Considering it is a run event, 1 cost and pumps a breaker for 2, I think it would pay for itself after the first run, regardless of breakers and the number of ice involved.
If it gets you an access, it gets you an access which seems pretty worthwhile.
The opportunity cost of including the card in your build is probably offset by Adam’s card pool. I think you could probably find a slot or two in most builds simply because most Adam builds are not so “lean” anyway.
weird nerfs to Adam in both the clarification that run-based card effects from programs, hardware, and resources won’t satisfy the Always be Running requirement (there’s still Dirty Laundry), but also Faust being on the MWL probably changes things a bit
are people thinking they’ll still run Faust or run with something else?
i also like the Injection Attack + Overmind combo quite a lot, so i think that could be a good space to go
I am hoping to really try the Injection Attack + Overmind Combo along with traditional Anarch breakers. I think it could be decent to good.
I might also dabble in prepaid, so that Injection Attack/Dirty Laundry/Sure Gamble/Levy and Deuces Wild all get reduced cost. With that “free click” Adam gets and the ability to bounce back from few credits, I think he could use the prepaid shell. Maybe.
yeah, you’re basically preaching to the converted here. this is all about where i’m heading lol
I’ve been running Adam with the traditional( core set) anarch breakers and backing it up with overmind and shrike(for larger multisub sentries) for a while now. it has worked pretty well for me.
Yeah I’m also on a non-Faust suite in Adam. Have been for a long time, actually.
Funnily enough I was also spit-balling a Pre-Paid Adam last week 
I’ve been looking at a few options as adam. The qualfier here is that nothing will ever be as good as Faust for Adam. The reason is that he starts with half a wyldside, and drugdealer is 1 inf. This 2-3, even 4 card draw engine makes faust positively insane for adam. With just a code gate breaker and low str sentry breaker, nothing can stop you if you have a piddence of cash and carefully used your cards. Adam took a huge hit with Faust, but even as much as I love Adam, it was worth it.
I’ve looked at alternative breaker strategies, and a few that fit are panchatantra and 1 shots + gingerbread. Coupled with injection attack this fits the bill on a lot of stuff, as long as you still slot 2x E3. I’m concerned with draw, as drug dealer doesn’t make a lot of sense without faust, and ABR eats up a lot of clicks if you’re ERH drawing. That said, ERH and CF seem like a natural combo, because daily casts is solid. This setup works because you get the MU as the game goes on.
I’ve also looked at more of a standard rig with some sucker support. This feels okay, especially since you can lean on stimhack abuse to keep econ strong, and make use of the increased hand size. The problem here is if you get pushed to use stimhack too early, you shut off your draw, and can potentially end up with 0 card handsize too early. Multithreader really needs a better way to be used, and a better way to get on the table. Right now in this setup Adam feels more like Nasir, where you want to spend your cash on stuff you might not need right now, just to spend it so you can start applying pressure…except Adam has to then find a way to make cash. This setup works in as much as regular breakers work in basically Anarch. Its okay when your draw is good, and miserable when its not.
Another option is Devas + panchantantra. The major issue here is the Devas themselves. They don’t cover basic needs like quandary, enigma and arhchitect, with just 1 panchatantra. With 2 you’re able to use Sadyojata as a pretty good killer that works on most ice essentially, but you’d have to spend 8 and 3 clicks, and 3 MU. And for all that you can break a limited ice combination. Multithreader makes the equation more palatable from an econ standpoint, but again adding more cards, more costs…seems not worth it. There needs to be a way to get multithreader going faster and better.
Also, draw packages are weird for Adam, and I think there is something missing on the Independant Thinking track Being able to slot directives to replace after trashing 1 or 2 with other cards to draw heavy seems like what the intention is, but there are so many limited useful install cards. If you play like apex where you’re installing a card just to draw with it later (like chopbot does for Apex), you’re not seeing value out of the card. You do get a replacement draw which is nice, but cards need solid effects for your time, and we don’t see enough low influence stuff that can be later used as IT fodder. I’ll leave armitage with 2 left on it, slot q-coherence chip and just trash it before trashing programs, etc, and its still just not enough, not enough value or draw. Hunting grounds and harbinger are some low inf options and at least HG has some value. This also causes me to have musings of Panchatantra + 1 shots + endless hunger for late game…maybe using prey for ice destruction to keep Pancha and 1 shotters relevant with ABR? Maybe add gingerbread for more long term?
