Hush

Hush 1[credit]

Program: Trojan
Memory: 1 • Strength: -
Influence: 1

Install only on a piece of ice.

Host ice cannot gain abilities and loses all abilities except its printed subroutines.

[click]: Host this program on another installed piece of ice.

Quiet. I need to focus.
Illustrated by Scott Uminga
Decklists with this card

Parhelion (ph)

#71 • English
Startup Card Pool
Standard Card Pool
Standard Ban List (show history)
Printings
Parhelion
Rulings
  • Updated 2023-03-25

    How does Magnet interact with Hush?

    If Hush is hosted on a rezzed Magnet (including becoming hosted by being moved with Magnet’s conditional ability), the static abilities printed on the two cards are each dependent on the other, creating a “loop”. To resolve a dependency loop, the abilities of a hosted object are applied before abilities of the host object. Therefore, Hush’s static ability is applied first, and Magnet loses both its static ability and its conditional ability. Hush keeps all of its abilities, as do any other programs hosted on that copy of Magnet.

  • Updated 2023-03-25

    Can Hush be installed on a rezzed Tithonium?

    No, Hush’s ability to make Tithonium lose all abilities only becomes active after it is installed. This means that Tithonium is not a valid location to install Hush.

  • Updated 2023-03-25

    If a piece of ice is hosting Hush and Eavesdrop, is Eavesdrop’s ability active?

    Yes, Eavesdrop’s ability is granted to the condition counter, not the ice itself.

  • Updated 2023-03-25

    If Hush is hosted on Surveyor, what is the value of X used for Surveyor’s strength and subroutines?

    Hush causes Surveyor to lose the ability that defines the value of X, so X is equal to 0 by default.

  • Updated 2023-03-25

    If a piece of ice requires the Corp to pay an additional cost to rez it, does that ability apply when Hush is hosted on that ice?

    No.

Reviews

An interesting card that could use some clarifying text. Do additional rez costs count as "abilities?" How about "when rezzed" effects? Does Magnet turn it off, or vice-versa? For this review, I'll pretend that it simply blanks all the non-subroutine text, regardless of whether the ICE is rezzed.

I see two uses for this:

  1. A silver bullet for the likes of Tollbooth and Funhouse. This sounds a bit iffy to me. If you could relocate Hush mid-run, that'd be quite something, but as is, you're paying 1 to semi-neutralize a single ICE... and that's when it isn't just a dead draw.

  2. A preventative measure against "when rezzed" effects. You drop it on an unrezzed ICE you suspect of being a Stavka, then move it to a different ICE after OB reluctantly rezzes it. That's awfully meta-dependent, though, and sometimes you'll be giving the corp a free Archer.

Assuming its main use is case #1, Hush is sort of a more expensive Hunting Grounds that you can tutor. I see that mainly as a one-of in Shaper, where it sort of combos with Endurance. Harder to see it being used in Anarch. From time to time you'll happily drop it on an Anansi or Data Loop, but more often you'll wish you'd drawn a Chisel or Botulus.

(Parhelion era)

Additional rez costs count as "abilities", so yes, Hush can make rezzing Archers cheaper. :)

"When rezzed" effects also count as abilities, so rezzing Anemone will make Corp very sad.

And yes, Hush beats Magnet. It isn't a virus, just like several other programs like Rook, Pawn, Kyuban, etc.

Beating Magnet... is there a rules clarification, or that your own conclusion?

It's been confirmed in this blog post: https://logic-bomb.net/news/parhelion-preview/#interview

What then when Hush is moved to another card? Does the Ice get its text back?

Yes the ice "recovers" when Hush moves to another ice.

This might see a lot of play, depending how the meta shakes out. At one influence, this program can easily be splashed in any faction.

While it is a good counter to Loki and Magnet, I would recommend to not play it against Haas-Bioroid, it would make Bioroid ices not breakable by using .

Against every other faction, it is a tremendous program. NBN would stand to lose the most, as a lot of NBN ices have effect. Nullifying Mestnichestvo or Tollbooth would have a huge impact. Of course, other faction would suffer from this also. With this, you could facecheck Anansi without much problem. If you suspect Anemone, this would make it easy to NOT get damaged by it. Against Weyland, the ubiquous Border Control becomes an expensive 1 strenght - 2 subs barrier.

From my understanding, Surveyor would become a zero strenght ice with trace zero, and advanceable ices would not be allowed to be advanced. It is funny that the drawback associated with Trebuchet or Archer would be waived.

For the impact this program would have on the board state, I expect Hush to be used by top players. It is such a good tech card! The only thing that keep it back is the one MU cost (for criminals). But that would not be a problem for most shapers.

The art is easy to understand and refined. The quote fit the art and the name. Amazing work for this amazing card.

(Parhelion era)
4173

Hush has several great theoretical targets -- it theoretically could save you a close game against a Border Control or Anemone or save ~$3 each time you encounter a Tollbooth or Funhouse or Anansi.

This might be enough value for a $1 card to be occasionally playable, like Hunting Grounds. But it's not enough value for 1 MU. Will this be as cost-effective or create as much value as a Fermenter or Botulus or K2CP Turbine or Cezve or even a 0-MU Hunting Grounds? Unless you are losing a lot to Border Controls, no. Hush isn't even 100% reliable against Border Control (an unrezzed ice takes some guesswork). Like... if you take a Tollbooth for example, a Hush would save $3 on an encounter, but a Botulus would save $6 for most Anarchs, and a Botulus is much easier to deploy blindly.

Playing corp, rezzing a Botulus'ed ice is HARD and it feels bad. Hush doesn't make life nearly that hard for most corp ice. Assuming you're Anarch, I think the only two ice which Hush makes way less appealing to rez are Anemone, Funhouse and situationally Border Control. (Stavka can reasonably be rezzed against an MKUltra player without using Stavka's ability. $4 rez cost vs. $3 to break is not terrible).

Several ice get stronger when blindly Hushed. Unlike Hush, some of these anti-targets are cards people actually play: Hagen, Fairchild 3, Ansel, Bran. You've heard they're pretty good, and you're not wrong. If you blindly Hush an unrezzed ice hoping to prevent an on-rez effect like Anemone or Magnet, most likely your attempt creates 0 short-term impact or even negative short-term impact. Click order matters on turns with runs, and I generally don't recommend spending clicks before a run which probably won't help the run. (Spending a click pre-run increases the risk that you get surprised by a clickable bioroid with not enough clicks available, or incur a tag that you can't clear this turn, or that you skip over a different pre-run action like drawing).

If you see yourself running enough that Hush might produce more value than Fermenter, in-faction I'd prefer the rarely used Mining Accident to Hush. If you really need to shut down on-encounter effects and can spare an influence, Hunting Grounds is much more flexible and doesn't take any MU.

(Parhelion era)

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