Top 10 - Netrunner Economy Cards

YES! I have been waiting for a new episode from you guys. The chemistry you have together just works so well. It is what keeps me coming back every time. Keep up the good work.

Oh, and really liked the TOP 10 format.

My top 5 would be:

Corp
1st: Pop-up Window
2nd: Melange Mining Corp
3rd: Adonis Campaign
4th: Hedge Fund
5th: Government Contracts
6th: PAD Campaign (in case you don't consider Pop-up Window an economy card)

Runner
1st: Account Siphon
2nd: Personal Workshop
3rd: Armitage Codebusting
4th: Magnum Opus
5th: Sure Gamble (maaaybe Cyberfeeder)

Pop-up Window works really great as it doesn't cost anything and runners are likely to run your R&D whenever they can. It either works like a cost 0 PAD Campaign that can't be trashed or stops the runner from going in a central server. It's a win/win situation that costs you only 1 influence per card.

Account Siphon is retarded, I don't think I need to explain it. =P
But I have to say that I'm surprised that Personal Workshop didn't show up. I mean... isn't Noise/shop one of the most popular runner decks in US? It costs you 1 credit and gives you 1 credit per turn, not to mention all the tricks it allows you to do with Noise's ability and its synergies with Stimhack and Pheromones.

I feel that personal workshop is not in the list because the real benefit of the shop is the ability to install cards during runs not the credit it gives you every turn.

IMP too, is a prety good econ card for runner...

Runner:

1st: Account Siphon
That's a no brainer. Even if you revomve the tags, it nets for 7 credits, with Gabe for 10 and even if yu have Opus it's still a solid 3 credits with the upside of the corp possibly not being able to rez ice on other servers.

2nd: Magnum Opus
Personal preference. I play Shaper. Should be enough explenation.

3rd: Stimhack
Sure, the brain damage sucks, but it is soooo good. It's not only the credits, it's the surprise factor. If you have Crypsis out early game and you are holding Stimhack in your hand, you are getting anywhere you want if you have to. And the synergy with Personal Workshop is amazing.

4th: Liberated Accounts
You pretty much covered it in your video. Would rank higher if it wouldn't cost 6 and a click to install. It can't pull you out of a hole on it's own.

5th: Kati Jones
Amazing card if you get it out early enough to capatilize on it. Could also have ranked a little higher, but right now there is way too much tagging going on in my opinion.

Compromised Employee is a close runner-up. Especially in Andromeda where you can reliably get one in your opening hand or even 2 if you are lucky, it's an amazing card, becuase it pays you for something you want to do anyway and many corps forget to account for it in their math. And the recurring credit for traces doesn't hurt either.


Corp:

1st: Adonis Campaign

It's really good. You covered it already.

2nd: Pop-up Window

In certain decks this is better to replace with Shadow, but both are amazing. Especially Pop-Up Window literally shuts HQ down against many Shaper. They don't really have a way to capatilize on HQ runs other than seeing a card. And if it suddenly costs them one credit and you gain one, HQ doesn't really look very attractive anymore.
Also a great protection from Indside Job.

3rd: Melange Mining Corp

What can I say. It's pretty good. Too bad it often get's trashed right away. As you said, it's not bad in shell game, but if you play with a big remote, this card is downright amazing. Either the runner pays through his nose to get to it or you keep making money of it until you put (or bluff) an agenda or just fast advance and score out of hand.
Shouldn't be played in Weyland with Gouvernment Contracts though.

4th: Marked Accounts

I really like this card. Unlike a PAD which often gets trashed right away when played unprotected, this card often sits arounf the whole game getting you money. It always semms to fly under the radar. Also, PAD is 2 to rez which equals two charges for Marked Accounts if you value a click for a credit. Of course often times it's not that simple but I still think it's superior to PAD.

5th: Hedge Fund

I like it better than Sure Gamble on the runner side, becuase the corp has a harder time getting money than the runner. There are not many alternatives.

If your main point in having PAD campaign at #1 is you get the shell game AND a moderately high trash AND incidentally a little bit of econ for a couple turns, Marked Accounts is much better. The higher trash cost puts it at Eve Campaign level and means it's much more likely to stick around and actually generate you some credits. Maybe it's our meta, but PAD gets trashed way too quickly to qualify as a particularly useful econ card. Still a good include for the supplemental reasons, but well down from #1.

And then there's pop-up window. I love this card. #1 for sure, and it's not even in your top 5! I have 3 of these in both my HB and Jinteki decks, and they just make things so lovely. Good runners run early and often on centrals, so toss a couple of these on R&D or HQ to profit from their tendancy while you get set up. Plus they're great Inside Job protection and will even counter the upcoming Shaper ID that makes the first ICE encountered gain code gate. I have one regular opponent that hates running into these so much in my decks he typically burns 1 or 2 parasites just to get rid of it! Simply golden.

One thing I do with Bankjob when i play Jinteki is keep a single Cred on bankjob and just keep it there. If i ever get whirlpooled instead of accessing a server i can just take that one cred and save myself.

