Humanity's Shadow Card Reviews

Genesis - Humanity’s Shadow Staff Review

57% - 286 out of 500
62% - Runner 171 out of 275
51% - Corp 115 out of 225

Our staff has put together a first blush analysis of the newly released data pack Humanity’s Shadow. We’ve used a one through five scale; five being the best. The cards are listed in numeric order. Our reviewers are listed in alphabetical order. Let us know in the comments how you feel about the cards in this pack!

Ouch, The Corp side takes it on the chin this month with some real low numbers. Runners fare better racking up 3 cards in what ended up being a top 5.

Top 3
HQ Interface 22 out of 25
Andromeda 20 out of 25
Surge, Hokusai Grid, Bernice Mai -tie- 19 out of 25

Bottom 3
Salvage 5 out of 25
Networking, Rework 7 out of 25


[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_surge-humanitys-shadow.png'] Surge 19 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 3 out of 5
In the current meta we feel that Noise tends to be the dominant pick for Anarch identity, as such this card is not as necessary as you would think. While this card would be great to load Crypsis, it is not an overly efficient way to load many of the other viruses that commonly see play. Good for in faction decks, but so far useless outside Anarchs.

highjack - 4 out of 5
Great with a grimoire out. Works well with viruses you can't take actions to put counters. With the run-to-add viruses it's saving you a click (maybe more if you had to break ice to get through the run) which is alright.

Hraklea - 4 out of 5
Great synergy with Grimoire, accelerates Parasite and Medium, and allows more uses of Imp. The corporations can't see it coming, because it is an operation, so now it will be harder for them to find the right time to purge virus counters, making virus based decks more consistent. And for 1 influence point, it is easy to use it as out of faction, and Shaper virus program cards will come out very soon. Maybe fast advance decks lose some of their popularity with the possibility of a first turn Chakana. Or maybe not. Probably not.

Lluluien - 4 out of 5
This card has a wide array of uses already, and will only get stronger as a larger variety of viruses are released in future expansions. This is exceptionally evil with Grimoire, and it’s likely to mean that it will be difficult to use the 3-click virus scanning action to save key ICE from Parasite if it becomes popular.

Scud - 4 out of 5
Yes, this is very good with Grimoire but it’s not so bad without it, too. Anytime you need to make a successful Run to add a virus counter, Surge can save you the cost of two Runs, which, depending on the servers, can be a pretty huge savings. We’ve also got a few Viruses coming up that require three counters to activate – Surge lets you turn one of those on with a single run. Even Crypsis can benefit, since getting three counters for the “price” of two is a nice tempo bump in a Crypsis-only deck.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_xanadu-humanitys-shadow.png'] Xanadu 14 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 3 out of 5
A controversial card for us. Squid believes that paying any more than base cost for a lot of commonly used early game ICE is a huge handicap for the corp player. Jamieson and Corps3mourn agree that while talking money from the corp is good it can be planned for/played around. This could be splashed to an effective outcome so it gets an above par score

highjack - 3 out of 5
Solid enough ability. Not sure it really has a home right now, though if Whizzard resource denial ever becomes a thing it probably wants this.

Hraklea - 3 out of 5
This card is good, but no more than that. It is a nice addition to credit denial decks, both Anarch and Criminal, but for 3 credits, it has to come very very soon to be worth it. You must use, at least, 2 copies of it to have a reliable chance to draw it in your first hand, but it is unique, so drawing the second copy during the game adds you nothing. I can see it happening in a Joshua B./Vamp "I don't care about tags" decks, with Forged Activation Orders and Emergency Shutdown for economic control.

Lluluien - 2 out of 5
The cost of Xanadu’s ability to the Corporation could be great. However, that’s not “will” be great, only “could” be great. The fact that it’s unique means that having 3 in your deck is likely to cause some dead draws, but if you don’t include enough to get it in play early, the benefit will likely be limited. Compare this ability which will normally only happen once per ICE after it is installed with that of Ice Carver, which happens on every run on ICE that came before or after it was installed, in order to see how this card achieve stardom.

