Casual "fun deck" card.

Opponents are always trying to maximize their value, at every decision step.

Cards that give your opponents choices always entail your opponent choosing whatever is the worst option for you unless you are able to surprise punish the choice that appears to be the worst for you.

If you try to be sneaky and you spring some trap that makes the opponent wish they had chosen the other option, well then you are just playing a bad combo deck.

Speaking as the opponent here, when you play this, you are using 5 resources units (draw, 2 credits, 2 clicks) to give me 4 free clicks (draw x4). At face value, that's a 9 resource swing in the wrong direction for the runner. Why would you play that, do you want me to win the game?

Whatever tricky thing you are doing with this card, it's probably not worth putting yourself at a 9 resource disadvantage by playing it.

IMHO, just play good cards instead of this.

With Subliminal Messaging, the corp gain the ability to have a drip economy that is difficult to shutdown. It is especially good in a glacier or trap deck, where the runner will not want to run often.

While it does incentize the runner to run, actually, it is often not worth it for the runner to run for the sole purpose of denying 1 cred to the corp.

The other use of Subliminal Messaging is to fill up the hand of the corp. Without drawing anything, you can dilute your hand if the runner did not run on the previous turn, by getting Subliminal Messaging from Archive clicklessly.

Generally, 2x Subliminal Messaging is enough to get the drip going early enough while not taking too many slots in the deck. By experience, once you have a Subliminal Messaging in hand, you will be using it on average one turn out of two. Considering that most game are about 20 turns or less, Subliminal Messaging is inferior to IPO, because each Subliminal Messaging does not bring extra value, but get the drip going. As such, it is has more worth as a 1x than anything else.

For deck that favor small econ, it might be worth as 3x, for the dilution of the hand, which will help protect whatever else would be in there.

It is nice to see such an old card (2013!), but it show its age. The art is average and does not evocate well the title, and there is no flavor text.

Excalibur is a welcome addition in the neutral ice. Having a neutral ice with the mythic subtype help.

It is a well balanced card, but less powerful than it seems. Let's first start with its qualities.

1. It is mythic, meaning there is only 5 things you can do about it : use a AI breaker (Aumakua), use Engolo or any other painting ability (Pelangi, Rielle "Kit" Peddler: Transhuman), or bypass it, use any of the single use breaker (Kongamato], Boomerang, Gbahali). This seems like a lot, and it is. Mythic subtype is not the greatest thing, but it is better than any other subtype.

2. It is cheap for its effect. 3 creds to rez with a strenght of 2. Not bad at all.

3. It combine well with card that give the corp end the run (ETR), like Bio Vault or Border Control.

4. It is a defense against Stargate and Medium by not allowing multiple runs. Shaper usually use Engolo, so it will not deter a Shaper using Indexing.

The bad part is pretty simple : It does not end the run, and it does nothing against runner who normally do only one run per turn, like most Anarchs and stealth Shapers. Also, it is unique, meaning you cannot put it on two centrals and a remote. Having 2x of it, unless you strategy rely on it, is useless.

Slightly above average card, same goes for the art and quote. Good to see it back in the meta.

Not the flashiest, but maybe the strongest asset that came back in Salvaged Memories. And at 1 influence, it could be splashed in most decks (unless you are using a bioroid focused deck).

This card pair well with Mumba Temple, letting you rez ices for extra cheap in advance, thus not "losing" the recurring creds, giving even more value.

Being able to rez an ice for one less creds add up over the game. Also, depending on the archetype going for, it can also let you get that importante asset in hand. Of note, this synergize well with deck using Snare!, Shi.Kyū or News Team.

Funny part, if you have 3 of them. You can bring another one in hand just before this asset would be trashed.

Executive Boot Camp is an important piece to make the NEXT ice suite work, by letting you rez as many NEXT ices as possible, thus making them stronger each time. It also let you gain some protection against Leela Patel: Trained Pragmatist.

Evocative art and quote, amazing value, amazing card.

Along with Medium, this was one of the big comeback in Salvaged Memories.

This gives a very potent tool for a kind of fast advance. Is it the best tool? Not anymore.

This card compete with Jeeves Model Bioroids, La Costa Grid, Early Premiere and Oberth Protocol. Which mean every faction have a similar card already.

At 6 creds to rez, it has a great cost. You need to score at least 2 agendas to get some value from it. Otherwise, there are other tools.

Those other tools are Audacity, Biotic Labor, Bass CH1R180G4, Focus Group, Trick of Light and Calibration Testing. You should use those tools if you do not have enough ices to ensure the protection of SanSan City Grid.

Of course, at 5 creds to trash, it is no joke. But Imp and Miss Bones will make short work of it.

So, where does this shine the best. It shine in a deck with good to excellent remote protection (strong ices) and if you have lots of small agendas (1/2, 1/3 and 2/3) to score. Allowing you to score those from hand at a lower cost. Along a card like Game Changer, if you have the econ for it, it can do tremendous work.

As long as you have the econ to support rezzing this. A reminder, Breaker Bay Grid is a region, just like SanSan City Grid, which mean they cannot be used together to lower the cost of rezzing SanSan City Grid. And at 3 influence, you have to give it serious thought before using it instead of in-faction tools.

Quote is just as good as the art. Well balanced card.