Three months, six heart-to-heart conversations with friends, eight deck overhauls and thirty-five games later, I'm ready to present my definitive impressions of Nasir Meidan.

Remember where you were when you read these words, guys. Netrunner might NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN:

He's a bit... crap?

The kindest thing I can say about Nasir is that he's a meta call. If your friends are all playing medium to large ICE, no assets at all and also are not very good at Android: Netrunner, Nasir is waiting for you with a bottle of dreamwine and ready to party.

1957
Nasir isn't bad, it's just a very hard deck to create and to pilot, which discourages most people from power playing it, then taking it to tournaments. Nasir would probably shine in an economy denial deck that makes use of cards like Running interferece, or Cyber threat, but I haven't levelled up enough to make that deck yet. —
Look at this guy playing a rather interesting Nasir list: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-8Ph6h3pRqpIatKjf5yhdg —
A couple of cards have come out recently which I really feel push Nasir up the rankings, cards like Film Critic, Drug Dealer, and Faust. Nasir requires a very particular rig, one where you can ditch creds mid-run. If you have this, Nasir's ability can gain you more credits than, say, Kate over the course of the game. He works best pressuring centrals hard, with Interfaces installed off Personal Workshop. There are a few deck lists floating around, and I encourage anyone to give him a go, not least for the surprise factor when you pull off a shock victory. —
Don't have him, but he looks awesome! —

The only card where, after a game, my opponent has picked it up and mimed tearing it in half in animal rage.

In a corp deck with a decent few assets this card is breathtakingly annoying.

Give it a try. Or don't, and enjoy your innocence. Stay young. I was like you, once. I was so beautiful...

1957

If there was a run event that said:

"Make a run on HQ. If successful, instead of accessing cards, the Corp discards 2 cards at random. If the run is unsuccessful, return this card to your hand."

That'd be a great card, right? Utopia Shard is that, but so much more flexible. You can make the run, then trigger the effect you want it (like when you see the first card of a Cerebral Imaging combo, or SEA Source / Scorch / Scorch, or are about to hit archives for some other reason). Or you can get the effect WITHOUT EVEN RUNNING ON HQ.

Fantastic, fantastic card.

1957