Scud - 3 out of 5
Being Unique hurts Xanadu even more than it hurts Ice Carver, since Xanadu’s ability is always going to be better earlier in the game (unless you sit around drawing for it and keep the Corp from rezzing any ICE until you find it, but that’s probably going to put you in a different, and bigger, hole). However, it fits so well with Whizzard resource denial (and at two pips is easily splashed in a Criminal version, too) that a couple of dead draws may well be worth it. Team this up with Cortez Chips (and Replicator to find ‘em) and you could keep servers pretty lightly defended.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_andromeda-humanitys-shadow.png'] Andromeda 20 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 5 out of 5
Well, she’s arrived! Anyone who was not completely in love with Gabriel now has a straight swap option for identities. With an ability that will benefit you 100% of the time, Andromeda should see a ton of play. Would have been interesting to see the deck limits (45/15) played with a little just for variety but still happy with what they are. The +1 Link is nothing to drool over, just some icing on this delicious piece of cake.

highjack - 5 out of 5
Ton of potential here. Implications of 1 link are pretty obvious. Nine card hand means, with mulligan, you have ~75% chance of seeing a card you have 3x of in your deck. As the card pool grows being able to dig for some specific card turn 1 will just get more powerful. For you Chaos Theory lovers, Andromeda has better odds of seeing any given card over the course of a game.

Hraklea - 3 out of 5
Nine cards in my starting hand? That's great!!! Base link one? That's cool! No abilities after the first turn? That's bad. A broken first turn and a crappy late game seem to equal to a balanced runner, which is not as good as the "above average" Gabriel Santiago: Consummate Professional. Of course that, as the card pool increases, we'll have more combos, and a bigger starting hand will eventually be better. Now, she is just ok. Criminal has in-faction defenses against tags and no in-faction cloud program, so I'm not really hyped for this extra link too.

Lluluien - 3 out of 5
On the one hand, starting with 1 link goes a long way toward enabling Underworld Contact and cloud hosted program mechanics, and being able to start with 9 cards (and perhaps more importantly, mulligan to 9 cards as well) provides starting draw consistently that may enable more multi-card combos. This adds deckbuilding versatility to Criminals if we need it. On the other hand, if we must play 4 cards with 4 clicks on our first turn to avoid discards and only have 5 starting credits to do it with, that one turn may be all the breathing room a fast Corp deck needs to get the jump on us.

Scud - 4 out of 5
A nine-card starting hand is nothing to sneeze at, especially since it allows a nine-card mulligan. Yes, you’ll probably need to play cards with your first four clicks, but that is a refreshing change (not necessarily a *good* one, just refreshing) from Gabriel who wants to run, run, run from the get-go. Although the nine-card starting hand allows you to have an even slimmer deck than Chaos Theory after your first draw, Andromeda is much closer to Kate in that she wants to be installing over running in the early game. I think she’s going to allow for all sorts of interesting new Criminal builds. The +1 Link is just a side-dish of gravy.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_networking-humanitys-shadow.png'] Networking 7 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 1 out of 5
Suggested rename - NOTworking - Decoy is a better option to this in any deck. Are you going to be tagged heavy enough to put this to good use on a consistent base? Otherwise you are just wasting a card slot in your deck and space in your hand.

highjack - 1 out of 5
You would need to expect to be tagged a lot to justify the opportunity cost of putting this in your deck. Even then I'm not sure it's the best anti-tag option out there.

Hraklea - 1 out of 5
It seems that the Criminal faction is collecting useless defenses against Tag n' Bag decks. First it was Murashi Bodysuit, and now, this. I believe that this is a countermeasure against some sort of tag-fest archetype that might be coming, but even if that is the case, it will be expensive and slow to use Networking to remove, let's say, 5 tags. I don't think this card will make any relevant difference in the Humanity's Shadow environment, and I'm putting it in garbage tier for now. I'm expecting it to be there for good, but I made mistakes before.

Lluluien - 2 out of 5
Even though as an NBN player the thought of this card in the Runner’s hand makes me grind my teeth, the fact of the matter is that most of us have precious little deck space as it is. There are so many different defenses available against tagging that I don’t think this one will be able to compete for that limited deck space, particularly since it won’t save you if you don’t have a click to use it.

Scud - 2 out of 5
This card has much more potential outside Criminal, as it’s one Influence pip suggests. Cash- and/or click-strapped Anarchs could certainly use this as a way to ditch the occasional tag they pick up. Shapers tend to have the extra “clean-up” click after a run and the card draw to find and keep one in hand. In-faction, this is definitely an Andromeda card since her large opening hand means she’ll probably see one quickly.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_hq-interface-humanitys-shadow.png'] HQ Interface 22 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 4 out of 5
Love this card. The only thing stopping a perfect score here is that the additional card you access is mandatory and you might not be prepped for a potential trap hit or Fetal AI.


highjack - 4 out of 5
Being hardware is a huge bonus as there is currently no easy way for the corp to trash it. The fact that it stacks is also big. In Criminal decks that were running Nerve Agent this seems like an easy swap, although that's definitely the minority of them. Worth noting that unlike Nerve Agent, you don't have the option of accessing less than the max.

