We apologize for Kessleroid.

Compare:
- Semak-samun in the same set, which for 1 credit more breaks for 3 on most breakers (excluding Rising Tide with fracters in the bin, Lobisomem, etc).
- Maskirovka, which for 1 credit more refunds 2 credits on the facecheck.
- Akhet, which again is 1 credit more and folds into the advance-able ice suite that can become a pain with Syailendra.
- Ablative Barrier, which aids HB decks in building their board state.
- Ping, which gives the runner a tag and enables NBN: Reality Plus and Synapse Global: Faster than Thought to do their thing,
- Tatu-Bola, an economy and ice correction card wearing a paper mask that says "ICE" on it like the Spy from TF2.

Who gets anything from this? Ob Superheavy Logistics: Extract. Export. Excel. will probably use it in their weird kickflips to find 1 cost cards they'd rather want. This is immune to Arruaceiras Crew and Charm Offensive, but no runner in their right mind would waste those on this. Most breakers can get past this for 2 credits - maybe in a world where runner economy is more specialized and difficult, this will be a relevant number, but right now I don't see it. If you're playing System Gateway + Elevation only, this might get into your decks out of necessity. If you are ABSOLUTELY desperate for a cheap ETR barrier and can't slot Palisade or one of the above ice, maybe go for it.

At least the other two Weyland ice in the set are bangers.

Plutus (💀🪙🐙) seems very cool, it both has high intrinsic value and synergizes with multiple identities.

Notes:

• It re-plays any Transaction, which all earn credits (and some can also draw, install, advance, even gain a click, etc). Any archetype that wants a lot of credits may want this. For example, “flashing Government Subsidy back” brings up to twenty credits (+10[$] for just [click], CARD over two turns).

• It plays them clicklessly. Thus, any Install 1 card from HQ (Greasing the Palm, Peer Review) or Gain [click] (Red Level Clearance, Petty Cash) lets you fast-advance 3/Y’s; and even Place 1 advancement (Key Performance Indicators) lets you never-advance a 4/Y.

• You could trash operations while rezzing, to clicklessly play one (immediately). But If you want to play those twice, its additional Forfeit 1 agenda or Reveal and trash 3 cards from HQ cost lets you rez it even before you scored any agendas (or if you just want to keep it). And could be ignored with Eminent Domain.

Synergies:

• It “doubles” operations, which re-triggers the new Zwicky and Nebula (especially Gemilang), as well as Nuvem (FWIW).

• It can forfeit a Greenmail, triggering Zwicky.

• Cards are trashed from HQ, which triggers the new AU Co. ID.

• Three cards are trashed, which enables the new PT Untaian ID.

• The cards are trashed faceup, which turns on Armed Asset Protection (a Transaction itself), Logjam, etc.

See: s:transaction t:operation z:standard

Compare:

• Bryan Stinson ([click]: Play a transaction operation from Archives.)
• Corporate Town (As an additional cost to rez this asset, forfeit 1 agenda.)
• Audacity (Play only if there are at least 2 other cards in HQ. Trash all cards from HQ.)

Flavor:

• Ploûtos (Plutus) was the Greek “God of Wealth” (transaction); and
• Ploutōn (Pluto) was the “God of the Underworld” (Archives), AKA. Hades.

en.wikipedia.org

Ploutōn was frequently conflated with Ploûtos, the Greek god of wealth, because mineral wealth was found underground.

en.wikipedia.org

Maintenance Access (🥷) is an “Event-ified Sneakdoor Beta”!

Notes

It:

• gives you an HQ-Success, not just HQ-Breach (unlike Virtuoso, Eru Ayase-Pessoa, or Beatriz Friere Gonzalez). You will trigger a Maglectric Rapid or PAN-Weave, help enable Jeitinho, and so on.

• replaces with a “Re-Approach” (would approach Archives … change the attacked server to HQ and approach HQ), like Sneakdoor’s “Re-Declare” (would be declared successful … change the attacked server to HQ). The run will still get declared successful on HQ, not Archives (and will also triggers any defensive upgrades, FWIW).

• is a Double. To Deep Dive by running Archives twice (and R&D once), you'll need an extra click (from Sable and/or Swift). BTW, if you installed a Sneakdoor or Slipstream on the turn you use it, then it became a “pseudo–Event: Run - Double” anyways.

