Upstalk Review

Our staff has put together an analysis of the first Data Pack of the Lunar Cycle, Upstalk.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 expansion!



Domestic Sleepers
(17 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 4 out ot 5
For starters this is an agenda that’s only worth for the Corporation, which is very cool and very frustrating for the Runner. Secondly, it triggers a bunch of cards and will trigger more as the game progresses, without the corp losing anything. It’s easily forfeitable. It’s fast to score. And once you’re at six points, or even 5 points with two these, you can just reinforce your servers and then trade 1 or two turns for the victory. This marginally increments Runner’s value cards that require forfeiting agendas for some reward.

Corps3mourn - 3 out of 5
Domestic Sleepers seems like a very steep investment for a nullified runner pull. For the two credits and three clicks it’ll take to get this thing out and scored you could have put down a 5/3 agenda instead. Tack on the three clicks you need to use to make this agenda worth one point and it’s exactly the same yet worth far less. If you are having troubles setting up scoring windows then this may be the bandaid solution you’re looking for. If you want to run Archer in purple then this becomes a far more viable option. But it will be taking up precious card space...

Grimwalker - 3 out of 5
Five stars to the design team for this one, which is somewhat of a different question. Well balanced in that it’s hard to free up two or three slots in your deck. Really nice to see after scoring two 5/3s, makes rush builds stronger who will try and score those 5/3s. It can close out a game and puts pressure on the runner just as much as if it were a legit point; I’ve had opponents get that GG look on their face faster than normal. Splashing Archer in HB just got real. I do think this makes Frame Job and Data Dealer stronger, so that’s appealing.

Jamieson - 4 out of 5
We already had a card worth negative agenda points and now here the first zero card. I am really digging on this movement towards agenda types like this and I hope we see more. I dont believe this will increase the use of cards like Data Dealer or Frame Job any more than already played. I do think that this makes Archer in HB a better play now. It lets you add 1 pointers into your deck without having to break up your current agenda composition.

Scud - 3 out of 5
This is probably a 4 but I’m just not SURE yet. It’s the ultimate self-protecting Agenda, worth nothing to the Runner. But it only gets you one point and it doesn’t count toward the AP included in your deck. Is it worth giving up 2-3 slots in your deck? Maybe. I can see three of them with six 3-pointers and two 2-pointers in a 54 card deck, leaving you 43 cards to play with. ICE-heavy NEXT Design, maybe?


NEXT Silver
(15 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 3 out of 5
I’ll give this a 3 because I expect to see more NEXT ICE. And, I’ll just throw this out, you can now play with 7 copies of NEXT ICE ( 3 Bronze, 3 Silver, 1 Mother Goddess, at least you’ll only have one rezzed...oh yeah, the subtype jokes are just beginning), which I don’t think it’s enough density in a deck to make this really good and taxing. Be it in Next Design or any other ID. But it’s a solid step towards it. Once we get NEXT Gold (possibly a sentry), and you start playing with 10 NEXT ICE (which may amount as half your ICE composition), then things will get serious, and the taxing, be it in the stupid amount of subroutines, or the stupid amount of strength, will provide a serious obstacle for the Runner. To mention also, this is a 3 credit barrier that’s very fragile to Parasite. Unless you’re committed to the NEXT plan, Ice Wall is all around better than this.

Corps3mourn - 3 out of 5
Next Silver commands a good, solid three in my eyes. Yes, it needs to be combined with accompanying ICE to bring it up to par or better, but it is cheap enough to rez early in a pinch. Solid, and will see a great deal of use.

Grimwalker - 3 out of 5
I put this in a NEXT Design deck and it didn’t disappoint. It died to Parasites which I don’t think are going away even with Lotus Field, but once I got three brothers rezzed it got to be a real problem for the runner. Am I going to take points off because you have to build around it? That’s a philosophical question that’s going to come back farther down the list; whether I’m rating cards just on including them in any deck, or whether I’m rating their performance in the right deck.

Jamieson - 3 out of 5
This has to sit at a 3 for me because alone its just ICE with 1 strenght and 1 sub. But in combo with other Next ICE or Mother Goddess the impact will be a lot higher but you still have to put in some work to build this up. Right now I can only see this going in HB as it needs to lean heavy on his brother Bronze. That could really rack influence out of faction. Really nice to see Hard End Runs in HB rather than something that can be clicked through. As a Next Design ID player I have waited for this day.

Scud - 3 out of 5
The extra Influence pip is what holds this back from being a 4. If it were more splashable in quantities, then it would be pretty great. I like the idea of early-game ICE that gets better as the game goes on and Bronze and SIlver definitely fit the bill. Silver may suffer as Morningstar becomes more prevalent (and it will *cough*Ashigaru*cough*) but I think it is a solid piece of ICE that will see a good deal of play in purple.