Hraklea - 4 out of 5
This is so much better than Nerve Agent that I don't even know how to start. It doesn't cost MU, it works on the first run, it can't be purged, it stacks, it can be paid with Inside Man, and the art looks awesome! The cost is a little heavy, specially for Criminals that already have to spend big money on their in-faction breakers, but in my opinion this card is worth what it costs. It is also a good card to use as out of faction for Shaper, it costs only 2 influence points and it can be turned to credits again with Aesop's Pawnshop once it is done.

Lluluien - 5 out of 5
There are so many different servers to protect that often I rely on 4 non-agenda cards to protect a singleton agenda in my hand, and with this card, the odds of it being stolen went from 20% to 40% with this in play. Note that’s better than the odds of running twice and stealing it, which is 1 - 0.8(0.8) = 36%, and odds are good that this card isn’t any more expensive than the second HQ run. I’d give it 4 points for being dangerous to play versus Jinteki, but it goes right back to 5 for saying “access 1 additional card” instead of “access 2 cards” - these things stack!

Scud - 5 out of 5
Accessing multiple cards from HQ provides diminishing returns, since the composition of the Corp’s hand only changes by a card or so each turn (unless your opponent is spending a click or two each turn drawing [or is playing Anonymous Tip]). For that reason, I’ve stayed away from Nerve Agent because on top of the whole diminishing returns thing, it costs MU, needs Virus counters (which can be purged) and is susceptible to Program trashing. Bleh. HQ Interface, on the other hand, is pretty great since it has none of the additional drawbacks of Nerve Agent. And it makes you feel a bit better about those times when the Corp dumps all of it’s money during an Account Siphon run by giving you a little something extra for your trouble. In fact, it may alter the Corp’s decision to dump money if accessing two cards would be too dangerous for them.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_pheromones-humanitys-shadow.png'] Pheromones 15 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 2 out of 5
This card was painted the wrong colour. In a criminal deck it takes away from MU that can be used for Sneakdoor Beta and other ICE Breakers. It works better with a RIG, and most criminals are not running with one.

highjack - 2 out of 5
I don't think Criminal wants this and while Noiseshop would love in-run recurring credits, it probably doesn't have the influence free (or the deck space for that matter).

Hraklea - 3 out of 5
I find it hard to dislike cards that give you credits to use during a run, they scream "COMBO!!!" into my face. We have Personal Workshop to abuse Pheromone credits, and Self Modifying Code is coming out this quarter. As a program, it costs MU, which might be a problem for Criminal players, but Dyson Mem Chip is starting to become more popular because of Underworld Contact, and that can solve the memory issue. At last, because it is a virus, Noise: Hacker Extraordinaire can always find a place for it.

Lluluien - 4 out of 5
If this said, “use these credits for breaking ICE during runs on HQ”, I would not be impressed. However, these credits can be used for not only ice-breaking, but traces and trashing cards as well, since these happen “during runs”. That makes this card immensely more powerful. Where using high-cost assets gave some resistance to Criminals destroying HQ without Imp, this card means that may no longer be true.

Scud - 4 out of 5
The only reason this isn’t getting a five is because it only affects one server. The recurring credits can be used not only to break ICE, but to beat Traces, trash cards, and, oh yeah, Vamp.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_quality-time-humanitys-shadow.png'] Quality Time 15 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 3 out of 5
Not amazing. Not terrible. But NOT loved like Diesel. Definitely seeing it get more play out of faction in mid to late game, to swing momentum your way.

highjack - 4 out of 5
Probably worse than Diesel in Shaper, but costing only 1 influence means it’s often the better choice out of faction.

Hraklea - 2 out of 5
I'm trying to like this card, but I think I can't. This is definitely worse than Diesel. It costs only 1 influence, so it is the easiest drawing card to use as out of faction, but Mr. Li is coming soon, and Anarch has Wyldside, which is better. There might be a use for it, maybe a Chaos Theory: Wunderkind or an Andromeda: Dispossessed Ristie deck, where you must dig for a particular combo as fast as possible, or those credit denial decks that lock you while pushing the R&D server with Medium, I don’t know. I told you, I want to like this card.

Lluluien - 3 out of 5
This card is useful simply as having an additional draw accelerator that effectively reduces the size of our deck. Quality Time provides less efficiency than Diesel for doing so, though the 1 influence cost is notable versus Diesel’s 2. The cost to play and volume of cards it retrieves will likely make this awkward to use without discarding at the end of a turn.