Your videos get more and more entertaining!

the best corporate economy card : HB core identity

Corp:
#1: Adonis Campaign
#2: Marked Accounts
#3: Melange Mining Corp
#4: Oversight AI
#5: Hedge Fund
#6: Beanstalk Royalties (in case you don't think Oversight is an econ card.)

Runner:
#1: Account Siphon
#2: Modded
#3: Kati Jones
#4: Stimhack
#5: Liberated Account (Edit: I changed my mind. Magnum Opus is #5. LA is #6.)

Account Siphon has been explained already. And it doesn't really need it.
Adonis Campaign makes 8 creds for 2 actions. That's awesome. The reason it's above Marked Accounts is it's raw profit, and it's above MMC because it doesn't take clicks. It can be used to bluff, makes lots of money for a small number of actions, and it's need for protection is short-lived. It's trash cost isn't spectacular, but it's fair. Seriously, if Adonis had a trash cost of even four it would be OP.

the best corporate economy card : HB core identity

And Kate for Runners

My problem is that the runner top 5 is in reality it is a criminal top 5. Account syphon with 4 influence despite being really great wil not even get in my top 5 for shaper... therefore I will devide my top 5 (runner) into top shaper/criminal/anarchs:

Criminal:
1.) Account syphon
no brainer since no influence cost here
2.) Bank job
As explained in the video and since criminals are so early game oriented they tend to have the possibilities for it.
3.)Compromised Employee
Link ressources and money for testing the corps ICE, great in combination with forged activation/emergency shutdown/crescentus
4.)Kati Jones
Neutral money you can build up in "slow" turns and harvest for the agenda run
5.)Armitage codebusting
While painfully slow especially with criminals I often need a low cost economy card that does not depend on runs to enable Bank jobs or account syphon runs

Shaper:
1)Personal Workshop
All hardware/Programms for 0 creds, awesome and you can get cards of your hand if you need the space
2)Magnum Opus
Terrible efficienty but the main thing about Magnum Opus is that it is infinite independency, when you play Testrun you can drop other economy cards since you will get Magnum Opus early and are then flexible for the rest (hopefully) of the game
3)Underworld contacts
Runners pad campain and shaper normally have enough link
4)Sure gamble
I take sure gamble before modded since both have the same efficiency and one needs a hardware/programm the other 5 credits ready
I prefer Sure gamble since modded does not go well with the personal workshops
5)Modded
As above

Anarchs (my least played runner faction)
1)Liberated accounts
They are so good, nuff said
2)Kati Jones
Anarchs struggle a little with economy so Kati is a really nice addition, downside if you play wyldside you will not be able to click everytime
3)Armitage codebusting
good card, often provides the credits to install the liberated account
4)Account syphon
heavy influence cost but works really nice with vamp
5)Personal Workshops
the Noise mill deck combo, close on the 4th place

In the end I have to say that making a top5 only worked on Corp side. On runner side it is just not viable to play all these outfaction options.
My corp top 5 switches the terrible Eve campain for the genius marked accounds

Top 5 for corp:
1) Adonis Campaign
2) Popup Window
3) Hedge Fund
4) Melange Mining Corp
5) Oversight AI

Adonis gets the gold for having a high profit for just one click, and pays out relatively quickly, so it doesn't have to be protected for long. It can also be played unprotected in some situations.
Popup Window get silver for also having a high profit for one click, but falls a little short of Adonis for not paying out quickly if the runner doesn't run aggressively.
Hedge Fund gets bronze for a decent profit for one click, a surprise element, and a zero influence cost, as well as being hard for the runner to foil.
Melange has a very high profit, but it takes a lot of clicks and protection, so it only gets fourth place.
Oversight AI has a high profit for one click, but it has several drawbacks. It requires big ICE, so it's a little situational, and it trashes the ICE it rezzes. It finishes in a respectable fifth place.
I specifically avoided Identities and agendas, since they can only be used with one faction.

Top 5 for Runner:
1) Account Siphon
2) Stimhack
3) Kati Jones
4) Magnum Opus
5) Sure Gamble
Account Siphon not only gains the runner a boatload of credits, it also drains the corp. It has some drawbacks, but those are easily overcome.
Stimhack is similar to account siphon (from an pure economy standpoint), but it gives a lesser credit gain. It does have a larger surprise factor and a lesser drawback, while also being cheaper when it comes to influence.
Kati Jones is super efficient click wise, as long the game goes on long enough, though it can be trashed if the runner is tagged.
Magnum Opus gives a steady source of income, though it has a high install and memory cost. If Kati Jones didn't exist, this would be number three, but Kati Jones beats this out slightly for being neurtral.
Sure Gamble gives a moderate credit burst, and beats out Modded for being neutral and more flexible.

I did this list before reading the article or the other comments (so I could see how my list compares to others), so this is uninfluenced by anyone's opinion.

If you remove the tags from the Siphon and don't have Desperado and/or Gabe, it has the same efficency as Stimhack which is +7.

Stimhack:
-1 draw
-1 play
+9 effect
= +7

Account Siphon:
-1 draw
-1 play
+15 effect
- 6 for two tags
= +7

However, Siphon of course can be modified by having Gabe, Desperado or some sort of tag removal which makes it superior to Stimhack.

