Lengthy review, which is also sort of a response to Drakeheart, but since it is a mouthfull I am posting it separately.
I think this is one of those cards that looks very appealing, especially to newer players, but is a lot worse than it seems. Not garbage, but there is a reason this asset doesn't show up in competitive decks, even though tags are the hot rage.
You have to look at this card in some likely scenarios:
The runner hits this unadvanced, in centrals or on the board. This is quite ok for the corp. I actually disagree with 2 trash cost being inconsequential. 0 or 1 is, 2 is just high enough to be annoying. And as stated, this is basically a moot access, since this "agenda" can't be stolen.
The runner finds this with 2 advancements. A poor man's Ghost Branch indeed. Not bad if they also spend 2 to trash it, but as stated later, the runner can just let you keep investing resources.
4 advancement counters. How did you get here? Did you install, advance, wait a turn, 3x advance? Why would the runner run the card? Seems like a weird way to score a 5/3. Ronin maybe, that might be enough to go check it. They do take two tags. IF they run it. So this is potentially the best scenario.
5 counters. Can be achieved if you iaa, aaa. Great, all set up to advance advance "score". Because again, why would they run this? And because of the odd number of advancements, only 2 tags.
6 counters. By now you are telegraphing you definitely have some jank and the runner is trying very hard to remember the card pool. Or whether you might have the proverbial stones to slow roll a Goverment Takeover. They might go check, and take 3 tags for their troubles, not easy to shake. Buuut unless you play support cards, it will take you 3 turns to get here.
You score it. Yay! You just spend 9 credits and 9 clicks to score a blank 3-pointer over three turns. You could have scored SSL or SDS Drone Deployment instead. Sure, it didn't pose you any risk of losing an agenda but this cost is so prohibitive that unless you are very far ahead anyway, you have just shot yourself in the foot.
This is a long-winded way of saying, I am not remotely terrified of this card. If you want to spend 3 turns scoring it, have at it. I am gonna snoop in your centrals while you do that. If you as a runner do fear False Flag, Drive By and Political Operative are great counters. Or call their bluff and run it with No One Home or On the Lam installed.
Combos nicely with Prisec and Dedication Ceremony, if you do decide to try it out.
The same logic applies. If you had an agenda on the board instead of False Flag, you could use both cards to better effect.
— Cpt_niceIn the case of Slot Machine, you also can't reliably expect the third sub to fire. And in the case of La Costa, if you park it in the same remote as False Flag, you still aren't scoring out of that remote. It still takes you 3 turns to fire False Flag, while you could have never advanced a solid 4/2 in 2 turns.
— Cpt_niceI don't disagree that if you see it on it's own it's not great because it's needs to be advanced over 3 turns but if played together with La Costa Grid, Seamless launch in a Clearing house Deck you can easily get to 6-7 advancement on round 2 and about your question, why would the runner run it, well to not flatline in case of Clearinghouse should be enough pressure. So it's a win win. If he takes the bait and runs he spends all his money and gets tagged to the neck if he doesn't, you score a 3 point agenda. I can see this being quite decent 1 or 2 card include in a 44 card 6 agenda deck that goes for the long play.
— Angelnet5000
What about the interactions with Slot Machine and La Costa Grid?
— tantale