Scud - 3 out of 5
If, like me, you play in a pretty heavy Jinteki meta, this card is going to be a lifesaver, literally. Play Quality Time, then run that big Medium dig on Jinteki’s R&D and live to tell the tale. As a pure draw accelerator, I think that there are going to be decks where this card is nuts (Personal Workshop, I’m looking at you). However, the high cost AND the possibility of having to discard a bunch of cards (barring Public Sympathy) puts this one in the middle of the pack.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_replicator-humanitys-shadow.png'] Replicator 15 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 2 out of 5
In the current state of the game there are too few cards that you want 3 copies of all at one time. This card seems more like setting something up for future releases.

highjack - 3 out of 5
Yet another card whose power level increases as the card pool increases. It seems not that hard to envision reaching a critical mass of good hardware that a Shaper deck could be built around the idea.

Hraklea - 4 out of 5
Everybody is talking about the “Inside Man deck”. We might not know exactly how it is going to work yet, but we do know that Replicator will be there. It eliminates the excessive copies of itself, it eliminates the excessive copies of your console, and it gives ammo for Inside Man every turn. As an Anarch player, the possibility of playing 3 copies of Cyberfeeder in a row gives me a nerd-gasm. It also improves the Dyson/Contact combo, because you’ll only need 1 copy of Dyson Mem Chip. I’ll definitely try Replicator on my Wyldside/Pawnshop deck.

Lluluien - 3 out of 5
Though the score I give this card is mediocre with regards to its general purpose power, this is my favorite kind of card to see in this type of game. In many decks, this card simply won’t be worth the space it occupies. However, this kind of unique ability often leads to an entire fresh deck archetype once a creative deck builder finds a way to unlock its potential. I’m looking forward to seeing how the community puzzles over this one.

Scud - 3 out of 5
Replicator falls just short of a four rating for me. Yes, it can power a silly Aesop’s Pawnshop economy, searching for, installing, and pawning low cost Hardware. It’s more universal use is what makes it so close to a four, though – you can immediately find that other copy of your Console and get it out of your deck OR you can grab and install a second Cyberfeeder/Dyson Mem Chip/HQ Interface, etc. The two pips of Influence is what knock it back down to a three, since Anarchs and Criminals would probably want this the most. This is one that will get better as the card pool increases, though, so keep an eye on it.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_creeper-humanitys-shadow.png'] Creeper 13 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 2 out of 5
Cloud cards are fun but gimmicky. Still this is not the best option for sentry breaking. Being too expensive and not as effective as Ninja it has a place in the shoebox under my bed and not in my deck.

highjack - 2 out of 5
Hard to see this getting played. Criminal doesn't want it. Anarch doesn't want it. It's compares favorably enough to Ninja that you could consider running it in Shaper if you didn't want to splash, but you probably still want Femme anyway.

Hraklea - 3 out of 5
Honestly, this card is bad. Paying 2 credits to break one subroutine sucks. But we have to keep in mind that this card is the faction that has the worst time facing sentries. Is it better than Pipeline? Yes, it is. Is it better than Aurora, considering that Criminal is supposed to be the worst faction against barriers? Yes, it is. Is it better than Force of Nature, for the very same reason? Yes, it is. Of course Creeper could be as good as Yog.0, but it stills usable. And it’s another cloud program, that will be good someday!

Lluluien - 3 out of 5
I’m not really of the opinion that there is all that much difference between the pumpable Killer programs - you either decide to pay the enormous install cost of Femme for her bypass ability, or you don’t. This card has one particularly notable exception in comparison to the others - it sucks against Rototurret. Creeper is interesting simply for adding to the Cloud hosted program mechanic, nothing really more or less.

Scud - 3 out of 5
A decent in-faction Killer alternative to Pipeline, Creeper is the right choice for when you want to spend your Influence on something other than Ninja/Femme. No great shakes, but it does the job.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_kraken-humanitys-shadow.png'] Kraken 16 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 4 out of 5
This card will be difficult to pulloff in most cases with a great upside if done so, similar to Notoriety. When added to the right deck with the right player this card will sing. It has potential to be a brutal, unforseen kick in the corps pants.

highjack - 2 out of 5
This seems way too situational to be good.

