Num

Num 4[credit]

Program: Icebreaker - Killer
Memory: 1 • Strength: 8
Influence: 3

Interface → 2[credit]: Break 1 sentry subroutine.

I give you understanding, that you might control that which would threaten you.
Illustrated by Bruno Balixa
Decklists with this card

Parhelion (ph)

#73 • English
Startup Card Pool
Standard Card Pool
Standard Ban List (show history)
Printings
Parhelion
Rulings

No rulings yet for this card.

Reviews

I love the design of this card. As a faction, some of Anarchs's key aspects are:

  • Middle-of-the-road at sentry breaking. (Not as good as criminal, but better than shaper's garbage like Pipeline or Creeper.)
  • A love of fixed-strength breakers.
  • A lot of large extremes. Cards with incredibly good aspects, offset by really bad aspects. (Anyone else remember Duggar's?)

I love how this card captures all of these aspects in one uncomplicated 4 package. 8 strength on a sentry breaker is amazing! Even with no way to pump it, there are very few situations where you'll ever need more than 8 strength on a sentry. (And yet they can still come up, so this can be relevant!)

On the other hand, 2 is a lot to pay for each subroutine, especially since sentries often have lots of annoying subs. But you recoup at least some of that with the knowledge that you won't have to spend money to boost strength. It fully breaks Archer for 8, which is the same as Carmen!

Finally, it's a nice callback to Knight, and a nice inversion of Mimic. Very cool design!

(Parhelion era)
742

Add to this how good this combo with Poison Vial. You then break any sentry for 2 credits!

Usually, against sentries it's 1 more <span class="icon icon-credit"></span> than carmen, rarely 2 and Unsmiling Tsarevna is the only sentry which num breaks for 3 more than carmen!

Surveyor backed up with 4 other ICE, and Colossus with five or more advancement tokens are the only two corner cases in the current standard card pool this icebreaker cannot break.

Usually it's cheaper to fully break sentries with Num than with MKUltra. Drafter, Stavka without the trash boost, Rototurret, & Tithe being some exceptions.

Unless you're running some support (Chisel, Leech, K2CP Turbine) for Mimic or Odore or don't want to pay the premium for being trash-proof or adhoc install option, this icebreaker seems surprisingly good for anarchs.

Num has the same influence cost as Revolver and one less compared to Bukhgalter, so this might even appear in some shaper decks, at least in startup format.

(Parhelion era)