I feel like Adam started heading in a bad direction and losing 2 inf off fausts put him in an even worse direction, but the MWL of breaking news and astro might make tagsunamni less prevalent, making Adam slightly better. Or we can try to find an economy and draw package that is less reliant on resources.
TL:DR: Hard times daddy for Adam.
If Faust is that good for Adam, is the extra 3 influence really that big of a hit? You could run 1 Faust and 2 Special Orders for only 1 more influence if you’re not afraid of trashing. Also, assuming ERH is Earthrise, I’m not sure how MU is relevant in your second paragraph.
Is injection attack and Faust good?
I’ve liked Adam with a really different build than the one people seem to run with here (using Sage with Overmind and Cloud Sentry) but have to shelve him for a while because of Hard Hitting News. The worst thing that can happen to me in a game is landing a tag and potentially losing my entire early game rig (or more) because of a stray tag. HHN doesn’t rely on the run completing so I will activate it 100% of my turns (or slightly less for people who block it with Dr. Lovegood) and I don’t have four clicks to remove those tags. I can’t use Paper Tripping to remove all the tags in one go if I felt inclined.
Maybe the answer is to go tag me and learn to play without resources… except then you’re the most vulnerable to death.
looks good to me.
also, in the end, i think it might be worth just spending the 3 influence on Faust
I’ve played around with both Endless Hunger/Harbinger and Panchatantra/Gingerbread rigs. Both work pretty well with Adam. The latter gets scary late game with 2-3 Threaders, and installing 2 Endless Hungers because you can is memorable, to say the least. Anyone interested in Adam should at least give those a spin. They’re definitely functional.
Faust is still the gold standard for him, for reasons @x3r0h0ur clearly stated.
I stopped playing Adam when the Assetpocalypse came around, because I was tired of being forced to play right into their hands. If his new card is a new directive, as I’m 90% sure it will be, dropping various directives by matchup seems like a nice way to soothe those pains. That being said, I think the past few releases and this MWL will only increase the tag punishment, regardless of Astro restrictions. Why couldn’t the directives have been hardware?! It’s painful that our ID is essentially blanked by tags.
Here’s hoping we get some new rig options in the future. I’m eyeing Dai V and/or Injection Run, but I think I’d want one more stealth credit source for that.
[quote=“Thike, post:793, topic:4660”]
Here’s hoping we get some new rig options in the future. I’m eyeing Dai V and/or Injection Run, but I think I’d want one more stealth credit source for that.
[/quote]i have to believe that they’re printing new stealth cards. currently, Dai V can only break subroutines if you have Ghost Writer or at least 2 Cloaks out. if you have 3 Cloaks out and no Ghost Runners, you can make 2 runs on R&D with Mirror, breaking one piece of ICE per run
but it’s pretty limited. perhaps that’s by design, but for 6 credits to install and only 1 strength, it might not ever be worth it unless they give us some more stealth credit sources
as for more options, i know a lot of people want a new directive, and i’d honestly love that too and hope he gets one eventually, but i’m really hoping his card this cycle will be a breaker of some kind. he already has a pseudo breaker in his directive, but it’d be nice to have a program of some kind that utilises all that MU he has
Don’t get me wrong, I think a new directive is not ideal in terms of increasing Adam’s general strength. That being said, it’s a neat trick to be able to choose for each match and plays into his identity more than anything else would.
I mostly say that because my understanding of Damon’s design ethos and we’ve seen Adam art titled “Find the Truth”, which is worded like an imperative.
yeah, completely agree with you. i do absolutely hope he gets another one at some point, but i also really hope he gets a breaker.
although i suppose an ideal scenario (as far as this cycle is concerned) would be a low-influence and/or neutral breaker that’s perfect for Adam while also getting another directive
A new directive would be totally awesome. My big issue would be, which one don’t I start with?!
It’s like a sideboard that way. Sooooooooooo
Yes, but if you want to use all four, you’ll need extras in your deck!
that’s a really interesting point. i guess it doesn’t say anything about being limited to 3 directives, so i imagine any fourth directive will probably encourage putting more directives in the deck so you can be a bit more flexible with your opening directives but have the option to get the last one out
More directives would also encourage use of Adam’s in faction card draw, which is really good if you have directives and cards that empty and stick around.