Hraklea - 3 out of 5
This card is very solid, in my opinion. The possibility of trashing a rezzed piece of ice is always a good thing. It will change how corporations protect their servers. I think that all runners will be using this - at least, I will. It will also make central server pressure decks stronger (as if they weren’t popular enough, right?). Some players might find it weak, because it has a restriction and the corporation player chooses the piece of ice to be trashed, but I recommend you to try it.

Lluluien - 3 out of 5
Only being able to play the card when an agenda is stolen could make timing this card awkward, and the fact that the Corp gets to choose which ICE to trash may make it harder to trash something worthwhile in the spot we prefer to target. Those are drawbacks that may keep this from being widely popular across many decks. However, in a deck that focuses on keeping the Corporation ICE-denied already, this card may prove godly. Middling score here for being a strong card with limited applicability.

Scud - 4 out of 5
Four *might* be a bit high for Kraken, but man am I excited to get this card in some decks. Resource (meaning credits/ICE/Asset) denial gets a big boost all over Humanity’s Shadow, and Kraken is the rose made out of icing on that cake. You want this in your hand after digging into R&D with a Medium or two or after a run on HQ with Nerve Agent or HQ Interface on-line. Heck, this makes finding even a one-pointer cool. Yes, the Corp decides which piece of ICE gets trashed, but you pick the server *and* almost any loss of ICE is a positive for the Runner.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_kati-jones-humanitys-shadow.png'] Kati Jones 15 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 1 out of 5
After doing the math with Kati (to draw her, get her in play, then bank up enough on her to get your investment back) , this card sucks. Get in your jet Kati. Fly away......zoom zoom

highjack - 3 out of 5
If you're not doing a minimum of two adds this is pretty bad. While add-add-take does give you Opus level efficiency, being locked into a specific cycle of when you can profitably use this seems unappealing. I could see rating it higher, but it's hard to envision wanting more than 1 of these in your deck since it won't be so key to your gameplan that you need it early and multiples are just awful.

Hraklea - 2 out of 5
Here’s another card I’m trying to like. Actually, I think that this is one the cards that I’m probably misjudging. It is too slow and cards that give you credits at the moment you spend the click are better, but sometimes, when I’m building new decks, I feel that a card like Kati Jones would be perfect, and we didn’t have anything like that before Humanity’s Shadow. I will try it, I will hope it works, but keep seeing my matches in my mind, and I don’t see any situation where I could be investing time like it requires. Seriously, I’m lost here.

Lluluien - 5 out of 5
This is going to be a great card, not only because it is powerful for the Runner, but because it’s going to cause a lot of tense interaction between the Runner who wants to protect Kati, and the Corp, who wants to blast her out of the sky. This card will promote interesting tag interactivity the same way Personal Workshop does.

Scud - 4 out of 5
This is an awesome card. The only reason it isn’t getting a 5 is because it is an economic Resource that wants to stick around, so you’re going to have to play around tags. However, any card that makes NBN even more of a threat is a good thing.
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Corp

[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_eve-campaign-humanitys-shadow.png'] Eve Campaign 12 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 2 out of 5
I cut the picture off this card and pasted it over my Adonis Campaign. If you're not into doing that and want to play more of a shell game in your HB deck, try replacing your hedge funds with this card. It will net you some good money and the high trash will have people thinking twice. You’d have to be proving a point to play this out of faction, 3 splash cost is too high to see it anywhere but in HB builds.

highjack - 2 out of 5
This is a tricky card to rate because while I think it's a fine card, I think in Haas it's worse than Melange, Pad Campaign and Adonis Campaign. Since 3 influence pretty well guarantees it won't see play outside of Haas, it ends up seeming kind of bad.

Hraklea - 2 out of 5
I can understand that assets with expensive trash costs are more expensive to play, they are safer, and that’s good. But I think they went too far here. It only pays for itself in the third turn, you better pray for Whizzard: Master Gamer to disappear if you have any hope of using this card. And why does it cost 3 points of influence? It’s like Fantasy Flight Games is telling players “hey dude, forget this card, use Adonis Campaign!” At least the art is better than the Adonis Campaign one (as they say, boys will be boys).

Lluluien - 3 out of 5
Wow; this card takes a LONG time to pay out, and not a trivial amount of time to pay itself off. Where as you lose 1 credit to the Runner’s 3 if they choose to wipe out Adonis, you are both set back 3 credits if they wipe out Eve. I feel like this card should have been 1 influence instead of 3; am I missing something here?

