I know of two main Exile archetypes that are capable, both of which rely upon run economy engines: Pawn, also known as "Streetchess", and MKUltra/Black Orchestra, also known as "Conspiracy".

---Streetchess has been removed by rotation. This is his first archetype, by which players would combine Pawns with Deep Red, Scheherazade, and Technical Writer. Each trigger, which may occur on each successful run, nets one card draw and about 1-4 credits, which also allows for click compression by triggering successful runs on archives. This engine is reliant on the amount of ice the corp player protects his central servers with, making it weaker to glacier archetypes. However, it is a very strong counter to asset spam, as it can easily and uncounterably trigger successful runs on unprotected assets, combined with the usually less protected centrals of the asset spam archetype, to create a late game click compression and run economy surpassing any other.

---Conspiracy is the modern, although weak, iteration of the Exile archetype, as it lost many of its combo pieces to rotation. This installs MKUltra and maybe Black Orchestras from the heap, (using Sahasrara, Cybsoft MacroDrive, and/or Dhegdheer to reduce their install costs), to place credits on Technical Writers and sell them later to Aesop's Pawnshop. Reliant on the ice composition and arrangement of the corp player, as you would be influenced on running certain servers over others. Requires large amounts of memory. No significant strengths or weaknesses.

Outside of these archetypes, Exile pairs well with recurring temporary programs, such as Cerberus "Lady" H1 and Nyashia. May also be used with Panchatantra, Sharpshooter, and Deus X recursion breaking, although that archetype is very weak.

This card has obvious synergy with three other runner cards: Gingerbread, Sharpshooter, and Deus X.

---Sharpshooter and Dues X allows you to break any large ice at a discount, provided you have a Panchatantra already installed. This has synergy with Kabonesa Wu: Netspace Thrillseeker, as she can tutor Panchatantras out normally and use her ID ability to tutor out Deus X and Sharpshooter cheaply and repeatedly to break ice cheaply on 1-2 iced servers in the early game, similar to some types of Criminal faction decks.

---Gingerbread synergy can create its very own archetype, however, and its usage is very interesting to me. Gingerbread is not an AI, meaning that all of the shaper's icebreaker mod hardware can affect it and can still be used as your main breaker. A base strength of 2, combined with Dinosaurus, The Personal Touch, and Net-Ready Eyes becomes a base strength of 6. Add Takobi and another Personal Touch, and you will never have to worry about boosting for strength again. Alternatively, you can use Dedicated Processor and Gebrselassie to pay 2 once per turn, (or maybe twice). The flaws with this archetype is that it can only break into 3-deep servers, and any additional ice has to be broken with a backup breaker, (Crypsis/D4v1d), or a conditional backup breaker, (Dues X/Sharpshooter), both requiring additional memory, and which causes it to fall apart to the Vertical Jinja City Grid archetype. In addition, all available hardware tutors are either very expensive or high influence, making this deck slow, inconsistent, and late game preferable.

A fun, interactive and strong card overall.

But have you ever stopped to consider the flavour and card mechanics together..?

--

“I’m sorry, sir, we weren’t expecting you! As our regular security protocol goes, can you answer what the capital purchases in Sector B-007 are for?”

“Uh, a new asset, obviously.”

“…Sounds good to me. You’re cleared for authorization to the purchasing card. Oh and by the way, it was our NGO Front in Sector B-007 but you obviously knew that, right sir?”

“Sure, of course. Oh and don’t mind if you see some casino expenses pop up on the purchasing card, thanks.”

When you think of Weyland 4/2’s, not many pop into mind – Oaktown Renovation probably sees the most play (unless you’re a firm believer in the conspiracy theory that says Corporate Sales Team was printed without its green colour). However, Armed Intimidation should be right up there in contention with Oaktown as the de facto Weyland 4/2 given the release of Scorched Redux. With it in hand, and the runner on 3 or less cards, this becomes a 5/2 that says “win the game”.

Of course, it’ll never be that easy as it’s not an agenda counter – it has to be triggered the moment it’s scored. In addition, it’s not self-defending and its ability can be countered by damage prevention or tag avoidance. In fact, it’s as if the agenda was built to be hard countered by On the Lam, which still sees some play in the current meta.

Despite this, don’t be afraid to just slam an Arm. In. anyways even if you don’t have the combo tools ready to go or the runner is being cautious of hand size. The ability is still a significant tempo loss for the runner, especially in the early game before they’re set up. For those not running tag punishment, you may not see the full value of this card. However, given that decks like rush Argus (ala Lobstermodernism) are quite prevalent and are doing well, this card deserves a good look.

When scoops first came out for this card, it got a lot of hype as being the “Corp Siphon” (although let’s all admit we were a bit delusional given that Son of Siphon was spoiled at the same time). Since then, the card has been discarded as mere binder fodder. Let’s take a look whether or not it’s worth playing.

Current tagging win conditions include Exchange of Information which causes huge point swings, High-Profile Target which puts fear into runners’ hearts, and Psychographics (+ Beale). Other traditional tag punishment includes Closed Accounts and Self-Growth Program which see some play but don’t quite win games alone like the prior 3 cards mentioned. One possible reason they still see play is that they don’t require scaling – they work even at one tag which means it only takes one mistake from the runner to end up with a tempo loss. Market Forces, on the other hand, requires quite a few mistakes to be worth its slot.

First, the runner would have to take several tags. Let’s be very conservative and say 2 is justifiable. Easy enough, tagstorm or a Hard-Hitting News can do the trick.

Second, the runner must not have the money to clear the tags or chooses not to. But wait, the runner does need enough money that we can actually siphon them, right? So they need to go tag-me.

Lastly, the runner has to maintain a sizable credit balance AND the corp requires a need for the siphoned credits.

With so many caveats to getting the full value from this card, it’s hard to justify its presence in any tagging deck. My own personal experience with the card in a tagstorm SYNC deck is having to wait and wait and wait until the right moment when the card finally becomes “worth it”. Unfortunately, by the time that does happen, either I’ve won the game from PsychoBeale/HPT or my opponent’s odds of winning are already zero. All in all, I like the card, I just wish it didn’t require scaling.