Councilman

Councilman 0[credit]

Resource: Connection
Influence: 0

Whenever the Corp rezzes an asset or upgrade, you may pay credits equal to its rez cost and trash Councilman. If you do, derez that asset or upgrade. The Corp cannot rez it for the remainder of this turn.

"Bureaucracy and red tape have been weaponized." -Fake-ir
Illustrated by Timur Shevtsov
Decklists with this card

Democracy and Dogma (dag)

#47 • English
Startup Card Pool
Standard Card Pool
Standard Ban List (show history)
Printings
Rulings
  • Updated 2024-07-18

    UFAQ [Damon Stone]

    Is the rez cost in Councilman's ability affected by constant abilities on cards such as Breaker Bay Grid?

    Yes. Whenever an ability queries a value from the game, modifiers are taken into account unless otherwise noted.

    Is the rez cost in Councilman's ability affected by modifiers at the time of rez, such as from Worlds Plaza?

    No. A modifier that is part of a non-constant ability only applies during the resolution of that ability.

    Can the Runner use Fall Guy to protect Councilman but still pay the rez cost and get the effect?

    No. The Runner can use Fall Guy to prevent Councilman from being trashed, but then the derez effect will not resolve. "If you do" requires that both the credits are paid and the Councilman is trashed in order for the rest of the effect to resolve. Note that if the Runner chooses to use Councilman but then prevents it from being trashed, the credits are still paid.

    If the Runner uses Councilman on Lakshmi Smartfabrics, does Lakshmi Smartfabrics still gain a power counter?

    If it is the Runner’s turn, the Councilman resolves first. Lakshmi Smartfabrics will then be inactive when its ability would trigger, so that ability fails to resolve. If it is the Corp’s turn, Lakshmi Smartfabrics resolves first, so it will gain a power counter, which will remain hosted on it when it is derezzed.

Reviews

I know this card is getting somewhat overlooked as a "poor mans Political Operative", and at first glance that seems to be the case. It has a similar, but weaker effect, but is neutral and cost no influence. Compared to PolOp, this card is easier to install (no HQ run needed) and cheaper to use most of the time (you pay the REZ cost of the card, not the trash cost) but only delays what that card does for one turn, while PolOp trashes it completely. Of course, often that one turn will be more than enough for either PolOp or Coucilman to be worth putting down, like when you shut off an Ash 2X3ZB9CY to get that agenda from a foodcoats or RP server. Though it should be noted that Councilman is a card that needs to be held onto until the turn it is needed, if you put it down early, the corp can just early rez their cards and councilman does jack squat.

However, while the first impression of councilman is to just be an "easier but weaker PolOp", there is actually one very important thing to keep in mind that coucilman does that PolOp does NOT do. It counters "trash to use" trap upgrades, like Ryon Knight, Keegan Lane and of course Marcus Batty. Councilman will stop these from going off, PolOp will not. Now granted, the only one of those cards that is played with any real frequency right now is Marcus, but Palana is making us see an awful lot of him at the moment, so it might be worth taking a harder look at council man if Marcus or similar upgrades become popular in the meta.

Fun fact, Councilman and PolOp have nifty interactions with Jackson Howard. PolOp will counter a rezzed jackson, but not an unrezzed one, while Councilman does the opposite (will stop a facedown jHow but not an already faceup on). Together these anti-howard bros do a great job of double teaming Jackson between them............................OH SHIT PHRASING. SHIT SHIT SHIT DO NOT LOOK UP THAT IMAGE ON RULE 34. DON'T DO IT. DO NOT. OH GOD YOU DID IT, DIDN'T YOU??!! NOW IT'S BURNED INTO YOUR MIND FOREVER.

(Democracy and Dogma era)
460
Based review is based. 10/10 —