Lotus Field
(17 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 4 out of 5
I love this ICE! Not for its ability (which is very good nonetheless), but because it stirs up the meta. It gives some thought how you build your decks even! Criminals will step further away from the Anarch rig, as this will stop them dead. The cost is a little steep. It’s hard not to mention that it is a hard “End the Run” ICE in Jinteki. Not having its strength lowered means that no Parasite or Datasucker will be any good, making the Runner instead, break it through fair game. But, unless you’re Shaper, or not packing any Gordian Blade, this we’ll give you a hard time. Because it’s only one influence, this will go into a lot of decks. And because that’s true, Runners deck will have to be wary of it. And for just that, I love it.

Corps3mourn - 3 out of 5
I have a funny feeling that being as Lotus Field only really hoses Yog.0/Datasucker combos, we won’t see as much of it as one might expect. However, it does its job of keeping Yog.0 in check from the safety of your binder sleeves, so it’s utility is in a more passive regard. Take that ability away from it and it becomes very bland, as might be the case if it is used and your opponent has no intent to lower your ICE’s strength.

Grimwalker - 3 out of 5
I’ve played with it, and it’s not a bad include. I again give this one a higher rating to the design team for its balance than to its straight up power level--it’s kind of steep, but high strength Code Gates often are. Probably a good one-of in almost all Corp decks for the time being until it really becomes a meta call based on what’s being played.

Jamieson - 4 out of 5
The low influence pushes this value up for me from a 3 to a 4, giving it the ability to make homes in all decks. It is a great mechanic that I think this game needed. I really wonder how much play this will actually see after the hype over it dies out. I see a lot more people using a boostable breaker over Yog these days so its almost only just defending against Data Sucker. Which is not a bad thing but you're paying a pretty penny for it..

Scud - 3 out of 5
The strength of Lotus Field is its effect on the metagame. Yog.0 was already losing ground because of Jinteki’s 4+ Strength Code Gates. Now relying on Yog.0 (without Dinosaurus or The Personal Touch) is a risky proposition. And that, in turn, means that some of the Yoggable Code Gates that have seen little play may start to get some table time (maybe even, dare I suggest, Salvage?).



Mutate
(12 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 3 out of 5
Mutate is Precognition’s best friend. This card combo is very wacky. And can lead to nowhere. But, with Shiro also in the game, you do have some repeated manipulation of the top of your deck available. And to trade a Parasite’d, Knight’ed, or useless ICE for a fresh piece is something worth considering. Depending on how you build your deck, (maybe it has a bunch of ICE very hard to pass by, like Curtain Wall, or Janus 1.0, or some of the sort), firing this blindly may even not be that bad. This will only increase in value as more manipulation comes out. For now it’s still a little fishy to take this into a competitive tournament.

Corps3mourn - 2 out of 5
As a man who does not like to gamble or take unnecessary risks while playing the odds, I can’t really get behind Mutate as things stand. I’m sure there will come a day when it is exploited with great success, but that day is not now. I think any attempt to use this card as a form of sudo economy will rarely end in the manner a corp is hoping for. Albeit I would love to be proven wrong on this one...

Grimwalker - 2 out of 5
I don’t even. I’m going through the game theory of this in my head and Precognition has always been a red flag to me that my opponent is a newbie who doesn’t know the card pool outside of the Core Set. Jinteki ice is much scarier to me unrezzed than rezzed, unless you’re using this to import big out of faction ice--Jinteki has often had a love affair with Janus--but man this is going to be difficult to built towards.

Jamieson - 2 out of 5
I love the idea of ICE manipulation although not new to the game, it is something that is rarely seen. I can't envision a deck that could support this play right now and find the power to be a gamble that could back fire if you pull the wrong ICE. Plus when you reveal cards the runner is seeing X amount of cards until you find that ICE.

Scud - 3 out of 5
Targeting a piece of early game ICE in the mid-game blind isn’t terrible, so any uses of this card that aren’t blind are better. Depending on the spread of ICE types you have in your deck, even replacing a lBarrier with a Code Gate may buy you a turn or two while the Runner digs to find another ‘breaker. Taxing Jinteki: Replicating Perfection decks are going to love this card, especially if they can find room for Precognition. Glacier-y HB or Weyland can also benefit, although at three pips, I doubt anyone will splash three.



Near-Earth Hub
(22 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 5 out of 5
This may very well be my favourite card from the set. It’s the second Corp ID to break the 15-influence threshold and the ability promotes a new style of play from the NBN that we had yet to see, which very exciting. I hope players will not use this as just another Fast Advance ID with 2 more points of influence, and instead exploit the possibilities of an NBN shell game, but the tools are there. To an ID that I expect to see play, and that’ll change things, with new designs and new ways to play this game I cannot not give it a 5.

