Liza Talking Thunder: Prominent Legislator

Liza Talking Thunder: Prominent Legislator

Identity: G-mod
Deck size: 50 • Influence: 15 • Link: 0

The first time you make a successful run on a central server each turn, draw 2 cards and take 1 tag.

"You think you're the first to come after me?"
Illustrated by Matt Zeilinger, A. Christensen
Decklists with this card

Reign and Reverie (rar)

#8 • English
Startup Card Pool
Standard Card Pool
Standard Ban List (show history)
Rulings
  • Updated 2022-06-09

    ANCUR UFAQ 24 [Michael Boggs]

    Can the Runner avoid the tag and still draw the 2 cards?

    Yes. The cards and the tag are not dependent on each other, they are two separate effects combined into one composite ability.

    Audited by NISEI Rules (2022.06).

Reviews

Liza's ability to draw 2 on the first run on ANY central server is an extremely powerful one. Not only does it give you 2-click value for the price of 1, you get essentially 3 clicks of value if you wanted to access that central anyway. Her ability is balanced by a larger deck size and, more importantly, the fact that you receive a tag from the run.

There are basically two ways to play around this. 1 is to remove or avoid the tags. While definitely not unplayable, this archetype suffers from some problems. Removings tags the old-fashioned way is expensive and negates the purpose of click compression. You can of course play cards like Dorm Computer and Crash Space, but this requires a not insignificant number of slots and forces you to draw into these cards, reducing your speed.

The second and more popular variant is tag-me Liza. This is an interesting archetype as until now anarchs were the only faction that often went tag-me on purporse. As it completely ignores the tags, it means you can go like a hst and never slow down, pressuring the corp while drawing like mad each turn. This deck has lost the bonkers Mars for Martians due to the MWL, but it still does well at a lot of tournaments due to the recent rise in run based econ. Paragon, Bankroll and Diversion of Funds are all strong cards for this deck. The deck can run resources backed up with Wireless Net Pavilion but usually doesn't bother. Due to relying on events and expendable breakers, Apocalypse is also popular and something the corp has to respect.

What is interesting about this Liza is that she is great against a ton of different decks but gets countered very hard by kill decks on High-Profile Target. Certainly fun thematically, with her being a politician, but not ideal if you hate the idea of having a potentially terrible match up at a tournament.

If your meta is low in Weyland, SYNC and Acme, then this is a solid pick as a powerful id and fun criminal to play. Or you can just rely on your metaphorical balls of steel, go fast or go home.

PS: she is also an amazing DJ Fenris target for Jesminder.

(NAPD Multiplayer era)
1909
Tip to new Liza players: Always trigger Paragon first. —
Good tip! —

Why was this card ever printed? What were they thinking?

Strong tag-me cards do not make for enjoyable Netrunner. When Liza Talking Thunder faces a tag-n-bag corp, she loses in a boring game... either she dies to a BOOM or she has to refrain from using half the cards in her deck. When Liza faces a corp with no tag punishment, she runs them over in an equally unbalanced game.

The principle is simple: the tag-me archetype cannot co-exist with tag-n-bag... otherwise Netrunner devolves into rock-paper-scissors.

(Midnight Sun Booster Pack era)

WotC? Now I'm confused, didn't FFG have the license up until Reign and Reverie? WotC hasn't published any Netrunner since the original game, unless I've messed up my history...

Oy. Yes, my bad.

They thought people would remove the tags - hence cards like the Thunder Art Gallery. She was even quite fun to play like that, although fairly weak. The problem wasn't self-tagging cards, it was the 'tags are good' cards. I'd rather have seen Counter Surveillance go than Liza.