Film Critic hurts more than just RP, though. Clot’s issue is that one faction doesn’t do FA at all, it’s easy to remove, and the popular deck for another faction is also unaffected.
There is no faction, taken as a whole, that isn’t impacted at all by film critic. HB comes closest but they still run NAPD. It hurts Astrobiotics only slightly, but it does free up money from stealing NAPDs to use for trashing Sansans or whatever else – and since it enables running all day against most Butchershop decks, it makes any uncertainty about what your opponent is doing rather moot.
And while Snatch and Grab or Contract Killer are answers, you can run multiple Film Critics at no penalty. In fact, if R&D lock is your goal, then you do so at an advantage. If you can blow up a Critic with an agenda hosted, great, but if you Snatch and Grab click one and they take the tag with two Critics and a Kati out… do you wanna spend the rest of your turn AND four more credits to kill them both when that means leaving Kati on the table? If you only kill one you’re not in a much better position anyway.
Also, any cute Fetal AI tricks one might’ve been pulling? Also DOA.
Punitive in Weyland is something of a thing, and Midseasons is the more popular splash in comparison to SEA Source due to runner survivability/money. But Critic hoses both of those as well.
Clot hits FA and only FA, there’s no reason to run more than one, and you have a narrow window in which to use it where it can be bluffed away. Film Critic hits multiple archetypes, including two or three of what I can think of as being the Top Five Common Corp Decks, and just requires you not play tag-me.
Splashing one is easy, two is the same as splashing Clot. Anarch decks can probably fit two or three with how much free influence they have, and Criminal decks can probably make room, especially decks that are already running Hostage for any other reason.
