Just wanted to mention that this breaks Kakugo without losing a card because it returns it to HQ before passing. Could be useful against Jinteki grinder decks (if you want to pay 6 to install and then 3 to break).

You get a free click most turns to install an ice, on exactly the server which needs it most, knowing what breaker options the runner has available, and you can rez it without the runner having a chance to jack out (if it's the first ice). Any one of these would have been very good. Together they are amazingly strong and completely upend whatever early plan the runner had in mind.

Every other ID has to install ice in advance. If you draw 0 ice, the runner will see that you are exposed and act accordingly. If you are a Mti that has drawn no ice, the runner still has to assume that you have a devastating option in hand even if you haven't installed it yet. If anyone else has drawn 1 ice, you can use it to install exactly one server. Mti can use a single piece of ice to guard against attacks on any server.

Mti gets an astronomical amount of tempo from being able to threaten whichever ice of Komainu/DNA Tracker/Cortex Lock/Anansi would ruin the runner at this particular moment. Running on Mti early is extremely dangerous. Late game, they have more ability to cheaply throw around Border Control than anybody else (click-free, no install costs).

Mti also gets unusually strong tempo from normally high-risk plays like Mushin No Shin and unguarded assets. It is EXTREMELY hard to contest early Mti Mushins. It is also very hard to land a meaningful Account Siphon on Mti -- they will always be better protected than they appear, and may or may not be able to install an ice they can use to bankrupt themselves. So your Account Siphon's value may be limited to "make an expensive run to cause the corp to rez enough ice to become poor", which is MUCH less than you hope for Account Siphon in most matchups. Or they might install a Border Control and end the Account Siphon altogether.

PS: Mti's ability ALSO avoids install costs and allows the corp to repeatedly trigger "when the runner approaches this server" conditions like Cayambe Grid.

the other reviews talk about "how to practically use this card" and "what decks should use this card so its not placed in decks that it doesn't fit in"

they ARE WRONG (actually no)

the best place to play this card? Saraswati Mnemonics: Endless Exploration. ever want to play a textless 3/4? ever want to pay 4 and 4 to get 3 points? the efficiency.... its evil.

buh...but what if they steal it??

ice perhaps?

or perhaps let go of your fear.

Lots of reviews mention janky interactions between Loki and other niche ice types, like Trap or Mythic. But Loki does have a more powerful, if equally unconventional, use in the current environment heavily featuring the conspiracy breakers (MKUltra, Black Orchestra, Paperclip). Because the runner's on-encounter effects (including on-encounter checks from the heap, such as bin breakers!) happen before the corp's on-encounter effects, the bin breakers will miss their timing window to install versus a Loki; it has no subtypes from the runner's perspective other than Bioroid when encountered. If, therefore, the corp elects for Loki to copy an ice type for which the runner does not have a breaker installed already, they will be unable to do anything about the subroutines, despite having the relevant breaker available in their heap. Unfortunately, for Loki to copy a piece of ice, that ice must already be rezzed, and the normal play pattern of Netrunner means the runner would have therefore encountered every type that Loki could copy at least once. But, how might the runner encounter Loki without having the relevant bin breaker installed?

There are a couple situations in which this can occur:

1) The runner previously encountered a kind of ice for which they did not have a relevant breaker at the time, and have not encountered that type again prior to encountering Loki. No guarantees that this will happen, but if the runner for example bounced off a Vanilla in the early game, they might not have tried to hit the Vanilla again before hitting Loki.

2) The runner has trashed a previously installed bin-breaker to make room for a new program. In this scenario, the runner make have encountered a Barrier on server 1, installed Paperclip, and then trashed it later to make space for an MKUltra when encountering a Sentry. Now, when they encounter Loki, Loki can counter that other rezzed barrier and be unbreakable. Not an especially common scenario.

3) The corp has rezzed ice by abnormal means, such that the runner may have never had an encounter with that ice type at all. There are numerous ways to do this, but I want to highlight the easiest and potentially most devastating way to do it in Standard: with Haas-Bioroid: Architects of Tomorrow. Imagine the following layout: the runner has not yet installed MKUltra, having not encountered any sentries -- non are rezzed. The runner then runs on a 3-ice deep server, with a rezzed bioroid on the outermost position, and two more unrezzed ice behind it. They pass the first bioroid; AoT triggers and the corp rezzes the innermost piece of ice, a sentry such as Ansel 1.0 or Tyr. The runner continues the runner, and the corp rezzes Loki in the middle position. None of their bin breakers can install on the Loki, and the Loki now copies that innermost bioroid, guaranteeing all the subs can fire. If it's a Tyr, that means 2 brain damage, a trashed card and 3 credits, and a hard ETR. Crucially, there is literally no way to circumvent this without hard-installing an MKUltra, using some form of ice destruction, or potentially using a boomerang to break the ETR so they can pass: with no other rezzed sentries, the runner has no way to encounter a sentry and get the install trigger for MKUltra.

I won't say that situation 3 makes Loki either a top-tier ice or that it happens with extreme consistency, but I have had multiple games as AoT where this combo has let me toast a rig! I've copied Ansel and Tyr before, but the best one was copying a Ravana 1.0 who then copied the same Tyr sub twice, trashing 2 installed runner cards and gaining the corp 6 credits. Could have also opted for 4 brain damage, which is like face-checking a Janus with no clicks left, except there's also a soft-ETR attached. Loki is a great and tricky piece of ice, only held back by its low strength.

A very solid alternative to Vanilla. Ping is one of the most commonly used barriers. It's a cheap end-the-run with an ability that guarantees that rezzing it will be at least tempo-neutral. In NBN, this will frequently be used like Vanilla to quickly/cheaply force runners to install an expensive fracter. In Reality Plus, this is a straight upgrade on Vanilla (+1 strength and a tag on rez).

In the right kind of deck, Vanilla is very good in its role, and Ping will be too. They produce excellent early-game results with limited value once the runner has a fracter. It'll rarely cost more than $1 to break (besides the initial tag), so this'll see a lot more use in decks that prioritize speed over long-term value. If you anticipate the game going 10+ turns this probably isn't the ice for you.

At two influence, this will probably not see much use outside of NBN. (Nobody else can do much with one tag on the runner's turn, and it's two influence that could have been another Hard-Hitting News).