Lightning Laboratory

Lightning Laboratory 4/2

Agenda: Research

When you score this agenda, place 1 agenda counter on it.

Whenever a run begins, you may remove 1 hosted agenda counter to rez up to 2 pieces of ice protecting the attacked server, ignoring all costs. When this turn ends, derez 2 pieces of ice protecting that server.

Where ideas strike twice!
Illustrated by Emilio Rodríguez
Decklists with this card

Rebellion Without Rehearsal (rwr)

#97 • English
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  • Updated 2024-05-27

    If the Corp uses Lightning Laboratory to rez 2 copies of Echo, how many power counters are placed on each piece of ice?

    2 power counters will be placed on each copy of Echo rezzed this way. Both pieces of ice are rezzed simultaneously, and both can trigger their ability when 2 pieces of ice are rezzed.

  • Updated 2024-05-27

    The Corp uses Lightning Laboratory to rez ice protecting a server. What happens if there are no longer 2 rezzed pieces of ice protecting that server when their turn ends?

    The Corp resolves as much of the ability as they can. If there is 1 rezzed piece of ice, they will derez it. If there are no rezzed ice, they do nothing.

Reviews

Another amusing agenda, which is niche like Salvo Testing. In theory, if you run a mix of very expensive ices with some very cheap ices, you could get those expensives ices rezzed for free.

For example : On a server, you have Rime, Archer, Bloop and a rezzed Ablative Barrier, you could rez Rime, then use Lightning Laboratory to rez Archer and Bloop (at no cost!), the runner can jackout of course, but after the run, you would derez Ablative Barrier and Rime while keeping the two other ices rezzed. In this example, you would save 7, one agenda and you would not have derezzed an harmonic ice.

And those economy can be even greater, if you use expensives ices like Tollbooth or Anansi, giving a saving more than a dozen credits.

This require quite a bit of setup. Also, you need to setup your ices, then score this agenda, and after all that, the runner must run the server where the setup is in place. Fairly difficult.

Of course, there are cards that will help for this, such as Jinja City Grid, which would help you setup. Or Vovô Ozetti, which would let you derez more expensives ices (like Drafter or Sorocaban Blade) while not breaking the bank to rez them back after. And Working Prototype will get more counters from those rezzing actions.

Despite all this, this agenda is competing against better 2-4 agendas, such as Architect Deployment Test and Offworld Office.

If Lightning Laboratory could have more than one activation token, it could compete better. After all, it would allow the corp to put super expensives ices that would be rezzed only with Lightning Laboratory for more than one run. But with only one token (there are no ways, currently, to have more token on the agenda), being able to protect against ONE run is a tall order. In this sense, maybe it would be more just to compare this agenda with Nisei MK II. Both aim to save the corp from one crucial run. With Lightning Laboratory exchanging the certainty of an End the Run for possible extra benefits.

Someday, someone will create a list where this agenda is busted. This agenda has the potential for it! But for now, it hasn't happened yet.

Art is okay, we can understand that it is a research facility and the quote can be a marketing sales pitch for the lab (I like the cheesy quote). Still, it feels kind of uninspired. I blame the wall of text of the agenda from allowing the devs to put more lore on the card.

(Rebellion Without Rehearsal era)
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