I don't know if it would work at all, but there might be a 120-card Professor deck that could tutor this up and possibly go nuts.

Put every program in it, along with tons of tutors. Could be totally fun.

Suicide Black for Netrunner? 

This is actually a really interesting card. In particular, it might pair well with Wyldside, and might give Ekomind a bit of a jolt as it turns a really big grip into a power run.

Otherwise, outside of an extremely specific and unusual deck, it doesn't seem very viable. If it retained it's strength for the duration of the run, it would really be something.

Well, this is insane...and a bit handsy for an icebreaker! /rimshot

But seriously, this looks like it could be a fun card to build a deck around!

It's more playable when having E3 Feedback Implants installed. Trashing a card for every single subroutine might be a bit too much.

This card is bonkers. When I first saw it spoiled my mind went to the possibility of having the first turn: Faust, draw, draw, Account Siphon. That alone was enough for me to want to try it out. Several games later and I'm not even running AS anymore. This, Adjusted Chronotype, Wyldside and E3 Feedback Implants are a match made in heaven. I'm currently running this in Quetzal and it pretty much guarantees an access a turn at minimal cost. Just make sure to keep a Levy in the wing.

Again, like all AIs it has its weaknesses in the form of Swordsman, Wraparound and Turing. Some auxiliary breakers are thus recommended if you're not running an identity that can handle them. I run a single Mimic in my deck with Datasucker to compliment the two. Turing is kind of tricky but too uncommon to be worth a Yog and a nicely paired Parasite and Datasucker can usually deal with the problem.

I'd give this breaker 4/5. The only knock to it is that it's not the kind of breaker you can just throw into a deck. You have to build around it. But when properly utilised it's a force to be reckoned with. Possibly the scariest breaker since Eater.

It's more playable when having E3 Feedback Implants installed. Trashing a card for every single subroutine might be a bit too much.

It likes D4v1d too, and D4v1d likes E3.

Throw Trope into the mix to get some cards back. It has potential.

I am absolutely pissed this wasn't on the most wanted list. In my past 10 games on Jinteki, seven have been running this and a cheap fracter for wraparound as the only icebreaker. And only four of those were Anarch runners!

Faust needs a deck built around it to be really effective. The cards listed on the NAPD Most Wanted List are, as far as I understand it, cards that are very strong and very easy to include in nearly every deck. So I don't think Faust belongs on that list.

If you have problems playing against it, I suggest Swordsmen or Turing.

Faust needs a deck built around it to be really effective. The cards listed on the NAPD Most Wanted List are, as far as I understand it, cards that are very strong and very easy to include in nearly every deck. So I don't think Faust belongs on that list.

 

If you have problems playing against it, I suggest Swordsmen or Turing.

Good points.

Alright, what about Global Food Initiative. Look at the top Worlds decks. Nearly all of the Haas decks ran it.

http://www.cardgamed...st-wanted-list/

Here's an interesting situation that happened during a local tournament with Faust: I, as a corp, had already an Archangel rezzed, and the runner starts a run with Faust as his only breaker. He had a Clone chip installed as well. He encounters Archangel, trashes David to pump Faust to 4 strength, does nothing else, and then he clone-chips back David to break Archangel. Is there a window to do that? As soon as you start the encounterand you dont break the subroutine, is there time to do the clon-chip retrieval? There is a paid ability window in step 3.1 in the ''Time strucrure of a run'' page in the core set book, so I guess it's valid.

Here's an interesting situation that happened during a local tournament with Faust: I, as a corp, had already an Archangel rezzed, and the runner starts a run with Faust as his only breaker. He had a Clone chip installed as well. He encounters Archangel, trashes David to pump Faust to 4 strength, does nothing else, and then he clone-chips back David to break Archangel. Is there a window to do that? As soon as you start the encounterand you dont break the subroutine, is there time to do the clon-chip retrieval? There is a paid ability window in step 3.1 in the ''Time strucrure of a run'' page in the core set book, so I guess it's valid.

Seems like a totally legit play. The runner uses the paid ability window to do as much stuff as he wants. When he's done with that, you resolve any unbroken subroutines and the runner passes the ICE. (if there's no unbroken ETR)

It's the same window that Savior-Faire would use to accomplish the same thing (effectively install a card from hand mid-run).

And I thought that the general AI breaker design concept is "give AI breakers a general hindrance that will prevent them from being overused".

So, where is the downside here? Base strength is among the best, cost, memory cost are normal. Subroutine cost is decent, allowing multisub ice to hurt... yeah, right, all those have criminally low strength (barring the super-expensive Curtain) and Faust is in the faction that can remove low strength ice easy enough. And the strength increase, it just breaks the math.

Wasn't a card roughly equal to a credit via the click comparison (ok, slightly more)? Then this card makes a single card worth at least 2 credits given that 95% of breakers follow tha formula 1 credit = +1 strength. So now Wyldside is actually giving 4 credits on the start of turn, combined with the overall usefulness of the cards that you draw. Also every single click is now +2 credits, so this card is a free Opus for Anarchs.

The above logic is somehow flawed by the usual "Netrunner is not a math equation", but serves as a guideline to show how many effects this card combines without any actual downside. You are burning through your hand? Who cares, Corp is poor as **** trying to rez ice and won't be able to trace you, unless... unless it is NBN, again. Net damage? Maybe, but this is not an answer to a flawed design. If Faust was making you take 1 net damage each time you use it to break at least one subroutine on a piece of ice, it would have been a different story. Or at least the strength gain was +1.

