Disrupter

Disrupter 1[credit]

Program
Memory: 1 • Strength: -
Influence: 1

[interrupt] → [trash]: Reduce the base trace strength of a trace to 0.

"Saved my bacon more than once, but gives a wicked sense of déjà vu." -Whizzard
Illustrated by Adam S. Doyle
Decklists with this card

A Study in Static (asis)

#61 • English
Startup Card Pool
Standard Card Pool
Standard Ban List (show history)
Printings
A Study in Static
Rulings
  • Updated 2017-04-09

    Disrupter cannot be used once the Corp has bid during a trace attempt. It must be used when the trace is being initiated, and it prevents the entire trace before re-initiating it with a base trace strength of 0. [Official FAQ]

Reviews

Sadly this card is a counter for nothing other than good times and game enjoyment, as the official ruling is that you have to use Fun Disrupter before the Corp declares his or her trace strength. This means if your opponent is Blue Sun, and they have more than god (and of course they will), this janky little piece of cardboard will spare you from exactly six of the 49 tags you were about to get from Midseason Replacements.

Pros:

  • Good to play if you would like to have an argument about the rules in the hopes of stalling the inevitable double Scorch headed your way.

  • Combo with SMC and surprise your opponent. Congratulations! You now have three fewer to spend on preventing the next trace, which starts ...now!

  • Only 1?

  • Can be combo'd with a Sharpie to make a Desperado proxy.

Cons:

  • Does nothing of any value.

  • Even the art is nondescript, suggesting not even the makers of this card had any idea as to what it was supposed to do.

(The Source era)
150
It's orange. Surely it should be a Grimoire proxy.:) —

Hello, Security Nexus, how do you do? Do you want to resurrect cards from the oblivion? Do you mean apart from Power Tap, which was almost forgotten? Fine! All for you! Take it and make it shine! Make profit from that forced trace!

(Old Hollywood era)
151
Even with Sunny and Security Nexus, this card feels like a 1%'er. Because you are preventing the trace, you can't double dip on Power Tap. Because you are constantly getting access and controlling the corp's credits, you aren't worried about money, and in my experience, corps who are behind on the trace by 1 or 2 might spend to mitigate your ingress, but when you are down 6 or 7, they don't try. Additionally it gets in the way of your overmind tokens just in case you need to fight off a Lab Dog or an Excalibur. She may have 25 influence, but save some for the other goodies she really needs. —
Nah Lukas ruled that it does trigger Power Tap again (trace intitiates, is prevented, initiates again.) Still in my experience the card is marginal, it can be useful if it comes out before your link or to swing the math in your favor during a Midseasons but the cardslots, memory, and influence probably aren't worth it. —
Well, hmmm. I may rethink my testing... But I think the solution is still "the cardslots, memory, and influence probably aren't worth it." just as you suggested. Maybe it's a 5% instead... which is still not worth including. —
Maybe has a place in Geist? —
It's potentially useful in the anti-flatline Geist deck. He has natural flatline resilience since his ability draws cards and there's a whole slew of cards that trash for anti-tagging or anti-damage effects (anti-trace on this one is novel, though). Plus if he's running the Cloud breaker deck he has a lot of spare MU and a decent chunk of Link to help beat weak traces with. —
Not to mention we have some silly-high trace subs now, Gutenberg and Turnpike coming to mind. —

I'm assuming this was a hard counter to SEA and (mainly) Midseasons. Cheap to splash too, so I guess it might make a decent 1-of in SMC-reliant decks not wanting to use Plascrete. For 1 credit (instead of 3), you can avoid those two threats (and for 1 MU, unfortunately). Unlike Plascrete, its viable against any large trace.

Pros

  • 2 credits cheaper than Plascrete
  • Essentially negates Midseasons Replacement

Cons

  • Consumes 1 MU
  • 1 Influence outside of Anarch
(All That Remains era)
1343