Scud - 3 out of 5
The three pips of Influence seem a bit high, but Eve Campaign serves its purpose well – it is a high trash cost Asset that can masquerade as an Agenda, bring you some recurring economy, and/or split the Runner’s focus. It rides the fine line between worth it and not worth it as far as the Runner trashing it is concerned. Two credits per turn for eight turns is pretty good but not good enough to make it an auto-trash.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_rework-humanitys-shadow.png'] Rework 7 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 1 out of 5
How about we “REWORK” this card to say - Shuffle 1 card from your archives into your R&D - then we can talk.

highjack - 1 out of 5
So you're running this for when your hand is overloaded with agendas? I tend to dislike card that are playing not to lose instead of playing to win.

Hraklea - 1 out of 5
Nice way for them to say that they are aware that Haas-Bioroid is too strong: release a data pack without any decent card for the faction! I don’t understand why it does not allow you to draw a card, I wouldn’t expect anything less for a card with an effect like this. All I can think is that they will release something with synergy with Rework in the next data pack or in Creation and Control, because I don’t see any reasonable explanation to include this card in any deck now.

Lluluien - 2 out of 5
I would love to be able to use this ability, but what deck is going to be able to find space to work this in for its limited applicability? It gets a score of 2 instead of 1 only because it is an HB card and therefore retrievable with Project Vitruvius without influence cost, and the ability to force a shuffle on your deck is an interesting deck building tool on rare occasion.

Scud - 2 out of 5
Put an Agenda or Snare! back in your deck. Snare! is really neat, because you can recur it with Project Vitruvius and then stick it back into R&D. The Runner knows it's there, sure, but WHERE?!? However, the card is, for now, very, very narrow, so it gets a two.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_whirlpool-humanitys-shadow.png'] Whirlpool 16 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 3 out of 5
This card is only shining in a Jinteki damage deck build. Predicting this will see limited play.

highjack - 4 out of 5
Another good trick in the Jinteki arsenal, which seems like exactly the sort of thing they want.

Hraklea - 2 out of 5
Ok, hype is over, look at this card and actually think about it. How often do you see players jacking out? I can’t even remember the last time it happened. I see people saying that you can use this with Bullfrog, but since Bullfrog is a usable card? It sucks! There are people saying that you can use it with Edge of World, but Edge of World sucks too! I can’t believe people are seriously thinking about building a deck based on bad traps and a single piece of ice. And Cell Portal sucks too!

Lluluien - 4 out of 5
There are 1000 considerations to have to keep in mind for using this card effectively (Crypsis, no rezzed end-the-run routines behind it, etc.), but the ability on this ICE is very unique, especially considering that the “remainder of this run” includes forcing the “access cards” step. I’m quite confident that the Jinteki experts will be able to use this card to frightening and murderous effect.

Scud - 3 out of 5
The people who don't play Jinteki think this card is bad. The people that play Jinteki think this card is good. I'm gonna go with the people who play Jinteki on this one – Whirlpool can enable some ridiculous things. Of course, like most Jinteki cards, it requires a decent amount of patience and luck, but if that's already your playstyle, this card is going to flip all your switches. I predict Snitch starts showing up in a lot of decks in the next few weeks.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_hokusai-grid-humanitys-shadow.png'] Hokusai Grid 19 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 4 out of 5
Rez for 2, amazing. Trash value of 4, amazing. Really not seeing a downside to this card. Putting this on a central server is setting up for some fun times.

highjack - 3 out of 5
More good regions really helps with bluffing. Cheap to rez, decently expensive to trash. Works well with what you're already trying to do.

Hraklea - 4 out of 5
This is a very nice upgrade to have in your central servers, where will run often. I don’t see this dealing a lot of damage, I think people will trash it as soon as it shows up, but paying 2 credits to deal 1 net damage and making the runner pay 4 credits not to get hit again? This is way better than Neural EMP, even if it only hits once. I don’t think this is worth the influence, because currently there are more important flaws to cover in other factions, but this should be in every Jinteki deck.

Lluluien - 4 out of 5
This card has a lot of things going for it. The rez cost is cheap, the trash cost is relatively high for something that has a trap-like effect, and its effect fits nicely in with the theme of the Jinteki faction. I believe in general that Upgrades are some of the most integral parts of the game for Corporate misdirection and mind games, which makes its subtype perhaps the most imporant thing about it.

Scud - 4 out of 5
It's an Upgrade! It's cheap! It's spendy-ish to trash! It's ability is a little bit of alright (even moreso when combined with original flavor Jinteki: Personal Evolution)!
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_data-hound-humanitys-shadow.png'] Data Hound 14 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 3 out of 5
First card that punishes the runner for not paying anything. Just wish it was more mid game playable by having a higher strength. As it sits it is a good early game ICE.

highjack - 3 out of 5
I could see running this given how cheap it is. If you use your recurring credits from Making News the runner really has to question if they want to put money into it (good for you) or let you see their next 3 draws and potentially trash a key card (good for you). Although most sentry breakers have a field day with it.

