I agree that Protocols is really, really good, and I was rather exaggerating when I said “best by far”. I think they’re both in the same league. Protocols is definitely more reliable.
Calling out a breaker might indeed become much more risky by the time the card comes out. However, most runner decks will have one or more lynchpin cards that you know about beforehand (looking at you SMC), and even if you don’t know, Sure Gamble is always a sure gamble.
I don’t think it’s bad by any stretch. However, I’m looking at the ICE in my current NEXT build which divides into a) very cheap ETRs for the rush remote (Ice Walls, Quanderies, Wraparounds), b) three cost taxing ETRs for centrals (Caduceus, Viper, Eli) and c) trick ICE to keep the corp on their toes (Guard, Rototurret, Ichi 1.0) and I’m don’t see where it goes. It’s expensive enough that it should really go in the second category but it doesn’t become more taxing than a Wall of Static until you have at least two other NEXT ICE out. It’s certainly not in Caduceus or Eli territory. True it eventually pushes Bronze beyond Yog range but that is a mid-game benefit and by that time they’ll be swimming in datasucker tokens.
I’ll tell you what will be amazing for NEXT Rush though and that is Enhanced Login Protocols. Constricting the runner’s first couple of turns by a full click (more if they hit Enigma or Viper) is a massive boost to a rush deck.
More Spoilers!
Paywall Implementation is literally a Corp Desperado. Without a current of their own, Criminals will be hard pressed to keep a corp with this in play poor. After all, what better way to capitalize on the corp being poor than running? It’s like a Popup for every server.
D4V1D makes me suspect that there will be card(s) dealing with adding, removing, or spending power counters from other cards. There’s just so many new things coming out which use them. Perhaps it’ll even become it’s own archetype.
Paywall implementation is the first card I’ve seen since core that makes me want to play weyland.
The other two seem pretty solid as well, although david and scrubbed might conflict
I hope they do. It presently can’t break through all of Archer, which is one of the things I’d most want it for. Possibly the new Anarch ID will have some relationship to power counters, who knows? Either way, D4v1d seems handy for a deck running Morning Star, say. It also fills in the “too strong to Datasucker” range as an extra bit of protection, and is hostable on Djinn.
Paper Tripping is nice to see, if only because I play with a number of people that run Midseason, and being able to dump all the tags one had immediately seems ever so essential – especially with Bad Times being a thing. Way more scared of it than of Scorched, right now.
EDIT: Actually, it occurs to me that D4V1D’ll also be useful for dealing with Lag Time. Your Ice is stronger? Well, now I can bypass it all the more easily!
Also, I, uh… forgot about Cu.J0 for Archer handling. Not quite as nice, as it’s expensive to be using, but it’s an option.
Stealth decks are already viable. At least one of them won a Chronos Protocol Tour event.
It used Dagger and Paintbrush - so it’s safe from the unrezzed destroyers and can later paint the non-sentries.
NBN
Targeted Marketing - Wow. That’s, um, good. Early Siphon, and late breakers or economy sounds really good.
Midway Station Grid - WOW. So, FF love NBN don’t they. I get that they are trying to make the weird break 2 subroutine for 2 breakers viable, but did NBN need this?
Hass-Bioroid
NEXT Silver - It’s okay. If I was running NEXT Bronze, I might run it, but I’m not 100% sure if I’d run NEXT Bronze. I think the eventual sentry will make it solid though.
Jinteki
Encrypted Portals - Interesting, but I’d pass.
Ashigaru - Solid in Jinteki. Maybe worth splashing in Cerebral Imaging, but honestly I think they can do better with the influence.
Turtlebacks - Unless there are like one-time use assets, I don’t see this becoming viable.
Hostile Infrastructure - Awesome. The best time to get those Assets from RP is in hand or R&D, this, well. Makes that even worse.
Weyland
Superior Cyberwalls - I actually like this a lot, though I’m a Weyland player, so bias and all. But I think it’s great in all Weyland variants, though it’s biggest drawback being that you probably don’t want this and Hostile Takeover. But the economy boost and the tax boost make up for it, if you can score it, imo.
Paywall Implementation - Nice. The main drawback is that economy is so good right now that I’m not sure what the cuts for it should be, but definitely fighting for spots.
Neutral Corporation
Shattered Remains - Good, but only within the trap archetype and I don’t think it makes that archetype that much stronger.
Merlin - One ice kill, possibly. I think most Corps can afford the influence if they want to. A very possibly great card.
“Shards” - Utopia seems to be the best imo, but Hades is pretty solid as well. Eden seems kinda meh.
Grail - Hello, Replicating Perfection. >_<
Bad Times - Indeed. Ouch. I don’t think it’s that bad though, since you can keep two 1mu breakers for barriers and sentries, which is usually the bulk of the work. Painful for support programs though.
Anarchs
Black Kat - I think it’s a solid Corroder alternative, probably more for Shapers than Anarchs though due to Cloak, but the stealth fracter credit generator Anarchs have is solid.
