Netrunner: The Devil and the Dragon Review
In this series of articles Marc and Chris, our resident runners of nets, review the latest expansion for Android: Netrunner. In these articles Marc and Chris will introduce their favourite cards from the newest pack and then give a whistlestop tour of the rest of the cards. There are a lot of card names mentioned in these articles. If you don’t recognise a particular card, or need a refresher about what it does, we recommend either searching for a card on NetrunnerDB or installing this Chrome plugin to let you quickly look up what the cards do. Without further ado, let’s jack in…
Pack summary
A pack with a lot of interesting cards, but that have relatively narrow uses in my opinion. The exception to this is Rashida Jaheem, which is almost universally useful for all Corp strategies. I recommend this pack if you’re a fan of Criminal, which gets a new ID and some great economy cards, and NBN, which get a beefy ICE in Endless EULA and Amani Senai, a potentially taxing asset. The narrow uses of a lot of cards in this pack mean that this is probably not an ideal pack for new players expanding their collection. This is exemplified by SSO Industries benefiting so much from cards in other expansions.
SSO Industries: Fueling Innovation
Two of Weyland’s mechanical themes in Netrunner are ICE which can be advanced and them not really caring if the Runner knows what they’re up to. One of the ways the latter manifests itself is Public Agendas. These are Agendas installed face up, and were introduced to the game in the SanSan Cycle. SSO Industries combines these two Weyland themes in one card, giving you free advancements for ICE. I really like this ID as it fosters a super quick rush archetype. ‘Space ICE’ is the name given to Weyland ICE released in Order and Chaos. This is big, expensive ICE which gets cheaper to rez the more you advance it. When you have to do this manually, it’s quite inefficient, but with SSO the Space ICE comes into its own! The ideal first turn is: install City Works Project, install Ice Wall, install Wormhole. This means the Runner has to find two different icebreakers, install them, and have the credits to get into your remote…
Chris: …Pfft, think bigger Marc! Using a Casting Call to install Government Takeover face up behind an Orion ICE is surely the more ideal first turn?!
Marc: Perhaps! But you’re then relying on drawing your single Government Takeover, as well as two other cards in your starting hand! But it might happen! And when it does you’ll feel amazing! I think these two example illustrate that this ID fosters high risk, high reward Netrunner, both when playing and at the deckbuilding stage, which is really exciting. Aside from the Space ICE, SSO also benefits from cards released in the Red Sands Cycle. Red Planet Couriers can let you score a big agenda when your opponent isn’t expecting it, while Mass Commercialization can provide a nice boost to your coffers in the late game.
This is the SSO deck that I’ve been playing. You’ll notice that not all of the Agendas are Public, and that’s because Project Atlas is an amazing card. Using Red Planet Couriers to get multiple counters on a scored Project Atlas feels amazing, which shouldn’t be difficult given the number of free advancement counters SSO’s ability gives you. The general game plan is to create a remote server with City Works Project in it as soon as possible, advance the Agenda such that the Runner can’t steal it, then reap the advancement counter rewards to beef up your ICE. This is Chris’ SSO deck, which is a little more high risk than mine.
From a new players perspective, however, this ID isn’t great as it requires a lot of support from other expansions. Barring City Works Project, all other Public Agendas were released in separate packs in the SanSan Cycle, while some of most synergistic advanceable ICE was released in the deluxe expansion Order and Chaos. If you don’t have access to the full card pool, yet want to play an SSO deck, it might be best to hold off on this pack for a while.
Because I Can
The theme of this card is so fundamentally Shaper! Shapers don’t run for financial gain or to stick it to the man, they run as a form of artistic expression to test their skill and understanding of the cyber world. Why? Because they can! The name, combined with funny art and flavour text, makes this card very thematic. But do the mechanics of the card match how perfect the theme is?
Because I Can creates an alternate way of dealing with remote servers that are a nuisance. Instead of trashing them, it shuffles them away into R&D, making them Future You’s problem! The ability of Because I Can is similar to the effect of Singularity, an Anarch card that trashes all cards in a server upon a successful run, rather than shuffling them away. However, the upfront cost of Because I Can is a lot less. If you spend two clicks and four credits playing Singularity, you need to make sure it lands. Because I Can, however, can be played a little more flippantly; if you fail the run due to a surprise ICE rez, you aren’t too fussed. As all you need is a successful run to trigger Because I Can, I expect to see this card popping up in decks relying on the Anarch AI icebreaker Eater, allowing these decks to contest remote servers, especially when protected by cards like Red Herrings or Ash 2X3ZB9CY. The credits you can potentially save playing this card are considerable. A Commercial Bankers Group protected by a Mumbad Virtual Tour costs 7 credits to trash, more if protected by Corp ID abilities, and being able to deal with that in the early game, when Shapers are usually not set up economically, is valuable.
