Buffer Drive

♦ Buffer Drive 3[credit]

Hardware
Influence: 1

The first time each turn 1 or more cards are trashed from your grip or stack, you may add 1 of those cards to the bottom of your stack.

Remove this hardware from the game: Add 1 card from your heap to the top of your stack.

“Future me needs those 60 petabytes of cat vids.”
—Princess Space Kitten
Illustrated by Elizaveta Sokolova
Decklists with this card

Uprising (ur)

#93 • English
Startup Card Pool
Standard Card Pool
Standard Ban List (show history)
Printings
Uprising
Rulings
  • Updated 2020-03-20

    NISEI Uprising Release Notes [NISEI Rules Team]

    Can the Runner use Buffer Drive to put an event at the bottom of the stack after playing it?

    No. Events resolve in and are then trashed from from the play area, not the grip. Nice try!

    If a card is trashed from the grip or stack, can Buffer Drive move it to the bottom of the stack before Skorpios Defense Systems removes it from the game?

    No. The entire procedure in Skorpios Defense Systems's replacement effect, including removing a card from the game, is performed before the reaction window occurs where the Runner can trigger Buffer Drive's first ability. However, The Runner can use Buffer Drive's first ability on a card that was set aside and then added to the heap by Skorpios Defense Systems.

    Does discarding cards to maximum hand size allow the Runner to trigger Buffer Drive?

    No. Discarding is not trashing.

    How does Buffer Drive interact with I've Had Worse?

    Both cards' conditional abilities meet their trigger conditions at the same time, and the Runner can choose to resolve either one first. If they choose to trigger Buffer Drive's ability first and put I've Had Worse on the bottom of the stack, they will not be able to trigger I've Had Worse's ability because that ability is no longer active once its source leaves the heap.

    Can the Runner use Buffer Drive if Blacklist is rezzed?

    No. Blacklist does not allow any cards to be moved out of the heap.

    Can the Runner use Buffer Drive to return a card trashed by Emergent Creativity to the stack and then search for and install that same card?

    Yes. Cards are trashed by Emergent Creativity's first instruction, and the Runner can trigger Buffer Drive as a chain reaction after that instruction. The search performed by Emergent Creativity's second instruction occurs only after Buffer Drive has resolved. The card returned to the stack will still have its install cost counted toward the total install cost of the trashed cards, whether the Runner finds that same card with the search or not.

Reviews

To address the elephant in the room, as others have aptly noted, this keeps MaxX afloat. But in a slow the bleeding to a trickle sort of way rather than unleashing the torrent anew when the Levy breaks. Dam, that one slipped out sorry.

This is a strong utility card that I’m happy to see as a neutral for one influence. Everyone pays to play, very splashable, but not thoughtlessly so. There are a lot of really strong contenders for that 1 influence splash across all the factions with PAD Tap, Hunting Grounds, Rezeki, and the economic juggernaut that is Stimhack only scratching the surface.

On its own, it’s a decent silver bullet against 1000 cuts style decks trying to grind you into oblivion, Weyland Consortium: Builder of Nations, Black Tree and their buddy Kakugo. It even lets you decide which card to save against Breached Dome.

But kudos to the designers, it by no means completely turns the threat off.

And, you at least keep one of the cards in your deck when you need to faceplant an Obo, City Works Project, or good old fashioned trap.

But wait there’s more! If none of that floats your boat, simply use it as copy 4-6 of any card of any type! Or copies 2 and 3 of that huge influence spend…

Notable Interactions

Patchwork: Completes the circle nicely. Notice that Patchwork can trigger on the Corp turn as well? Buffer Drive has got you covered, and there are more ways than ever to make this happen.

For extra spice, play this in Wu. Patchwork any program, Buffer Drive it to the bottom, then summon it back at your leisure. With 2 Chameleons in hand (a more attractive option than ever when you’re chilling with Talut at the Café), you can Patchwork the first to install the second free, then Wu the first one back for 1 cred. 2 clicks and only a single credit is not bad to refresh your subtype and cyber up. With even 1 Technical Writer installed, the whole operation is credit positive.

NRE: Need to get that 5 strength lizard up to a 6? Buffer Drive will mitigate the risk of installing Net-Ready Eyes.

Reclaim: Now only 2 clicks rather than the unplayably bad 2 clicks and a card.

Dummy Box: What if the first time each round, I didn’t actually trash the card I pitched to Dummy Box? Yeah…

Stimhack: Doesn’t it suck when you brain your damage and lose your stash? Only users lose drugs! This allows you to bounce that to the bottom instead of losing that card.

Emergent Creativity: Adam can place the card (or one of the multiple) on the bottom of the deck rather than the trash for the same economic value. Alas, Monolith is rotating…

Null: Whistleblower: Once per turn, when you encounter a piece of ice, you may save 1 card from your grip for later...

Making an Entrance: Can be used to bounce one card to the bottom of the deck rather than drawing it.

I could go on about Mad Dash, Clan Vengeance, Respirocytes, and more but I’ll leave the rest as an exercise for the reader.

(Uprising Booster Pack era)
297

Wouldn't this card also nicely synergise with Zer0 ?

Great point @Davidmc7. Zer0 was banned when the review was written but absolutely yes.

Buffer Drive seems like a very interesting card. On first glance, one might look at this card and say, "Oh, this is to mitigate corp net damage, anti-Jinteki." But, this hardware doesn't care who does the trashing. Maybe strong with "MaxX: Maximum Punk Rock and Null: Whistleblower. Another synergy is Patchwork. The trashed card for Null and Patchwork doesn't really get trashed in the end too, which minimizes the draw backs of their abilities. Sounds like a fun card!

(Uprising Booster Pack era)
Not so obvious? If you ask me it was the most obvious, given MaxX's ability uses up Buffer and trashes 2 cards. Forgot all about Null, honestly, lol. —