Shibboleth

Shibboleth 1[credit]

Program: Icebreaker - Decoder
Memory: 1 • Strength: 3
Influence: 2

Threat 4 → This program gets −2 strength. (This ability is active if any player has 4 or more agenda points.)

Interface → 1[credit]: Break 1 code gate subroutine.

2[credit]: +2 strength.

"Corporate security regards me as merely another Nico, and that shall ever be their mistake."
—Mercury
Illustrated by Ed Mattinian
Decklists with this card

The Automata Initiative (tai)

#18 • English
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Reviews

Shibboleth is an early-game higher-base-strength-than-install-cost decoder.

Note that Shibboleth is the only “unthreat” in The Automata Initiative (ie. the only card with a negative ability under a Threat _ → … flag), being better earlier and worse later. These two expanded templatings would be equivalent:

  • base [3s] and If either player has 4, 5, and/or 6 agenda points, this program gets −2 strength.
  • base [1s] and If both players have 3, 2, 1, and/or 0 agenda points, this program gets +2 strength.

Flavor: A shibboleth (like a Passport) tells your state/megacorp where you're from, and thus a fake accent (like a fake ID) can let you flee to safety. The flavor text is a quote from Mercury (where the "accent" would be an unfree Nico's body language, speech patterns, cerebral imaging, or something like that).

en.wikipedia.org

(The Automata Initiative era)

I am excessively happy that someone has spotted the parallel between "Shibboleth" and "Passport" in terms of not only mechanics but also name. :D

Plus I love the word "shibboleth". And I can't wait for a "Palimpsest" card, the best word ever.