Is Gagarin purely janky silliness, or is there a legitimate reason to play it over Blue Sun and Titan Transnational? It can't go big like Blue Sun, and it can't go fast like Titan, but it can tax the living hell out of the runner. Played correctly (with plenty of econ assets to spam on remotes), Gagarin is designed to give you a edge over the runner. For a Corp player, leveraging an economic advantage means:

• A pure glacier style ICE suite with many and/or strong ICE to score behind
• A semi-glacier ICE suite with expensive upgrade tricks that keep the runner out or destroy their rig (Ash 2X3ZB9CY, Corporate Troubleshooter, Caprice Nisei)
• Trace-based aggression like SEA Source/Midseason Replacements/Punitive Counterstrike (SEA Source deserves a special mention here because forcing the runner to run remotes constantly turns on the "successful run" trigger)

Gagarin doesn't tax the runner if they don't run on remotes, so to take advantage of the ability, you want central servers that are dangerous or brutally taxing, and remotes that are just barely enticing enough to run on - that means not too much ICE, and assets that are just good enough to be worth running on and trashing.

Some cards that work great with this strategy:

• Paywall Implementation - every remote run becomes a 2 swing before even factoring in costs (also mitigates the swing loss from Desperado / Security Testing)
• NAPD Contract - 5's to access and steal, baby
• PAD Campaign - 5's to access and (6 swing with Paywall up) is just nasty for an early runner still setting up their own board
• Launch Campaign - 3's to access and (4-swing with Paywall up) means this a nearly guaranteed 5 profit (yes, that's Restructure-levels of duckets) or a really annoyed runner
• Tour Guide - great new piece of ICE that directly punishes the runner if they decide they don't want to play your remote-tax game

Because the runner always has to pay the tax if they want to access, Gagarin has a minor consolation against anti-asset cards like Whizzard: Master Gamer, Scrubber, and Imp. It can also be situationally useful against Film Critic or Faust decks that run on very lean economy.

In addition to drawing attention to the amazing art and flavor of this card, I'd like to provide a slightly more comprehensive look at how to treat your QT right. The problem with Quality Time is that after paying its relatively high credit cost, you are left with a gigantic hand of cards that you have neither the s nor the s to play/install.

She wants your time:

• Play Hayley Kaplan: Universal Scholar so you can install multiple cards in a single
• Install Comet so you can play multiple events (including Quality Time itself) in a single
• Play Modded and/or Career Fair to remove two cards in your hand for a single
• Play Mass Install to play up to 4 cards from your grip in a single
• Play Freelance Coding Contract to free up some grip space for s!

She wants your money:

• Play Kate "Mac" McCaffrey: Digital Tinker for an extra to install what you draw
• Include low-cost cards in your deck (hard to complain about drawing a Self-modifying Code, Sacrificial Construct, or Same Old Thing)
• Play burst-econ events that immediately pay for the other cards you drew (Sure Gamble, Easy Mark, Dirty Laundry, Modded, Career Fair, Calling in Favors, etc)
• Install Prepaid VoicePAD's to potentially play Quality Time for 0s

Without the proper support, your Quality Time will rot in your hand while you click for the credits to actually use it effectively (or worse, you'll use it too soon and then be forced to trash the shiny stuff you drew). Even having strong econ isn't always enough, as 4xclicking a Magnum Opus, followed by Quality Time and its subsequent installs, means 2-3 whole turns before you actually do anything. Not sexy at all.

Thematically, this is THE quintessential Weyland card. Once you've pissed off the most powerful corporation on the planet, it's only a matter of minutes before they'll have a black ops team scaling the side of your high-rise to murder you.

Is it playable? Certainly, but it is a combo card that does nothing by itself - this murder squad needs a support team of tech nerds to tag their targets for them (much like Private Security Force). Its ability will not work if it's not rezzed, so once the runner is tagged and DRT is faceup, you can be sure at least one of those things is going to be addressed immediately. With the exception of a literal tag storm, you can't stop the runner from clearing their tags before they run.

The best way to get DRT to actually fire successfully is to tag the runner mid-run, when they can't untag themselves. Enter Step 4.3 of the run, your new best friend. A prompt that is often tacitly ignored, step 4.3 is a rez/paid ability window that occurs after the runner has decided to access the server itself (after any/all ICE), but before the run is considered "successful". If you rez a card in this window, the runner cannot jack out in response to it. Also remember that DRT's effect happens AFTER THE RUN IS OVER, so any tag they take during the access WILL activate DRT. Here are some suggestions:

1. Snare! is by far the best combo card with DRT. If they hit it with DRT rezzed, they're immediately taking 3 net damage, 2 meat damage, and a tag. If this doesn't straight up flatline them, it will set them back tremendously (and probably make them run much more slowly and cautiously in future turns).
   • Unfortunately, you cannot rez DRT in response to them accessing the Snare - you have to do it in step 4.3 (or earlier). This is fine if you have Snare installed in a remote, but if it's in a central server (as it usually is), then rezzing DRT in preparation is kind of a crap shoot. Large multi-access cards may increase its viability here, especially Legwork and the infamous Gang Sign/HQ Interface combo.
2. TGTBT gives a tag on access, so like Snare, if you know they're going to be hitting it, rez the DRT before access. Unlike Snare, TGTBT's tag will fire in archives, giving you a surprisingly rare non-Jinteki archives trap (and with a Jackson Howard down as well, you have a lot of flexibility with when to fire it).
3. Data Raven is guaranteed to place a tag on the runner if they ever want to complete a run on the server it's protecting, making it an extremely reliable way to get mid-run tags off.

