Card Analysis - A Study in Static

We have gone halfway through the first cycle, but there are still plenty of cards left to look at.  As such, it is time to look at the fourth pack in the Genesis Cycle, A Study in Static.

Disrupter

Not a great card, as most of the traces are initiated by the corporation, so you are more dependent on them.  There are some corporation cards that do have a large trace strength, so it is kind of good in case one of those come up.  However, the ruling is that you have to use this card at the start of a trace, before the corporation spends any credits, so you are unable to make the corporation spend credits twice on the same trace.

Pair cards: Security Nexus

Force of Nature

Moderately expensive to install, and somewhat inefficient, as it costs 2 credits to break 1 or 2 subroutines.  The major reason to choose this over other decoders is probably influence.  This only costs 1 influence per copy, whereas other decoders so far tend to take 2 or 3 influence.  But since Shaper already has Gordian Blade in faction, you would probably get more use out of this by running it in a Criminal deck, as then you will probably be making enough money to pay for the cost of using this.

Pair cards: Cyberfeeder, Datasucker, e3 Feedback Implants, Multithreader

Scrubber

The big thing about recurring credits is that the more you use them, the more money you will have for other costs.  With Scrubber, you pay less out of your credit pool to trash cards.  So with this, you could make trashing expensive assets and upgrades cheaper, or destroy small things for free.  This card can be devastating to a corporation that depends upon having a lot of assets for economy.

Pair cards: Hostage, Calling in Favors

Doppelgänger

Being a Criminal console, this is immediately compared to Desperado.  The drawback is that Desperado can be used multiple times per turn, whereas this can only be used once per turn.  If you know you can or have to make an extra run, then this could be better than Desperado, but you will likely have to make up the cash you would have otherwise earned elsewhere.

Trivia: I suspect that this console belongs to Ken "Express" Tenma: Disappeared Clone, as it fits his them of near constant running.

Pair cards: Notoriety, Quest Completed

Crescentus

I think I mentioned before with Emergency Shutdown that derezzing a piece of ice can be very good for the runner, especially if it was expensive for the corporation to rez.  With this card, you are able to derez a piece of ice immediately after breaking all of the subroutines on it in one encounter.  Of course, that means you need to have this card installed, and it does take up a point of memory, but recent builds of Armand "Geist" Walker: Tech Lord can take great advantage of this card thanks to the breaking and entering suite of icebreakers.

Trivia: Turns out this card is a reprint.  From the Classic expansion of the Netrunner CCG we have Superglue, which functions exactly the same as Crescentus, but costs 2 to install.

Pair cards: Spike, Crowbar, Shiv

Deus X

Not frequently used, but it has great potential.  It can prevent any amount of net damage, which means you have less to fear from Project Junebug or Snare!.  But it can also be used to break all the subroutines on a piece of AP ice, which also do damage.  This is really good in case of emergencies.

Trivia: The name comes from the Latin phrase, "deus ex machina," which can be translated as, "miracle from the machine."

Pair cards: Clone Chip, Self-modifying Code

All-nighter

While the obvious thing to say is that this is the runner equivalent of Biotic Labor, it really is not.  Biotic Labor is purchasing a click, while All-Nighter is more like storing a click for later.  Think about it this way.  You spend a click to install All-Nighter, and at a later point in time, you trash All-Nighter to gain a click.  Basically, you have moved a click from one turn to another turn.  So why would you want to do that?  Well, if you need more clicks on a single turn, such as to break through bioroid ice, then this is a solid way to have a longer turn.  But there are other cards that can make better use of more clicks.

Trivia: There is a card from the Netrunner CCG called All-Nighter, but it is a prep card, and instead of giving you extra actions, you make a run, after which you can make another run.

Pair cards: Wanton Destruction, Always Be Running

Inside Man

Suppose your deck has a lot of hardware.  Massive amounts of it, to the point where you are installing hardware every turn.  Well, this card can help offset the cost.  It does take two turns of using this card before it has paid for itself, which could be a problem, but you could try to use if your economy needs a small boost.

Trivia: The artwork and flavor text are a reference to Android: Infiltration.  One of the playable characters from that game is Hugo Cash, referred to as the Inside Man, who works as a janitor at CyberSolutions, Inc, because an android replaced him at his previous job.

Pair cards: all hardware, Hostage, Calling in Favors, Career Fair, Bazaar

Underworld Contact

A really good drip economy card for the runner.  All you have to do is get your link strength up to 2.  Granted, if your base link is 0, that could take some effort, but many runners start with 1 base link, meaning they only have to install one card to activate this.  With three copies installed, you can make 3 credits per turn, equivalent to playing a copy of Easy Mark each turn without spending a click.

Pair cards: anything that adds link strength, Hostage, Calling in Favors

Green Level Clearance

This card exemplifies the click compression available in Haas-Bioroid.  For one click and 1 credit, you get back 3 credits and a card.  Basically, you get 4 clicks worth out of a click and a credit.  Plus, the low play cost means that it is easy enough to play this card, even if you are reduced to 0 credits.

Trivia: The closest we get to this from the Netrunner CCG is Night Shift, which costs 0 to play and gives the corporation 2 credits and 1 card.

