Gun to your head, eh? XD
With infinitely recurring drip economy, like PAD Campaign, the key thing is velocity. If youāre only drawing enough econ assets to play one asset every couple of turns, any runner with a half-decent economy can keep up with running and trashing and put you on the back foot. If they start to stumble though, like itās so easy to do against a deck like Untrashable RP, and the number of assets on the table starts to rise, itās easy for the runner to fall into a death spiral and be completely overwhelmed.
With that in mind, the new NBN ID looks ridonculous. Mental Health Clinic is mental indeed. Installing an astroscript to keep the astrotrain rolling gets you a free card. Not sure I can believe this ID gets 17 inf too.
An Unregistered S&W '35, even ;).
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Iāll start believing that ID exists when I hold it in my hands. 
It really, really doesnāt. Man do I need to finish that article.
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Note scare-quotes and playful tone :D. But it seems a lot stronger with than without, so please do finish that article.
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What Iāll say about the Lotus Field/Anarch relationship is that on the surface, you are completely right. However, its worth mentioning that, almost as if it was designed intentionally, each of the runner factions has an ICE type that they excel against, and one that they are weak against. Yog.0 was outside this paradigm because of how extremely relevant it was in the meta, but really in a vacuum is a pretty balanced card (at least, IMO). (tl;dr most decks go out of faction for at least one breaker anyway :/)
Yes, it is a soft nerf to Anarch, but I think you are way underselling the priority event. With Reina, Xanadu, and Rooks, you have the ability to play it like an FAO AND a blackmail, and it is relatively controllable. And if not controllable, gameable. I generally come up against cards that give your opponent a choice when they have more information than you do, but I totally think you can make plays with this card.
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Actually, while I agree Anarch could use the most love right now, I think Lotus Field is necessary against them.
Consider the fact that each faction has a best and worst icebreaker type.
Shaper: Best: Decoder; Intermediate: Fracter; Worst: Killer
Criminal: Best: Killer; Intermediate: Decoder; Worst: Fracter
Anarch: Best: Fracter; Intermediate: Killer; Worst: Decoder
Note that for each faction the upcoming stealth breaker falls in line with its best breaker, and the āCeberusā icebreaker is for the āIntermediateā category. I presume that Yog is supposed to be as bad as Aurora and Pipeline, and that Anarch is supposed to come up with alternatives for some Code Gates (and they have the most solutions when it comes to breaker alternatives). I think that Yog is better than FFG had intended, and that Lotus is long overdue at normalizing this balance.
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Understatement of the Day Award goes to @Lysander.
I, for one, am continually sick of seeing Andy Sucker decks continuing to win, almost a year after they started seeing heavy play. If the ācostā to help upend this stale meta choice is a slight slap in the face to Anarchs, so be it.
Plus, this is just the tip of the iceberg that is Lunar. I remember similar, overly dramatic (MUCH more dramatic) by some of the top players/observers in the game when things like Caprice came out.
Iām not seeing Caprice in every tourney winning deck.
(I know, this is 1INF, unlike Capriceās 4. However, I consider this the Jackson Howard of the arc; a Corp bomb, quite necessary, dropped into the first data pack. I cheer the move, and like that itās not just Neutral.)
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I think @Lysander has it spot on here.
Iāve been expecting for a while one or more ICE to appear that canāt be reduced in strength because Parasite and DS are too ubiquitous - there are very few tournament winning lists that donāt include one or both. Yog is a piece of that puzzle so it needed to happen.
This is a response to Andromeda more than it is Anarch. Run-based economy is way too efficient - Desperado, Datasucker, John Masanori, Security Testing, Dirty Laundry etc. Lotus Field simply means that these decks need to take a gamble or have a backup plan - in exactly the same way that Swordsman does for AI decks.
If the spoiler is true, will this ICE be everywhere? Maybe to start with. Itās certainly very decent, but itās at an awkward price point. Itās too expensive for early game, when a Quandary will do the same job. Does it tax enough for late game? The efficient breakers get through for $1 and there are multiple ways to boost Yog.
