This seems like a maybe good card on the surface. I would have lost the game, but thanks to The Board, I'm still in it! But in practice, it is not a very good card in general.

Here's why:

At any given point in the game, the runner either has enough agenda points to win, or they don't. As soon as they do, the game is over. There's no grace period for the Corp to respond to a game winning point to keep it going. We all know this.

For this card to be effective, you would want to play it the turn before the runner snagged the game winning point. Any sooner, and the card is itself vulnerable to being "stolen" and you lose the game hoisted on your own petard, as they used to say. Any later and you've already lost and can't play it.

You can install it face down and then wait for the last possible rez window before the runner scores the winning agenda to rez it, thus stemming off loss, but then the runner has a single target to attack...this card...and if you can't win the game before they manage to get in and trash it (or steal more agendas) you still lose.

In a given game if the runner is dominating the corp, then this card will almost certainly be trashed and will give the runner points. Each copy in the deck is like an additional NAPD that costs 7 to steal but which you the corp cannot score.

If the corp is dominating the runner, then this card doesn't matter as you aren't losing and thus don't need it.

If the corp and the runner are playing a tight game, any resources you spend on this would be better spent on edging ahead of the runner to win rather than playing a defensive safety net which really only provides the illusion of safety.

The only games where this card is helpful are games where the runner didn't manage to trash one of them, would have won the game if you hadn't managed to get one rez'd, and you manage to win the game before the runner can get to it.

Having said that, it might have a place in a Weyland flatline deck where the difference in total credits between the runner and the corps is literally a matter of life and death and the runner cannot afford to give up $7 without risking trace to tag followed by death. However, Weyland tag and bag is pretty lean and strong as it is, and functions just fine without this sort of helper card. So, maybe a variant flatline deck that utilizes this to stretch the game out, but I don't see it being a thing.

That is the real problem with this card - when is the right time to rez it? Doesn't seem playable to me.

If you were playing all 2 point agendas, you could take the runner from 6 points to 3, which is huge. Of course, then they run on this and win the game. Still, its ability is powerful enough that I feel like someone will come up with a deck that exploits it.

Yeah, I don't know, you can play some goofy shell games using its unique property to your advantage: "oh you're just about to access? How about I rez THIS copy over here and trash it? lolzers."

I can imagine a Jinteki PE deck with 2 of these, Jackson, a bunch of 1-point agendas, Philotic Entanglement, and some Self-Destruct for good measure. The Board is never getting accessed when installed, unless there's some Quest Completed shenanigans happening. This thing is pretty much plug-and-play in Jinteki PE, which doesn't even depend on it.

Shi.Kyu also really starts to suck.

It's still in danger in R&D, but it takes a brave runner to charge into R&D against Jinteki PE (Keyhole won't solve the problem, but Indexing will).

Now you're taxing the runner well for no points, always threatening that Philotic, with The Board rezzed and another face-down on the table, waiting, and a Self-Destruct ready to punish the runner and reset the whole gig. Some of your one-pointers should be Chronos, just to make it really hurt as you burn down the runner's deck. Who needs a flatline when all the breakers are gone?

That'd be the theory. In practice, regular Jinteki PE is probably better. Could be fun to try.

That'd be the theory. In practice, regular Jinteki PE is probably better. Could be fun to try.

All good points, but like you say, regular Jinteki PE might be better. I'd still like to see a deck with it.

I'm always attracted to the cards that no one else uses.

 

All good points, but like you say, regular Jinteki PE might be better. I'd still like to see a deck with it.

 

I'm always attracted to the cards that no one else uses.

Oh yeah, I agree with the 2-star rating

Notable interactions

• Domestic Sleepers : If stolen by the Runner, it is worth -1 Agenda Point

• Shi.KyÅ«: Becomes a -2 Agenda Point

Great against

• annihilates Notoriety
• Human First

Work around

As no Corp wants the Board to be accessed by the Runner, it can be packed with a couple of cards:

• Executive Boot Camp to play it as a 1-of, saving influence in the process.
• Encryption Protocol, to increase its trash cost
• Architect, to either trash it before access or install it from archives
• Ash 2X3ZB9CY, to increase its access cost
• Self-destruct, to prevent access

• Jackson Howard, to return it to R&D

  Architect and Self-Destruct work really well, since The Board nets the Runner with 2 Agenda points only if it is trashed while it is accessed. Which means the Runner accessing the Board from Archives is not an issue.

Bad against

• Iain Stirling, as it supports its strategy
• Quest Completed