I originally thought that Flare was all around better than Tollbooth, but then I calculated the cost to break both pieces of ICE:
Tollbooth: Gordian blade, 7 credits; peacock, 7 credits; keymaster, 8 credits; crypsis, 9 credits. Average, 7.75 credits.
Flare: ninja, 7 credits; Femme fatal, 9 credits; Creeper, 6 credits; crypsis, 7 credits. Average, 7.25 credits.
So Tollbooth is, on average, more expensive to break. However, Flare is much more painful to run into without enough credits to break it. I'd say they are equally good. And by that,I mean equally awesome.

Flare just made Sacrificial Construct worth including. It protects Hardware AND programs!

I'm not a big fan. It's very expensive ice that depends on a trace - if it's late enough in the game that the Corp has the credits to rez it, then chances are very good the Runner has the credits and the link to beat the trace. With an early game Accelerated Beta Test or Priority Requisition it could be effective, but you can't exactly count on that. Maybe it could work in a high trace strength NBN deck, but otherwise, I think Tollbooth is the better card.

Gotta disagree Runix. Six trace strength is nothing to sneeze at, especial ially with those consequences. Flare seems like the perfect choice for outermost ice to scare and/or bleed off a runner's credits to continue the run.

For me it's a trap ICE, and first real threat to Hardware.
It can fry runners console (possibly shrinking MU and resulting in program trash) + deal 2 dmg, it can fry Carapace and deal 2 dmg - you're not playing for end run, you're paying big money for big dmg.

Trace 6 seems fair - runner can pay his way out of this, but its not gonna be cheap. Link helps, but i certainly expect corp to pay even more than this 6.

Corp still has weak econ to play with such ICE, but the ICE itself is solid IMO.
(Especially if you compare it to othen NBN ice from this first cycle. IMO it's first solid NBN ICE since Core; has its problems, but has it's strengths as well)
Toolboth is better as protection, but cant hurt runner too much.
This one is worse for protecting, but running into it unprepared hurts so much more.

Yeah...ouch....this really stinks if you're not prepared. As someone who wants to find a way for NBN to work better, this seems like a good card for them. The rez cost is a bit high, but you can work around that.

Would anyone know if Flare can trash a piece of hardware being hosted on a Personal Workshop?

I recommend the faq Mavwick, on hosting.

Hosting
The following replaces the rules on hosting that appear in the
core set rulebook:
“Hosting” is the result of placing a card, counter, or token on
top of a card, creating a relationship between the host card and
what is hosted. If a card allows other cards to be hosted on it,
those cards must be hosted on the card when they are installed,
unless a card says otherwise.
Hosted counters or tokens can be spent without affecting their
host. If a trigger cost requires one or more hosted counters or
tokens, those counters or tokens are “spent” by being returned
to the token bank from the card the ability appears on.
If a host is trashed, all cards, counters, and tokens hosted on it
are also trashed. This cannot be prevented.
The state of hosting is distinct (but not exclusive from) the state
of installing. Most cards are hosted on another card when they
are installed. If a card is hosted but not installed, the card is
inactive.

And check out the part about personal workshop in the faq.

You're welcome

I'm not sold on this card. As a trap, it's too big (9 credits) to really lurk in the bushes. I face checked one on purpose tonight with no hardware just to make the runner poor, and I would even consider giving up a Cyberfeeder to do the same if it meant getting a round of Medium digs in next turn (which it did).

This could be a scary card once I have my rig up, but the problem with the 'once a rig is up" argument is that the runner can usually prepare for it. Most of my decks that build a nice rig have 2-3 link, Compromised Employees, and plenty of money once they're set up. Tollbooth at least you can duck behind while you're rebuilding your credit pool. Flare could be muscled through for 4ish credits, which isn't bad, but for a 9 cost ICE with all the weaknesses of Tollbooth (Femme), I'll take Tollbooth.

Oh, and it's 3 to splash, so it's unlikely to make it to a money-heavy Haas deck where it could wreak havoc.

The problem is Runner has better econ at the moment, so Trace doesn't work well - you can just pay those low traces, if you have link its even worse. 6/8 is not that big of a cost for 6 str sentry that costs 9. And to win trace you need only money, no breakers. Not mentioning FF, but FF bypasses almost everything for next to free and you need to hit it blind so I'm not sure FF is it's biggest problem. Not more than Emergency shutdown anyway.

Still there are not that many ICE that really hurt runner, and this certainly can. REZing it is a big bump, and Emergency Shutdown/FF counters it hard.

Still this ICE is a threat to runner, and sole existence of it makes running more risky.
Imagine corp starting with Hedge fund, Ice on HQ, Ice on RnD.(Pretty standard good start)
Andromeda start with turn 1 Desperado and running naked to rez ICE, suddenly meeting this guy on RnD/HQ.
Desperado is lost, 2 dmg is done, nice ICE active.
Pretty even as corp is broke, but really good start busted.

Also when running SE every way to get rid of Carapace is really important. Especially when you're running mostly cash to pay high Midseason.

I agree its too expensive to be really good, but it has huge potential if corps get cards to make expensive ICE more viable.

I've been using this and tollbooth a lot lately, and tollbooth is definitely better. But that's like saying that AstroScript is better than Beale. Tollbooth is absolutely amazing, and this is just great. Generally, you will put 3xTollbooth into a deck before this because they fill similar roles, but this still fits in very nicely if you still find yourself wanting a couple more big ice. Definitely replaces Uroboros in most decks. With 3xTollbooth and 2xFlare in a deck, your opponent will have a very tough time deciding what to Femme and what to break.

This and Marcus batty?

In terms of the most disruption incurred from a single subroutine I'm not sure that there is a piece of ICE more potent than Flare, so I can see the appeal to Batty, however it's still a trace. Personally I'd be more inclined to use Batty (who only works 2/3 of the time to begin with) on something more reliable.

In terms of the most disruption incurred from a single subroutine I'm not sure that there is a piece of ICE more potent than Flare, so I can see the appeal to Batty, however it's still a trace. Personally I'd be more inclined to use Batty (who only works 2/3 of the time to begin with) on something more reliable.

 

Agreed: something more like rezzing and trashing Batty at 2.3, as you rez the Flare, then attempting to trigger an RSVP on the server might be more reliable. It's more combo-oriented, but it's easy enough to have Flare and RSVP on a server . . .

 

The issue then becomes the 12-14 credits this costs . . . like so many big plays, there's a fair bit of clunkiness built in. We might add up the various ways one can get 2 meat damage, a hardware trash, and an ETR to give this a relative value, but there are a lot of things the Corp might do with that kind of cash.