Snowflake

Snowflake 1[credit]

Ice: Barrier - Psi
Strength: 3
Influence: 2

[subroutine] You and the Runner secretly spend 0[credit], 1[credit], or 2[credit]. Reveal spent credits. End the run if you and the Runner spent a different number of credits.

Sometimes uniqueness is overrated.
Illustrated by Mashuri
Decklists with this card

What Lies Ahead (wla)

#15 • English
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What Lies Ahead
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Reviews

Snowflake is the one Psi card that does not follow the standard psi game template.

Standard template: "If you and the runner spent a different number of credits, do X."

Snowflake template: "Do X if you and the runner spent a different number of credits."

(Blood Money era)
14
I guess you could say it's a special... —
I appreciate this. —
Aiki is similarly weird. My interpretation of the Corp 'winning' a psi game was if you spent a different number of creds to the runner (i.e. The runner could not guess correctly). With Aiki, you have to basically lose the psi game to prevent the runner to draw cards: You and the Runner secretly spend 0, 1, or 2. Reveal spent credits. If you and the Runner spent a different number of credits, the Runner draws 2 cards. —

Out of all the Psi ICE, Snowflake is possibly the best of the lot. It is cheap to rez, which is good because spending money on the Psi game is an additional cost, and it simply ends the run. A good combination that may be often overlooked.

The drawback is of course that it is Psi. The cost to keep the runner out can add up very quickly, and it is not a guarantee that it will do so even if there are no breakers on the table for it. The cost is reduced out of Nisei Division, but that ID hasn’t seen enough reason to be run yet.

(The Underway era)
418
If you drop this behind a RSVP while playing Nisei Division, it can be a lot of fun. —