Brahman

Brahman 4[credit]

Program: Icebreaker - AI
Memory: 2 • Strength: 3
Influence: 3

Interface → 1[credit]: Break up to 2 subroutines.

2[credit]: +1 strength.

Whenever an encounter ends, if you used this program to break a subroutine during that encounter, add 1 installed non-virus program to the top of your stack.

Illustrated by Andreas Zafiratos
Decklists with this card

Salsette Island (si)

#62 • English
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Rulings
  • Updated 2017-05-02

    UFAQ [Damon Stone]

    If the Runner uses both Brahman and Faerie to break subroutines on a piece of ice, can the Runner choose to add Faerie to the top of their stack instead of trashing Faerie?

    Yes. Faerie and Brahman meet their trigger condition simultaneously, so the Runner chooses the order in which their conditional abilities resolve. If the Runner chooses to resolve Brahman’s ability first, then Faerie is no longer active, so its conditional ability fails to resolve.

Reviews

At first glance Brahman seems to have a steep disadvantage (tempo loss) but looks can be deceiving.

The ideal deck would be a Brahman and a Scholar.

Lets look at the so-called 'disadvantages' and turn that frown upside down:

2 for +1 str

Net-Ready Eyes gets you to str 4. Datasucker can get you the rest of the way if you need it, but you probably won't need Brahman for str 5+ ICE because of the next point.

A program is uninstalled and sent to the top of the stack

D4v1d, Lady, Rex, Cuj.0 and Overmind love having infinite counters. Drool over infinite D4v1d.

Cyber-Cypher can target any server you want (Turing maybe?) and for Tollbooth or other annoying ICE you can target and maybe even re-target Femme using Eureka!.

Paricia's 2 are renewed every time it is installed.

Chameleon and LLDS Processor comes to mind but Chameleon seems a bit pointless when you have inifinite D4v1d and Brahman's incredible efficiency at breaking subroutines.

You need to draw that program again, costing a

Ideally with Oracle May to get paid for doing what you want. John Masanori gets that program back in your grip almost immediately. Patron is cheap renewable card draw.

Earthrise, Drug Dealer, ProCon, Astrolabe and Wyldcakes are other handy draw options, all of them clickless except for ProCon.

You need to install that program again, costing a

Hayley can get a free install during both the runner and corp turns. Personal Workshop, Savoir-faire and SMC let you trigger that install. Using Multithreader you can even trigger Savoir-faire and SMC for free.

You need to install that program again, costing s

Scheherazade means you get paid for re-installing programs. Sahasrara gives you a 2 discount.

Modded installs D4v1d and the dog breakers for free.

A lot of the cards I have mentioned like Paricia, Savoir-faire and SMC are 0 to install. Inti (for Wraparound) and Pawn (0) are possibilities as well.

Technical Writer will make unbelievable amounts of s.

If you don't want to use Scheherazade then London Library will reinstall programs for free temporarily. Make sure you bounce them with Brahman before your turn ends! Credit to Lynx Kuroneko for publishing this idea.

This potentially needs a lot of

...and you can't use Leprechaun, NetChip or Omni-Drive if you want to use Scheherazade. This is probably the biggest disadvantage of this kind of set-up and there's no real silver bullet.

You can play around it by leaning more on your other breakers and Brahman gives you complete control over how much you are currently using.

You can stock up with Akamatsu and CyberSolutions.

Brain Chip and Maya help with too.

Other console options include Monolith - which sort of synergises since you will certainly have programs in your grip to install and Ekomind, but both of those take a long time to set up.

Anything else?

Sacrificial Construct prevents Marcus Batty or Keegan Lane from trashing your entire Rig when it's hosted on Scheherazade.

Cuj.0 or Femme take care of Swordsman.

Paricia doesn't do upgrades. SanSan City Grid is 5. Use Econ.

Test Run works with Brahman (it's going to top of stack anyway right?) it works with Oracle May, it works with Eureka! and with all breakers mentioned earlier too.

(Salsette Island era)
492
*foams at mouth, then builds deck* —
so nice review —
and Harbinger(in Apex) is too —
Brahman is exactly the kind of AI breaker green has always wanted - one that inspires all kinds of Shaper bullsh*t. :-) —
I want to see this in @HopelessHeretic's Professor deck (although 2MU might prevent that from working). —
Overmind + Brahman would maybe work in a Adam / Safety First / Brain Chip deck ? —
Worth mentioning Imp, too, even if it is 3 inf. It's like the Paricia interaction on steroids. I was gonna get all hype about Cache until I realized that it wasn't actually more efficient than clicking for creds probably (although Hayley might be able to make it work) —
@LordRandomness: "...add 1 installed non-virus program to the top of your stack." —
._. —
To those doing the math at home: Lady is MWL, Cuj.o and Rex are 3 each for shaper, D4v1d is 4 plus 1 for MWL, Oracle May is another 1. Be aware that MOST of your influence is spent setting up this combo. —
Also...I know I'm super far behind...but "Atman is Brahman." Not an especially efficient combo, bouncing Atmans...but thematically interesting. Especially if your runner doesn't believe in their own existence. —
What happens if there's no program to bounce? Can I still use Brahman to break? —
Yes. There is always at least one program to bounce (Brahman itself). —
Makes sense. ;-) Thx! —