"New metas destroy the old"
How the winds of change blow.

Prior to 2016; our humble Professor was considered a joke card.
His text box ability only applies to deckbuilding: whilst he can include nearly any number of programs in his deck, anything out-of-faction could only be a one-of making pulling anything you need up unreliable unless you used SMC or Clone Chip. Anything that isn't a program is restricted to a single copy of 1 influence, and that is if you didn't use it to import an extra copy of a single influence program.

Why would any discerning shaper player use him?
Why restrict yourself to singles of good programs out of faction, when you could have multiple copies of the strongest of those programs and be able to tutor and recur them just as effectively?
What can this guy do that no one else can? - What's his hook?

Those questions now have an answer.

For the unininitated, on Thursday, 31st December 2015, at approximately 18:00 GMT: Damon Stone, the new Lead Game Designer, made an inaugural change to the ruleset for tournament play to curb the use of certain overplayed cards. For better or worse, those changes are here, those changes are the NAPD Most Wanted List.

So... What the heck does this have to do with our neighbourhood Mr. Rogers look-a-like?

The mechanics of the NAPD Most Wanted List (i'll simply refer to as 'The List') are quite simple.

• Any card on The List reduces the total influence limit (that's the grey number in the bottom left) of the ID using it by 1 for each copy included in the deck.
• This reduction of the total influence limit is in addition to the influence cost of the Listed card itself.
• This reduction still applies even if you are using a Listed card which is in the same faction as the ID.
• An ID's total influence limit cannot be reduced below 1.
• There are no limits to the number of Listed cards that may be included in a deck, so long as you do not spend more influence out of faction than is allowed by your new, reduced total influence limit.

Disregarding for now what is actually on The List, this has given our Professor a new 'hook'. Our Professor does not give a single hoot about this mechanic. He flat-out ignores it.

His influence limit is already 1, so it cannot be reduced any further by Listed cards.
He ignores influence on any out of faction programs, so his influence total being 1 does not matter in the same way as for other runners. meaning... He, and he alone can play unlimited numbers of cards on The List, he can play Listed cards in such numbers that no sane player would include in any other ID: most notably Listed neutral and shaper cards.

So sure, he'll never be able to use Lucky Find, or The Source, nor will he ever afford more than a single copy of any non-program that is out of faction. But do you really need them?

When you can delve into the NAPD's evidence locker and help yourself to as many Prepaid VoicePADs, Clone Chips and include such illicit digital gems as Parasite, Yog.0 and Cerberus "Lady" H1 in your collection, how much do you really care what is going on outside the walls of your University?

"Oh these little things, Officer? I'm just using them for 'research' purposes only. I have all the paperwork signed off right here"