Corps3mourn - 3 out of 5
I expect that the perfect influence usage card selection will be ferreted out pretty soon that turns Near-Earth Hub into a contender. The ability however seems counterintuitive to the influence benefit. If your ability gains you credits for building horizontally, you’re more than likely looking at using asset economy… of which you will need to use a hefty chunk of your influence on at the moment. So why is that counterintuitive you ask? NBN can run on very little money. Yellow has no trouble winning with one remote, so what is the real differential that lures me to make the switch to NEH? I can’t find it just yet… Still a good card though. A boost in in-faction assets would make it more appealing.

Grimwalker - 5 out of 5
As Corps3mourn said, NBN can run on very little money, this is true. What’s worse than NBN with very little money? NBN with a lot of money; NBN with enough money to turn on enough ice to disrupt the centrals lock that are the only way to stop the Astrotrain. I took a pretty standard NBN build and added 3 Eves and 3 Adonis and was more than happy with its performance--getting extra card draw without clicks is huge, it’s one more way to wriggle out of R&D Lock. This is good now, and is only going to get better with time. So much so that I think it may actually need to be reined in sometime down the road.

Jamieson - 4 out of 5
This extra influence alone makes this card really powerful. I am not too keen right now on the ability as it is not one that stands out to me. Just not what I was expecting for the style and flavor of that we have seen with NBN. But we don't really have to worry about that, there are enough tools in faction that NBN does not need the ability of the ID to be something sparkly and new. The added influence makes this very dangerous. Expect to see it played.

Scud - 5 out of 5
Oh, the ideas I have for this ID! Lots of cool assets to be exploited and a little bit extra Influence to help you do so. Yeah, Near-Earth Hub doesn’t have any real advantage over the other NBN IDs as far as the current style of NBN play is concerned (but it doesn’t lose much when playing the Astrotrain, either) and that means a lot of folks will ignore it. What it does, though, and why I am excited, is promote a new, different style of NBN play.



Primary Transmission Dish
(12 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 2 out of 5
This may have some uses. The recurring credits are more than the rez cost, which is a good thing, since you’ll only want to rez these right before a trace. Giving NBN: Making News 5 recurring credits seems scary, but I don’t know if at all useful. With the new NBN ID, it can be a (primary) way to make it easier to tag the Runner. It may be just garbage, but it’s nice to have this tool around, whether you’re going to use or not.

Corps3mourn - 2 out of 5
To me, unless you’ve built your deck or your win condition around traces, this is a pass. Not to mention you’d need to keep it protected. If you want the runner to waste credits on a trash, you’re better off with a Marked Accounts. Plus you can spend those credits on anything.

Grimwalker - 3 out of 5
If you want Making News On A Stick, why not play Making News? That was my first thought, after my initial reaction of “sweet, now I can run Hub and not have to change anything.” Putting it in Making News is somewhat overkill, though Jamieson’s point is well taken. The problem is, any deck that maximizes its effectiveness is a deck that’s going to need to protect this, and the runner’s going to go kill it, and does NBN have the tools to keep it around long enough to be decisive?

Jamieson - 3 out of 5
Once you switch to Near-Earth Hub you might want a way to make up those recurring credits you lost from Making News. In a Making News decks I really love this as it opens up some of those cards that were forgotten about because of low traces ( Data Hound for example). The sad part about this card is I would have loved a higher trash cost.

Scud - 2 out of 5
An interesting restricted-economy card, Asset-heavy decks that want to make use of some Traces will find it interesting. Rez cost lower than Trash cost is alway sa nice thing to see (I’m thinking primarily of NBN decks but there may be a new Weyland Tag & Bag build lurking around here somewhere). Rez cost lower than Trash cost is always a nice thing to see. The two pips means that you can slot a couple of these in out-of-faction if you’re going Trace-focused. A lot of potential uses that require building around.



Midway Station Grid
(14 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 3 out of 5
This Upgrade is intriguing. It has a very strong ability, a reasonable enough rez and trashing cost, but it sits on a faction not really known for its taxing and prohibitive ICE (only Tollbooth, really). On the other hand, Caprice does get out of her faction and she’s also 4 influence. So if a deck would want an effect like this it would be possible to include it, although, it may be easier to import ICE to NBN. An NBN ICE taxing deck does seems an interesting proposition and this card would be midway to getting to that.

Corps3mourn - 3 out of 5
Midway Station Grid has some good taxing potential. Best played on a central to really drain the sprinter’s credit pool. Protecting the R&D or HQ with native NBN ICE can be a bit of a chore, but toting one of these in the root would make for a less aggressive runner.

Grimwalker - 3 out of 5
Get the frak off my centrals, you dirty runners. I like taxing ice decks, and with respect to Jamieson, I think NBN can do it fairly well—there are a number of cards that the runner really doesn’t want to go off. Maybe they’re not End The Run, but they can be disruptive. Like Transmission Dish, this card may make some binder fodder worth another look. Beware my forthcoming Burke Bugs deck.

