Tyr's Hand

Tyr's Hand

Please See Review Above

This card can bring out the artist in any Corp player, sometimes you just really want a certain Bioroid subroutine to fire. This just about guarantees that a runner is going to actually suffer the worst subroutine protecting the server. You can always end a run that the runner with any ice that allows you to, but where's the fun in that?

Scores of Bioroid ice feature End The Run, Trash a Program, Do X net damage , Do 1 Brain Damage etc, with Tyr's Hand even the cheapest Bioroid ice will be guaranteed to unload one of it's payloads for only the cost of 1 and one . It can literally combo with almost every piece of Bioroid ice, (some better than others - see below.)

Style points for combo-ing with the Trash one console" on Enforcer 1.0. Hey runner, say good bye to The Toolbox!

Sub-Optimal Combos:

Basically any Bioroid featuring traces, psi games (if this ever happens) or any other kinds activities that are conditional with in the text itself, may not be your best candidate for this card.

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Tyr's hand only works to prevent bioroid subroutines from being broken. I agree about Enforcer 1.0, though! Its a cornucopia of nastiness. —
That and it only prevents once. If the Runner has credits, tokens or clicks left they can still break the subroutine during that encounter. This card is best with 2.0 Ice, where the Runner MUST use non-click methods to avoid a Tyr'd sub. —
Yeah, thanks sayonara, missed that little word when reading through it first, makes a difference!. My review has been updated accordingly. —
Lynx Kuroneko, are you sure it works that way. I take "Prevent a subroutine from being broken on this server" to mean that for this encounter, this subroutine cannot be broken. —
Unfortunately, Tyr's Hand is only for Bioroid ICE. This limits it to the following: —
Eli 1.0, Enforcer 1.0, Heimdall 1.0 and 2.0, Hudson 1.0, Ichi 1.0 and 2.0, Janus 1.0, Markus 1.0, Sherlock 1.0, Viktor 1.0 and 2.0, Wotan, and Zed 1.0. As previously stated, this is best with 2.0 Bioroids, although I have had some good interactions with Zed 1.0 and Brain Damage through himself or forcing the runner to use clicks to break the ICE before him. —
Acording to page 15 of the FAQ on fantasy flights web site tyr's hand only prevents the break once but the runner is still encountering the ice and can attempt to break the subroutine again if able to do so. This means that if they have enough money, they can pay again. Likewise if they have enough clicks and the ice is clickable they may break it again by spending the clicks. Corporate Troubleshooter is a much effective way of sticking subs to a runner (provided they cant just click through). —
I've certainly come across discussions about Tyr's hand prevent effect only firing once, meaning a second attempt (paying whatever costs) will still break the sub. This is best used to prevent the runner from using click(s) to break bioroids, as others have noted it works best with 2.0 bioroids. It sounds a little lame, but remember that many runners are unafraid of face-checking bioroids with a few clicks to spend, this cards takes some of that edge off. —
Lately with some Fairchild builds people have been playing, I have been coming across PLENTY of times, especially with Black Orchestra OUT, where I just triple click to get thru, for that one shot. So I mean if you wanted to, you could A: Have a piece of ICE installed instead? or B: Hurt someone... —
Awakening Center

Awakening Center

Did you mistakenly put a big piece of Bioroid like Wotan or Janus 1.0 into your deck and now you don't have the to rez it? Perhaps Awakening Center could turn your mistake into a neat little one-off and give the runner a bit of a sweat.

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I personally tried it and I still find it hard to use it. —
People usually think it's an Ash upgrade (come back next clic) and I like the idea of hiding anything else. From a Ichi to a Heimdall (or, if you have 9 creds a surprise Janus) but it's one use. I also don't get if I have to spend or if I can host it while the runner is coming to the server —
@valerian32 : corp player can only host a bioroid on Awakening Center by installing it during its turn, spending a click. And Awakening Center has to be rezzed first. —
Could we combo it with Breaker Bay Grid, for a total discount of 12 credits? —
Well, *obviously* this is what you do with this card: —
...find out the site doesn't support multiline comments; write a review instead —
Bioroid Efficiency Research

Bioroid Efficiency Research

Combos

Beefy Bioroid ice like Wotan would be a very effective combo with this card, at strength of 10 and four subroutines, which unlike other Bioroids can't be broken. (Yes the first subroutine can be bypassed by loosing two clicks, but letting a fire and unloading it's payload means that the is NOT being broken). So unless the runner poinies up resources and actually uses abilities &/or ice breakers to actually break the subroutines, Wotan backed up by Bioroid Efficiency Research will likely remain rezzed and doing it's business for the rest of the game saving the corp the 14 install cost.