Agreed. Not to be too down on it, but they could use a few more "design limitations," like maybe AI have no inherent strength -- if you look at the really powerful AI breakers -- Eater, Faust, Atman -- what do they have in common? They don't start the run at zero strength (I know, I know, Atman can, but it can also start at 4).

Sure, they have limitations, which anyone with just a passing knowledge of the game can immediately begin to solve. If Eater or Faust had zero strength, or if Atman needed perhaps 2 credits per point at the beginning, things would be quite different: AI would continue to be goofy and awkward specialist icebreakers -- part of the toolbox.

At the same time, there are some limited solutions: Swordsman? Of course the Runner will have Mimic, so how about a surprise Corporate Troubleshooter? It's not as reliable as Faust or Eater, but why not give it a shot? Etc.

Knight is a good design: 7 strength, but a bit slow, difficult to move, and easy to trash. The Corp has initiative with Knight, and has the choice as to whether or not to suffer it.

In my opinion, Faust is a good card, but not an overpowered one. If you think about it, credits are far more easy to gain than cards. In addition, sacrificing credits is no drama. Sacrificing cards, which you would have used otherwise (or they wouldn't be in your deck in the first place), is not an easy decision to make. They also serve as your health pool, which makes you indeed vulnerable to damage.

As soon as Wraparound rotates out, Little Engine will take its place. Think about it: you need to pay FIVE cards in order to pass it and gain 5 credits. It also retains its strength, unlike Wraparound when the Corroder hits the table. It's just a little bit more influence-heavy.

With all that said, if Faust becomes a problem, we will see it on the next MWL.

I detest Faust decks, but with that said I don't believe Faust itself is the problem. Without clickless draw Faust would lose fuel very quickly, making its design limitation more significant. Wyldside's loss of a click is a fair trade off, so in my opinion the problem is Adjusted Chronotype - that's the one to MWL.

Maybe you are right about Adjusted, but it is really ironic that due to a card that was meant to give some fuel to some redundant cards a powerful AI-reliant engine was built.

For me Faust remains a bit overpowered in the current card pool - Netrunner is all about limitations of accessing and consideration when to do it. If you are able to easily access from the first turns (and there are decks built for that - Wyldside, Adjusted, IHW, Diesel etc. will give enough fuel) and maintain it throughout the game, it simply comes down to a game of attrition, which also presents a decent amount of luck about RnD accesses.

Maybe the meta should return to more Scorch decks as less and less players I see care to include Plascrete.

About the sacrificed cards - the issue here is that your goal is to access and steal agendas. Now let's be honest, if you could start the game with 3 decent breakers installed and your whole deck was made of Sure Gambles, wouldn't that be great? Faust is not perfect, but the current state is... well, one-sided.

About the sacrificed cards - the issue here is that your goal is to access and steal agendas. Now let's be honest, if you could start the game with 3 decent breakers installed and your whole deck was made of Sure Gambles, wouldn't that be great? Faust is not perfect, but the current state is... well, one-sided.

No, it wouldn't be great. Brute force alone won't solve all your problems. Utility is - to me, at least - an important aspect of playing Netrunner. The corporation's deck does not only contain agendas, ICE and economy. There are many good operations, assets and upgrades which may sabotage the runner's plans. So the runner in return needs some utility as well.

Not all problems are solved by money and breakers. Though it is nice to have those things.

Seems like it works for Whizzard

Seriously though, main topic of discussion about every card is if it is efficient (i.e. economically reliable) so tempo can be maintained. And brute force gives you just that - tempo. It won't help in all cases, but if you outpace the Corp, it is natural to give result. Natural proof is the most prefered type of Corp deck - NBNFA. It starts fast, and finishes fast. And it is undeniably strong. It also doesn't win 100% of the times, but statistics show it is good. Naturally if a deck is strong it will be played more, but to be that consistent shows that countering it is difficult.

Let's face it - I don't like cards that are too strong. Card games are awesome because they give diversity of choices and options in the form of different cards. If winning requires only the "chosen" (a.k.a op) cards, then I can simply play backgammon. Time will tell if Faust really is that bad, or the meta is just slow to adjust.

I think the meta is slow to react: no doubt Faust is good, but net damage combined with anti-recursion should take the edge off . . .

Invasion of Privacy, or how about Valley Grid? Make the ease of Faust's breaking work against the Runner.

Cybernetics Division running Self-Destruct Chips?

Self-Destruct Hiro? Bring it on, Faust. Seriously: nobody's going to think of Self-Destruct Hiro in a competitive deck, but that's a solid answer to Faust (Don't want to run it, at least not with Faust -- don't want the reduced hand size either). There are Runner responses, but they slow Faust down.

Tournament rules v. 1.1.1: Faust (SanSan Cycle, #61) hits the MWL list.

It was discussed, flamed, expected and a matter of time. Still I think that it won't be that much of a deal, unlike the D4v1d inclusion. There are many decks even now running only 1 Faust anyway. Still a good beginning.

Effective Apr. 12, 2017:

https://www.fantasyf...cement-tactics/

Faust is now on the NAPD Most Wanted List. It costs 3 additional neutral influence to include this card in your deck.