It is hard to judge the impact the card can have. Yet it's so attractive on the paper.

Can recycle SanSan, Snares...

With Etf: extra credits.

With NEH: extra card draw

The 'can't be trashed while installed' is huge.

There are bizarre shenanigans you can do with it to protect agendas too. You can install a trap over your agenda and trash it just before the runner gets to it. Not something you'll want to do often, but an option.

3 strength seems a bit weak for something of a late-game effect, does it not? Wants support, perhaps Inazuma or somesuch.

Yes, time will tell if it is overrated. After all, Mimic breaks it for 2.

3 strength seems a bit weak for something of a late-game effect, does it not? Wants support, perhaps Inazuma or somesuch.

Agreed; seems like an early-game ICE in the sense that you want it to fire, but it has a mid/late-game effect with respect to using its recursion abilities.

Possibly the hallmark of a well-designed card? :-)

Due to real life business I just got mine today, so have not had a chance to play with the new cards yet. Thus, pure speculation and theorycraft follows.

I've been mulling this card over since it was spoiled, and I have to say that I really like it. Not as a power card or a game changing card or even perhaps as a playable card. Rather, as a very cleverly designed card that behaves similarly to preexisting cards yet with just a slight twist to it functions in an entirely new way. So, regardless of how it fares in actual play, I'll likely always have a soft spot for it as an example of a clever and well designed card.

Having said that, the strength is very phase 1 while its effect is phase 2 or 3. So...eh. Can't see putting it in most decks.

One caveat however, I have it in my head that Architect might pair well with Will O Wisp and perhaps Corporate Troubleshooter and / or Ash to bury the Runner's sentry breaker and then potentially use the second subroutine to recurse the upgrades while using the first to either go horizontal with assets or vertical with ice. I'm going to toy around with it in a Foundry deck and see if it gels, and after that a core set HB identity encrypted protocols shell game deck.

Update: I initially said "Can't see putting it in most decks."...well a few months later, I'm changing that to "I can't see NOT putting it in most decks."

I just realized that you don't shuffle R&D after looking at it. Knowing what's coming up is huge.

Update: I initially said "Can't see putting it in most decks."...well a few months later, I'm changing that to "I can't see NOT putting it in most decks."

I've also found this to be a card that is better in practice than in theory. It's almost the equivalent of having 2 ETR routines, because wherever you have this installed, the runner stops running there until they can break it.

Obviously it's not a hard stop on a scoring server. But even on a scoring server it can be great for recycling Ash or other upgrades to protect your agendas.

On a practical level, installing a card from R&D saves you a click to draw and a click to install, plus gets around costs for installing vertically. You also gain a lot of information about what's coming in R&D.

With more cards coming out that trash ICE, it becomes even better in those match-ups since you get to pull the trashed ICE out of archives.

Do I understand it correctly that if Forged Activation Orders is used on architect, the corp will not have to trash it even while having less than 4 creds (or whatver the rez cost would be in that instance) but will definitely have to rez it in the other case?

Do I understand it correctly that if Forged Activation Orders is used on architect, the corp will not have to trash it even while having less than 4 creds (or whatver the rez cost would be in that instance) but will definitely have to rez it in the other case?

Card text doesn't matter if a card is unrezzed. It's a piece of ice that is essentially blank. So an FAO will force a trash because "Cannot be trashed while installed" is only active when the card is rezzed.

Card text doesn't matter if a card is unrezzed. It's a piece of ice that is essentially blank. So an FAO will force a trash because "Cannot be trashed while installed" is only active when the card is rezzed.

I had the same reasoning but then a friend of mine pointed out that ambushes don't need to be rezzed to work. Wording on those cards say "when accessed" however, so here we have "while installed" and in the situation I described it is installed. So what is the difference? After all, Architect cannot be trashed while installed and not while rezzed.

I had the same reasoning but then a friend of mine pointed out that ambushes don't need to be rezzed to work. Wording on those cards say "when accessed" however, so here we have "while installed" and in the situation I described it is installed. So what is the difference? After all, Architect cannot be trashed while installed and not while rezzed.

That's a very good point. I'm not sure if the interaction with accessing un-rezzed cards is unique or if you can extend the logic in that way. Would be curious to hear what the ruling is.

From the FAQ: 

When Accessed Abilities A card with an ability that triggers when the card is accessed does not have to be active in order for the ability to trigger. When resolving such an ability, simply follow the instructions on the card.

