I’ve been taking builder in and out of the deck and this is still a toss up for me. Some games it’s awesome, but a lot of the time, especially against Ice Destruction, it feels very weak.
100%.
Probably better in a void, but for the influence? I can run 3xAsh and 3xSweeps, giving me another big economy burst to fuel Ash and rez other Ice.
I’m running Tyrant instead of either of them. Fire Wall is a maybe swap in for Tyrant though. It’s just nice to have something really hard to Fem in the deck.
I felt like I only had room for Satellite or Constellation, and I chose Constellation. Worst case it’s a trash tax, best case it’s saving precious advancement tokens for free.
There seem to be a surprising number of ways to build this decks. I’m interested on how they all play out. Executive Bootcamp has been a huge add for me, allowing me to rez Ice and then move advancements with Constellation after. It was key in a Valencia match-up and more useful than straight Bad Pub removal.
I legitimately forgot Tyrant existed. It seems like it’s still in that awkward position where you have to rez it first, since Builder says “Place 1 advancement token on a piece of ice protecting this server that can be advanced.” and Tyrant “can be advanced only while rezzed” (unlike when I had friend playing with it in Tennin, the faction that gets around that requirement).
Fire Wall + 3 Advancements is 8 Str, 1 subroutine - 5 credits. Asteroid Belt + 3 Advancements is 6 Str, 1 subroutine, - 0 credits. That’s 5 credits for 2 strength.
On the other hand,
Fire Wall + 1 Advancement is 6 Str, 1 subroutine, - 5 credits. Asteroid Belt + 1 Advancement is 6 strength, 1 subroutine, - 6 credits. Which is + 1 credit for no change in strength.
I like Fire Wall more than Asteroid Belt, but I feel like Asteroid Belt has its merits, especially in BWBI where you advance for free.
If you find yourself in a situation where you feel asteroid and firewall are either/or, firewall is a clear choice. these decks want ICE where you can dump advancements and have them continue to get better - firewall means you have “uncapped” advanceable ICE that’s actually relevant at low advancement (unlike ice wall, usually). Asteroid basically amounts to 3 copies of a much easier to break and less flexible wormhole: still a pretty good ice, but if it’s competing with genuinely great ice…
What does bwbi give you that the root out of any wetland doesnt?.
Sure ffg succeeded in bringing bwbi more up to par but still not tier 1 I think.
And much less unique/fun than titan Argus blue sun.
In experimenting with the big ice I thought the meta would move toward the click for cheap, and away from oai. But for me anyway oai is still relevant and awesome.
Breach. Quetzal. Grapple. Eater and the cutlery suite.
The problem is that you invest significant clicks into a piece of ice, so the downside becomes that use lose more when it’s trashed. whereas in other decks you spend clicks on cash which you can choose to spend dynamically, whatever makes sense at that moment.
An untrashable ability. Comparing Identities to Cards, especially Assets, doesn’t really seem like sound reasoning to me. It’s like asking “What does EtF give you that a Pad Campaign doesn’t?”
Opinions are opinions. I don’t find any of those IDs too much fun.
There’s a break even point when you would be advancing cards anyway. It also lets you play at very low money with the Constellation Ice. I don’t think anyone is arguing it’s Tier 1 (yet), but viable? Definitely.
How’s that different than what I said (eexcept the fun bit). Viable but not tier 1. It will see a lot of casual play for awhile due to the new mechanic and people trying to find a way to exploit. But at the moment. … is not there.
I generally prefer Fire Wall as well, but I think mostly because Asteroid Belt is kind of in the middle of Ice Wall (early ice) and Fire Wall (late ice). And I’d rather have an Ice that’s better in particular situations than decent in either, especially since Ice/Fire Wall are so good at what they do.
But I could see meta-specific reasons for swapping either out for Asteroid Belt. Ice Wall being weak against Parasite heavy decks. Maybe Fire Wall never needing to be advanced. Etc. etc.
That really depends on how strong the New Anarch turns out to be. BWBI has zero rez costs, Crisium Grid in-faction and insanely taxing late game. Those are all things of value right now.
BWBI gets one free recurring credit per turn. So it can use those credits, every turn in the game essentially at the cost— of using 1 click per turn on ice.
Its very much like HB getting one credit per install (per turn) except that it has the advantage and disadvantage of being able to consume multiple (free) clicks on the same piece of ice. The “disadvantage” being that you have to include the suite of icewall, firewall, shadow, swarm, changeling, wendigo, hadriam, orion, nebula, wormhole etc - with the astronomy ice the big draw.
But no matter how you slice it - you’re still putting 4 clicks into an asteroid belt, something that david takes down in (5/3) + 2, call it 4 credits and a click. Sure, over time your ability to erect ice will exceed their take down ability.
But it looks like very long glaciery type games. The nicest thing, I guess, is that it makes you less susceptible to account siphon spam…
From my very brief experience with the deck, it’s actually not that slow because unlike glacier decks which play with big ice and you need to find your econ cards to play them (which leaves plenty room for disruption), there’s nothing to stop the buildup of constellation ice.
It’s essentially one click and occasionally one credit for three credits worth of ice available to you most of the time that doesn’t rely on drawing the right cards. Once you find the ice, you’re already good to go.
Totally do. Problem is, it makes you hella weaker to random early accesses, weakens your taxing server and makes the lategame math more favorable to the runner, too.
Is there not an automatic, only Rez if it’s a blowout clause. Kind of like Shinobi. Swarm is really cool. I really want there to be a place for it in the world.
I was unaware of this ruling. By reading the cards I assumed cards like Builder and Shipment from Kaguya simply meant you have to place your advancement counters on cards that can be advanced, but can still get around the Woodcutter/Tyrant problem. If you can’t Builder Woodcutter, that’s a damn shame. I never expect Woodcutter out of BWBI but the possibility is always lurking in the back of my mind.
A downside to BWBI is that Runners can safely face-check basically everything as long as they don’t play a program. This means you can get some cheap accesses early before they can afford to rez Space ICE. Worst you are going to hit is Builder, and it’s well-worth the risk, IMO.
Just played a game versus Blue Sun Space ICE with Housekeeping, it was interesting. I made the most out of Lady by never letting him rez other ICE besides Builder and Orion on RND, meaning I could say whatever to Builder and break Orion for 5 credits and a single token. Not bad.
I tried it out on release of the box and came to the realization that gaining 1 credit a turn at the cost of 1 click is not actually a good corp ID ability, and you’re probably better off with the other IDs