Jamieson - 2 out of 5
When people talk taxing ICE decks NBN is not at the table. It this the tipping point card to get them to the grown ups table……………. I dont think so. It is going to take some creative work to get this influence heavy card to show up out of faction but at that point it is going to start causing headaches for the runner. Unfortunately, I don't think this will see the play I hope for but I'm excited to see what people come up with. If NBN was played as more a trace heavy taxing style this could add to that nicely but unfortunately it’s primarily a fast advance world.

Scud - 3 out of 5
Stupid pips dragging down the card’s rating! Arrrgh! NBN is going to like this a lot—it raises the tax on the cheap ICE NBN FA decks are mostly using. Actually, any NBN deck can benefit from using Midway Station Grid, since it makes the normally lackluster NBN in-house ICE better. Weyland would love one of these, too. Unfortunately, one is all they could afford to splash, so seeing it will be a challenge.



The Root
(20 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 4 out of 5
I’ll root for this card as I like its concept very, very much. The flexibility of the recurring credits make this card very powerful. If left unchecked, this will make you dominate the economic battle pretty handily. It gives your investment back after two turns and from then on, it’s just value upon value. Its trash cost is high enough to be tough for the Runner to uproot it.

Corps3mourn - 4 out of 5
A hefty rez cost will reduce The Root’s usage a bit, but if this card can be exploited properly, you will be able to spend your credits on rezzing ICE and playing operations, allowing you to score agendas on basically no money. That’s cool. The runner will have a great deal of trouble shutting down scoring windows unless they deal with this first.

Grimwalker - 3 out of 5
Useful for everything but traces, and we’re giving Weyland free money. It’s probably balanced; you’d really need to repeatedly drain it to get your money’s worth out of it, but the high trash cost is pretty nice.

Jamieson - 5 out of 5
LOVE this card. This is the most overlooked card of the pack I feel. All the talk was on Lotus Field the wanna be cool kid out there on the dance floor craving attention.. While Root is in the back room VIP unnoticed. Unlike cards of this style we have seen before if you give this one a read over you see one big difference. You can use this ability for anywhere NOT just in the server it’s installed. Some might say the cost is too high but I think its very balanced for how powerful this card is. Instant add to my decks.

Scud - 4 out of 5
The Root + GRNDL Refinery 4EVAH! Bother me not with the fact I’ll need two protected remotes! KA-CHING! Seriously, though, this card is pretty sweet free money for Weyland (for everything except Traces and Operations) that’ll cost the Runner a pretty penny to get rid off. The upiside down Rez and Trash costs means it isn’t really worth the Runner’s time to trash it until it is installed and rezzed, which means clever play can reward you greatly. You’ll want to see this fairly early but you can only have one rezzed at a time, so that dings the rating. Three pips is a more-than-fair Influence cost for a card so universally useful. I can’t wait to build my first The Root + Simone Diego server, perhaps on the Amazon Industrial Grid...



Taurus
(14 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 3 out of 5
What I like the most about this card, is its strength. 5 is a pretty number, although for a rez cost is a little bit steep. The trace starts low, but you can always guarantee trashing an hardware for 3 credits. The mostly played hardware right now are consoles and Plascrete Carapaces, which Taurus is very good against. But other than that, the Runner will be able to bullfight its way through… (olé!). Including it in your deck, has to be a balancing act with the copies, because, if you run too few it might be too late when you see him, and if you run too many, they don’t really do anything.

Corps3mourn - 3 out of 5
So, as long as the trace goes off, you can essentially auto kill a hardware for a three credit investment, and potentially another if the trace is successful. A five strength for five credit ICE is already not too shabby, and if you can find a way to add an end run then you’re laughing. Talk about taxing. However, Taurus is still Ninja food...

Grimwalker - 3 out of 5
Hard for me to rate; Hardware destruction is nice, and this is nice and beefy for a sentry, and it could easily be more cost-effective to try and beat a trace, but then it gives the corp a guaranteed shot at some of your rig. Well played, Weyland, well played. On the other hand, some decks won’t care. Some decks will care rather a lot, decks I run.

Jamieson - 2 out of 5
Always nice to see some hardware destruction, I just feel this might be hard to catch the runner with it. Weyland is not your safest faction to face-check so most people are prepped before a run anyway. I like the strenght here since it only has the 1 sub routine and if thats broken you don't get to trace. Also consider the players that run with little to no hardware. This is probably in Weyland for a balancing aspect but I feel it would be more comfortable in a NBN Making News. Dont see it causing much of an impact to game state right now.

Scud - 3 out of 5
Tag & Bag decks will like this a lot. Since there isn’t any direct Hardware recursion, tanking even one installed Plascrete can swing things. Since this bad boy doesn’t end the run, the Runner has to weigh the game state and decide whether making a successful run after losing her protection is a great idea—is that a SEA Source she can see reflected in the happy tears in the Corp’s eye? Strength 5 Sentries are pretty great and the fact that the subroutine does something regardless of whether or not the Trace is successful means that the Runner, if they have Harware they care about, will want to break it instead of trying to beat the Trace. At 2 pips, you’ll probably see this in other decks if those decks care about what Hardware the Runner is using.