I see as Iāve been writing this @spags has Ninjaed me 
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Domestic Sleepers (HB): Iād have to see how it fits into decks, but tbh, I think this will be an auto-include. āfreeā agenda points is great, even if it costs deck slots.
Next Silver (HB,2): Eh, itās just so weak until you get 2 other NEXT ice out.
Lotus Field (Jinteki,1): As an Anarch player, iām not really horrified by it tbh. Most of time times we go for AI breakers anyways. I think it hurts non-Anarchs (i.e. Anarch splash) more than Anarchs.
Mutate (Jinteki,3): Cute, maybe with precognition? TBH, I think Jinteki is past needing to run ācuteā cards.
Near-Earth Hub: Broadcast Center (NBN): Good ID. Might be the best, but itās a nice ābetter because itās flexibleā rather than a focused ābetter because it does X and X is the best thing to doā
Primary Transmission Dish (NBN,2): Not terrible, but I think deck slots are too tight for this and it doesnāt enable anything particularly interesting. Maybe more as an expensive splash?
Midway Station Grid (NBN,4): CRAZY.
The Root (Weyland,3): Not bad. Three recurring that you can spend anywhere on advance/install/rez is great, plus rez-use-trash puts the runner at a net loss. I definitely think itās worth trying out.
Taurus (Weyland,2): I really like this, though it is a bit situational for its cost. Really wish this ended the run or was a higher starting trace, since 2 to prevent a hardware trash and continue on is not bad for the runner. 8 to trash a hardware? Maybe?
Mother Goddess (Neutral,0): Solid ice. Maybe too good for no influence. (But nothing crazy).
Galahad (Neutral,1): Not yet, at least.
Bad Times (Neutral,0): I think this is more relevant as a āPlay two and Wrath of God the runnerās rigā then a late game program snipe, but late game sniping isnāt bad.
Cyber Threat (Anarch, 3): Itās a better/worse Forged Activation Order that costs no influence for Anarchs, which I think makes it a better FAO since they want it more than Criminals. I think itās a better Stimhack for credit denial type Anarch decks.
Lamprey (Anarch,2): I likey. Iāve already been mixing in some Djinns along with Deep Reds for my Overmind memory unit buffs, so this is easy to grab. I have really been wanting another credit denial card for Anarchs and with this I think you could actually go that route without Account Siphon (not saying its better, but that itās plausible).
Paper Tripping (Criminal,2): Neat. I could see this in play if Bad Times becomes really big.
Power Tap (Criminal,1) : Ehh. Comparable cards (Compromised Employee for example) exist, and I donāt think this is better than those.
Nasier Meidan: Cyber Explorer (Shaper): Iād have to mess around to see, a nice lateral ID though.
Social Engineering (Shaper,2): Might be good in Silhouette, but given the cost of 2, I think itās just not worth the cost.
Leprechaun (Shaper,2): While we dream of things like Morningstar or Battering Ram, I think this is best for the disposable icebreakers (and solid at that).
Eden Shard (Neutral,1): Apparently this card is really good (i.e. costs influence, and can only have one in your deck). So, Iāll just wait and see.
True. but Anarch imports its card draw and economy. It is not unreasonable that it gets better programmes (including ice breakers) to compensate.
Honestly, how is this is more than a gnatās bite on Andy sucker? She just imports a single copy of a decoder and carries on.
If Anarch want to import the decoder they have to pay influence for at least two copies (or the tutors to find it). And that takes away from the influence that theyād rather be spending on their economy or their card draw.I donāt think this is going to end the world. Itās expensive. Knight gets around it. And yes, everything has a counter in Netrunner and a hard Parasite counter is long overdue. But I donāt see an argument to say itās worse for Criminal than Anarch.
