Tech Talk - Archer

Hello and welcome back to Tech Talk! Each article in this series takes an in-depth look at a single card, discussing its strengths, when to play it out of faction, and how to deal with it when you find yourself playing against it. This week we turn our attention to that cold-hearted Destroyer, Archer.

DOCUMENTATION: Two weeks ago, Tech Talk spent a good deal of time talking about how awesome NBN's Tollbooth (Core) is, all but christening it the BEST ICE available. And we'll stand by that claim but, man, Weyland Consortium's Archer (Core) is darned close. 4 Credits and an already scored Agenda for a 6 Strength Sentry that will trash two programs AND end the run? (Oh, yeah, and it'll get you 2 Credits, too.) Uh, yes please!

Forfeiting an Agenda is a pretty steep price to pay. However, if you pop an Archer at the right time, namely when the Runner is unequipped, either lacking the proper breaker or the credits to break the subroutines, you can pretty well cripple her rig. And without a rig, the Runner's mid-game is going to suffer, to put it kindly. When the opportunity arises, take a deep breath, remember that you have 20-21 points worth of Agendas in your deck, toss that Private Security Force, and ruin the Runner's day. When you include Archer in your deck, you really want to take advantage of the fact that you can look through the Runner's Heap at any time. Does she have one Corroder in the Heap (due to Net damage or hand limit)? Then trashing the copy she has in play may mean she has no more Barrier breakers and has to rely on Crypsis (Core) or Wyrm (Core) or, worst case scenario, can't get through Barriers at all. And that kind of hit can be a simple and elegant GAME OVER.

Archer's 6 Strength means that, even with the "right" breaker, the Runner is going to pay through the nose to get through unscathed. Against Ninja (Core), Archer costs 10 credits to break all subroutines. Pipeline (Core) needs 14 credits. Mimic (Core) can't break Archer's subroutines without help from Ice Carver (Core), Wyrm (Core), or The Personal Touch (Core) - the costs are a little harder to calculate, but it seems that a copy of Mimic along with two Personal Touch and an active Ice Carver would be the "best" rig to deal with Archer, an "up-front" cost of 10 credits and 3 clicks (for the installs) that will still require 4 Credits each time going through.

Let's take a second to talk about Archer's first, and mostly ignored, subroutine: The Corp gains 2 Credits. The Runner is very likely to let this subroutine fire off in order to save just a little bit of money every time she goes through. That turns Archer into a version of Tollbooth that pays you instead of the bank. At the very least, if you spring Archer on an unsuspecting Runner, you're really only going to be down 2 credits after rezzing. Best case scenario, you'll get 6-10 credits from the Runner during the course of a game. Did we say that Tollbooth is better than Archer at the top of this article? Hmmm.

INSTALLATION: Archer is at its best when rezzed in the middle of a Run. Priority Requisition (Core) and Accelerated Beta Test (Core) are pretty awesome Agendas but you should think very hard about rezzing Archer before the Runner has to deal with it. The Corp relies on bluffing and deception - springing an Archer before you need it is giving the Runner that sweet, sweet commodity "information." It is true that a rezzed Archer can slow the Runner down a turn or two as they decide not to run and instead build up the rig and/or economy to deal with it. But wrecking the Runner's rig is usually going to set her back more than a turn or two. She's going to have to rebuild, which takes cards and credits. Then she'll have to get her economy back on track. During that time, you're down 4 Credits from rezzing Archer and, at most, 5 clicks and 5 credits from the Agenda. However, most of your cost was, in effect, pre-paid, so you may be down a few points, making the game go longer, but you are in a much better position than the Runner for the endgame race.

Forged Activation Orders (Core) is going to ruin your day and, in a lot of cases, there is nothing you can do about it. The Corp may want to hold off installing Archer until they have an Agenda that they can forfeit. However, as pointed out above, Archer is best as a surprise, so rezzing it early may not be as strong a move as sending it to the Archives face-down and moving on. You're packing three copies anyway. Because if you are running Archer, you are packing three copies, end of story.

Archer is the reason Hostile Takeover (Core) exists (Posted Bounty (Core) has a couple other uses *cough* Scorched Earth *cough* but it does the job, too). Tossing a measly 1 point Agenda to curbstomp the Runner's rig is, quite frankly, awesome. Weyland has this bad boy in-faction for a reason, so don't be shy about making use of him.

IMPLEMENTATION: Archer isn't quite as splashable as Tollbooth but when you do splash it, the damage it can do is almost unbelievable. When a Runner is playing against Weyland, they have to take into account that one of those face-down ICE cards may be a potentially game-wrecking Archer. When facing anyone else, the Runner will probably not be prepared for you to toss an Accelerated Beta Test in order to rez a copy of Archer. Oh, the crying, it is delicious.

An NBN fast-advance style deck can definitely handle the forfeiting requirement and is the most comfortable out of faction fit for Archer. Make sure you're packing Breaking News (Core) if you want to bring Archer in.

On paper, Archer seems like a perfect fit for Haas-Bioroid because of Accelerated Beta Test BUT REMEMBER Archer wants to be rezzed once the Runner is committed to the run and it can cry havoc and let slip the dogs of program trashing. If you pack Archer in your HB deck, think very hard about whether just the threat of a rezzed Archer outweighs the utility of hitting really hard with it once.

Jinteki is probably the most awkward fit for Archer. If you treat it like a trap, you can get some real utility out of it. Putting a Chum in front of it and/or a Cell Portal behind it can really make for a fun bit of Runner frustration. Nisei MK II (Core) with a hosted Agenda Counter is almost always strictly better than Archer, though, so don't forfeit one until you've used the End the Run ability.

COUNTERMEASURES: Be very, very careful. Hold on to extra copies of your breakers if you have any reason at all to suspect your opponent may be running Archer. Pack a back-up breaker plan (Crypsis is your best Core Set option). Forfeiting an Agenda is a really steep price that is only worth it if your rig gets busted up. If you can keep things together or recover more quickly than anticipated (Special Order can really help), you can turn the tables or, at least, keep the tables roughly in the same position.