Spoiler (har har) This card has done well by me.

First, as any Noise player will tell you, Corps hate things falling out of R&D and into Archives without a run happening. Even when it isn't an agenda it annoys them.

But this card doesn't fire under the runners control. That would be crazy. It only goes off when the corp scores. In most games where the corp wins, they score 4 2 point agendas (or 3 2 pointers and a 1 pointer). Discounting the last score (since, obviously, who cares about milling when the game is over), that leaves the game divided into the first part, where you'd click once, spend a cred and over the course of the game you'd get 3 cards into archives, the second part (after their first score), where you'd 'only' be buying 2 cards into archives, and so on. Presumably, the runner won't install this card if the corp is at 5 points, so the worst state for this card is to give you 1 card into archives for 1 click and 1 cred.

The Corp's tools to mitigate this random milling is pretty much just Jackson. If they have a rezzed Jackson when they score, or a click left to install him, they can fling any agenda that falls back into R&D. Since for most runners Jackson is KOS, this is a surprisingly uncommon condition. He just doesn't usually live on the table, the double draw is too powerful. Obviously, they can stagger their scoring (install advance advance a 4/2, for example, so that they don't end up scoring last click), but Leela players can vouch for how wrong footed a corp gets when they have to play around like this.

Most games, the Spoiled cards end up in the trash without being saved. Pulling numbers out of the air, lets say most corps have 49 cards, of which 11 are agendas. Some decks will have more, others less, but that's a fair baseline. Let's further say that Spoilers fires twice during the game (my experience is that 3 times is more likely, but at least twice covers a supermajority of games). So 11/49 of the time you throw an agenda in the trash. For easy math lets say 1 in 5. The odds of missing 1 in 5 twice are 16 in 25, call it 2/3 against. Every runner knows what a 2/3 feels like, due to the psi game mechanic.

Spoilers impact on score is a lot like "take a psi game that neither side pays for, if the runner wins they get an agenda". For 1 credit and 1 click. Its also important to remember that 'losing' this psi game just means 2 non agendas end up in trash, which obviously isn't bad either.

The influence isn't attractive out of faction, but Anarchs should slap a singleton in their decks. It'll lucksack you wins that you wouldn't get otherwise.

Builder is an interesting piece of ice.

First off, 2 to rez for a 4 strength ice with 2 subroutines is totally calvinball. The basic Gordian Blade take 4 to break, and it is not immediately in Yog range. Code gates are also not really done in Weyland, so this card is a bit of an unwelcome surprise.

If they break Builder the first time you rez it you've paid 2 to make the runner pay 4ish. That's obviously great (practically unheard of for Ice), and it only gets better if they keep running it. So what's the catch? I mean, ice with a better ratio than Eli 1.0 and no bioroid click through, that's crazy.

Well, the catch is what Builder does. It doesn't do any damage or end the run, all it does is buff the ice after it by giving it 2 advancement tokens. What do those do? Depends on the ice. The Ice Wall Fire Wall Hadrian's Wall style carrds get more strength for each token. The Tyrant Woodcutter style cards get more subroutines. For ease of reference we can say that they get 2 creds tougher to break, permanently.

Still sounds pretty good, right? I mean, 2 to break a 2 rez ice is acceptable even before we consider that it can snowball. Builder in front of advanceable ice is super efficient and taxing. It can even hop from server to server! So why don't we see it more often?

First off, this is positional ice, with all the irritation that that entails. It can't defend any server on its own. It isn't even normal positional ice, it is positional ice that only works in front of advanceable ice. That means that in your deck building its hard to treat Builder as Ice, since it can't stop the runner unless it combos right. Do you slot it in instead of a support card?

Beyond that, the ice that Builder buffs aren't very popular. I've never seen a Tyrant in the wild, and typically ice wall is just quick gear check ice. Advanceable ice generally isn't played, so a buff for it is in a weird place.

I think that's where I'm putting my conclusion. Builder is great when it works, and to work it just needs you to play advanceable ice. If you are running advanceable ice anyway, by all means give Builder a try, its a better economy piece than most. But I don't think running advanceable ice is the right call, in general, so Builder isn't something to recommend.

So, this is an interesting card.

On the one hand: Anything that can only be played by the runner on a turn they stole an agenda is a card that has an incredibly narrow firing window. If we discount the last one, since the game is over, most runners in a winning game will steal 2 or 3 times. That means anywhere from 0 to 9 potential clicks where this card could be fired. This is bad. Most clicks of the runner's game this card just sits in their hands like a lump.