Lords, Ladies and fellow Neck Beards,

Every single one of you has offered up insightful information that people can learn from. Even those of you with shorter comments have said something to put the brain in motion. I am literally blown away. This is what a community looks like.

Now, on to some responses! Stimhack indeed. As there were three of us casting the votes after rifling through every card created thus far, split decisions were cast out in favour of consensus picks. Stimhack was nearly on the list for us. Basically this was the case for many other "temporary economy" cards as well as credit saving cards, simply because the credit gain was not transferable. As the left over credits vanish with the end of the run and are not able to be banked, Stimhack fell to the wayside in favour of choices that met all the criteria that regular currency enjoys. We know that cutting amazing momentum swingers like this is ballsagna, but in the interest of measureability, sacrifices were made.

Popup Window. Again, an amazing card. The reason this card was cut was due to the control the runner still possesses in regard to the corporation gaining their dough. We understand that if they are placed in the right spot you will literally never be hard up for cash, but there is a chance that the runner will switch up strategies just to keep you poor. But risk for reward, this card is almost unfair.

Believe it or not there are a couple of top 5 choices in these comments that I completely agree with in their entirety. But, three guys, three opinions and an averaged score yields some very interesting results when compared to individual choices. And as usual due to the absolute flawless overall design of this game, every play style warrants a different choice in income. Each one not without its merits.

We hope some of you newer players found this video helpful. But in all fairness, the comments below it hold more personalized and hence accurate information than we have offered. Learn from the experience each commenter is putting forward and internalize it. It is one of the best ways to get a leg up on the pile.

-Corps3mourn of BadPublicity

...and fellow Neck Beards,

Hear, hear!

There is one thing I don't get: Why is everybody ranking Account Siphon as a +7 and saying therefore it is best and it doesn't need explanation?
Account Siphon is only +7 against an unprotected HQ, so the cost to break Ice in front of HQ has to be subtracted from the Siphons "value", which suggests it is strongest in the early game

P.S.: Modded is superior to Sure Gamble by 1 credit in a Magnum Opus deck, so they are not equal in efficiency (Sure Gamble nets you 2 credits, while Modded nets you a credit and a click)

Siphon is the strongest in early game for sure, but you are right about the +7. They only apply in a vacuum. A protected HQ lowers the value, tag removal/Plascrete Carapace, Gabe and Desperado add to the value.
However, I would value that credits the corp lost are more valuable to you than credits you gain. The corp needs money to rez ice. Without money they can't do anything. A runner can always run. So It's sometimes even beneficial to lose credits with a Siphon to keep the corp poor.
It's generally pretty favourable for the runner to trade 1 for 1 and sometimes even worse. This is why Vamp is a very useful card as well.

I agree that credits are slightly more valuable for the corp.
(And I also agree that Account Siphon is a strong card btw)

Really? No one likes Private Contracts? It's a fabulously high Trash cost, and I can control how quickly or slowly the credits drip off it into my bank account. I love putting it in a well-protected remote alongside Bernice Mai or Hokusai Grid. The Runner will inevitably punch through to take a peek, only to take a tag or some net damage and find themselves debating whether or not it's worth trashing the Contracts. It's fabulous in NBN and Jinteki.

I'm thinking this Top 5 betrays a heavy HB bias.

Account Shipon also has the advantage over Stimhack in that you don't take brain damage.

Really? No one likes Private Contracts? It's a fabulously high Trash cost, and I can control how quickly or slowly the credits drip off it into my bank account. I love putting it in a well-protected remote alongside Bernice Mai or Hokusai Grid. The Runner will inevitably punch through to take a peek, only to take a tag or some net damage and find themselves debating whether or not it's worth trashing the Contracts. It's fabulous in NBN and Jinteki.

I'm thinking this Top 5 betrays a heavy HB bias.

It only nets you three credits.
-1 to play
-3 to rez
+14 effect
-7 for the clicks

Hedge Fund nets you the same without having to click it seven times.

But, three guys, three opinions and an averaged score yields some very interesting results when compared to individual choices. And as usual due to the absolute flawless overall design of this game, every play style warrants a different choice in income. Each one not without its merits.

It also has to be considered that not everybody plays at the same environment.

I believe that you, the guys from Bad Publicity, are american, and probably play regionals, so the competitive environment leads you to play the strongest cards and the strongest archetypes. I also believe (that's more like a guess) that most CGDB users are americans and probably play championships too.

In my case, there's no championship in Brazil. At all. We are like "which faction no one is playing? I'll play it!" rather than "this deck is good? ok, so I'll play it.". We don't have a reason to worry about winning as you do. It is good because we can give more attention to alternative archetypes, but it is bad because we don't have the same experience in playing against high level players as you do.

What I'm trying to say is that different point of views are expected in discussions like these (top 5~10), and it is important to listen all of them, because each one of them have a different background, with its own advantages and disadvantages.

not sure if I made myself clear...
TL;DR: I disagree with your list, but I think that you guys do a great job. Keep it up!