Lunar Cycle Spoilers (Up to Architect)

I feel that this is the start of something beautiful. I suspect Inject has legs.

3 Prepaid VoicePad

3 Inject

3 Deja Vu

3 Clone Chip

Edit for clarity: With Clone chip this gives you crazy reach to draw the breaker you need. You can Inject to dig for your Corroder. Corroder hits the archives (earning $), and then you plop it into play during your run with Clone Chip.

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Inazuma is an already existing code gate that wrecks you, even though it has a few more limitations than Merlin because it is combo ICE. Its potential nastiness is similar to Merlin’s, and it’s not even AP.

However, you’re right that Merlin makes facechecking much scarier, because it ups the stakes of what a single non-sentry ICE can do to you.

i suspect its quite good…my fear is its legs wander it over into shaper decks who get far better use out of it than anarch.

kate is already good at getting the pre-paid snowball rolling and inject on top could be insane. exile might also like inject quite a bit.

i would not have been sad if inject was 3 inf.

The card you want is called Cyberfeeder.

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I already have three of those. If I was inclined to run 'Rara, which I don’t at present, I’d probably rather snag a Cybsoft or two and save on influence while doing so. Less effective, but doesn’t eat up precious MUs. Should’ve phrased it better to make that clear – would run this in addition to Cyberfeeder instead of 'Rara in addition to Cyberfeeder.

Intersting. I continue to be impressed as to how the designers continue to ekk out cards that have genuninely new takes on the mechanics availible to them.

The Grail ICE will definately liven up early runs. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. But their variance level is pretty high unless you are running them out of CI and to get the maximum out them to have to hold ICE in hand rather than playing it. That’s a pretty singificant cost. On their own Merlin is unimpressive, Lancelot is decent if you don’t like Bad Pub and want to avoid Grim and I can see Excalibur being insane out of Replicating Perfection. On a related subject I’m underwhelemd by NEXT Silver (despite being an avid NEXT Design player) - between multi-subroutine breaking fracters and parasite I think this will struggle to hold down a place. And Ashigaru and Misway Station Grid will, I think, confirm the dominance of Morning Star over Corroder.

The Cereberus Suite is interesting. I think that Anarch got the sweet end of this deal - a powerful insurance tool for Komainu or Rototurret in the early game although probably too pricely to be decent Archer insurance. The Shaper barrier-breaker is also pretty good - especially since they can recur it to get the counters back.

Whilst Anarch got the better of the Cerberus suite I think they got the rough end of the stealth cards, with Switchblade getting you through any sentry in the game for 2 stealth credits and Refractor getting you through most of the powerful code gates for a single stealth and single normal. Meanwhile BlacKat is costing you 2 stealth or 4 normal to get through Eli and 3 stealth to get you through Heimdel 1.0.

Of the Agendas, Utopia Fragment is insanely strong and I’m sure it will replace Project Wotan in HB Glacier like a shot. NBN Taxing and Tenin Institute will likely love it as well. The others are decent and will replace a good many average 5/3s in decks that need more than 3 (e.g. Harmony Medtech 6x Agenda builds). Power Shutdown combo will enjoy Hades whilst Gracier might consider Eden. The “type” 3/1 agendas are potentially very powerful in multiples but will Corps want to have to install multiple 3/1s to get the most out of their abilities?

Into currents, where “we hate account siphon” seems to be the order of the day. Targetted Marketing is nice early game insurance but actually I don’t think it will see that much play in practice . It’s too easy for the runner to hold their named card back, drop their own current and then go to town. I think Bad Times will have more of an impact - since it will make going tag-me a much more risky prospect. Net Celebrity is really intersting and might find a place in Anarch where a recurring credit-based economy is looking more and more of a possiblity. And speaking of Anarch, Inject definately has enormous potential in both Anarch but also (and possibly more so) Shaper. I’m undecided on Unscheduled Maintenance, I don’t think the effect is quite enough but it messes hilariously with Beta Tests.

Finally, Shattered Remains will rise and fall with all the over ‘advancement’ traps. I’m sure Scorched Decks will love it if they can prep it right, but except through Mushin no Shin I think that will be very difficult for them. Hostile Infrastructure does horrible things to Keyhole-type decks and Noise which is good insurance for Jinteki whilst Turtlebacks has a very interesting effect without, I think, being quite good enough to actually warrent a place at the moment.

