Expendable Pawns v1.0

I really like the idea... but I was thinking among different lines, in particular going for the advanceable ICE route, including Simone Diego (more fodder for Restoring Face), which would also help in the late game... Anyway I like the way you think maaan :D

Just yesterday I was playing Power Grid (the boardgame) and I did pick mostly polluting power plants just to act like the GRNDL Corp... I ended with clean energy to score a victory, though. Shame on me!

But, but... Simone Diego huh?

One could just swap GRNDL Refinery for Simone Diego, but then it might be interesting to add a couple Commercialization, maybe removing one Restructure and one Hedge Fund or a piece of ICE.

I never really liked that SysOp anyway, let her take the blame then!

I've seen a cool combo recently. Simone Diego making out for couple of turns with Thomas Haas. Now, what would be cooler than blaming that spoiled brat for all the mess?

To your List: I would prefer Tollboth over Fenris, not because it doesnt give you bad publicity but makes the runner angry, so this is off game bad publicity ;)

I like the Simone Diego advice, and replacing something with commercialisation sounds good (one Resructe perhaps).

Did you think of profiteering as well? I think you did, but its only worth one agende point, maybe two for 1 project atlas and another GRNDL Refinery? I know its not the same but you could say if you score profiteering: its all from not paying the fishermen hit by an offshore oil rig accident.

I don't like the inclusion of Fenris, when you're not threatening to flatline Brain Damage is nothing but a minor nuissance to the runner. I suppose it might make the runner worry that you ARE going for flatlining, but yeah..

Also, no Code Gates? Not even a single one? Yog can be frustrating, but not playing a single gate, to at least force the runner to spend time and money installing it, seems like a missed opportunity to me.

Finally I'd probably find a way to get the third Fracking in there, pretty good, you got the BP removal (esp if you remove Fenris) and it fits thematically (whatever that's worth..).

To your List: I would prefer Tollboth over Fenris, not because it doesnt give you bad publicity but makes the runner angry, so this is off game bad publicity ;)

It would be indeed a good substitute, but there's already quite a lot of expensive ICE, so maybe it should also come with some other small change, for example one less Hadrian's Wall and one more Bastion, to keep the price balance.

Did you think of profiteering as well? I think you did, but its only worth one agende point, maybe two for 1 project atlas and another GRNDL Refinery? I know its not the same but you could say if you score profiteering: its all from not paying the fishermen hit by an offshore oil rig accident.

Profiteering is not one of my favourite Agendas, plus I needed some extra BP removal, so I chose to add 2 Veterans Program. After all, there's already Geothermal Fracking which is quite similar, but the effect is optional and that might actually make it better, since you could use it precisely before using a Restoring Face as to immediately remove those 2 extra BPs.

One could add a single Profiteering and a third Geothermal Fracking to replace a Government Contracts, though. Removing something else as well, of course, maybe a Restructre.

I think GRNDL Refinery is a better choice over other possible Assets (like Simone Diego, for example), because it can be advanced. This means you could use it to lure the Runner and have him waste money or cards, when he has to come and check what it is or risk losing a game.

I don't like the inclusion of Fenris, when you're not threatening to flatline Brain Damage is nothing but a minor nuissance to the runner. I suppose it might make the runner worry that you ARE going for flatlining, but yeah..

Letting the Runner have fewer cards in his hand is not a bad thing, though, it means he will have less options in his hands. Fenris mostly serves as a scarecrow in early game, to make them wary of possible dangers and avoid them facechecking everything possibly forcing you to rez a lot. Given that there is also Elizabeth Mills, though, they might think some Tag n Bag cards are actually there. After all you could use Ms. Mills to trash NACH.

Also, no Code Gates? Not even a single one? Yog can be frustrating, but not playing a single gate, to at least force the runner to spend time and money installing it, seems like a missed opportunity to me.

Well, if someone already knows the deck, they would obviously skip on installing Yog.0 or whatever Decoder they have, but that will just leave some dead cards (totally useless) in their deck anyway. There's no real need for Code Gates and given the amount of expensive ICE to break, I'd say they will have to spend enough as it is.

5 credits for Yog.0 would hardly make the difference, whereas having Enigma, for example, would easily translate into dead cards in my deck.

Plus, not having Code Gate against Rielle is quite nice. Any Rielle player would start installing a Decoder, but with no CGs at all, they would end up doing only one single run until they get a Fracter or a Killer too.

Finally I'd probably find a way to get the third Fracking in there, pretty good, you got the BP removal (esp if you remove Fenris) and it fits thematically (whatever that's worth..).

Initially I had three copies in the list, but I felt the need for more BP removal.

There's already 13 possible sources of BP, and only 10 BP removals, so another GF would shift that to 15/8 and it would possibly hurt in the long run.

Ireress?

Ireress was an interesting options, but given that I'd likely have few Bad Publicity (or at least that's the goal!), I'm not sure it would be useful at all.