• is an Event (not a Program), which taxes “−1 Hand-Size, −0 Memory-Limit”. Unlike SB’s −2[mu] (which taxed both).

The Elevation box includes this “refcard”:

Maintenance Access changes the attacked server from Archives to HQ just before the "approach server" step. The Runner will not have to deal with any of the ice protecting HQ, but cards with "approach server" abilities, such as Manegarm Skunkworks in the root of HQ, can still work. A Manegarm Skunkworks in the root of Archives would not work, because the attacked server has already changed by the time its trigger condition would be met.

Design

Pinhole Threading is the “horizontal” complement to “vertical” bypass/derez/rez-tax effects (like Inside Jobs, Windows of Opportunity, or Tread Lightly’s).

“Passing-Horizontally” cards can:

• “distort” (non-derogatory) ice-placement differently, such as: the Corp icing Archives to protect HQ against MA (and not just double-/triple-icing HQ to protect against Inside Job, Bankhar, etc).

• “reify” dynamic play-patterns, such as: run HQ (force ice rez there, maybe even jacking out afterwards), then run remote (if ice here would be unrezzible). That is, if NSG printed a “Central→Remote Redirect”, like:

  • Run a central server. When you would approach that server, instead change the attacked server to a remote server (if able) and approach it. (passes ice)
  • Run a central server. If that run would be declared successful, change the attacked server to a remote server for the remainder of that run. (passes upgrades too)

However, Runner-side server-redirection rarely gets printed, so I've been wanting more for years (especially as Criminal events). Below was my custom card (designed once I realized Sneakdoor was rotating). It was also a Double, but because of the extra value (multiaccess, draw), not to avoid Deep Dive (since mine wasn't play tested, theirs was LOL). And it let you hit R&D as well as HQ, so that Criminals could attack R&D (like for Zahya and WAKE Implant), the way Shapers can pressure HQ (like with Burner).

Sneakdoor Heist
[$1] Event: Run - Double
[criminal 3/5]
As an additional cost to play this event, spend [click].
Run Archives.
If that run would be declared successful, change the attacked server to HQ or R&D for the remainder of that run.
When you breach the attacked server, access 1 additional card.

Synergies

HQ-Succeeding/Breaching triggers/checks (non-Event):

• Maglectric Rapid (derez anything anywhere)
• Lucky Charm?
• WAKE Implant (to charge for R&D)
• Detente?
• Jeitinho (or Deep Dive, with extra clicks)
• PAN-Weave (drain a credit) + Info Bounty (if HQ is marked) + Zahya

HQ-Multiaccess:

• Docklands Pass
• Cupellation
• The Twinning, Manuel Lattes de Moura?, etc
• Mercury (especially with uniced Archives)
• Virtuoso?

See x:hq t!event d:r

“Run-Events-matter”:

• MuslihaT (draws it).
• Swift (reimburses the Double 's click-loss).
• Sang Kancil? (irrelevant, unless Archives is Code-Gate’d)

NBT is like a “yellowshifted Bacterial Programming”.

For example, after the Runner steals it (with five-ish cards in hand and just two credits in pool), you can: click it to draw 4 (shuffling away an agenda), play Your Digital Life (netting+$7), then play a kicked Oppo Research (the stolen 5/3 turning on both the Threat 3 and the “Reprisal”).

The agenda-counter templating increases the flexibility (and simplifies the timing) of:

• When this agenda is scored or stolen, draw 4 cards, then shuffle any number of cards from HQ into R&D.

Early Elevation: This is looking to be one of the strongest cards in the set, despite not even being part of "spoiler season".

Obviously it's a slightly cheaper Hedge Fund split over two turns with the downside of being pseudo-Priority (though you can play it with things like Humanoid Resources or Subcontract as long as it's your first click.)

Hedge Fund is pretty good and most corps run it, so this card makes money.

More interesting is the interaction with cards like Nebula Talent Management: Making Stars and Plutus, where the click gain turns this into a viable fast-advance tool. It's even a unique action for MirrorMorph: Endless Iteration, which might help that often-experimental identity out.

There's some counterplay: Cupellation can take this hostage for a time, and Heliamphora is a particularly big threat; however Cupellation tends to have better things to do and Heliamphora has not been very good for its life so far. Transfer of Wealth is also particularly good due to the adjusted priority clause.

Overall, I'd expect this to show up heavily at this year's World Championship.