I have been playing a fair bit of GameNet recently and I have to say that I've fallen in love with it. It's a very versatile ID, which means that the runner never quite knows what to expect. I have been playing a "fast glacier", with as many taxing ice as possible to cripple the runner while I fill up on credits. Endless EULA is particularly fun, giving you six credits if they decide to pay to break, although the reintroduction of Parasite with Salvaged Memories is a bit of a bummer for it. I run Remastered Edition, Project Beale and Bellona as agendas, which synergize very well with the ID. Tollbooth is a must as well. Even Pop-up Window gives you two creds for zero rez when they let it fire!

You could probably pull up a nice kill deck with it, getting paid for traces firing during runs, or even something spammy with Pop-up Window or Datapike protecting your assets.

Some reviewers say that this ID isn't great because the runner controls the trigger and you won't gain cash if they don't run. That may be true, but it might be because of your ID if they don't run. And if they don't run, scoring a Remastered or a Bellona quickly will remind them they should.

Terrific single-add card that I have the guilty habit of adding to almost every Corp deck I play. You'll never be sad to draw this card, and it's not game breaking to either get it or not in a match, so really only a single copy is needed. Absolutely worst, worst case you get 1 credit for free the entire game (maybe against a super hard running Criminal?). Best case you get a Hedge Fund or more of value throughout the game against a slow, careful Shaper. If you're really crushed for slots maybe the card isn't worth a spot, but I rarely find that to be the case.

Plus there's a mental factor. I find Runner's tend to not like the Corp benefiting from them running or not running. It's psychologically their special thing and the Corp shouldn't mettle. What I'm saying is I've seen this annoying a wide spectrum of players, so it's a good demoralizing tool as well as a fun card.

Best. NBN. Ice. With its 1 influence cost, it is often splashed across every faction and archetype. Even jinteki kill deck use it.

At 5 strenght, it is always taxing 3 cred or more, even if the runner is using Engolo. Often, the runner will let it fire to lose only 3 creds. Unless they are using Study Guide, it will always cost 3 cred or more to break.

Even better, it often pay for itself, by getting a sweep 3 creds.

And once in a blue moon, you get to put 3 advancement token on something, but don't count on it, this is a rare occurence indeed.

The only draw back : like many NBN card, it taxes well, but does not stop the run. So, keep that in mind, since it will not fit in every archetype.

Otherwise, for the low price of 3 creds, you tax the runner, you may gain 3 creds and it is resilient to trashing shenanigan like Parasite, with its strenght 5. While it is vulnerable to Hunting Grounds, it still retain the first sub, which is not dependant on encounter.

The newer Nisei art is way better. The old art was really not evocative. Slot Machine represent NBN well.

In true anarch fashion, the card trash something of yours to get something else of yours, a bit like mushin.

There are two way to use this card : early and late.

Early game, the card act like a sift through your deck. You trash 3 cards in the hope of thinning your deck further and getting back some cards that were used early, along with the desired card. While not a very good use of the card, sometime you need to get to specific combo card, without sacrificing what you have in hand. In which case Labor Rights will help you. On top of that, it pay for the tempo loss of using the card by drawing a card for you.

Late, it can be used to get those important cards core to your archetype, like Parasite or Wanton Destruction. Allowing you to use those card once more for full effect. More than one corp player has lost to Fisk Investment Seminar being used every turn in the late game.

Also, if you have the card in hand when you have zero card in your stack, bring back 3 cards will let you stay in the game.

Of course, like Genotyping, the card will let you recover important cards (like a trashed Engolo) to be able to stay in the game.

At 2 influence, Labor Rights is the easiest recursion card to fit in out of faction. While not as powerfull like Trope, not bringing back as many card like Harmony AR Therapy or not putting the desired card straight in your hand like Rip Deal, it has no string attached, no cost, a low influence cost and always useful.

I feel the card could get a more cyberpunk union leader treatment, for its lackluster art and lack of quote. A missed opportunity for such a great card.

What this should be compared to is Forked, Knifed, and Spooned.

Those cards are type restricted, which Hippo is not. If you just know you want smaller servers no matter what, then Hippo might be the way to go. If you are playing Quetzal with E3, then you might not want to use a barrier breaker at all and you need to ensure barriers don't get stacked, then perhaps play the cards that are barrier restricted instead, so they hit barriers no matter how deep you have to go to hit them.

I think most people are now of the opinion that 3x Hippo is more or less an auto-include in Anarch. Those other cards I mentioned are far from auto-include, though a lot of people still put 1-3 of them in their decks anyway so they only have to break a Chiyashi once or twice per game or something.

The best part about Hippo is how little thinking there is to be done. It only triggers in very specific instances, you just broke all subs on the outermost ice. That reduces the mental effort required to pilot such decks considerably. Anyone that has ever played a long and exhausting tournament can attest to how nice it is to devote less mental effort to each game with a more straightforward deck.

FWIW, I kinda agree with the design philosophy that led to Hippo, as in "These cuttlery cards aren't good enough. Type restricting is too much of a drawback.".

Five influence is the right number, because IMHO we don't want a situation where you can play the same deck no matter what ID you choose. I prefer a world where it feels different to play against an Anarch deck than it feels to play against a Criminal deck, and powerful 5 influence cards like these (and, for example, Diversion of Funds) helps the factions feel different from each other. Thumbs up on that influence call. Hippo is a really well designed card all around.