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geniusisobvious · 10 years ago

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The Spaces Between Review

It is Christmas come early for Netrunner fans. Barely three weeks after Upstalk came out, The Spaces Between comes out right after. I have a couple of tournaments coming in the next couple of weeks and I'm excited to see what people do with the newly available cards. Since no one reads this blog, I'll be going through some deck ideas that this expansion has inspired that I'll be taking to the upcoming tournaments.

The review system is the same as last time with a score between 0 and 5 for card rating and uncertainty. For the rating system 0 means the card in unplayable and 5 means you should expect it to be in your opponent's deck. For uncertainty, 0 means we know what the card is about and 5 means that we have no idea how powerful the card could be in the future.

The Spaces Between is designed to be a foundational data pack with the introduction of currents. If you are not already familiar, currents are events/operations that stay in play until either another current is played or the opposing side scores/steals an agenda. If you aren't playing currents, you could be a significant disadvantage. The designers of Netrunner have added yet another dimension to compete on.

The Foundry: Refining the Process

The Foundry: Refining the process is an interesting identity for Haas Bioroid (HB). Most HB identities depend on lots and lots of ice. NEXT Design: Guarding the Net , Engineering the Future and Stronger Together all benefit from a high ice ratio in the deck, lots of bioroid ice and lots of installations, respectively. The Foundry can depend on fewer ice than a normal deck because of the ice tutoring. That may be more powerful than the obvious combo of using NEXT ice. Having to dedicate fewer card slots to ice, allows you to use more of the great upgrades that HB has. I think this will be one of the top HB identities, once people figure out the best mix.

Rating: 5/5

Uncertainty: 3/5

Enhanced Login Protocol

Enhanced Login Protocol is probably the best overall current right now. Costing the runner a click for their first run is a heavy tax to pay and the ability makes the current more likely to stick around. I like the click advantage theme that this card builds on for HB. Combining this card with Mandatory Upgrades, Director Haas, Strongbox and others (including most bioroid ice), makes for a strong thematic deck. I think you can make a competitive click advantage deck, and if it weren't for some of the other cards in this pack, it would be the next deck I would try to build.

Rating: 4/5

Uncertainty: 1/5

Heinlein Grid

Heinlein Grid is another strong addition to the click advantage theme of Haas Bioroid. This card is works amazingly well with bioroid ice. Many bioroid ice are cost effective or equivalent to break with clicks rather than ice breakers. Heinlein Grid punishes that activity severely. A broke runner can still click through bioroid ice and steal an agenda, so this does not stop the runner, it just makes them commit to one road of breaking bioroid ice or the other. Heinlein Grid also stops the runner from clicking through one sub-routine and using E3 Feedback Implants to get past the rest. I think mixing and matching bioroid ice with cheap end the run ice (like the NEXT suite of ice) along with Heinlein Grid would be extremely difficult for the runner to go through. I expect most HB decks to be using Heinlein Grid moving forward.

Rating: 4/5

Uncertainty: 1/5

Encrypted Portals

I really like Encrypted Portals, but I am not sure how to use it. Lotus Field is an amazing code gate but increasing it's strength actually hurts it by putting it in range where it can be broken by D4v1d. The other Jinteki code gates that see common play are Inazuma and Chum, but there aren't any code gates that are that punishing. Victor 1.0 and 2.0 are mean but they aren't game changers. I think the ice that benefits most is Sensei, especially paired with neutral ice like Enigma and Data Pike. These ice were limited to the early game before Yog.0 came out but with the presence of Lotus Field and Encrypted Portals blunting Yog's power, these ice should have a lot more staying power. The other ice that could see more play would be Rainbow, which becomes even more taxing.

I'm also not sure which Jinteki identity works best with Encrypted Portals. Harmony Medtech doesn't work because you want a low agenda density. Code Gates aren't painful so the synergy with Personal Evolution isn't really there. I think there are two directions you can go with this card. You can either lean on Caprice Nisei and go with the Nisei Division and splash souped up RSVPs. The other way to go would be with Replicating Perfection and splashing Tollbooths and Popup Windows. Actually, I think all three of those ice would work with either identity.

