If you run any 2 MU programs, Leprechaun definitely pulls its weight - even with just one of those, it becomes a tutorable Akamatsu memchip. Once you install a second thing onto it, it’s suddenly a Monolith’s worth of memory at 2 credits. Opus is the most common 2-MU, but there’s also Keyhole, Sneakdoor, and even the various large breakers (Ram, Star, Wire).
Golden Batty is potentially a problem, then again SacCon is in-faction and seems to actually be a useful card these days.
People keep talking about Golden Batty, but the thing with Leprechaun is that just plain ol’ destroyer Batty is a problem. Also Sherlock!
[quote=“Span_Argoman, post:80, topic:4418, full:true”]Also, when people are talking about using the extra clicks on Magnum Opus the click to draw is most definitely relevant
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It’s Shaper - can you really factor in that 1 draw = 1 click? And that’s without considering that you’ll have to draw anyway to get the other cards in your deck.
And I still think you’re off, compare it to Sure Gamble: Given that you have Leprechaun and Opus in play, Hyperdriver is a click and a card for +5 credits, better than SG. And this is baseline efficiency, what you do if you don’t need it for the numerous situational but powerful uses for an extra 3 clicks. That’s what makes HD an interesting card: You have to build for it, but if you do, you have an extremely efficient and flexible card. That’s very good.
[quote=“Span_Argoman, post:80, topic:4418”]
This is a fair point, but I believe the current competitive Shaper decks don’t use Leprechaun. [/quote]
I guess I don’t really disagree with you there, but by that logic we would never even discuss any cards that aren’t a strict upgrade to a card currently being played in ppvp Kate (this card looks good, but it’s 3 influence criminal and ppvp Kate can’t use it and she’s the best deck so it’s garbage). As PK points out, in many decks lep can easily be slotted in for whatever other memory you’re running
1 draw = 1 click is not really what he’s saying, if I understand correctly.
The point is this: if you have an opus you, you can click for 2 creds. Thus, your draws for e.g. Sure Gambles (with a net of four credits) really must be seen as having an efficiency penalty toward your credit production. It is often not a 1 click penalty as we draw more efficiently most of the time (i.e. Diesel, QT), but it still is a penalty. Drawing a SG, then playing it does cost you whatever it cost to draw the card, and the click to play it. This is not twice as efficient as using an Opus as the naive math for SG would suggest.
Yes, we draw anyway (though Opus decks with plenty of tutors can draw much less), but drawing the SG is foregoing drawing another, useful card as you already have the credit production facilities.
I find it to be a useful exercise to mentally remove all draw and credit producing cards from set of cards that work toward your win condition when drawing. Of course, they are essential to win, econ + cards = netrunner. However, drawing the breaker I need vs. drawing a Diesel or SG is a big difference. They are dead draws WRT working toward your win-condition. I’ve defined the draws that don’t consist of more draw or econ (and also the traditional dead-draws) as quality draws. It is important to understand when you draw a card, what the probability of getting a quality draw is. Sometimes you want econ, or more draw power, but they are all means to an end.
Summary. You do actually need to consider the costs of drawing. More-so, you want to consider the costs of quality drawing. No, it is not 1 click = 1 draw. But comparing Opus to SG, if you don’t consider the cost of the draw for SG, then SG is twice the credit power of Opus, and you’re not considering the potential for drawing something actually useful instead of the SG.
Man, sorry for the brain dump.
Don’t apologize!
Given the state of the internet these days - “articles” that are actually nothing but a shitty list, and videos that only last a few seconds because people can’t be bothered to follow a single line of thought for more than 30 seconds - larger posts like this are very refreshing, and help stimulate actual discussion. I personally refuse to ever TL;DR anything for this very reason.
Your concept of a quality draw is actually really important. In watching some high-skill players play, I’ve seen them going through the cards left in their deck to see what’s useful. “Let’s see, what’s left? Nine cards…a Sure Gamble, 2 Katis, Corroder, Faust, Adjusted Chronotype, a Daily Casts, Wyldside, and Clone Chip. Only the Corroder is really helpful here, so I have a 1/9 chance of drawing it, then installing and going for that agenda clicks 3 and 4…” By thinking things out at the end of games like this, you can calculate your odds properly in order to make the play that gives you the best chance of winning.
Nice post. Thanks for sharing. 
If you really want the gory details, see the QuantANR articles on stimhack from December. I haven’t had time to update them with other econ engines, but they are the next level of detail. Thanks!
I stuck 2x Hyperdriver into my Turbodrip Kaplan deck, where they often get used drawing (as expensive Diesels #4-#5, but I am at least getting a corp-turn Kaplan trigger installing them) or going wild on an Armitage Codebusting.