Pair cards: anything

Hourglass

I have somewhat mixed feelings about this.  Surprising the runner with this means they could lose the rest of their turn, but afterwards they will likely just run on their last click so they can ignore this piece of ice.  Plus, it is moderately expensive to rez, which means you will have significantly less money on your turn.  Still, there are a few potential combinations with this piece of ice that are possible.

Pair cards: Heinlein Grid

Dedicated Server

Not a card that has seen a lot of play.  The rez cost means that you will have to use this twice before it pays for itself, and the trash cost is low enough that the runner will likely destroy it if you do not have some defenses or punishment in place.  Your credits and deck slots might be better used, but if you think you need the recurring credits, maybe it is worth trying this.

Pair cards: Diversified Portfolio, Hostile Infrastructure, Breaker Bay Grid

Bullfrog

Somewhat interesting.  Instead of stopping a run, if this goes off, you can redirect the runner onto another server.  So you could force the runner away from your scoring server onto a central server, or from a central onto a remote, or wherever you want them.  Of course, this is dependent on you spending a different amount of credits than the runner, and the runner being unable or unwilling to break this.

Trivia: There are a series of ice cards from the Classic expansion to the Netrunner CCG that have the subtype Deflector.  They function similarly to Bullfrog, except that they have to be installed on specific servers and redirect to other specific servers.  That series includes: Dumpster, Entrapment, Trapdoor, and Vortex.

Pair cards: Encrypted Portals, Hyoubu Research Facility

Uroboros

Fairly interesting.  Somewhat average strength for the rez cost, and capable of ending a run.  Of course, that is dependent on winning a trace.  Plus, it can possibly prevent the runner from making additional runs, which could throw off the plans the runner had for the turn.  Still, if the runner has gone with high link strength, this card may be ignored by the runner.

Trivia: A reference to the Ouroboros, an image of a serpent eating its own tail, symbolizing the endless cycle of creation and destruction.

Pair cards: Primary Transmission Dish, Improved Tracers

Net Police

Kind of interesting.  This allows you to nullify the link strength of the runner for one trace.  The low rez cost means that you will almost always be able to activate this, but the low trash cost means that the runner will be able to easily destroy this card.  Still, for those critical traces, this could be quite beneficial.
Trivia: The flavor text seems to be a reference to Dragnet, specifically the introduction, where Joe Friday narrates, "This is the city, Los Angeles, California, I work here. I'm a cop."

Pair cards: anything that traces, Turtlebacks, Diversified Portfolio

Weyland Consortium: Because We Built It

Having an extra credit each turn sounds like a good thing.  The problem is that this credit can only be used to advance ice, which means to get use out of it, you have to spend a click each turn advancing ice.  So with this, you want to fill your deck with ice that can be advanced.  Still, most other Weyland identities seem to give a lot more benefit than this one.

Pair cards: Trick of Light, Constellation Protocol

Government Contracts

The ability is very nice, essentially giving you 2 credits a click, at the cost of 2 clicks.  The drawback is that it is a 5 advancement cost agenda, and a 3 pointer.  Sure, being a 3 point agenda means fewer agendas have to go in your deck, but it also means the runner has to steal fewer agendas in order to win.  Still, if you can manage to score one of these, it means you have a fairly efficient economy for the rest of the game.

Pair cards: anything

Tyrant

Like Woodcutter, this card gains subroutines from being advanced, and can only be advanced while rezzed.  Although, this card might be a bit more solid than Woodcutter, since it can actually stop a run when advanced.  Plus, each advancement token on it potentially means that it will cost more for the runner to break, so you could pile on advancement tokens.  Still, it will take a lot of resources to make this viable.

Pair cards: Amazon Industrial Zone, Commercialization Executive Boot Camp, Dedication Ceremony

Oversight AI

Suppose you need to get a piece of ice online, but you do not have enough credits in your pool to do so.  Well, with this card, you could bring any piece of ice online, ignoring all the costs.  The catch is that you host this card onto that piece of ice, and if the runner manages to break all the subroutines in an encounter, then the ice is trashed.  But, you could still open enough of a scoring window to get an agenda or two through, or possibly use that ice in another way.

Trivia: There does not seem to be an exact reprint here, but there were a few cards in the Proteus expansion of Netrunner CCG that allowed you to rez ice while ignoring the cost.  Emergency Rig lets you rez a piece of ice by paying any amount of money, but then you put that many counters on that ice and remove one each turn.  When the ice runs out of counters, it is trashed.  Rent-to-Own Contract rezzes a piece of ice for free, but puts a number of counters onto that ice equal to the rez cost.  At the start of your turn, you have to pay 2 credits and remove a counter, or else you add another counter to that ice.

Pair cards: Archer, Janus 1.0, Curtain Wall

False Lead

This does not seem like much, but it does have some potential.  By forfeiting this, you force the runner to lose 2 clicks.  Of course, they have to have at least 2 clicks, otherwise this does nothing.  But the threat posed by having one of these available means that the runner has to be more cautious with their turn, because at any time the could suddenly be out of time, which you could use to set them up for a kill or to score out an agenda.

Pair cards: Enhanced Login Protocol, Heinlein Grid, Jemison Austronautics: Sacrifce. Audacity. Success.

And that is all for A Study in Static.  Next time, we take a look into Humanity's Shadow.