Inspired by NAPD Contract, this is the most straightforward lockdown and probably somewhere in the middle in terms of power. I think it is better than SYNC Rerouting (most runners have answers for tags and paying 4 to ignore the effect is manageble) and Argus Crackdown (unless the corp has Border Control and/or Cayambe Grid) but worse than NEXT Activation Command (just a solid tax) and Hyoubu Precog Manifold (Caprice on demand can be game changing, even if it is only one turn).

Probably best used with a 4/2, since you can install, advance, play this. Now the agenda costs 6 extra credits to steal. It is also solid to install a 5/3, bluffing an asset, and then double advance and play NAPD Cordon on the next turn. Even more mean if the agenda is Bellona. You want to spend 13 credits on that?

Obviously Film Critic is this card's worst nightmare, but then again, she is that for many. Be sure to have an out if your deck relies on this event.

Lengthy review, which is also sort of a response to Drakeheart, but since it is a mouthfull I am posting it separately.

I think this is one of those cards that looks very appealing, especially to newer players, but is a lot worse than it seems. Not garbage, but there is a reason this asset doesn't show up in competitive decks, even though tags are the hot rage.

You have to look at this card in some likely scenarios:

• The runner hits this unadvanced, in centrals or on the board. This is quite ok for the corp. I actually disagree with 2 trash cost being inconsequential. 0 or 1 is, 2 is just high enough to be annoying. And as stated, this is basically a moot access, since this "agenda" can't be stolen.

• The runner finds this with 2 advancements. A poor man's Ghost Branch indeed. Not bad if they also spend 2 to trash it, but as stated later, the runner can just let you keep investing resources.

• 4 advancement counters. How did you get here? Did you install, advance, wait a turn, 3x advance? Why would the runner run the card? Seems like a weird way to score a 5/3. Ronin maybe, that might be enough to go check it. They do take two tags. IF they run it. So this is potentially the best scenario.

• 5 counters. Can be achieved if you iaa, aaa. Great, all set up to advance advance "score". Because again, why would they run this? And because of the odd number of advancements, only 2 tags.

• 6 counters. By now you are telegraphing you definitely have some jank and the runner is trying very hard to remember the card pool. Or whether you might have the proverbial stones to slow roll a Goverment Takeover. They might go check, and take 3 tags for their troubles, not easy to shake. Buuut unless you play support cards, it will take you 3 turns to get here.

• You score it. Yay! You just spend 9 credits and 9 clicks to score a blank 3-pointer over three turns. You could have scored SSL or SDS Drone Deployment instead. Sure, it didn't pose you any risk of losing an agenda but this cost is so prohibitive that unless you are very far ahead anyway, you have just shot yourself in the foot.

This is a long-winded way of saying, I am not remotely terrified of this card. If you want to spend 3 turns scoring it, have at it. I am gonna snoop in your centrals while you do that. If you as a runner do fear False Flag, Drive By and Political Operative are great counters. Or call their bluff and run it with No One Home or On the Lam installed.

Combos nicely with Prisec and Dedication Ceremony, if you do decide to try it out.

Writing this from the runner's side... as someone who has had the misfortune of playing against it...

So. I'm going to point out the obvious here... This is a baked in Bandwidth, only without risk of getting broken. This card turns on all those conditional pieces of ICE that NBN love, but are inconsistent... Data Ward and Pachinko being the two that most notably come to mind (UCF has rotated, fortunately). That fact alone made this ID very difficult to deal with. No longer does NBN require these pieces to be positional. Throw a Data Ward in front of your remote, and a Pachinko on your centrals and watch as it will always be cheaper for you to Rez these ICE than it will for me to crack it. Even with Clippy.

And that fact alone, being able to use some of NBNs best pieces of ICE without any further setup, makes me want to grab whatever table I'm playing on and just eat it, cards and all.

"But Drakeheart," your anonymous voice calls out, "It's only the outermost, and one piece of ICE isn't going to keep runners out forever. That's what Bypass is for!"

And this is true. There are a lot of options to fight a deck that only uses a couple pieces of ICE to protect a server. But I wasn't prepared for this ID. And thus, I suffered. Maybe this is me learning how to be a better runner... But this ID made it a sore lesson to learn.

This card... I have questions. Maybe it's not as strong as I think it is. Maybe I should actually use it before posting this review. Maybe I should do a lot of things.

False Flag is unlike any other Advancement Ambush Asset in that it forces the runner to address the threat. Unlike Cerebral Overwriter, Ghost Branch, Neurostasis, or Plan B, which hinge on the Runner actually accessing them, False Flag becomes a 3 Point Agenda.

If we ignore that absolutely massive contingency, False Flag is a worse Ghost Branch. The 2- cost is negligible. 1 tag for every 2 advancement tokens is much less punishing. BUT. If the runner never triggers it. If you build this in a server out of reach from the runner, then you just spent the same amount of effort for a Government Takeover in order to score an agenda that the runner can't steal, and is punished for even trying.

That's it. That's the card. A 9/3 Agenda that reads "The runner cannot steal or host this, and gains tags after trying. The runner can pay 2 to trash this." The latter half of that sentence is the insulting part, because they WILL trash this.

Bonus points for on-point fluff.

This card is scary, and for good reason. Notice whose branding is at the bottom left corner? Yeah, this belongs in Jinteki for a major reason: Jinteki specializes in dealing massive amounts of net damage to underprepared/unsuspecting Runners. If you're running a Jinteki deck of any sort that focuses on net damage punishment, this is probably a good card to pack. Essentially, you're saving a net damage for later use. That huge line of blue applies here: if the Runner is unfortunate to hit your guard dog or its baby without a killer or credits, you can stack each net damage subroutine onto Prāna Condenser and, if I'm reading this right, gain 3 for each net damage. In other words, hitting a Komainu with a full grip will net the Corp 15.

As for the Runner side, this should be a high-priority target for you. Yes, it's expensive to trash, but 4 instead of a lethal amount of net damage is something you shouldn't spend too much time weighing in on. Unless you have a reliable way to prevent net damage (sorry, the only ones that come to mind for me are Feedback Filter and Guru Davinder), this thing needs to go ASAP. Freedom shouldn't have too much trouble, as well as Imp with a few spare virus counters, but odds are if this thing's hitting the table, you're going to have a very bad time until you get rid of it.

Finally, the flavor text really hits home. If your mind is its own echo chamber, the psychic agony can become unbearable...