One final note, I have to say I am impressed with how the designers are releasing cards that compliment each other. They were guilty in the past of releasing teasers of card that were neat but not useful until additional cards came out (I'm looking at you, stealth cards). This cycle seems to be doing a nice job of creating complimentary cards that all support each other. Encrypted Portals works nicely with Lag Time and when combined with Will-O'-the-Wisp, gives the option of making a viable single ice type (in this case code gates) deck. I'll be reviewing Lag Time and Will-O'-the-Wisp below.

Rating: 3/5

Uncertainty: 4/5

Cerebral Static

Cerebral Static is a game changing card. Depending on your identity as the runner, you will need to play currents to counteract Cerebral Static. Noise and Kit are the the two identities most affected, at least so far. Cerebral Static causes those runners to dilute their decks with defensive currents. The corp currents are more powerful than the runner currents, so runners will need to design their decks around the currents they have available to mitigate the disadvantage. Given how useless Cerebral Static is against many of the identities, such as Andromeda, it will be interesting to see how often Cerebral Static will actually be played.

Rating: 3/5

Uncertainty: 4/5

Targeted Marketing

Targeted Marketing is a good card in the right deck. It is an anti silver bullet card. The most common usage will be to name Plascrete Carapace in decks where you are trying to flat-line the runner. Beyond that, I don't see a usage for this card. This card is very powerful against your friends, since you know their decks, but if you are playing in a tournament, you'll need to build your deck to get the most out of this card.

Rating: 3/5

Uncertainty: 2/5

Information Overload

Information Overload is one of those cards that you want to build a deck around. It is the first card to punish the runner for carrying a lot of tags. I made a deck with Information Overload and the main thing I learned playing with it, is that it is expensive and situational. When the runner has no tags, it is basically useless. If the runner has a lot of tags and runs into Information Overload, it can reset the game for the runner. At most you only want a couple of copies in your deck. They are too situational otherwise. This might be the first truly win-more card in Netrunner. Alex Frog talks about win more cards in his article about combos and about win more cards. Alex says win-more cards are not an issue in Netrunner. Generally I agree with him but I think Information Overload is the exception. If you have given the runner a bunch of tags and have 6 credits and have Information Overload installed somewhere the runner wants to go, then something good can happen. But if the runner has a bunch of tags, you should probably be drawing through your deck as fast as you can for a Project Beale and Psychographics instead. Information Overload is a fun card, but I don't think it is a competitive card. At least not in the current environment.

Rating: 2/5

Uncertainty: 4/5

Paywall Implementation

Paywall Implementation is probably the weakest current in this data pack. It does something that Weyland already does quite well (generate revenue). It rewards the corp for allowing successful runs, which the corp typically does not want to do. I don't think this card actually is meant for Weyland, I think it is meant to be splashed. This would be a good card for a Jinteki trap deck, but the two influence cost is expensive for the marginal utility considering how easily the runner can remove the current from play. This card should only get play as a defensive current and right now, none of the runner currents warrant playing currents defensively.

Rating: 2/5

Uncertainty: 4/5

Sealed Vault

And here is the silver bullet for Account Siphon. This card should reduce the frequency that Account Siphon is played for a couple of reasons. First off, it stops Account Siphon cold. Second, because the trash cost is so high, most corp players won't bother to protect it with any ice. That means that cards like Security Testing and Bank Job become a lot more viable. It will be interesting to see how the Criminal economy mix will shift because of Sealed Vault. It is free to rez, cheap to put money in, cheap to take money out. The influence cost is great, and Account Siphon was the most dominant card in Netrunner so expect to see a couple of Sealed Vaults in every deck. I think this is a really powerful card that will decrease in power as it's effectiveness becomes well known. It is interesting to note that the Account Siphon silver bullet appeared in the same pack as the currents. This combination makes the Spaces Between a "must have" datapack The question is whether Sealed Vault will be picked up along with the currents or if the currents will be picked up along with Sealed Vault

Rating: 5/5

Uncertainty: 1/5

Eden Fragment

It is early days, but I have to admit that I am not thrilled about the shard and fragments thus far. They all seem to have marginal utility and the one per deck restriction makes the utility they do have too inconsistent to depend on. Eden Fragment is a 5/3 agenda that allows you to build big stacks of ice cheaply. The problem I have with it is that if you have a server well defended enough to score a 5/3, you probably don't need your servers to stacked with more ice. The one use I could see would be a deck with filled with cheap ice, but again if you can score a 5/3 then you are already in pretty good shape. To build a deck around this, you would need to include some tutoring ability like Fast Track, Aggressive Negotiation, or a pumped up Project Atlas. The ability isn't strong enough to justify that kind of investment. The other fragments may make a deck filled with agenda tutoring worth while, but right now it is not.

