I’m still not sure how to feel about Slee. I think she might be best in Gagarin due to natural synergy with the ice it wants to run, coupled with being slightly harder to trash. You can reinstall her with Team Sponsorship triggers. It’s her opportunity cost more than anything that I’m struggling with. She’s not bad, but she’s not good enough. Maybe we will get more power counter manipulation stuff in upcoming packs.
2 Likes
The final gain 2 sub routine will not fire on a facecheck, as the previous sub will have ended the run. Why it had to be designed this way…I have no idea.
3 Likes
You are right. So max min rez is 6.
If the subs were “runner trashes a program,” “end the run + gain 2,” and “end the run,” if you were not planning to continue you could just break the first 2 and let the 3rd fire, and the corp would gain no credits.
This way, the runner has to break both ETR’s or the corp gains credits. I could see that being relevant when you smack into this and go broke dealing with it (and won’t want to hit anything else).
1 Like
Profiteering + Ireress + Sandburg + Slee is the new meta. I hereby dub this the PISS combo.
Interesting notes;
Only one click to use the ability. If you’re a comboriffic madman you can fire it twice in one turn.
It also makes bypassing high-sub ice much scarier, unless they manage to trash it that turn.
I think Slee could be a neat one-of in the right deck, but mostly useless elsewhere.
I know there’s a hilarious Geist jank deck that will use Frantic Coding. Somewhere out there.
Personally I feel like En Passant is just busted good with DDOS.
My personal favorite; Top Hat + Indexing could be pretty funny. Bury an agenda and snag it at your leisure.
6 Likes
Very dissapointed that Fumiko doesn’t combo with psychic field, makes her seem a bit overcosted. Bulwark looks good, what do people make of Data Ward?
Pretty sure if she combo’d with Psychic Field she’d be super broken. As-is she’s nice remote bait for Nisei Division, which has recently gotten a lot of cool toys.
I think that sums up most of this pack for me. There are a few cards that could have been really, really cool.
And while there are a few highlights (SMOKE) and surprises, the Criminal stuff is so underwhelming. Anarch and Shaper get good/playable cards while HB gets a cool ID, NBN gets playable cards and Weyland gets… weird cards.
But I guess not every pack can be Blood Money.
4 Likes
Two good ID’s and some interesting events is more than most packs have.
6 Likes
Gauntlet seems unplayable in Criminal.
I do think it’s potentially strong in Shaper and Anarch. The 5 install makes sense considering it’s basically HQI with 2MU. Theoretically makes sense to me for Stealth and Anarchs with viruses.
2 Likes
this is my feeling as well.
i think the only way it fits with Khan is it’s a few cards in one (console + any HQ multi access) that help you trim her deck down to 40 cards, but other than that, it doesn’t really fit her any more than any other ID. for one influence and two extra credits, Smoke could easily use this in lieu of Mirror and get even more benefit since it’s saving a bit of influence on any HQI/Legwork, etc., and with Net Mercur, Mirror doesn’t seem so necessary
1 Like
Honestly I don’t know why anyone would play Khan.
4 Likes
i think it’s an interesting ID (as the only really positive thing i can find to say about it).
i think it fits for casual stuff, but anything where you actually want to win? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Kind of like Builder of Nations.
I really wanted that ID to be good.
But Builder is probably better than Khan… if I am to make unfair comparisons.
2 Likes
i wonder when we’ll finally ride out the ‘weyland and criminal are SO HOT RIGHT NOW’ design cycle where they just get underpowered, overcosted cards and ‘interesting’ effects
i mean Temujin is amazing, but that’s about all crim has gotten this cycle, and it’s not really helping criminal as much as everyone else
3 Likes
The code gate bird and the barrier bird might save some influence in sucker builds, but yeah in general not so hot right now.
Which is too bad because in a world without Desperado, The Gauntlet would actually look kind of enticing. Its just still below the curve compared to the titan.
Desperado is still played because Criminals need more money than the other factions. This design space doesn’t seem to be changing. These new breakers are inefficient and to use them requires an inordinate amount of cash. Anarchs are getting more ICE destruction tools (Run Amok, Immo Script, En Passant being 3 recent examples) while Shaper is getting more robust Stealth options. Criminal still pays the most to access servers and that’s why they’re still playing Desperado. Just a few opinions of mine
3 Likes
Sometimes people play Run Amok ‘blindly’ and I just let them access rather than trash my ice, but now they can use en passant to make sure the ice is trashed either way.
1 Like
En Passant plus DDoS seems especially brutal. Presumably the interaction is similar to False Echo, just over multiple clicks.
I’m actually pretty happy with most of the stuff, I just think the Jinteki asset is overcosted, and Drone Screen seems low value as it triggers at the start of the run.
Top Hat actually looks pretty good, so do both Anarch cards (especially coding).
Gauntlet is playable, Saker is pretty much where a criminal barrier breaker is expected to be.
Government investigations seems a bit niche, but I’m definitely excited for both Weyland cards, even if they aren’t what’s gonna make green top tier again.
Is there anything that could be done (maybe out of C.I.) with Hasty Relocation and Accelerated Diagnostics?
Data Ward looks crazy if you can put a Data Raven in front of it.