Mother Goddess
(18 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 5 out of 5
Mother Goddess is one of my favourite Bioroids! It’s also a very efficient NEXT Deflector, all the while being a Code Gate Barrier AP. Seriously though, early game she’ll just stop the Runner dead and prompt them to have a full rig or an AI. On the mid game it keeps on taxing the Runner even if he/she is breaking Mother Goddess in the most efficient way. It loses some flare if it gains too many subtypes though, and may even be broken for free, so account for that when deckbuilding.

Corps3mourn - 3 out of 5
Mother Goddess is a good deal at $4 for 4 strength. One subroutine, okay. Now, if you use this early, the runner will need an A.I. breaker to get past it. You could even use it in conjunction with Trap and other Mythic ICE to make it standard breaker impervious (until you call out a type on Chimera). If you’re not using the NEXT series of ICE then MG is a pass for me at the moment. It’s still good mind you and it will most certainly be exploited at a game shop near you.

Grimwalker - 3 out of 5
Well-balanced is the order of the day, isn’t it? It’s no worse than an ice wall or a Bastion that gets rezzed for X and has X strength and gets broken by Fracters which are usually the cheapest option. What’s not to like? Mark my words, with Eliza’s Toybox coming down the pipeline, Stronger Together decks are coming in a big way and she fits right into that. Outside of decks that really synergize Ice shells, I’m not sure if she’s the best choice, and really I only see HB doing that right now, so really she’s an honorary purple card. In Neutral, she doesn’t interact with Grail ice which is a shame, for gaining the subtype.

Jamieson - 4 out of 5
Subtype deck building is going to be the new way to play going forward and this is the pretty bow on the package. I think we will see this card a lot. Be very careful with the ICE you use in your deck if you put this in. It gainst all subtypes and can get eaten quick if it gains the AP or destroyer type. Will this be the way to get Stronger Together to the table more. Interesting choices to make.

Scud - 3 out of 5
Mother Goddess is a house in the early game. I like that it gets worse and worse as the game goes on and more ICE is rezzed, making it more and more susceptible to the Runner’s best tricks. When I say “like,” I mean from a design standpoint, of course—as the Corp, it’s sort of a bummer. If you are running NEXT ICE, it makes sense to leave her out even after she’s become a minor speedbump.



Galahad
(14 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 3 out of 5
With no other grail ICE still released (well, there’s Mother Goddess), this’ll just have to wait until more grail ICE comes out. Bearing that in mind, I believe this ICE will be very good in NEXT Design, as it’s a way to gain value of overdrawing ICE and having them stocked on HQ. Galahad in particular is not very strong, would like for it to have more strength. I think this one rests better in hand, adding EtR to other grails, than being on the field facing the Runner. It’s perfect that they have influence. When they work, they can be very strong, adding whichever subroutines are more convenient and as such having a deck building cost it’s very well done design.

Corps3mourn - 2 out of 5.
I can’t rate Galahad any higher than a two right now. With nothing to really combo off of, it’s a plain Jane 2 cost 1 strength barrier. That is sub-par.

Grimwalker - 4 out of 5
I’m pre-emptively going to rate this highly as the argument that “there’s no other Grail ice” is really weak in my opinion. These cards are designed and tested in a block, and sometimes we just have to wait. Of course you don’t want to run this now. But it’s going to be awesome, mark my words.

Jamieson - 2 out of 5
Current state of the game - we have no grail ICE. Sometimes I wonder why these don't all come out in a big box together.

Scud - 3 out of 5
I’m with Grimwalker: Grail ICE are going to be pretty great, I think. I’m landing on a 3 for Galahad because, while it is cheap and extra subroutines are nice, its low Strength and the fact that multiple-subroutine-breaking Fracters are on the rise (Morningstar, Battering Ram) means that you’re going to need a mitt full of Grail ICE to make this little guy really shine.



Bad Times
(12 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 2 out of 5
If enough recursion is played on decks that float tags this won’t be as devastating as it sounds. As Corp you’ll sometimes be able to destroy half the Runner’s table, but at that point, I’m not sure that’ll stop him/her to continue running. This would be stronger if the effect lasted through the Runner’s turn. It’s pretty situational and may give you some moving space, but other than that, it’ll just be a dead draw, most of the time.

Corps3mourn - 3 out of 5
A new punishing tool for all you taggers out there. Granted, it will only really have an effect in the late game and even then, only on decks that aren’t prepared for it. But when it does go off, it could be crippling.

Grimwalker - 1 out of 5
Unfortunately, this card just hasn’t performed in my meta. Runners avoid tags, its play cost is a bit too high, and it doesn’t say “trash two MU worth of programs.” It’s a dead draw early on when they aren’t maxed on MU, and later on it’s still the runner’s choice, and it’s usually trivial to decide on something that will hurt the least. Outside of really dedicated tag punishment, don’t play this.

