So when is this article going to be featured on the front page?
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Itā¦ kindof can? If you install a Chimera and start scoring out behind it, if the Runner canāt find an answer (All breakers, AI breaker, Parasite) then Chimera could easily be pointed to as winning you the game. (Obviously thereās other considerations like where did you get the money to rez Chimera and score out every turn, but the number one thing that made it so you could advance agendas and win was the Chimera sitting in front of your server.)
I suppose that if you compare it to Bio Ethics, Bio Ethics does eventually win you the game just by having it rezzed, so I think you still have a pretty good point.
After all, the fundamental problem with ICE that Iāve always seen is that all it does is help you Not Lose. It doesnāt help you win, except indirectly. (Or if they faceplant a Neural Katana with two cards in hand.) This is how Iceless Jinteki actually functions, and we can see now that IG can do it, too. I definitely agree that Mumba Temple isā¦ not good. The ārestrictionā is closer to a deckbuilding guideline than anything else. I donāt think its restriction was pushed hard enough. It does fight with itself, because if you donāt have ICE you canāt defend it, which is why only Asset Spam is using Temple still, despite most decks having barely more than 15 ICE anyway.
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We donāt need more ice, because ICE is now invalidated by Faust. Just like we didnāt need >4 strength code gates cause of Yog, now the same works for Faust.
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No, but now your serious answer please.
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I think the point is fair - printing tons of cheap, really high strength code gates did not do great things for the game, though it did remove Yog.0 from play eventually.
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A ā4-strength Grimā that canāt be broken by AI might ameliorate the Faust dominance slightly, although it might have to be resistant to sucker/parasite to really shift the meta away from Faust-supported ICE destruction. A condition like ācan only be broken by killerā would have a similar effect and allow it to have a strength in David range.
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Yes, of course we need more ice. There, thatās my serious answer. It is an LCG.
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What about adding ICE with subs with the clause: āthis sub-routine cannot be broken (optionally: by icebreakers)ā? That should fix the Faust/Yog/Mimic issues.
There is definitely space for a Wraparound equivalent that can only be broken (rather than has a strength reduction) if a killer/decoder is installed. Thatās all thatās needed and all of a sudden going all in on the AI suite is going to be stopped hard.
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That point, is fine, weāre all down with the idea that breaking for free was a bit good. Thank Damon for the MWL eh? 
āICE is now invalidated by Faustā however is a ludicrous statement. Iām suprised you didnāt pick on that Brenders.
I killed three runners at the Regional, and that record was in no small part down to Faust players ditching their hand to go face plant a Snare. Grail ICE with multi subs was a useful meta call despite the ubiquity of Parasite / Faust / D4v1d.
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I just try and read things charitably!
I see you too are a student of the Damon Stone guide to deck construction!
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Iād like to see a piece of ice thatās more vulnerable to de-rez than it is to destruction.
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Soā¦ Archer?
But ā¦ you know ā¦ better. Archer dies to slow Parasite in practice, anyways. Think something more like Architect but costs 8-9 to rez.
It could be as simple as something that said:
ā[This ICE] may not be trashed while installed. If [this ICE] is derezzed, remove it from the game.ā
That would do it!
If you play this one type of deck, then everything is okay kids!
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Honestly, this post deserves a medal or something. Its one of the best posts Iāve seen on these forumsā¦ ever.
That said, Iāve been saying for a while that the problem with ICE destruction is all this stuff, and Iāve thought for a while that if they remade Patch tomorrow, and added that the host ICE gets āHosted ICE cannot be trashed after being installedā then that would at least do something to add counterplay, instead of going āwell I just wonāt rez the iceā. If you do that, then why have it?
Because for everyone whining about asset spam decks, assets are a better defense than ICE for corps anymore. And evermore should write a whole series of articles (with the above post being the first one) about why that is.
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I think the other thing is that an over-emphasis on ICE destruction does make it very hard to price ICE.
If the environment is too heavy on ICE destruction, you will easily end up in a situation where ICE is either overpriced as a single-time effect/break cost before being destroyed, or undercosted as a permanent tax against non-destruction decks.
If you are talking about instant-Parasite, it becomes an even worse dilemma, since you also have to balance the cost of not breaking at all, just the ICE cost against the cost of the Parasite/strength reduction tools.
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The designers fixed this issue, I have confidence they will fix the ice destruction oneā¦ In a couple cycles 
The way these design things work itās not the best, but thatās a whole other issue. What will happen (and is happening) is that people will learn how to play around ice destruction with various means (right now, assets) and there will be a hard counter, eventually. There will also become more enticing options on the runner side of ways to deal with ice.
The tagging situation is similar, as they have been releasing tag punishment from the core set, and just recently non binary tag punishment has become a thing (See @tmoiynmwgās regionals deck). I have confidence in the designers, and also confidence that there will be cool new runner cards that are better and/or more fun than ice destruction
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Well, as we know from Damon, there are no Tier 1 decks, just Tier 1 players. So maybe Tier 1.5 people like you* wouldnāt have my success? 
Of course, my success isnāt the only strategy. Iāve seen a resurgence of Heimdall and other ICE in HB for example, as itās a bugger for Faust or takes a whole D4v1d (which is then upsetting for the runner when they find an Ichi 2.0 or Assassin, or even a single Turing on a remote). Ichi 1.0 is a frustrating resource-sync too, and there are more multi-sub bioroids coming.
Yellow has good answers in terms of Little Engine, Archangel, Wraparound etc. which tax the beejesus out of Faust and stacked really put the pressure on D4v1d too. If NEH temple builds can get ahead of the game on assets, rezzing Assassins and Tollbooths into the mix as well is a right pain. Itās probably still a decent match up for Whizzard, but Iāve seen a good proportion of games where NEH can outpace the asset trashing, especially with lots of early SanSan or other expensive stuff.
ICE probably do still need support, but a couple of CVS really help. Iām trialling Corporate Troubleshooter, as realistically you only need to land some key hits to make ICE worth the rez cost.
Weylandā¦ oh dear. Maybe Iām not as Tier 1 as I thought I was, because their ICE looks p!$$-poor from where Iām standing. Gosh, I really did want their constellation ICE to have more subs or something. Like Wormhole with 2-3 subs would be so much better, even given all the other limitations. The new spoiled code gate looks ace, but weāve got a long time to waitā¦ Barriers are so face-checkable.
So, there are still good options, but we could definitely use some more (cough Weyland cough) ICE. I donāt see how anyone could reasonably say itās an invalid part of the game still. 
* Obviously youāre Tier 2 or something, but Iām trying to be charitable. 
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