When Netrunner was young Anonymous Tip was considered a bad card. The corp already got a free draw, and accelerating their draw not only increased the density of agendas in RD but also headed the corp closer to running out of cards.

As the meta grew however and decks became more consistent in achieving their winning strategy, drawing cards became an advantage. Getting through the deck to find the agendas needed to win, or get the cards together in hand that would open up the winning score or set up the flatline. While Anonymous Tip has fallen out of general use, it and cards like it are no longer considered bad cards, and will be seen every now

(Written during the meta of Breaker Bay, part of the SanSan Cycle. For more reviews like it, visit wyldside.blogspot.com)

At first glance this agendas ability does not seem to apply easily. Most often used to score from hand the last point after three Astroscripts have been scored, its ability to give tags has not been a large part of the environment.

That is the effect Fast Advance has had, in essence turning this agenda into just a finalizing score. That is not all there is to do with it however, and many an enterprising player has used this agenda to great effect by playing upon that Fast Advance effect. Too often runners do not expect there to be face down agendas in a Fast Advance deck, believing them to be SanSan City Grids being prepared for advancing. Doing so can leave a click to act upon the tags Breaking News gives. Trashing resources such as Kati Jones when loaded up with credits can be very devastating to the runner. Now as well are resources that trash themselves automatically if the runner is ever tagged, making even a score from hand of this agenda a threat to those.

As a two for one it will see use for a long time, and while its ability needs to be played around it still can be quite powerful.

(Written during the meta of Breaker Bay, part of the SanSan Cycle. For more reviews like it, visit wyldside.blogspot.com)

The least impactful of all the core set Identities, Making News started the Fast Advance train, but it quickly moved over to NBN: The World is Yours* for the smaller deck size (increasing the chance of getting the pieces needed) and larger hand size (holding more). The Trace bonus of Making News, while thematic to the strengths of NBN, simply did not help the Fast Advance strategy.

As such, Making News rarely see’s play. Its ability can be very strong, given how many pieces of ICE and operations NBN carries that have a Trace effect, but the question is how is that Trace effect used to win the game? Too often when faced with a Trace either the corp will not boost it at all, making it (often) negligible for the runner to match, or the corp will boost it out of the runners reach, so the runner does not boost at all.

There is a strategy that has not yet been explored however. Like the Jinteki shell game, one of bluffs and posturing. When a Trace is boosted a little, but not enough that blows the runner off from being able to match it, it can be a powerful bluff or an interesting tax. What does the runner do, match and beat the trace, spending valuable credits that might be needed on the next piece of ICE or let it fire and take the punishment for it? This strategy requires traces that have an effect the runner wishes to avoid; Either effects that are immediately dangerous, or tag punishment cards in hand such as Closed Accounts.

Making News may see a resurgence with NBN Fast Advance seeing a setback. The other strengths of the faction may be explored, and if found to be competitive, Making News could certainly see a comeback.

(Written during the meta of Breaker Bay, part of the SanSan Cycle. For more reviews like it, visit wyldside.blogspot.com)

While the idea of being able to protect programs and hardware seems like a very strong ability, it hasn’t seen a lot of play. This is likely to the fact that it does not actively advance the runner’s win strategy, rather reactively replying to the corp’s strategy. Given that not all corp decks will be actively trying to trash programs, it makes it a difficult card to include. Most program trashing comes from ICE; because those ICE are almost always Destroyers, cards like Sharpshooter not only protect the runners programs, but also allow the runner to get past that ICE further advancing their win strategy.

The Hardware protection has yet to see a lot of use, but that is where Sacrificial Construct may see some play in the future. Up until now, most hardware destruction was found in Weyland ‘Tag and Bag’ decks, which were looking to destroy Plascrete Carapace in order to ensure the kill. Most decks don’t include a lot of hardware outside of a Console, and that makes it difficult for the corp to justify a lot of hardware destruction if they aren’t aiming for a kill.

Cybernetic Hardware might change the thought process on this card. These are cards that have a cost to install, but provide a nice benefit - If they become prevalent enough, or the corp starts to see them as a threat, hardware destruction could make more of a splash. If that happens, Sacrificial Construct will gain more of a use as well, if just because recurring and playing Cybernetics again would probably not be worth the cost.

(Written during the meta of Breaker Bay, part of the SanSan Cycle. For more reviews like it, visit wyldside.blogspot.com)

If the local meta is full of Personal Evolution or other versions of Jinteki 1000 Cuts, Net Shield becomes a very useful card. It allows the runner to play a lot more safely and more aggressively against decks where net damage is strong. Unfortunately, it does absolutely nothing against decks that are not using net damage, which is where it has seen some issues.

There is also Feedback Filter which can protect against two types of damage, and does not take up precious MU. It is more expensive to protect with, however, but it is also not limited to once per turn. If net damage is prevalent in the meta, then these are considerations that have to be taken when building a deck - Is Net Shield or Feedback Filter a better choice? That all depends on the rest of the deck composition and if single pings of net damage are more a threat or multiple net damage a turn is.

As Clot pushes players away from Fast Advance, Jinteki is starting to push into the front of the world meta. Replicating Perfection and Personal Evolution are strong contenders in tournaments, and that makes the consideration of cards like Net Shield being played a much higher possibility. While it may not have seen a lot of play in the past, as the meta evolves and players look for tools to deal with the current ‘strong’ deck types, Net Shield can shine.

(Written during the meta of Breaker Bay, part of the SanSan Cycle. For more reviews like it, visit wyldside.blogspot.com)