Jamieson - 3 out of 5
Not sure how many people will float TAGs now. Having this card out there is scary enough. Hard to put a number on this one. I mean the card is good ..great even but its not going to auto win you the game. Just create a scoring window and buy you some time. I mean in some situations you just gave the runner a really bad day but it is a situational play.

Scud - 3 out of 5
We’re entering an age of full rigs (IMHO) and that makes Bad Times scary. Scary enough that its mere existence may be enough to put the final nail in TagMe-style decks, which means that Bad Times isn’t that scary in-game because the Runner won’t often be tagged. But the Runner is spending clicks and credits (or deck slots) on clearing those tags because of Bad Times (and other tag-punishment). All in all, Bad Times is a good card that may alter the meta to the point that it isn’t as good anymore.



Cyber Threat
(16 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 3 out of 5
This is a cool way to punish Corps of playing beefier ICE. In a credit denial strategy deck, this may threat 1 credit accesses into servers. Other than that, it may just be a harder to play Forged Activation Orders, with a better upside.

Corps3mourn - 3 out of 5
Cyber Threat will be a dead draw every once and again, but it will be an invaluable tool in face checking potentially dangerous ICE traps. It will also clue you in to the current hidden board state, depending on how the corp reacts to your play. All in all, it’s a great event and I expect to see it quite a bit.

Grimwalker 4 out of 5
Reina loves it, Noise loves it, pretty much anybody loves it. How did Anarch get a card that's both an Inside Job and a Forged Activation orders? I'm glad this is a beefy 3 influence, otherwise Criminal would go nuts. I'm sad, though, that I'm going to have trouble fitting it in my Nasir deck.

Jamieson - 2 out of 5
A very interesting spin on Forged Activation Orders. I see this as a tight fit into an Anarch build at the moment. It’s nice for them to get a card that applies early pressure but its going to need something else with it to create a reason for me to want to keep you out for 1 run like an installed Imp. I cant see this offering you anything that a basic free run would not and thats why it wouldn't make my deck right now.

Scud - 4 out of 5
Do or die, Corp. Do or die. I like the combination of denial and tricksy running this card provides. It works really well in-faction (Reina likes to make you pay more, Noise likes rezzed ICE to install Parasites on) and even at 3 pips I expect to see it pop up in some Ken “Express” Tenma decks, too.



Lamprey
(16 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 4 out of 5
This is a real deal. The amount of pressure this presents is amazing. The Corp cannot have this across the table sucking its money for too long. But then again, spending a whole turn to get rid of it, just for the credit the Runner spent, is not a very enticing proposal. Lamprey does work better if not paired with other viruses, otherwise the Corp will feel inclined to purge more often. With that said, there’s also Cyberdex Trial, which hasn’t seen any play, but may well start seeing if these small value viruses start running rampant.

Corps3mourn - 2 out of 5
I had the opportunity to watch Lamprey in action this past weekend and personally witnessed the lacklustre performance. If you were to build an HQ assault deck then I could see its merits. But as a stand alone program, it’s not the most effective thing ever made.

Grimwalker - 3 out of 5
There's a really annoying Anarch build coming by the end of this cycle. We're getting to a critical mass of viruses that will bring Noise back, and not even Jackson Howard can stay ahead of the constant mill. I'm not sure if Lamprey itself will be a tool unto itself or if it will provoke a purge, but I want to see if I can make a deck that can benefit from either.

Jamieson - 3 out of 5
This is another cool trick for Anarch. It will need some play testing because I am interested to see how long it will last installed before a purge of counters happens to trash. I hope you don't have another other virus tokens loaded on other cards when you play this. Normally I would be worried about MU management but I don't think the lifespan of this program will make that an issue

Scud - 4 out 5
A 1-cost Virus that has a cool effect and will, in the right build, provoke a Purge that costs the Corp an entire turn? Yes, please. Noise wants to kiss Lamprey full on the mouth since the Corp will waste time putting it in the Heap where he can cheaply reinstall it for extra mills. And if they don’t Purge, you get even more benefit from HQ runs. Unless, of course, they simply decide to shore up HQ with lots of ICE, in which case, you just start pounding R&D and Archives.



Paper Tripping
(9 out of 25)

Ashtaorth - 2 out of 5
Dealing with all tags might be worth including if your meta is just NBN. But even then, it may be too slow to work. Having it in our card pool, I believe, was necessary, but that doesn’t mean that it’ll be used. Lawyer Up! didn’t work, and I suspect this won’t either.

Corps3mourn - 2 out of 5
If every deck in your meta totes Midseason Replacements, take it. If not, there’s not a good reason for having it take up a card slot.

Grimwalker - 2 out of 5
I'm very concerned about doing anything that enhances the Siphon game, but with as many drawbacks as this has, I don't think this is going to be the game-breaking enhancement. It requires you to float tags across the corp's turn, it's only a slight break-even on just clicking to drop your Siphon tags. And if you have more than two tags, either you got Midseasoned or you're prepared to float tags, so why take up deck space?