Rating: 1/5

Uncertainty: 2/5

Lag Time

Lag Time is my favorite current. I like the idea of pumping up ice, and Lag Time paired with Encrypted Portals or the upcoming Superior Cyberwalls quick makes cheap ice more effective in the later stages of the game. The biggest issue with cards like Enigma and Datapike are that made useless by Yog.0, with Lag Time and a single scored Encrypted Portals. You can also include Experiential Data to strengthen your ice further. Combining these cards makes using fixed breakers less reliable and quickly adds up to extra costs for the runner. I think there is a pretty strong Replicating Perfection deck based on cheap pumped up code gates. You don't need defensive currents as the corp, but if you did, Lag Time would be one of the top choices.

Rating: 4/5

Uncertainty: 4/5

Will-O'-the-Wisp

Will-O'-the-Wisp (WOtW) has the potential to be a powerful card. I created a Weyland barrier deck, with Ice Wall, Archer and Power Shutdown along with neutral barriers. I had two variants based on different identities. Both variants depended on Weyland's agenda driven economy. My theory was that it didn't matter how much bad publicity I had if the runner didn't have the right breaker. The first variant was with Because We Built It, and I splashed Trick of Light, Wraparound and Jackson Howard. Due to the Because We Built it ability, I used Oversight AI and Hadrian's Wall as well.

Because I was accumulating so much bad publicity with the first variant, I said, what the hell, let's try this with GRNDL and go crazy with the bad publicity. I took out Trick of Light and added two Archived Memories along with Interns. This allows me to really recur the WOtW effectively.

You can see my latest builds of these decks here: Getting it Done Get'r Dun v2

Without WOtW, these decks wouldn't be possible and they really push the runner to have lots of tutoring and/or recursion for their breakers. Obviously, Shaper decks have a lot of recursion and tutoring, but I've actually found that they tend to take their ability to find the breaker they need for granted, so you can lock them down. This is especially true because most Shapers tend to splash Corroder as their cheapest breaker or go with Inti. Both are very susceptible to Power Shutdown. I think the hardest challenge for these decks are the Criminal decks with the central only breakers. Passport is cheaper than Breach and provides Power Shutdown cover, The abundance of Special Orders also keeps Breach coming back.

As you can tell from my rant above, I think WOtW is a very cool card and opens up an entirely new approach for the corp to defend against the runner. Agendas like Encrypted Portals and the upcoming Superior Cyberwalls will only make this approach more viable. It will be interesting to see how this evolves.

Rating: 3/5

Uncertainty: 4/5

D4v1d

Finally, an awesome breaker for Anarch that has a high influence cost. Anarch players have suffered for a long time watching their breakers be used by other factions to better effect than Anarchs themselves. With a influence cost of four, the other factions probably won't splash D4v1d. This is unfortunate for the other factions because D4v1d is a fantastic card. For three credits, you can break three subroutines of any piece of ice that has a strength of 5 or greater. That's only a credit a subroutine which is fantastic value. It also pairs well with the fixed breaker suite. Now the Anarch player doesn't need to lean so heavily on Datasucker to make the breaker suite work. It also pairs wonderfully with an Overmind/E3 Feedback Implants breaker suite. D4v1d is probably the best card in this datapack and expect to see it played regularly. As I said in a previous post, I think this is the cycle where Anarchs catch up to the other two factions and I think D4v1d is a significant part why. Normally, I would mark it down for the high influence cost but I think it is good enough to still get the top rating.