On the other hand: The effect of Kraken is enormously powerful. It trashes a piece of ice regardless of whether that ice is rezzed or not, without the runner ever getting anywhere near it. Emergency Shutdown players understand how big of a deal eliminating ice from afar is, and this is much more permanent. Its a bit of a problem that the Corp gets to choose which piece of ice in the server gets the ax, but not that big of a deal. Many servers have just 1 piece of ice anyway, and multi layer defense tends to have only the essential layers. This is because, basically, the corp. doesn't install ice at random, it has an objective.

In general, I'm inclined to say that splashing a copy or two of this card into a runner's deck at random isn't usually going to be worth it. Games where you get it late and you are already on game point. Games where your steals happen last click. Games where their ice is in such a way that they can choose one that doesn't matter on the critical server.

A runner who has an ice destruction/derezzing plan, however, can definitely use Kraken. Leela Patel: Trained Pragmatist, is the obvious choice, but anarch decks that use cutlery and parasites can get a lot of use out of this card as well. One destroyed piece of ice the corp can tolerate, but a critical mass can leave them with unprotected servers, and an unwinnable game.

This card has been in the game since Core, but it is one of those cards which targets a part of the game that isn't fully implemented (poison agendas), and so you have to re examine it every time a new pack comes out. My feeling is with Data and Destiny and the data packs immediately preceding it this card has finally come into its own.

Examining the fundamentals of the card will be brief. It costs 0 to play. It allows you to click for 9 (NINE, for emphasis. People feel comfortable with Magnum Opus turns where you quad click for 8) at he cost of one of your agendas.

So, what Agendas (or Ambushes) are worth forfeiting?

Vs. HB: Domestic Sleepers would be worth forfeiting, but it is basically not played. Mandatory Upgrades might need to be forfeited, if they have Media Blitz

Vs. NBN: 15 Minutes is worth forfeiting, and will be in just about every deck News Team is worth forfeiting, remains to be seen how often this is played.

Vs. Jinteki: Medical Breakthrough might be worth sacrificing. Judgement call there. Shi Kyu is worth forfeiting, played in decks that poison archives.

Vs. Weyland: Weyland doesn't have any agendas that are automatically worth sacrificing.

Beyond the silver bullet saves listed above, clicking for 9 is a big deal in its own right. Sometimes it is the right play if you have a 1 point Agenda and a sudden and urgent need for credits (say, you've just snagged a Vanity Project and the Punitives are incoming).

As always, mention must be made of Iain Stirling: Retired Spook , who loves this card because he doesn't just get 9 credits, he can reactivate his drip economy identity ability.

For the very, very cautious runner, Heatbeat!

It is hard to imagine being flatlined while you have this console in play. As a typical game goes on the Runner side of the table tends to sprawl wildly, with cheap resources, programs and hardware proliferating endlessly. Going on the anecdotal evidence of my own games I'd say that on average the runner has upwards of 8 cards in play throughout most of the game. If we accept that as a reasonable estimate (and feel free to substitute your own if your experience is different), it would take north of 14 damage to flatline such a runner.

Further, the prevention isn't done as an all or nothing decision. If you have just a few expendable cards in prey Harbinger or Fall Guy for example, you can use those and let the rest hit your hand. If your hand is solid gold you can blow up some connections that have outlived their usefulness. You get to pick and choose.

Beyond this, its important to note that you can block brain damage as easily as anything else. Stumble into a triple advanced Cerebral Overwriter and walk out having lost 3 cards, rather than half your hand for the rest of the game.

So, the upside is there. What about the downside?

Well, if you use this as your console, you are paying 3 influence, unless you are playing Apex, and you give up all of the other benefits that your console could be providing you with, in the name of safety. Desperado 's 2-3 credits per turn will not be yours. Grimoire 's virus counters will not assist you, nor will you benefit from its larger memory bonus. If you play #Heartbeat you are forgoing consoles that help you win and picking instead one that helps you not lose.

In all honesty, it will probably be worth it to some runners. There are runners who have their economy set up to the point that they don't really need the benefits from a console. Coincidentally, they tend to have a lot of cards in play they'd LOVE to sac rather than lose the game. How many Big Rig Shapers have achieved R&D lock and plowed into a pair of Snare! for the surprise loss?

An interesting console. Not for everyone, but I think it'll see some play.