Blue Sun: Powering the Future can turn Bioroid Efficiency Research and expensive ice into a nifty financial boon many other combos would have difficulty matching. Imagine collecting 15 from 1 Janus 1.0 card installing it three times for a whopping 45 in a single game!

Pros

Can open up flat-line kill opportunities

Huge savings can make prohibitively expensive ICE useful

Cons

Ice is only rezzed on corps turn, no element of surprise

Without element of surprise, runner may actually be encouraged to run where before there was hesitancy

Ice is vulnerable to being trashed

Limited only to Bioroid ice

Summary

Yeah, it's useful. But it's limited probably to HB or perhaps a Blue Sun: Powering the Future Weyland deck.

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I used it in my "Stronger together" HB since you don't have the economy boost of EtF this is a way to pay a Wotan or a Janus for 3 creds. The minus part: you're telling "here there is a Heimdall 2.0" so unless you can bluff well it's giving information you may not want to give to the runner —
Outside of Wotan I think its best use isn't protecting a something so much as taxing the runner without taxing yourself and thereby opening a scoring window. In that situation it doesn't matter if the runner knows what your ice is so long as it costs them $$$ to get through. (In fact it may even be better if they know what it is and can get through it.) —
Custom Biotics: Engineered for Success

Custom Biotics: Engineered for Success

Thematically kind of makes sense, HB & Jinteki are in direct competition, who needs their porous ice anyway! Weyland & NBN have plenty of great options.. And wow, 22 influence points!

Certainly going to have no trouble coming up with economy & lots of Ice!

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HQ Interface

HQ Interface

Analysis

At a cost of 4 HQ Interface doubles the effectiveness of your accesses when running on HQ runs. Those four will have paid for themselves easily once the runner is able to access agendas! This will also cause the corp to focus more on protecting HQ hence slowing down his/her tempo.

Comparison with Legwork

Pros

HQ Interface is much more flexible, can be used over & over for the rest of the game (earlier the better)

Can be used in powerful combination with Legwork & Nerve Agent

Can combo well with itself if you have multiple copies installed

Cons

HQ Interface is more expensive than Legwork and would need to be used 2-3 times before it catches up economically

Doesn't dig nearly as deep into HQ as Legwork

The corp will likely have more time to build up HQ defenses

Comparison/Combo with Nerve Agent

Pros

Is hardware making it less of a target VS Nerve Agent

Since it's not a virus, there are no virus tokens to be purged, meaning it's ready all the time

Since it's hardware vs program, no MU cost penalty

Cons

Costs one more , but not too bad, since At only one more credit than Nerve Agent,

Only +1 card access per installation of HQ Interface vs the possibility of other affects that can quickly pump up virus tokens on Nerve Agent to give it near infinite card draw

Summary

All things in balance, if you are going for HQ card access, this card is worth a look, particularly for Criminals, at two influence cost, maybe in certain cases Shaper & Anarch too.

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HQ Interface also has massive synergy with Gang Sign, a great inclusion in pretty much any criminal deck, as well as Raymond Flint (who I think will see more use soon as the Mumbad Cycle looks like it plays more with bad publicity). —
HQI is also an amazing addition to any Edward Kim deck, IMO. It really is a must have for our vengeful Anarch friend. As crazy as it sounds, I've had a lot of success with Kim in the past few months. No matter what, though, the more consistent chances you give yourself to trash their Shipment from SanSan, Scorched Earth, Midseasons...hell, even their currents and econ...the better shot you have at getting in wherever you want late game. HQI does that for you. —
Also notable is that - unlike Legwork - it combos with Sneakdoor Beta. —