Despite how “fundamentally Shaper” this card is, I’ve been experimenting with it in a Ken Tenma deck which plays situational Run events it can find with Planned Assault. I’ve had a couple of memorable turns with this deck playing Because I Can. In the first, I was against Controlling the Message and they had just installed a card in an unprotected remote server. I ran R&D, saw Resistor, played Planned Assault to play Because I Can from my deck (getting a credit from Ken Tenma’s ability), shuffling the asset back into R&D, then ran R&D again to steal an Agenda. I had another game where my opponent had constructed a horrible remote with Warroid Tracker protecting an Urban Renewal, with a Breaker Bay Grid in there to save money rezzing cards. Being able to play Because I Can saved me around 13 credits as opposed to trashing the remote. Sure, my opponent was able to construct the remote again, but then I was able to play Because I Can again using Same Old Thing. Now these are pretty much the perfect uses for this card. But in this style of ‘toolbox’ deck, it seems to have a place. I’ve played the Ken deck 23 times, and Because I Can has come in handy in about 4 of those games. This is a pretty small sample size, but hopefully it gives a rough idea of how useful this card can be. I think as a single copy in a deck that can find it easily, it’s a fun include. Otherwise, I don’t think I’d use deck slots including more than one, unless the meta game makes it useful.
Falsified Credentials
Sure Gamble is one of the most played cards in Netrunner, as its gain of 4 credits for 1 click is very strong economy. Given that playing Falsified Credentials is also a net gain of 4 credits, it has to be taken seriously as a card. The lower credit cost for Falsified is a good thing, reducing the likelihood of needing to click for credits then activate it, however it is also harder to fire as it requires an unrezzed card installed in a server, and a correct guess on the type of card. So the question is, how hard are these to achieve?
Whilst it won’t happen every turn, Corps regularly install cards into servers, although some fast advance decks may be an exception. So after drawing Falsified Credientials you should have a chance to use it fairly quickly. Whilst there are three options for your guess, Asset, Agenda & Upgrade, you’d expect this card to fire more than a third of the time as you aren’t guessing completely blind for a few reasons.
1) You get to see how the corp has played the card. If there are two cards in the server, one must be an upgrade. If the card has been installed unprotected, it is more likely to be an asset.
2) You can guess based on the knowledge of the deck/faction. Upgrades, Assets and Agendas can all be advanced but the only commonly played advanceable upgrade, Bio Vault, is unlikely to be seen much outside of Jinteki, and will be most common in Aginfusion. Similarly you might expect agenda to be a good guess in Haarp and Asset to be a good guess in CtM.
3) You can guess based on having already seen it! Card accesses from R&D and HQ can increase your prediction accuracy, and you can get 100% knowledge if you’ve used other expose effects, or have already run the card to find out!
So assuming you can fire it reasonably accurately, Falsified Credentials is a solid economy card. But wait… it’s more than that! The expose effect is a benefit in itself, acting in a similar way to Drive By. It’s often a sensible play to guess Agenda on an installed card you are unsure of, as if you are correct, you can use the credits to break into the server. If you are wrong and it’s an Asset, the 1 credit you spent is likely to be cheaper than having checked it by running it. Given the prevalence of installing NGO Front and Rashida Jaheem in a scoing server to bait runs, this is a very useful effect. Additionally, Falsified Credentials combos well with other cards that care about expose effects such as Zamba and Aumakua. This together leads to Falsified Credentials being a clever piece of design that rewards intelligent play. I’d struggle to see why anyone wouldn’t include it in the I’s that love exposing cards (Silhouette and 419) and it should be a frequent sight in Criminal in general (as Marc’s Ken Tenma deck demonstrates).
Endless EULA
When considering what ICE to include in your deck, an interesting decision to consider is Taxing ICE vs Gearcheck ICE. Gearcheck ICE is cheap to break, but needs a breaker to be found first, but taxing ICE is expensive to break even when breakers are out. Even though they will typically have an expensive rez cost, multiple runs through them should be a net economic win for the corp. However, we need to talk about Paperclip. Due to combining its ability to boost strength and break, it’s hard to find ICE that are very taxing for it to break.
