The time for the unloved Interface may just be here.

Corp recursion right now is stronger than ever. With Architect and Crick, those trashed Campaigns and Grids were already bouncing back with painful regularity, and now Team Sponsorship is proving itself the breakout card of the latest pack. License Acquisition and Interns are not unknown, either, and with Data and Destiny just around the corner, feel free to get a pre-emptive strike in against those persistent currents that New Angeles Sol: Your News likes to keep in play (although that still likely requires you to play your own current for theirs to be in Archives at the right time).

Alternatively, annoyed that your Datasucker tokens are being prevented by a Cyberdex Virus Suite that's been trashed? Eliminate it for good and let your counters pile up once more.

And even if the Corp isn't running any of those tools? You can still get rid of whatever they're most likely to want back when Jackson Howard hits the table. No filtering those Snares! through R&D again, Chairman!

On the other hand, it's still an expensive piece of hardware that doesn't directly help you steal Agendas. It's also in Anarch, and if you're not Anarch yourself, there's an awful lot of good competition for your influence points in other Anarch cards. But still. If you're tired of having to rummage up yet another five credts because SanSan City Grid is back AGAIN?

Maybe this is your answer.

Been running the Interface doe a while now in my Faust-Quetzal, since the deck relies on Parasucking quite heavily. Interface is a tremendous counter to CVS and Crick, and really deserves a look as a serious card. —
I understand the usefulness of the card but whyyyy oh god whyyyyy does it cost 3. It should've been 2c, even 1c. —
Best counter to Museum of History. —
The newly-introduced political assets seem to be most at home in Industrial Genomics. If IG takes off (as it already has started to with the addition of Museum of History), I can see Archives Interface becoming a necessary splash to keep archives from getting too dangerous to defuse periodically. —

Three Encryption Protocols in one! But limited to one server, and once that can't run other Regions at that. Probably for the best, since an 8-to-trash SanSan City Grid or Crisium Grid might cause a few sad faces at tournaments going forwards!

But oh, the things you could do with this server.

How about some Adonis or Eve Campaigns? You could even rez them for free using a Breaker Bay Grid, then overwrite it with Oaktown Grid. Even better, rather than trashing the Breaker Bay Grid, pull it back to hand with Blue Sun: Powering the Future - or if it's too much influence over there, keep it in HB with Isabel McGuire.

But we're thinking small. What's better than money? Time! Director Haas is an obvious target for the runner when rezzed, but if she's staying in Oaktown, she's a bit tougher to deal with. In fact, any of the top level executives could be fun to put in.

But still, there's more to be gained from this card. Because there's nothing stopping other non-Region Upgrades going in the same server. Ash 2X3ZB9CY is an annoying card at the best of times. When he costs 6 to trash, instead of 3? Red Herrings suddenly costs almost as much to trash as the agenda would be to steal. Strongbox too. Even relatively unused cards like Experiential Data may become worthwhile - it's worth trashing for 2, but is it really worth it for 5?

It's not all good, of course. While the trash cost of Oaktown Grid itself is a respectable 4 while installed, it's only 1 when it's in R&D/HQ, and that's always a weakness. And it's a card slot to boost other cards that, most of the time, are going to be support cards themselves. It could become a frequent cut 50th card.

But for the right Asset - and especially Upgrade - heavy deck that it makes it into at 49...well, the runner better hope they brought their Imps.

Well... The "worst" thing is that you can trash Oaktown Grid first and then you can trash other cards in the server with their regular trash cost. It's "just" a four credits tax. (unless paired with aforementioned Ash or - more jank! - Hudson). Oaktown is interesting but it's not as strong as you imply. :) —
I've dropped this in my Director Haas deck for testing, because 8 credits (Or 9 if you're doing Oaktown then Haas) means she'll be alive a *lot* longer. And honestly, 8 or 9 credits spent, plus the run cost, is probably worth it for 2 points. People install NAPDs to be stolen for a 4 credit loss.... —
Ike raises an excellent point - I think I was thinking of it as a Red Herrings/Strongbox style effect which would stick out for the whole run, but it's not - access it first (and you can, because it has to be rezzed!) and trash it first, and it's gone. That said, I think a lot of my comments still apply - the Campaigns are usually worth trashing on their own, but are you going to pay the 9 to get rid of this + Eve? With Red Herrings, it's forcing the runner to make a decision: steal the agenda now and leave the Upgrades, or trash the upgrades and leave the agenda. Or do both and open a scoring window? —
But overall, Ash is where this card will really shine in taxing decks. Although maybe I'll slip in a Hudson too for fun :) —
Crisium and SanSan are both regions, which can't be in the same server as Oaktown Grid —
Indeed, hence why I said exactly that in my first paragraph :) —
This card also boosts some cards that never saw play due to low trash cost, e.g. Haas Arcology AI and Alix T4LB07. —
I think this card combos for great things. Why include it over Encryption Protocol when you can use both? Product Recall also really likes this, turning the Adonis you're already using into a +6 credit burst econ. —
This and Ash can keep your Lakshmi Smartfabrics alive long enough to get some counters. —