[quote=āPeekaySK, post:16, topic:1292ā]
Iād expect orange to get some pretty amazing stuff (read: not Cyber Threat) in this cycle to compensate. And when you think about it, we already know it wonāt be their current, as thatās just another ICE str reduction (and not a particularly great one, at that).[/quote]
I donāt think Cyber Threat is bad. But yes, Iād feel a little less bad about Lotus Field if Inject or another big impact Anarch card had been in this datapack.
I think Scrubbed is being massively underrated by the way. Honestly, if the Corp doesnāt remove Scrubbed sharpish against a Parasite recursion deck, then theyāre in for a world of hurt. Instant trash anything up to 2 strength? With Grimoire, Clone Chip or Ice Carver itās 3. Thatās a lot of uncertainaty for the corp to deal with.
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I feel like Criminals are glass cannons, except Iain. Iām not sure what Iain is, yet. Iāve never failed to end a game with less than 30c, but Iām also not winning as many games with him yet ;).
Andyās a little more resilient because of that 9-card start, but Ken, Silhouette, and Gabe are all boned to some degree if they donāt set up to dominate early.
Itās really tricky, game-balance-wise, to figure out how to keep glass cannons viable but not too good. I have a small concern that theyāre trying to play rock-paper-scissors instead of rebalancing influence costs, but hey, letās give that card some time. Nothing has been as bad as the early warning klaxons have thought.
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I am more than fine with this. YogSucker leads to FREE blasts through Gates. At least something Blade with cost INF, and ANYthing else will cost creds to run with.
Also, more Andy lists are incorporating Parasite to allow them access after being ālockedā out of Centrals. This helps v. that, as well.
Iām honestly surprised a card like Lotus hasnāt dropped earlier.
(also, I would lean toward the veracity of these spoilers)
I think weāve been importing zuul/gordian for a little while already. Or at least I have :).
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Am I missing something with Domestic Sleepers?
Everyone on BGG is raving about it, but it seems weak to me.
I get that itās a āsafeā agenda for the corp - gives nothing to the runner and can score out of hand. But wouldnāt we rather be using the deck slots for something else? This agenda is costing us 6 clicks for 1 point. Itās an interesting card to put pressure on when threatening to close out the game, a bit like Hostile Takeover for Weyland, but classic fast advance can score a 2 pointer quicker than this so it doesnāt seem worth it. HB still needs to include all the 2 pointers anyway because Sleepers doesnāt count toward the agenda requirement.
I canāt see that this will make a real impression on the current builds. It seems to me itās for a new archetype that will either trigger off forefeiting (a la Archer) or the number of agendas scored/stolen (a la Philotic Entanglement).
Shoot me down if Iām way off the mark thoughā¦
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My friend Aaronās T4 Worlds deck was Andy with the following breakers:
Blade
Ninja
Corroder
Hullo, core set!
The only use I like about it is as a replacement to GRNDL Refinery and Haas Arcology AI in a Red Coats build. Iām not salivating though; itās simply a good way to get an AP or two or force the runner to fight through it, potentially opening up a scoring window.
Though I think cards such as this that promote lose-lose scenarios are extremely good in principle.
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Iām not heralding the apocalypse, but getting to 6 points versus 7 is a big difference. allowing you to better run all 2-pointers or all 3-pointers.
It counts as stealing an agenda for Midseasonās without having to give up any points. Thatās gonna suck.
Similarly, you can run it in a suite of all 3-pointers which will have low agenda density, 3 of which are worth zero points, you wonāt have to play to 9, and will always be able to fire off punitive counterstrikes (when applicable) at dangerous amounts of damage.
Iām really loving DS. I can run 6 5/3 Agendas, with another 3/2 or 4/2, saving space. One can then IAA everything, and this turns into a trap. If not, one has a possible 1 point Agenda, or Archer fodder.
Iām still considering 3 DS/3 Archer in NEXT, with the goal to be scoring DS turn one. Now, youāve become Weyland without the Bad Pub. Not sure if itās viable, but it sounds fun.
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