just comes down to whether you want to use influence to “level up” your Markus into an Eli, which may change from deck to deck.
Inf is the key here, markus just costs less, and you may as well get full value out of the ID. It might be nicer for the runner to only have to pay 1 click to get past Markus early, but it's just as taxing for Paperclip (no it’s not, I’m dumb) and either way it makes running that server less palatable. I think if you are playing fast enough you should be able to get another piece of ice in there to support Markus. I just don’t like paying influence for Eli. I believe this ID wants to play so fast, you could play with an open hand and you’d still win, so the ice information doesn’t matter as much.
Apparently, I don’t know how Paperclip works. Excuse me while I edit my post
Also, @xerxes Eli is almost as porous for when it really matters, and gets knifed just as easily. There’s something to be said about being able to get to a point where the 1 sub doesn’t matter to either the Corp or the runner. If the Corp wins sooner because the runner didn’t feel like making 2 click runs to access cards, all the better. I am not stupid, Eli does a lot of work, but this ID Markus MIGHT be better.
I really can’t judge whether using influence to upgrade Markus to Eli will be a good move, maybe it’s not in an ID with lower than 15 influence.
Still, Eli is close to strictly better when rezzed for free, because it’s slightly less porous and slightly more expensive to break.
It’s also arguably better when rezzed manually, because it costs one less than Markus, for only a slight decrease in utility that can be played around lots of ways.
Sure, there’s a lot of cases where it doesn’t matter which of them you have, but in the cases where it does matter, Eli comes out ahead. So if you’re playing not using the MWL, you should have 3 Eli 1.0’s before any Markus’s.
(also one extra click to break sans breaker does actually make a difference about whether the runner can afford to get in your server when they know you have an agenda)
Markus is bad for remotes, but good for centrals. The strategy should be to place it on a central, but I suppose that’s not always possible. If you’re just trying to get the most credits out of the ID and you only ever prerez things on centrals, I still think Markus has an advantage, even if it’s just making the runner make inneffective runs. This is not about whether Eli is better than Markus in general, cause it is, it’s whether you can get away, and even thrive with not having Eli in this ID, especially with the 12 influence. Depends on what other cards are going to support Bioroids. Come on FFG, let us break Stronger Together for like, a day. An hour. 1 tournament before rotation?
I agree, trying to get the most out of any ID by using cards that aren’t as good is the definition of a trap. However, I think enough cards have come out that what was good before might not necessarily be as good now, and vice versa. A lot of people are looking to Corporate Troubleshooter, who’s to say what might be awesome in the right meta, with the right configuration. Maybe I just dislike Eli, feel free to ignore me.
So far I’ve just been trying to get a feel for it with a pretty standard ICE-heavy HB build with mostly bioroids. I agree that it saves a lot of money but feels porous, and rumor mill really makes it harder to use Ash to leverage taxing-but-porous servers. It is nice to be able to put something like a victor or markus on archives to shut off temujin (or keep getting free rezzes if they insist on running it).
I think it is a good ID for a mid-range/glacier-y build, but I’m not sure that’s in a great place with rumor mill and stealth seeing a lot of play. I’ll keep at it, though, it’s definitely one of the more fun corps I’ve tried out recently. Maybe putting in some sleepers or currents to turn off RM would be sufficient for the anarch match-up.
I tried that and you’re usually too poor to FA with just Biotic consistently, and you need to score 4 3/2s for the win. At least in my experience. Maybe slot Domestic Sleepers for the final point.
Well, I was thinking of modding something like this: J.A.R.V.I.S. 2.0 · NetrunnerDB
With jeeves, you are not as reliant on biotics, even though they are nice. Will it be good? No idea, but I would like to try it at least before I write it off.
Here’s what I’m trying at the moment. Credit to Xanshi for adapting Robocop to the ID. It looks like unpublished lists default to “casual” deck rules-- the other 3 influence are for 3x Eli 1.0.
The key insight I got from Xanshi’s list was to leverage AAL and Lateral Growth to defray ICE installation costs and build servers without losing too much tempo. Bouncing from 1-3 credits up to 6-10 credits quickly is important so you can continue to threaten the Heimdall rezzes-- Peak Efficiency helps you do this in the early/mid game and then becomes a big money-maker in the late game to help close things out.
It’s a lot of fun. Surat City Grid has been less important than Brain-Taping Warehouse, but they both work nicely with the ID and don’t feel too combo-ey. Would love to get in an Interns or two to help restore Ash/brain-taping or to avoid ICE installation costs, still experimenting with what works.
Why sleepers? You aren’t packing team sponsorship.
Not running at least x2 Ash seems risky, even in the meta we are in right now.
Also, why no Sherlock 2.0? I think you have plenty of cheap bioroids to rez and get your triggers, but maybe I am missing something about your spread. x2 Ichi seems low to me.
