I have high hopes for this card. At the time of writing this review, we're living in a world where ice is trivialized by a ridiculous assortment of cards, be they icebreaker or otherwise. It's harder than ever to be a glacier deck; decks that used to epitomize the vegan corp lifestyle are having to explore other methods, and I think that's a shame. Which is, once again, why I have such high hopes for this card.

D4v1d? Done for. Gbahali? Bah-eaten. Deus X? Dead on arri--wait, that's an icebreaker? Boo.

Well even if this card doesn't stop every single tool, it does stop the most egregious one, D4vid, and a few others too. It also reinforces every single ice by +2 strength for the very affordable cost of 0 credits, a value that only gets better the more ice you've got on the playing field. It does have a weakness, which is the fact that it can be trashed, but that's more than easily dealt with. It's not a small trash cost by any stretch, and unless the runner's running HQ every turn, they're not gonna snipe all of them, right? Here's hoping.

All in all, what I hope will be one more fun little tool, useful for ice heavy corps to shore up defenses with.

Jeeeeez, talk about a punishing facecheck...

Tyr is the newest addition to ice based on the Norse pantheon, with others being Wotan, Loki and Heimdall. Like its siblings, Tyr is big and expensive, with scary subroutines but also the ability to click through them.

Not that you would want that in this case. Unlike other bioroids, any click you spend on Tyr will go to the corp, which is a very raw deal for the runner. Even just giving the corp 1 extra click could mean they could be fast advancing a Vitruvius on their next turn. Giving the corp 3 clicks is potentially game ending, as 6 clicks allows them to score a 5/3 from hand, or do other shenanigans.

Letting the subroutines fire isn't really option either though. Two brain damage is nothing to sneeze at, as a permanent handsize of 3 is a big hinderance. Having the corp gain 3 credits AND trash any card they want is extremely powerful and especially in the mid or late game could cause a huge swing. The final sub is a good ol' ETR, always welcome on a big ice, and the only one you can afford to let fire in most circumstances.

I think this bioroid is definitely worth its cash, and a great new tool for purple glacier. 5 influence means it is difficult to slot in other factions but I think that's a good thing. This ice has HB written all over it.

Also, take a moment to appreciate the art on this one. It is gorgeous.

They are right to fear...

...scoops.

Why are you running Archives? This doesn't trigger on a Sneakdoor Beta or Omar Keung: Conspiracy Theorist run, as those are treated as a successful run on HQ / R&D, so no combos there. Maybe you can make it work with Alice Merchant: Clan Agitator, if there's a virus program you're cool with waiting 3 turns for (or blowing an extra click or two on). Otherwise this is a tutor that costs 5 clicks (install, 3 runs, pop), instead of eg. 1 click -> 2 credits (Self-modifying Code), and 4 clicks are worth a lot more than 2 credits. You'll save influence if you're an Anarch, but there are better things to use the slot for.

Got frustrated not understanding the fluff reference so down the Internet rabbit hole I went.

After some searching the most likely reference seems to be Banana Nababa, a freeware video game: the game consists of six boss battles, fifth boss/level being named "Gatekeeper".