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I hear that he already have thought out a solution to this.

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Seriously, it won’t. Seriously.

I you want me to elaborate: Diagnostics combo decks win by scoring a 3-pointer. A Diagnostics deck that scores a 3-pointer before the combo goes off is… a VERY weird deck. or Weyland, maybe? A Diagnostics deck that comboes off for Hades and counts on it to keep it afloat must protect the hell out of archives. That’s, like, super unreliable.

That said, considering that I only score a 3-pointer for the win and I really don’t care which 3-pointer it is, I might just as well put it into the deck, just for the fun of it actually working in that one of a hundred games.

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Actually, you’re right. Serves me right for talking about a a deck I’ve never actually played with.

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Keyhole - yes, Noise - no. Different wordings.

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You can probably add a Retrieval Run or two in there with some interesting 1-of programs like Femme Fatale and Morning Star for good effect (in Anarch).

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I think people are suffering from tunnel vision when looking at Targeted Marketing. Yes, sure, it counters Account Siphon a bit. However, it goes way beyond that. Faerie, Mimic, Corroder, Desperado, Sure Gamble, Self-Modifying Code. This card is evil. By far the best corp current we’ve seen up to now.

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Yeah, you could set up a remote with something like wraparound, tollbooth, agenda and then targeted marketing on corroder. They install it, you get a free tollbooth, they don’t, you score an agenda. I think since the currents get trashed when an agenda is stolen, the best ones will be those that help you protect and score agendas.

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It’s a big middle finger to the runner. Funny examples include:

  • Desperado
  • Magnum Opus
  • Corroder when you have an unrezzed quandry protecting your remote
  • Inside Job when you have a guard protecting your 1 ice remote
  • Plascrete Carapace
  • Emergency Shutdown
  • etc.
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Extra giggles. Or evil laughs. Your choice.

Excalibur in RP seems especially nasty since it requires an AI breaker to break, or something like Femme.

Hostile Infrastructure turned Edge of World (and every other 0 trash trap) into (potentially, unless they want to leave it to be played) a R&D/HQ Shock. And makes Snare even scarier with an additional damage unless they dare (or must) leave it in HQ or R&D.

That’s going to be silly fun.

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I disagree about NEXT Silver. It’s not as stunning as NEXT Bronze, certainly, but it’s a slightly weaker Wall of Static if you’ve got just it out, and costs as much for Corroder to break if there’s two NEXT out. More importantly, while multi-breakers are a thing, it’s got the potential to screw a runner over that isn’t playing one, and I don’t think everyone will. Even right now, Morning Star is more efficient than Corroder in almost every instance, but people don’t run it because of the influence and install cost.

I did some testing last night against a CT with Morning Star and Femme, and NEXT Silver held up pretty well. More importantly, it made NEXT Bronze more taxing, too.

It might suffer some, sure, for the reasons you say, but I think it helps NEXT do what it’s meant to do – be an impossibly fast rush deck. I’ve got a 28 Ice deck with 5 Ice that cost more than 3, and almost all of that Ice is ETR. First turn I am all but guaranteed to have three Ice out, be able to rez two of them, and score an Agenda out on turn 2 in relative safety. It’s everything I wanted the deck to be previously, but with enough cheap ETR to make it really work.

Haven’t run into parasite recursion yet, and I’ll no doubt be less charitable toward it when I do, but I still say that it helps the rush elements of the deck heavily.

TL;DR: I think your criticisms are valid, but I think that it’ll still do its part in making NEXT a more viable deck until we get NEXT Gold in 7-8 months.

No way, Enhanced Security Protocols is way better. Remember that Runners are actually getting viable alternate breakers at this stage, so saying “Corroder” is very risky-- what if they’re playing Inti, BlacKat, Cerebrus “Lady” H1, or Morning Star (more viable than ever with Ashigaru and Hive in the environment)?

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It might do nicely in Selective Mind Mapping, though. Hit them with a net damage (either on their turn as they run, or yours with a Neural) to take a look at their hand and deny them whatever they look like they most need.