Hraklea - 2 out of 5
This card is cool, it can potentially destroy a program in the runner’s stack, but it is too cheap to break, in my opinion. In NBN, if you want a cheap sentry, it is better to stay with Matrix Analyzer (and even Hunter). Other factions can’t even pay for the trace if your opponent has some link (not that they don’t have credits, but it just isn’t worth it). I don’t think there’s a card that is worth to trash that is not a program, and we have better options to trash programs. Sorry, rex.

Lluluien - 3 out of 5
Data Hound is so very vulnerable that the window of the game in which it contributes is extremely small. Not only can ICEbreakers easily break through this at only two strength, the card comes with the standard vulnerability to link that all tracing ICE have. The base strength is also relatively small. All that said, the card has some strengths, too. Its very cheap to play, the ability is very unique, and it counterintuitively scales well across multiple runs because if you can power the trace once for a large amount (say, using NBN identity or Net Police credits), you can put the best card you didn’t trash on top so that you can wreck it too with a cheaper trace if they run Data Hound again.

Scud - 3 out of 5
A nice early-game ICE with an effect that is more interesting than ETR. Early-game, you don't always *need* to end the run, so an effect like Data Hound's can help you het into the mid-game where you have the slight advantage. If you happen to hit their Personal Workshop or Grimoire or Desperado or other conerstone card, you can slow the Runner down considerably, especially when you also get to choose the order they'll see their cards.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_bernice-mai-humanitys-shadow.png'] Bernice Mai 19 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 4 out of 5
This card can be a direct swap in swap out for ChiLo City Grid. Loving the high trace value. Risk for reward is great.

highjack - 4 out of 5
If you put your Making News credits into this, trace 7 seems like a pretty reliable way to tag the runner (really, trace 5 seems pretty reliable). Being free and taking up no room in a remote is pretty great.

Hraklea - 3 out of 5
Another solid upgrade to be used on central servers. Tracing with a base strength of 5 is a sure hit most of the times, it costs nothing to be rezzed, and it costs 3 credits to be trashed. If you consider the 2 credits required to remove the tag, it takes 5 credits away from the runner. That said, I don’t think this is thaaat good. Some people can protect themselves from tags, extra link is becoming popular, and if you lose the trace, you lose the upgrade. Bernice Mai is a fair card for me, not too strong, but definitely not too weak.

Lluluien - 4 out of 5
This is a perfect card for NBN. Not only is it an Upgrade and therefore useful already simply as a versatile facedown card, but in a faction with the most comprehensive tag punishment suite, this surprise tag with a high base trace combos well with tracing ICE like Data Raven for setting the Runner up to accidentally account for one too few tags to remove. The only reason I don’t give this card a perfect 5 is that there are decks that run with no tag punishment, and this card is useless in those decks.

Scud - 4 out of 5
Another Upgrade, which is always good no matter what's printed on it. Fortunately, what's printed on this one is pretty nice. In a tag-focused deck, if you can't keep 'em tagged, keep 'em poor and Bernice's Trace5 will do just that. If the lose the Trace and then spend the credits to trash her, all the better, because now they're out 5 credits when all is said and done. I have a feeling that Bernice will live longer than you expect because she costs more to trash than ditching the tag.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_salvage-humanitys-shadow.png'] Salvage 5 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 1 out of 5
Hate Weyland ICE that reads “can be advanced only while rezzed”. Just can't get behind it. Show your gaming friends wow crazy and tuff you are by ripping this card up in front of their faces. Email us the video link.

highjack - 1 out of 5
If Bernice Mai is on one end of the "reliable ways to tag the runner spectrum," this is as far on the other end as possible. Worst ICE yet?

Hraklea - 1 out of 5
I dream about the day I will be able to beta test a game. I'd love to understand why anyone would design a card like this. This is not worth the time I'm spending writing about it. I mean, seriously... Anarch has Parasite and Yog.0, Shaper has Rabbit Hole, and Criminal is fast enough not to be worth for you to spend time advancing such a crappy piece of ice as this one. I see that Fantasy Flight Games is slowly releasing cards for an Amazon Industrial Site archetype, but if Salvage is what they have to offer, that archetype is never gonna happen.

