Oh look. This looks like that it is the enthusiastic kid we've seen much later on an art for Recruiting Trip.

Your script can pull off the Kobayashi in .12 seconds, but can it staunch profuse bleeding from a stomach cut open?

Some career you've had!

This is not really a review of this card in particular, so much as a review of the state of Link in general. Because it's tough out here in standard. Gone are the days of triple Rabbit Hole, and we are in a distinctly linkless era.

Our options for link at the moment are:

• Three Consoles. Reflection, Forger and Security Nexus. The former two are not very strong (especially in Criminal, who have Paragon to work with), and Nexus wants other Links to work with anyway.

All of these also means giving up your Console slot, which isn't very attractive if all you wanted was some Link.

• Two connections. The Archivist and Cybertrooper Talut, both of which are both unique and faction-bound. Bad in multiples and costing influence, these guys are not the strong Link we're looking for.

• Power Tap: Is great, but on the MWL. That means giving up your unicorn, which is a steep cost for some Link.

• Borrowed Satellite and Sports Hopper. One is faction-bound, and both are woefully inefficient if you want Link...

Our best option seems to be Sports Hopper, and that's not a great place to be in. Link as a mechanic is the counterplay to strong Traces, such as CtM and Surveyor. If your deck had a problem with these tactics, your answer would have been to slot some Link and give yourself a fighting chance.

Which is a strange thing. Cards like No One Home, Citadel Sanctuary and everything Sunny Lebeau ever did clearly shows an interest in traces as a mechanic from both sides of the game. Yet Runners have very few options to find some good sources for Link, even as Traces are becoming meaner, stronger and more punishing.

I for one am looking forward to when we can have Link be a bigger deal again, and really exploring what can be done with the mechanic.

Mirrormorph, I love you.

With that out of the way, after playing Mirrormorph more or less exclusively for months, I'm here to give my thoughts:

First thing I learned about Mirrormorph was that Calvin B4L3Y was never really needed. Clicking for a cred for the Mirror trigger was often inferior to drawing, so unless you had no choice but still wanted to trigger Mirror (install, draw, cred) or really needed the cash, Mirrormorph never really wanted for cards. In short, ProCo>Mopus for Corps.

Which leads me to the second thing, flooding. Once you get used to drawing over clicking for the Mirror trigger, you will often find yourself flush with agenda. Gatekeeper helps a bit but it's a reactive card and a proactive option is preferable. Enter Drudge Work. It was a late addition to the deck and boy do I regret that decision. In 95% of my games it has been a godsend, shuffling away vulnerable agenda for cash while triggering Mirror. I've barely had ten games with it and yet I was quickly reminded why I love it when it became a decisive factor in at least two of them. Never change, Drudge Work. Never change.

As for wincons, the obvious wincon is MCA Austerity Policy but do consider Jeeves Model Bioroids as well. As useful as Mirrormorph can be, it can be a bit unwieldy. Jeeves is also unwieldy but it is unwieldy in a way that perfectly complements Mirrormorph. Rare are the turns where you must take 2 of one action and one of another, meaning you can always either fire Jeeves or fire Mirrormorph for that tasty, tasty click. Them combined also gives you access to some stupid combos such as: windmilling a 5/3 or Vitruvius out of hand from a 2 advanced MCAAP with a click to spare (Leela), pushing a 3/2 past a Clot from a 2 advanced MCAAP (purge after the second advance if they summon Clot), and installing and firing another MCAAP after scoring a 4/2. It being a 5 asset also means it has staying power compared to other, squishier assets in HB and its efficiency means that it's a lightning rod for runs despite only being nice rather than necessary in Mirrormorph. It's also possible to sneak a purge or score an installed 4/2 past the runner using Red Level Clearance with it. Great include.

Another wincon option is Hard-Hitting News+BOOM!/High-Profile Target. I've been saying this for months but it still catches people off guard: MCAAP+HHN is a very dangerous threat and you should always be wary of HHN if you see MCAAP. MCAAP messes with the tag math immensely and allows for tag punishment outside of the kill option. My preferred tag punishment is The All-Seeing I but Closed Accounts, Exchange of Information, and Self-Growth Program are all valid options depending on your style.

Mirrormorph's greatest asset is in being able to act from unexpected ranges. I was told once that its best trick is in windmilling 5/3s and, while true, I feel that's selling Mirrormorph short by a lot. Mirrormorph isn't just about scoring that 5/3 from a little further away than expected, it's also about that extra credit in its back pocket for the punish, that extra install or advance you can sneak past for the scoring threat, that extra bit of efficiency that lets you stay one step ahead of the runner at all times. In short, Mirrormorph has more options to blindside the runner with efficiency than just MCAAP so do try it out!

And it only took a bit of Endless Iteration to get there, eh? Eh?

Kyuban, as a card, asks for a very particular set of circumstances and feels like a card to be built around rather than slotted.

2 credits is not a bad amount of money to see on a card; Security Testing, Daily Casts, Armitage Codebusting exist on similar numbers.

So why does this little 0 to install beastie not see play everywhere?

Well the problem with a card whose only benefit is to give you credits is that it is, fundamentally, economy. And one thing one wants to avoid is providing your opponent with opportunities to frustrate your economy. Even if the runner goes to the trouble of finding a piece of ice they are happy to pass constantly and placing the Kyuban on it they can only run it a certain number of times before the corp can reinstall.

Therefore it can't be the core part of your economy in the same way that Sure Gamble/Daily Cast/Liberated Account can be.

That said I am starting to find that this card has unexpected high levels of power but it needs to be built around.

The runner has to be able to put pressure on the corp consistently so that the corp can get short of money and time. This requires some aggressive running on the runners part; either being willing to weather a facecheck, avoid a facecheck, or reliably break anything that the runner sees.

The runner also needs to be gaining something more than just the 2 credits on each run; because otherwise why are you not clicking Armitage? Perhaps this could be accesses from centrals, perhaps it is additional run based economy, perhaps you are powering up a Turning Wheel,

The runner also needs to have the spare MU to absorb the MU cost of the card itself.

Personally I enjoy this card a great deal at the moment; it feels like exactly the level of an interesting card at the moment.

I'll await someone building a monster with it and me hating it as with all "whenever cards" .

This card also thrives in Reavershop Wu.
Step 1. Draw Spec Work.
Step 2. Wu to install Harbinger. Don't use the one in your hand or on the table, pull it from your deck if you can.
Step 3. Spec Work the Harbinger, drawing 3 cards and netting 3. (It's called Reavershop, you have ways to ensure Reaver is on the table by turn 1 or 2.
Step 4. Sell that not-at-all removed from game heap of trash at your local pawnshop for another 3 and an additional card draw at the start of next turn.
Bonus round: Clone Chip the Harbinger back into play on the corp's turn just before your turn begins, triggering a Reaver draw, pawn is for a second draw and 3 at the beginning of your turn.
Although anyone could gain the efficiencies that Reaver offers, the combo is particularly effective for Wu because she will reliably have Reaver in play and needs only 1 to both draw and install Harbinger. Sweet, sweet efficiency.