Shi.Kyū

Shi.Kyū 0[credit]

Asset: Ambush
Trash: 0
Influence: 4

When the Runner accesses this asset anywhere except in R&D, you may pay X[credit]. The Runner must either suffer X net damage or add this asset to their score area as an agenda worth -1 agenda point.

Illustrated by Alexandr Elichev
Decklists with this card

Honor and Profit (hap)

#11 • English
Startup Card Pool
Standard Card Pool
Standard Ban List (show history)
Printings
Rulings

No rulings yet for this card.

Reviews

Japanese for Four.Nine; in Japan these are unlucky numbers as they sound like Death.Suffering, which incidentally is the options this card presents to a runner.

Pros

  • can force the runner to take -1 Agenda Point by paying for 1 more net damage than runner's current grip
  • Corp is in total control of how many credits to spend, compared to how much net damage they want to cause
  • works from Archives

Cons

  • Corp must always spend credits to make it do anything
  • does not work from R&D
  • won't ever flatline the runner as they can choose if they take the damage

Notable interactions

  • Philotic Entanglement does another damage for one of these in the runner's score area, so combined with some 1 point agendas, can let Philotic kill a runner even with a full grip of 5 cards
  • can be used by Data Dealer or Frame Job to benefit the runner while they also dispose with the -1 AP
    • however, if you know the runner has Data Dealer or Frame Job, you can choose not to trigger it on access (paying no credits) and they then do not have an option to steal it
  • can be used in Harmony Medtech with 6x 5/3 Agendas to make a deck where the runner must steal 3 agendas - half of them! - to win, while the corp can win by scoring two
  • can be priced to cause seemingly non-lethal damage when actually it will drop the Runner's grip size enough to let Ronin or several Neural EMP(s) flatline them next turn.
  • this is one of the best cards to force the runner to encounter from Kitsune, when your strategy revolves around the runner having -1 AP

Final Thoughts

  • Not comparible to Snare! as it can't flatline and doesn't protect R&D.
  • Shock! is often superior as Archives protection as it costs the Corp nothing to trigger, and stays in Archives after firing
  • When giving the runner the -1 AP or disrupting with some net damage are both acceptable, consider bidding low, eg 2. It is surprising how little damage you need to threaten, they will often take the -1 AP just to get it out of your servers so they don't have to worry about accessing it again.
  • Shi.Kyu is a good choice when you want to force -1 AP on the runner, or as extra HQ/Archives protection
(Up and Over era)
2658
What if this card is accessed from Archives? Does it trigger then? Does it trigger every time the runner hits archives? —
Yes, it triggers if the Runner accesses it in Archives. Compare it to Snare! which specifically states to "ignore this effect if the runner accesses Snare! from Archives". In terms of Archives protection though, Shi.Kyu is not that great as a runner can choose to remove it by taking the -1 AP. In almost every situation, you probably want Breached Dome for Archives protection. —

I have an Aginfusion deck that uses Port Anson Grid, Shi kyu, breached dome, and shock to repeatedly dump a runner into a incresingly deadly archives. Takes a second to set up, one once you do, they usually are forced to trash a program each run rather than take a minus one point and possibly die from a bunch of net and meat damage.

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