Lluluien - 1 out of 5
This card is so egregiously bad that I wonder what’s going on with it. There has to be some future cards or mechanics in the works which will make this card make sense. Parasite cripples this card, 2 points of link cripples this card, Yog.0 cripples this card... and it’s still 2 influence? You ought to get bonus influence points to use if you include this in your deck list with the current card pool. (Aside: is 1 the min score, or is 0? I may need to adjust my scores a bit if 0 is the minimum.)

Scud - 1 out of 5
Time to get Tech Talk-y on ya: Salvage is NOT a great card but, c'mon, does EVERY SINGLE RUNNER pack Parasite and/or Yog.0? Answer: No, they don't. You might. And you. And that guy back there with the face. But not everyone, not even close. And, in a tag-focused deck, or, heck, even in a Scorched Earth deck, if a Runner hits a seven- or eight- times advanced Salvage, even with 2 or 3 Link, they're paying at least 1-for-1 to break or getting a tag or two, especially if you're running Weyland ('cause you can outspend them by a couple credits on two or three of those Traces). Salvage is better than Tyrant. And it can be targeted by Commercialization, so there's that.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_simone-diego-humanitys-shadow.png'] Simone Diego 10 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 1 out of 5
3 turns and 5 clicks to save a dollar?!? Not exactly a stellar card.

highjack - 2 out of 5
While I like the idea of upgrades that make money, this one seems like it's just not good enough. If it cost less to rez or more to trash, I could see it.

Hraklea - 2 out of 5
t takes you four credits to have credits for advancement. What should we advance? Tyrant and Salvage? I don’t think Simone Diego is that terrible, it can be used to advance agendas and traps, but the awful pieces of ice that Weyland has definitely doesn’t this new sysop. I’m not a big fan of the new identity, but if you need advancements that bad, just play with Weyland: Because We Built It. You won’t have enough transactions in a “Simone Diego based deck” (if such thing is possible) and you won’t spend your entire turn advancement. One recurring credit is enough.

Lluluien - 2 out of 5
The rez cost on Simone surprises me. While it’s true that in two turns this card can make up its rez cost, it requires 4 clicks for it to do so. If you’re already planning on making extensive use of advanceable ICE, then this card may work out fine. That said, I can’t really see any of the other factions spending influence to sign her on, and even in Weyland decks that don’t play Commercialization, Simone probably can’t compete for the Upgrade deck slots against Corporate Troubleshooter or Ash.

Scud - 3 out of 5
Another Upgrade! Woot! And this one, while it isn't as good as Bernice Mai, ain't bad either. Two recurring credits that can be used to advance ANY advancable card means that you can save your credits for the Runner's turn, so you can rez ICE, pay into Traces, rez Assets and/or Upgrades, activate Ambushes... If you are planning on playing the long game, Simone is your girl.
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[CRB='forums/uploads/an/med_foxfire-humanitys-shadow.png'] Foxfire 13 out of 25

Bad Publicity - 2 out of 5
Feeling that this is another card that will have more potential in the future. As much as we hate coming up against Ice Carver, it’s not worth putting in a deck hoping your opponent is playing one.

highjack - 3 out of 5
I really wanted to rate this a 4 since once again, as the card pool grows so too does the power of this card. Of course right now it has nowhere near enough good targets to see play. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

Hraklea - 2 out of 5
I don’t think it is bad, I just think it came out too soon, and there are not enough card to be worth to play it. It traces with a base strength of 7, I’m not sure why to trace at all, I don’t think it would be too strong if it trashed instantly, but it is ok the way it is. This card will probably be a 3 out of 5 in a close future, but in the current state of the game, I can’t imagine myself using Foxfire. Still waiting for something that trash connection resources.

Lluluien - 3 out of 5
Base link tends to be valuable up to around 3 or 4 before its utility drops off, so that’s typically the amount we see in Runner decks that use it. If we could work 3 copies of Foxfire into a deck that relies on tracing, that may go a long way towards solving the problem that trace ICE tends to get “broken” by default during the late game. I’m just not sure where the deck slots are going to come from to accommodate this. Whether or not this card gets better with age likely depends on whether or not Ice Carver or Xanadu ends up being more indicative of what we can expect of future virtual cards.

Scud - 3 out of 5
Trace-centered decks will want to pack a full set of Foxfire to take out Rabbit Holes, Dyson Mem Chips, Compromised Employees, and Helpful AIs. The fact that it can take out Ice Carvers and/or Xanadus is icing for when you hit a runner that isn't packing any Link cards.
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