Enter Endless EULA. It’s the ultimate example of a taxing ICE, as you can get through it without finding any breaker, however for most breakers including Paperclip it will cost 6 credits. As 6 is its rez cost, the second run though swings the economic game towards the Corp. Two EULA on a server is incredibly taxing and allows NBN to create very secure servers. It does have its disadvantages, as it folds easily to Grappling Hook, Morning Star and GS Sherman. Whilst these are played in Pirate decks and Sunny decks, the predominance of Paperclip makes EULA an interesting piece of ICE to choose.
Elsewhere in the pack
Anarchs
Oh my goodness, an Anarch card that doesn’t immediately synergize with Virus cards, a rarity in the Kitara cycle! Glut Cipher is delightfully random and chaotic, as Anarch cards should be! The best case of this card is that Agendas or key Operations in the Corp’s hand end up in Archives, ready for the Runner to pick up. The huge downside of this card is that the Corp chooses the five cards to pick up from Archives, allowing them to potentially get back key cards they have either played, or you as the Runner have trashed. I imagine Alice Merchant decks will include this card to disrupt the Corp’s hand even more than usual. Eater decks might also include this card to pressure HQ while not accessing cards.
Knobkierie provides virus-specific MU and rewards successful runs with virus counters. In my testing it has been useful to recharge an Aumakua or Imp after a purge, but it is dependent on being able to run consistently each turn. This isn’t helped by the card being pretty expensive to install.
Criminal
Criminals get a new ID in 419. His ability either gives the Runner information about the Corp’s plans, or taxes the Corp a credit. Getting information about the Corp’s plan is very valuable, allowing the Runner to find the perfect solution to get into servers, and crucially, to know when to run. However, I’m torn on the design of 419. On the one hand, I really like that a clever Corp can play around, and possibly exploit, 419’s ability. Perhaps the Corp installs an unimportant Asset before sneakily installing an Agenda so less important information is revealed to the Runner. Alternatively, perhaps the Corp pays to prevent the expose in a random manner, to feint Assets and Upgrades as Agendas and make the Runner waste their money. What I dislike about 419’s ability is that it’s passive. Silhouette also has an expose related ability, but it’s an active ability; to trigger it you need to run HQ. 419 on the other hand can sit back and setup while still gleaning information about the Corp’s board.
In addition to Falsified Credentials, Criminals get another economy card in Rogue Trading. For two clicks you get six credits, but also a tag. If you then spend a click and two credits to remove the tag, this nets you four credits over three clicks; barely better than clicking for credits. Therefore, Rogue Trading is best either when you can remove tags cheaply, such as using Citadel Sanctuary or Crash Space, or when you don’t care whether you’re tagged, such as “tag me” decks playing Counter Surveillance and Mars for Martians. This makes Rogue Trading a powerful economy card that requires considerable setup to pay off, and can’t therefore be thrown into any old deck. This is in contrast to the now banned Criminal economy card Temüjin Contract, and I think represents a better design that is more healthy for the game.
Shaper
Shapers are the faction which can most easily interact with R&D. Nyashia is a program that makes three R&D runs more efficient by allowing Runners to access an additional card. Although it’s temporary, Runners can recharge Nyashia using cards like Scavenge or Clone Chip, or sell it for a profit to Aesop’s Pawnshop.
Apex
Apex’s other five influence card this cycle, Consume, is slightly more mystifying than his other card, Assimilator. Whereas Assimilator addressed a key problem of Apex, namely how to retrieve facedown cards, Consume gives Apex money for trashing Corp cards, which isn’t something Apex really needed. I mean sure, you can’t trash more Corp cards in a single click than with Apocalypse, but then your counter filled Consume is facedown and requires flipping back over with Assimilator in order to get the payout. No, Consume is probably best in an Anarch deck that has other ways of getting virus counters on it. Friday Chip synergizes well with the plan of trashing Corp cards, while Knobkierie and Consume combined gives the Runner money for running. Whether the five influence is worth it will remain to be seen.
HB
HB have developed a new bioroid! Malia Z0L0K4 is a nasty card which blanks a Runner Resource. There’s a surprising amount of flexibility with this card. It can either be used to deal with problem cards, such as Film Critic if you’re trying to score Ikawah Project, or be used as a card to slow the Runner down, by blanking economy cards like Liberated Accounts. It’s a high skill card, as knowing where to install Malia Z0L0K4 (temporarily in your scoring remote or in a separate server), when to rez, and what to blank often aren’t trivial decisions.