Plenty of other ICE have trace--->tag subroutines, but because there are so many ways around them, your mileage may vary. Some other notes:

• When including it in your deck, the main considerations are probably:
  • Geeze that's a lot of influence. Can I fit it in anything other than Weyland IDs and Near-Earth Hub?
  • How effectively/consistently can I tag the runner (especially in the middle of a run)?
  • Can I actually protect it once it's installed? This could mean ICE, increased costs and penalties, or just making asset trashing unattractive/unsustainable for some other reason.
• Argus Security: Protection Guaranteed's ability (if the runner chooses "tag") will trigger DRT, since the tag is taken when the agenda is stolen (which is before the run technically ends). Runners commonly opt for the tag instead of the meat damage, and just pay it off on their next . Now their choice is "Take 2 meat damage" or "Take 2 meat damage. And a tag." Yeah, Argus is fun.
• Dedicated Response Team stacks. That means you can potentially "surprise" the runner with 6 meat damage (the 3 installed DRTs may not be a surprise, but the mid-run tag could be!)
• If the runner is tagged and runs on DRT to trash it, the ability does not fire (because it gets trashed before the run is fully ended). The two other ones you have rezzed will work just fine, though.
• Femme Fatale and Inside Job can bypass Data Raven without taking a tag. Fortunately for you, they cannot bypass two Data Ravens.
• Pajama Lady, Photoshop, Porn Computer, and Motorcycle can all frustrate your mid-run tagging strategy.

This card is beginning to see a lot of play, especially combo'd with Leela Patel: Trained Pragmatist and HQ Interface. If you cannot get your agendas out of your hand (eg. into archives with a Jackson Howard ready), scoring one out on the board can cause a catastrophic chain of events (Leela bounce, HQ access, agenda steal, Leela Bounce again). That's at least two unrezzed cards flipped into your hand, not to mention the agenda she steals. Even if you scored the agenda after your 2nd instead of your 3rd, that can still leave your board in a miserable state, opening you up to further brutality when the runner's turn begins.

Like Valencia's Blackmail, NBN's Astro Train, or Wayland's Scorched Earth, this is a card devestating enough that it's worth specifically preparing for it if it's in your meta.

Some suggestions:

• Snare, straight up. This card gets splashed around a lot anyway - Gang Sign just makes it more attractive. Get it in your hand and keep it there.
  • If you're playing Wayland, you can use an Atlas Counter to pull Snare! into your hand right before you score another agenda
  • Use Executive Boot Camp (already a useful meta-call card for Valencia) to pull the Snare! into your hand right before you score the agenda
• Shock, in your hand, all day. Similar to Snare, but -free and less effective. Also costs 2 to , so it may be a repeat customer
• If you're playing a Jinteki identity, keep a Fetal AI handy
• Shi.Kyū (make them lose an agenda point when you score an agenda!)
• Foxfire to trash it (hopefully they aren't also running Fall Guys)

The fun thing about Gang Sign (for the corp) is that once it's installed, the runner doesn't have a choice. They're slamming into your HQ whether they like it or not. A smart runner may smell the beat-down coming, and choose not to install it in the first place, but once it's down, they're in trouble.

Runners, if you're playing Gang Sign, seriously consider playing Feedback Filter as well. You'll notice the common theme of all the above suggestions is that they all do net damage. It's expensive, but only when you actually need to use it (which probably isn't often). If you install Gang Sign when you shouldn't have, an Aesop's Pawnshop can be a life-saver.

Due to the high rez and cost, this is a card that needs a significant amount of support to work properly. However, if you can build a deck that allows it to fire at least once, you can make some massive plays. Here's some of the magic that comes out of Eliza's Toybox:

• Counter runner decks built around Blackmailing unrezzed ICE (Valencia Estevez usually)
• Frustrate Leela Patel's tendency to deliberately leave ICE unrezzed so that she can bounce them with her ability
• Rez ICE for free against Reina Roja or Xanadu without having to pay extra
• Rez an Archer or Corporate Town without having to forfeit an agenda
• Rez any exorbitantly expensive ICE for free (Curtain Wall, Janus 1.0, Wotan, Orion, etc.)

The standard way to play this card is to install it and leave it unrezzed for a turn (preferably behind a piece of ICE or two) and then flip and use it at the beginning of your next turn (much like a Melange Mining Corp). There are some possible shortcuts, though. Here's a few:

• Anything that gives you more than 3's (ex. Director Haas, Haas Arcology AI, Biotic Labor, Efficiency Committee, Mandatory Upgrades)
• The runner hits an Architect or Crick late in their turn, allowing you to install it without a
• My personal favorite, Tech Startup, which functions like the standard method except the Toybox itself is never threatened