Cerebus, Cujo - Nice. I could see this get play in Anarchs. It basically breaks 8 subroutines for “free” which I think is plenty of value against Jinteki, not great against high strength low subroutine ice like Susan and Grim though. Not sure if it’s better than just Parasiting the ice though.
Inject - Love this card. Anarchs in faction have Retrival Run (which admittedly is kind of meh) and Pawn for Caissa and Deja Vu for Viruses. Yes, you need some recursion, but I think recursion is good enough that it’s a deck element that is good in its own right without any specific application.
David - Hmm… Interesting. I’ll have to mull on this, but it’s difficult to assess because “Good Anarch deck” is more a concept than a reality.
Criminals
Switchblade - Ehhhh. Getting 2 stealth credits is pricey. It’s good for what it does though, but I’m not sure if Criminals is the right faction for a dedicated stealth deck. Could splash into Shapers, but they have Dagger already.
Zona Sul Shipping - Ehhh. Pass.
Unscheduled Maintenance - Meh. Maybe if you really want an infaction Current (not sure I’ve seen another one for Criminals).
Paper Tripping - Interesting, but I think decks that have a lot of tags will probably not care, and those with a few will just click and 2 credits for them.
Shapers
Net Celebrity - Nice. I think this is really solid. Plays well with VoicePAD, and in general I think that currents are stronger for runners, since you’ll at least get one use out of it. Though, Targeted Marketing is probably a thing, so it is worse for that fact.
Collective Consciousness - I think this is great. I think its better than Compromised Employee because a card is usually better than a credit, especially for VoicePAD decks or event econ decks.
Cereberus,Lady - Awesome, though many barriers have an odd number of subroutines (one) so some value lost, but with the recursion suite they have, I would say this might be their fracter of choice.
Cybsoft Macrodrive - Not sure if there is room anymore for a card like this.
Refractor - Solid, solid, solid. I think Chaos probably likes the Stealth stuff the best, since she can have 2 Cloaks and 3 (1mu) breakers out and the smaller deck size would increase consistency.
Neutral Runner
Ghost Runner - Unless there is a search for this, I think this won’t see much play. Stealth chips at least work on non-stealth breakers.
Interesting set of spoilers. Overall, I think the Corps are way ahead in terms of cards spoiled. Runners got cards that develop them laterally in my opinion, with Shapers coming out the best in terms of cards spoiled.
Paywall really isn’t that good.
Its a Current, so until another is played (may not be likely) or an Agenda is /stolen/,
Early game while your trying to check ice, maybe it will net you 5 or 6 creds. Otherwise, they’re probably going to get an Agenda off RD to trash it, or mid to late game they just /wont run/ until they can steal an agenda.
Maybe super Aggro Criminal will hurt them, who make runs more often without scoring anything, just to power up Desperado and Datasucker, but then your keeping parity with them, and you can run 3 times to make sure they have enough credits in order /to/ Account Siphon them.
I think its nifty, against the right runner deck it might be a good enough deterrent to slow down a lot of running, but it isn’t an Economy card. Its a deterrent.
It will see play, in core weyland it clears currents for the net gain of a credit for a card. Scrubbed and the shaper one will probably be a big deal, so clearing those with a card that still gives you marginal value is fine.
Or in Weyland you just score Hostile Takeover from hand after they play a current and clear it anyways. I don’t think running it as a clear for other players currants will be worth it, not when most weylands already run Hostile Takeover.
Also, no Runner current looks particularly dangerous…
I’m not going to hold a hostile for a current, I can hold this (or just throw it out there because it’s literally free money)
scrubbed and the shaper one are both recurring credits that pay their cost after one use, I think they’ll both see play, I also expect more than these 3 to be printed.
They’re both usable and decent, sure, but in comparison to the Corp ones we’ve seen? The biggest advantage of Runner currents is that they kill corp ones – that’s not to say that those two don’t look useful (though I’m not a fan of Scrubbed just yet, I imagine my opinion on that will change, too – it certainly works well with fixed-strength breakers). But making non-event runs take an extra click, or all but preventing a given card’s play, or blanking the runner text box, or making all Ice cost one more, minimum, to break? Those all strike me as being much more valuable in their own right.
Im certainly not saying that Weyland current is bad. Its passable. I just don’t think, in practice, it will be as good as people are making it out to be. As a Deterrent, yes… As a Current killer, if you must ( I think holding back a Hostile for that is not a horrible idea, personally) But as economic action? I can’t see this one competing for deck slots with Operations in weyland core, and I can’t see being really worth throwing in /just/ to kill currents you /might/ encounter.
Will it see use? Sure. Just not as what most people seem to be talking about it as economic.
d4vid - nice snow crash reference there. da5id is a hacker in the book who falls victim to the snow crash virus.
Thats the first thing I thought of too, then I realized the art was a sling, and thematically everything else was a reference to David and Goliath
Dont forget these Grail Ice have INF cost even though they are neutral. so if your spending inf on this your missing out on some thing else
Maan, you edited your post twice, yet you left those two 'your' intact. =___= Is that, like, generally accepted in US now? It’s a common grammatical error, although if he’s from the U.S. he’s either up very early or on the graveyard shift.