 

So ambushes trigger but architect wouldn't.

From the FAQ: 

So ambushes trigger but architect wouldn't.

I believe that's correct, thank's for pointing out the reference I was missing.

In other words, the way I see FAQ and the rulebok now, only instant abilities have a chance of triggering outside of their card being active (rezzed for corp) like "when accessed" or "prevent" types or smth like Tyr's hand.

But if the ability appears constant even if it defined with the word "when" (like on architect) it does not work if the card is not/active.

From the FAQ: 

So ambushes trigger but architect wouldn't.

I don't think that's right. The card specifies "while installed" and the card is installed the second you put it down on a server. Once Architect is on the table it stays there.

I don't think that's right. The card specifies "while installed" and the card is installed the second you put it down on a server. Once Architect is on the table it stays there.

The issue is that the text isn't active when it's face-down on the table. It doesn't have subroutines either. It does have "type" (it's ICE and can only be installed protecting a server).

"When accessed" text is a specific exception to card text being inactive when not rezzed. In this case, there needs to be an official clarification, since ICE cannot be "accessed." The question that needs to be answered is whether the "When installed" text here functions like "When accessed" text does or not. There are perfectly good arguments either way on this.

That's fair. Until there's a clarification I guess it's coin flip territory.

That's fair. Until there's a clarification I guess it's coin flip territory.

While there are perfectly good arguments for either interpretation, the rules as they currently stand do not allow for the protection of this card while it is unrezzed. Clarification would be nice, since it's unclear what was intended, but it's not a coin flip, given the rules as they are currently written.

What was intended is unclear: the wording may or may not indicate that the card is untrashable once it's on the table. That wording is inactive when face-down until officially ruled otherwise, however, just like every other card that doesn't have a "when accessed" phrase.

FFG left it open to interpretation when they wrote "when installed" rather than "when rezzed." That ambiguity doesn't change the rule concerning when text is active on a card. That rule stands until a specific clarification is made here.

I meant coin flip as in it could go either way, not that a coin should actually be flipped. As it stands, though, you've convinced me. Barring clarification, it looks like it can be trashed while unrezzed.

This is, as previously stated, a really nice card and best played in R&D and HQ. It is also good in archives, balancing Accelerated Beta Test mishaps and Noise. Best use I had was when there were three agendas and a Jackson in the archives, so I first installed Jackson and then burned him to save the agendas.

I am trying this combo of protecting R&D with architect and errand boy. First I get to see top five cards and install something and with this information I can either save the cards with errand boy or just gain money. And to stop this happening again the runner has to either pay every time running there or spend parasite on errand boy.

If Forked is played on a server in which there are two sentries, and the Runner encounters Architect first, would the second piece of ICE be trashed since the 'trash that sentry' resolution was unable to be triggered, or would Architect act as an ongoing protector? My thought is that Architect would render Forked totally impotent on that server, but I'm not completely sure.

If Forked is played on a server in which there are two sentries, and the Runner encounters Architect first, would the second piece of ICE be trashed since the 'trash that sentry' resolution was unable to be triggered, or would Architect act as an ongoing protector? My thought is that Architect would render Forked totally impotent on that server, but I'm not completely sure.

It's a good question, but Architect isn't going to protect much against Forked. The Runner will walk through the Architect (or at least break only one of its subroutines) and then trigger the Forked on the first Sentry for which all of the subroutines are broken.

My thought is that if the Runner did break both subs on Architect, the Forked is wasted, but this would be a foolish move.

Ah, yes. Great answer. I tend to treat Architect as de facto 'end the run' because the subroutines are so awful, but of course you're absolutely right - I forgot that you can just walk through them.

I was witnessing a situation like so:

There are two ICE on a server and the outermost ICE is Architect. The subroutines fire and the corp installs another ICE on that server while trashing the innermost ICE. So the Archtitect was moved one space inwards and was now the innermost ICE.

The question that arose: Does the runner encounter Architect second time, as the ICE was moved inwards or does the runner "move" with the ICE encountered? Three out of four players present said latter (and it was played as latter since majority sided on that).

Is there any ruling about this kind of situations? The corp player said he had read it from the FAQ that you can do like so, but was unable to present his evidence at that time and was overruled as it felt counterintuitive for the rest of the players.