Brain damage heavy decks already have two interesting currents to choose between in Enforced Curfew and Defective Brainchips. So what sort of decks want to use Kill Switch? Given it fires for each agenda scored or accessed, it should suit the IDs that favour lots of small agendas; Argus, Haarp, and Personal Evolution. However this is complicated by non of these being HB and Kill Switch having five influence. Whilst interesting, using up so much influence on one card is unlikely to be worthwhile. Additionally, as a current, Kill Switch disappears after an agenda is stolen, making it likely to only have its on access trigger fire once. This isn’t the case if you import it into New Angeles Sol! Whilst it’s still five influence, I’ve had a lot of fun doing so with this deck. However, it does seem to me that if you want a brain damage current, it’s the worse choice of the three.
Further adding to the brain damage focus of this cycle is Tempus. Unfortunately it has the issue of providing multiple options to avoid the brain damage. If you have clicks remaining, you can spend two clicks, if you you have credits or link you can beat the trace, and in contrast to the last pack’s Kuwinda, the Runner triggers the trace by running it, rather than the timing of the trace being predictable. All these add up to Tempus being hard to build a deck around, as it’s hard to build a deck that can use traces / click-loss / brain damage equally well to win the game.
Jinteki
“Install, Advance, Advance.”. Is it an Agenda? What about an ambush, like Project Junebug? Well there’s now another option! Bio Vault allows the Corp to rez it and end a run, but only once it’s charged up with advancements. In “glacier” decks, which score behind taxing ICE, Bio Vault can either drag the Runner through a taxing remote server to trash it or force them to run through a server multiple times to get at an Agenda. It can also be used to end a potent run event, like The Maker’s Eye. I personally still prefer Marcus Batty, as it requires less setup and is more flexible, but perhaps you include both to create horrible servers. As an aside, with both Bio Vault and Defense Construct, you can now have 7 cards installed and advanced in the same server!
Like Malia Z0L0K4 released in this pack, Sadaka can be used to deal with problem Resources. For Jinteki, that can mean Film Critic or Caldera. Even if the Runner has none of these problem Resources installed, Sadaka can be used to target economy cards, making it useful in most matchups, although perhaps not game winning. The ICE might therefore be best in AgInfusion decks, which can use the ICE as fodder for its ID ability if the Runner doesn’t have any good resources installed.
NBN
More cards that uninstall Runner cards! Sandman is very expensive considering how cheaply it can be broken with most Decoders, but can be devastating if it fires. Seems like a very good target for Marcus Batty, potentially wiping out a Runner’s rig. Amani Senai triggers off Agendas being scored or stolen. I really like that this gives the Corp a proactive way of interacting with the Runner, so even if the Runner is sitting back setting up their rig, this card has an effect. And what an effect it is! Score a 5 advancement Agenda and you sap 5 credits from the Runner, or uninstall a key piece of their rig. Corp decks that rely on a credit advantage, such as tag based decks, can really exploit this, especially as Amani Senai is so cheap to rez.
Weyland
To support SSO Industries, Weyland get a new Public Agenda; City Works Project. Once installed, it causes the Runner to suffer meat damage when it is accessed, with the amount of damage increasing with each advancement counter on the card. In SSO this effect is great, as you can make it impossible for City Works Project to be stolen, then use it to advance all your ICE. In Jemison, you can potentially kill a Runner with City Works Project by waiting until the Runner has committed to access the card, then forfeiting Agendas to place additional advancement counters on it to make the access lethal.
You want advancement counters on ICE? Oduduwa is your man! It’s expensive to rez, but every time the Runner runs into Oduduwa the Corp adds another advancement counter to it, then adds advancement counters to other ICE. I think this works best with ICE that scales with the number of advancement counters, like Colossus or Ice Wall, which get stronger the more advancements are on them. However, for the rez cost to be worth it, the Corp has to place Oduduwa on a server the Runner is going to run frequently, such as the scoring server. As it adds an advancement counter to itself, it has synergy with Builder of Nations, which ideally wants at least one advancement on each ICE.
Rashida Jaheem
Rashida Jaheem is a Neutral card available influence free to all Corps, which is just as well as she is almost universally useful in Corp decks that are trying to win quickly. If installed at the start of the Corp’s turn, she draws three cards and gives three credits, similar in terms of credits and cards as the now banned Violet Level Clearance, while also potentially bluffing the Runner into running the remote server she is installed in. Like NGO Front, however, she’s cheap to trash, so if the Runner is running R&D repeatedly they can easily trash her to access additional cards. Notable synergies are with Jinja City Grid and the ID Cerebral Imaging, but Rashida is still a powerful card for most Corp strategies, and as a result I expect to see her in a lot of decks going forward.
Our copy of Netrunner: The Devil and the Dragon was provided for review by Asmodee UK. You can get hold of a copy from your local hobby store.
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