Jamieson - 1 out of 5
A situational response to letting your TAGs get out of control. If the deck you are playing against does not TAG you wasted slots on this.

Scud - 2 out of 5
As a guy who runs a Ghost Branch-packing GRNDL deck that often hits the Runner with 6+ tags, I can see the use of this card. However, in general, it requires you to survive the Corp’s entire turn with more than 2 tags in order to be worthwhile, and that’s assuming you already have it in hand.



Power Tap
(6 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 1 out of 5
Traces are normally initiated with sentries, and this is in the faction better equipped to deal with them. As for other effects, having 1 credit more is cool and all, but you do spend 2 credits for it. And sometimes, 1 credit won’t even be worth it, if the Corp is in a state to assuredly win the trace.

Corps3mourn - 1 out of 5
Super duper situational. I can’t get behind a resource that might make you absolutely no credits taking up a card slot.

Grimwalker - 1 out of 5
For g00ru's sake, just run Link. The only way this card isn't strictly worse than Access to Globalsec is if you find some way of triggering traces you just don't care about. It turns link bonus into real money if you're running multiples of this *and* extra link and you happen to find a piece of Tracer ice that you don't care about, but isn't that a lot of work to go through just to make yourself more than immune to traces?

Jamieson - 1 out of 5
Again a situation counter to something out of your control. No Traces no credits. Don't feel too bad for criminal players with this pack.

Scud - 2 out of 5
Um, guys (and by guys, I mean the other reviewers), you do realize that this is an economy card, right? You straight up gain a credit. Not a “credit that can be used for Traces” but an honest to goodness credit. Pair two of these with a New Angeles City Hall and you can ignore any Trace that gives you a tag. Play a lot of Link and three of these and get three credits just for running through that Hunter. I’m not saying this is a power card, but it does something interesting and is worth trying to figure out.



Nasir Meidan
(18 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 4 out of 5
Nasir feels gimmicky. But a new ID is always good to see. The strength of it would be in riding with recurring credits and gaining some free money out of Corps ICE. I don’t think that’s feasible enough, but I’d have to test him before reaching to a more in depth conclusion. Having 1 link is always a good. This is yet another fun approach to the game and as more recurring credits go about the better he becomes, since you’ll be denying more effectively the negative part of its text (loosing all credits). He’s also very good against bigger ICE gaining a good amount of credits. I look forward to experiment with him.

Corps3mourn - 3 out of 5
With his potential yet to be seen, Nasir Meidan holds questionable value. I have heard tales of decks that use very cheap ICE (NBN) shutting him down completely. Until this potentially dangerous situation is remedied or until the meta changes, I will reserve my true judgement for a later date.

Grimwalker - 3 out of 5
Spoiled absolutely the longest out of any card in Lunar and he still baffles me. I've tried playing with him and he's just so different than any other runner in the pool. He honestly feels like an Anarch in Shaper drag. Unfortunately there's too much cheap ice in my meta right now and he's just too swingy. But I like the design, and as we find out more tools then there may be a build. I am considering a full-stealth rig with recurring credits that just doesn't care what gets rezzed.

Jamieson - 4 out of 5
I could be flat out wrong and providing a rating based on excitement but I love this ID and I have so many deck ideas already. I feel each runner in Shaper is very unique and different and this is a great addition to the selection of choices we have.PLUS a LINK - I tend to be pulled more to an ID if it has base link. Its just so valuable as an addition

Scud - 4 out of 5
My rating is based purely on how different this guy is and what cool things that will bring to the table. The truth is he is the second ID that I have absolutely no interest in playing (Silhouette is the other). For the record, I think that the recurring credit version of Nasir is going to be stronger than the Xanadu/Rook/Personal Workshop version.



Social Engineering
(15 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 3 out of 5
This card can gain you a lot of credits, or it can deter the Corp to rez the ICE, sparing you some credits. There’s still types of decks, where this will make you cringe, like rezzing a Pop-up, or a Quandary. Right now, I don’t really see this card fitting into any deck, but some concoction might succeed including it. Thing is, this forces the Corp (in a passive way), to make a rez, in which you gain some credits to keep running or play other cards. And a piece of rezzed ICE is safer than an unrezzed one. If the Corp doesn’t rez, then you got yourself a sudo-Inside Job, which is not bad at all.

Corps3mourn - 3 out of 5
A neat way to dissuade the corp from keeping you out. That’s the long and short of it. I’d use it.

Grimwalker - 3 out of 5
It's a cruel lie that the art on this card has Nasir, as he gets the money, then immediately loses the money. So, only run this with him if you have a really good cash sink. Beyond that--not bad, especially in Shaper that will like to have a bit of extra money to SMC or Clone Chip something to deal with a freshly rezzed piece of ice. Another player in my area put this in a Silhouette/Blackguard deck and made fat stacks of cash with Emergency Shutdowns--so definitely a worthy include if you can leverage it. Probably not something that is best-in-slot just to play it as a vanilla card. You'll probably break even, but breaking even doesn't win games.