This is a card I really want to be excited about, but wow, is it situational.

Let's start with the good stuff:

  • It gets rid of cards the corp has taken time to install and wants ready! So long as they're not ICE. And they haven't been advanced. And they haven't been rezzed yet. Sorry, this was supposed to be the good stuff list.

  • It shuffles R&D. Great for pushing some new cards to the top when the corp's exposed and you've flunked on an operation.

  • It's a replacement R&D run effect...which could be useful if you're pacing Mediums, building up to see even more new cards in your normal run post-shuffle.

  • If you make your R&D run and decide you don't actually want to use the effect (more on this in a moment), it is an optional replacement and you can have a normal access instead.

  • A 2 cost, 1-mem program for recurring uses as you want is quite nice.

  • It allows you to avoid Enhanced Login Protocol click tax (even allowing you to make normal 1 click runs on R&D by making use of the "may" clause).

So what are the problems? Well, it's all in that first point: target choice. Let's put it like this: it's no Leela Patel: Trained Pragmatist.

  • You can't target ICE, so it's not helping you get into other servers.

  • You can't target advanced cards, so you can't remove major Corp investment (although if you're feeling really ambitious, pre-combo this with an Exploratory Romp! But that's only ever worth it if you think it's a trap, otherwise why not just steal/trash it - and if it's a trap, you could just ignore it/trash it now it's down to 0 counters)

  • And, while this is shared with Leela, you can't target rezzed cards. Which means that the Corp can just rez anything they don't want to lose before you trigger the effect - because unlike some Leela triggers, this is never a surprise. The only way to stop it is if they don't have the money, or if rezzing the card now is worse than it going back into R&D. Maybe because it's an high cost rez that you could go trash; maybe because you've got a Hacktivist Meeting ongoing; maybe because it's a 3-cost Agenda that they installed and were waiting for a triple-advance this turn.

Overall, it's a super-situational program that a lot of the time will give the corp easy ways to work around it. But there may be ways to boost it - the aforementioned Hactivist Meeting, the upcoming Muertos Gang Member (although that's still the Corp's choice of card, and could be Ice) - and the best use of it may well be the forced shuffle of R&D, just so long as a target is available. Worth a card-slot? Hrmm.

Agreed. Paired with Hacktivist Meeting, it can do a lot. If you face a ton of ELP (which basically means a lot of RP), this is yet another way to dodge around it. I think perhaps it has a use as a pseudo-Forged Activation Orders. I think the corp would have to rez the cards *before* you make the choice to use it or not, after you've passed the last Ice, but before you access or sub. So if they do rez everything, you simply make an R&D access. —
It's a coercion tool. You run R&D when someting is unrezzed and leave Corp with the choice to rez the thing - but it may expose something unwanted, so maybe let it come back later? This is not the Keyhole, where Runner wants the full effect. Analog Dreamers threats with the possibility (remember, it's optional!) of the effect, putting Corp into uncomfortable situation. —
I'm with @quiciuq on this one: this card is about the mindgame of the successful run. When you cross that line, the last rez window is vital for the corp. They don't know what you're targetting: do they trust you /won't/ grab what they need to exist in that server? What if you're pulling out their Ash that's protecting that scoring remote? If they spend money rezzing something, didn't they just tip their plans to you, showing you what matters to them? What if you don't /want/ to check it - was it vital, something they'll have to dig for? How much did you cost them? —
This card has 1 good use: pinging the agendas (or Snare!) from a Never Advance deck, and circumventing ELP. It's almost good enough for circumventing ELP right out the bat, but pinging the SanSan City Grid off a FA, forcing them to waste 5 credits is quite good if you play a deck with quite a lot of econ. So, TL:DR. Against the corps which are rich (HB, Jinteki), this is an ELP blocker, and against the poor one (NBN FA) it's credit denial. —

It's another Snowflake! What was that comment about uniqueness being overrated?

