Ablative Barrier is an early-game gearcheck and late-game non-agenda installer/unarchiver.
Design:
Threat
-gated“when rezzed”
effects, likeThreat
-gated operations, play differently thanThreat
-gated repeatable/continuous abilities (Jaguarundi’s“when encountered”
, Vovô Ozetti’s static abilities, and so on). This means that by the mid-game, when choosing whether to rez or even install Ablative, you'll be weighing “now” against “more”.Install 1 card from HQ or Archives
is narrowed withnon-agenda
andin the root of or protecting another server
. This keeps the rez cost (and threat level) low, and lets you play more with (still broad) subsets of a (super broad) effect, to weave a distinct texture.
For example, you can bring back the (self-trashing and easily-trashable) Rashida Jaheem (which, against a run-last-click, reads When you rez this ice, draw 3 cards and gain $3.
!); but you cannot sneak in a Project Vitruvius, nor can you ice up the current server with a Magnet.
Compare:
(Tatu-Bola being Jinteki's 1↳
-and-1s
-for-$2
ETR ice with some “post-ETR” value.)
By the way, any gearcheck can (implicitly) act like a Pulse trigger, since they waste the click spent on that run (by ending it), which synergizes with click-taxing (in HB esp.).
When you rez this ice during a run
against this server, the Runner loses [click].
Flavor: In Pathfinder, an "ablative barrier" is a spell that blocks things and pushes them away.
Invisible layers of solid force surround and protect the target, granting that target a +2 armor bonus to AC. Additionally, the first 5 points of lethal damage the target takes from each attack are converted into nonlethal damage.
Regarding the flavour: Ablation, in the context of armour, which is most applicable here, is where it is expected to be destroyed in the process.
— Quarg