Jamieson - 3 out of 5
This could be a great addition to to decks that need a boost of credits. We have tools that help us expose and force the rez so in the right deck you can maximize your payout.

Scud - 3 out of 5
Another interesting denial card. I like that while it’s a Priority event, the effect lasts for the entire turn, so you can play it, take four credits from Magnum Opus, and then run. Or whatever. Nasir will, of course, want this. At 2 pips, I think you’ll see this in some non-Shaper decks, as well.



Leprechaun
(15 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 3 out of 5
This is cheap enough and powerful enough that you’d want this in Big Rig decks or decks with big programs (Magnum Opus, Garrote, Morning Star, Paintbrush, etc). Just to be capable to host 2 programs that cost 2 memory each is a very enticing proposition. Of course, the problem with these kinds of programs are Destroyers, or, ICE that have subroutines to trash programs. Still, the power is there and this may pave the way that makes the Runner rig resistant to program trashing, specially against Bad Times. You can also tutor for it with Self-Modifying Code, which, if you think about it, being able to search for a Cybersolutions Mem Chip is very good. I think right now, Shapers are the ones that can build big rig decks in the most efficient way and this is a fine addition.

Corps3mourn - 3 out of 5
Nullifying the MU cost of some big breakers or a nice Magnum Opus sounds so sweet… enter Leprechaun. The green fellow will also help to protect you against Bad Time. At the end of the day, if you need more MU, give him a try. If you don’t, pass him up. But he is a bargain!

Grimwalker - 3 out of 5
Up to net 3 MU for half the cost of the biggest Mem Chip on the market. I'm honestly not really taken with it just yet, although it is handy, don't get me wrong. Kit can put both a Paintbrush and an Opus on it, that ain't too shabby. There's an underdeveloped theme in Shaper of Work Compression, and this saves you draws, install clicks, and cost over more traditional hardware MU options, at the price of fragility. And as suggested by the flavor text, you could increase the yield by stacking them if you want to get crazy. It's also tutorable, though not efficiently so. However, its utility would change if ever we see a program worth more than 2 MU, and would ramp up considerably.

Jamieson - 3 out of 5
This is what Shaper has needed. This explodes rig building ideas and program selection. It is the missing piece to so incredible powerful decks. I also expect this out of faction. Its a steal and a bargain with the influence cost and install amount.

Scud - 3 out of 5
Tutorable memory in-faction for Shapers? The Professor is gonna be so happy. (Notice the stylish glasses on this little fellow… remind you of anyone? Of course The Professor would give his daemon flowing locks.) I keep getting asked if I’m going to start running Sacrificial Construct in order to counter Power Shutdown but, with all the recursion Shaper has, I don’t see any reason to not just plow ahead and deal with it. It isn’t like Leprechaun is 0-cost. You’ll usually have something else to kill if you have to.



Eden Shard
(12 out of 25)

Ashtaroth - 3 out of 5
Are you R&D locking? Just happened to access two bricks on a multi-access run? Well, give them to the Corp and run again. Although this may be not as simple to pull off as it seems. Making a run just to install this is only good in early game and early game you don’t really want to give the Corp too many resources. That said, you can always make interesting plays, whether it be digging further, as illustrated above, or maybe, after an Indexing, make the Corp hold the top agendas and go for HQ with Legwork. This also works with The Woman in the Red Dress, but it remains to be seen if this is really feasible enough.

Corps3mourn - 2 out of 5
Eden Shard can be played for cheap and can force the corp to draw cards. Groovy. But you know what’s better than forcing the corp to draw cards? Trashing them. I can envision a future deck build that will exploit filling up the corps hand, but for now, it’s a pass for me.

Grimwalker - 2 out of 5
You really can't just drop this in any deck and expect it to be good. It's going to enhance the right deck, but at only 1-of it's going to be difficult to really build around. But given the plethora of multi-access, you could fill HQ with cards or scrape cards off R&D for multi-access, so it'll probably get some play. I might rate it higher if it weren't unique and weren't limit one per deck.

Jamieson - 3 out of 5
I love the combos this can set up and the new mechanic of installing for free. The 1 influence cost might leave it on the cutting room floor for now when making final deck choices during building but it does have potential. This being the first shard I wonder if we could start seeing a use for Foxfire.

Scud - 2 out of 5
I think the ability of the card is cool. There are a lot of possible uses: tanking the Power Shutdown Combo, clearing the decks for a second R&D run, loading the Corp’s hand before a hopped-up Nerve Agent strike, etc. However, the limit of one per deck coupled with the lack of Resource tutoring means that you can’t count on seeing this every game and the ability isn’t so universal that it’s worth both a deck slot and 1 pip of Influence.