These are in fact very similar pieces of ICE, so what are the differences?

  • Clairvoyant Monitor costs 3 more to rez.

  • Clairvoyant Monitor is a Code Gate, instead of a Barrier.

  • Clairvoyant Monitor advances a card as well as ending the run.

Snowflake isn't a card that's seen much play - it's nice as a cheap barrier, except it's inconsistent at keeping the runner out and needs further funds to do anything. It's best used on a central in Nisei Division: The Next Generation, since you could at least turn it into a partial Pop-up Window, training the runner that you'll always bid 0, with the added bonus of suddenly being able to end the run when it matters.

So here we have a Code Gate variant, with a slightly improved effect and a less-effective rez cost.

With the likely resurgence of Yog.0 thanks to Net-Ready Eyes in this same pack, strength 3 code-gates are notably less appealing than they have been since Lotus Field came out. And with that card reference, we hit the real problem - Snowflake isn't the real comparison, Lotus Field is. Just when is the 1 credit discount and a potential free advancement worth the loss of one strength and one of the most powerful ICE abilities in the game?

It's not all bad - this card is bringing me one step closer to trying out a Nisei Division filled with all the Code Gates, plus Encrypted Portals and Unorthodox Predictions - but outside that sort of silliness, stick to Lotus Field.

With a built-in Tennin ability, this might also fit into that IDs game plan. What do you think? —
I think being a 3-strength Code Gate with an unreliable subroutine wouldn't do Tennin much good. :[ —
Actually, I think the REAL comparison here is Datapike. They're both 4-cost codegates that end the run and do something nasty. (and cost 2-3 to break for most breakers) —
Yep, I agree it's too risky in Tennin. This ice costs 4 to rez then asks for more credits to keep the runner out! The competitive rez price would be 3. Idiosyncratically, its ideal position is at the base of a server's ice, but it's no good as the only ice. So you need to get another ice in front of it pretty quick. Once the runner has to break it, it was still more expensive than an ice wall to rez! —
Tested it a few times and the runner most of the time bid 0. Yes, it constantly needs 1 cred to fuel, but even if you bid 2, 1 cred goes onto ANY card (like the Tennin ability). This helps advanceable ICE like Tyrant (I confess I love it), makes your Junebug a bit meaner, helps for those Tricks of Light and even advances that Mediacal Breakthrough you were sneaking out. I don't think this card is bad - it needs the right deck. —

Uninstall is a tough card to justify inclusion - assuming that you've uninstalled something because you want to install it again from scratch, you're paying two clicks, a card, plus the install cost of the original card to get where you wanted.

Except what if you could mitigate some of that cost? Say with some help from Hayley Kaplan: Universal Scholar wearing her Comet? Suddenly both the click to make the uninstall and the click to re-install come with built in second actions!

And if that second event were, say, Modded, we've done the full thing in 1 click and for three creds less than usual.

Sure, Scavenge is notably easier and possibly even cheaper for programs. The problem with Scavenge is that it can be a bit of a specific-use card, whereas all of these cards are useful for other purposes as well - they've just combined here to do what you wanted to do very efficiently. Plus this works for hardware, which is good for things like Plascrete Carapace or Dorm Computer.

Oh, and with the added bonus that being on a Blacklist won't disable the trick!

I think a big downside to Uninstall is that you have to spend the click and the creds to reinstall the program. Overcoming those weaknesses is the key, like you're suggesting here with click compression. You could also pair it with Cyberfeeders or Sahasrara in a deck with lots of viruses or cheap programs to help that case too. Still, I think decks that look to reinstall lots of programs use Scavenge or Aesop's. —

Just use Rejig instead of this. It´s also neutral, but saves you a <span class="icon icon-click"></span>

and creds (sorry for double comment, I pressed the bad key)