Rating: 5/5

Uncertainty: 2/5

Scrubbed

Scrubbed is probably the best runner current. That is not saying a lot but Noise is glad to have a current that generally works with what he is trying to do and will defend against Cerebral Static. Scrubbed paired with Datasucker, Parasite, Ice Carver and Darwin/Fixed Breakers is a decent rig. The one downside to Scrubbed is that it works counter to D4v1d. Fortunately, there are not many 6 strength ice so if it knocks something down, it will either be into fixed breaker range or still be in D4v1d's range. I expect to see Scrubbed in all Noise decks moving forward and it might be splashed in other identities, depending on what they are trying to do.

Rating: 4/5

Uncertainty: 4/5

Three Steps Ahead

Three Steps Ahead is a strong criminal economy card. It helps shift the criminal choice of console from Desperado, now and forever, to at least considering Doppelganger.

There is this amazing deck list from the Chicago Regionals that illustrates the power of this type of card. Somehow that guy won a tournament with 87 players without this card being out yet.

When you consider cards from the next datapack, like Rachel Beckman and The Supplier you can see how Three Steps Ahead can start to challenge Account Siphon for the primary income event for criminals. The tags from Account Siphon would trash Rachel Beckman whereas Rachel Beckman paired with Doppelganger still allows the runner to gain 10 credits from a single event. This is one of the few first click only events which means that it cannot be played from the heap with Same Old Thing, not that you would want to anyways. Account Siphon is still king, but there are challengers to the throne, since Sealed Vault helps the corp and Three Steps Ahead provides another alternative. I think this is a pretty good card now with potential to be foundational in some types of decks.

Rating: 3/5

Uncertainty: 3/5

Unscheduled Maintainance

Unscheduled Maintainance is the weakest runner current. The ability is only worthwhile early in the game or if you are building an ice destruction deck. Anarchs are best at this but I don't see how the Anarchs can spare the influence cost since they are dependent on other factions for their economy and/or tutoring. This card may become more powerful later but I think this was part of the deliberate weakening of the Criminal faction.

Rating: 2/5

Uncertainty: 3/5

Cache

Cache is not a Criminal card. Cache is an Anarch card with an influence cost. There is no reason why a Criminal would pay 1 credit and 1 MU to gain three credits when they can do that for no credits and no MU with Easy Mark. Since Easy Mark has the same influence cost as Cache, Shapers and most Anarchs would choose Easy Mark if they want 3 credits for a single card. For Noise though, this card provides the foundation for a virus based economy. With a Cyberfeeder, Scheherazade, Grimiore, and Aesop's Pawnshop, you can net 8 credits from a single card. That is amazing economy, and you can dig up two of them with a single Deja Vu. Every Noise player I know is thrilled about this card.

Rating: 4/5

Uncertainty: 1/5

Net Celebrity

Net Celebrity is a solid defensive current for Kit and also supports Nasir quite nicely. Getting a credit steers Kit away from DinoYog.0 and towards using Torch and Cyber-Cyphers. Nasir will always need recurring credits and Net Celebrity is an effective source. I still don't think Nasir has the support cards he needs but this is another brick in the wall for him. The value of Net Celebrity is higher for Kit and Nasir than for the other Shaper Identities. Anarch may splash this since they are so desperate for economy but in most cases, Scrubbed provides better bang for the buck.

Rating: 3/5

Uncertainty: 4/5

LLDS Energy Regulator

LLDS Energy Regulator is pretty useless right now. I'd like to think it will become more useful in the future but looking at the how often Net Shield is played, I don't think LLDS Energy Regulator will ever become that useful. Runners are creating more hardware based economy rigs, but I don't think it will be so prevalent that you'd ever need to tie up a memory unit. Sacrificial Construct already does what LLDS Energy Regulator does and it doesn't use a memory unit. There is potential to Clone Chip this up and prevent your console from being destroyed but I don't see that example happening often enough to justify the room in your deck.

Rating: 1/5

Uncertainty: 4/5

Ghost Runner

Ghost Runner is an incomplete card. It is impossible to judge right now as there is only one breaker that depends on stealth credits. Once the other breakers are out, it will be very interesting to see how well they work and if they are worth the hassle. Once the complete breaker set is out, I think Ghost Runner will see play in every stealth deck. We just aren't there yet.

Rating: 2/5

Uncertainty: 5/5

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