Ireress is typically a pretty bad card. But I think it's slightly underestimated.

Here's the bad news. A single Ireress can never actually make the runner lose a credit. When the runner makes a run, one credit is added to their pool for each bad publicity the corp has. When they hit Ireress, they lose one credit for each bad publicity the corp has. This exactly cancels itself out.

In effect, Ireress makes it so that bad publicity doesn't count for runs on the server it protects. If they're breaking code gates with any /sub decoder (Study Guide, ZU.13 Key Master, Gordian Blade, Passport) then it will cost them as more or more to break Ireress as it would to just take the credit loss.

But there's another big problem, and it's name is Yog.0. The anarch decoder completely ignores the effect of Ireress. If Yog.0 is popular in your meta, Ireress isn't worth the install cost. You could always Patch Ireress, but that's probably more effort than is justified.

So Ireress is basically a stop-gap measure to try and minimize the effects of bad publicity. It lets you build a taxing server even while piling on bad publicity. The problem is that any strategy that seeks to make runs taxing while also piling on bad publicity is fundamentally flawed, since the entire function of bad publicity is to make runs cheaper for the runner.

But I think there are some saving graces that make Ireress slightly more than just binder fodder.

First, you can put more than one on the same server. Now you aren't just undoing the effect of bad publicity: you're actually using it to your advantage. If you have 5 bad publicity and two Ireress on R&D, then it's going to cost the runner 5 credits every time they want to get in. They don't need an icebreaker to do so, unfortunately, but compared to another 0-rez code gate, Pop-up Window, it's pretty respectable.

Similarly, it's multiple subroutines combo quite well with TL;DR. In this case, they can still break the TL;DR, which puts an upper limit on the tax potential of the server, but for a combined rez and install cost of 2 that's pretty okay.

Likewise, putting a Chum in front of Ireress is pretty funny. Now, they either have to break the Chum, or they have to deal with Ireress as a 4-strength, multiple-sub code gate that does 3 net damage if they can't break it.

Is that enough to save this card? No. Probably not. But if you're already building a bad-pub heavy deck with Hostile Takeovers and Geothermal Frackings, it's worth considering if Ireress fits in with your strategy.

This is, in my opinion, the worst agenda in the game.

Firstly, it's a 4/2, in a faction with two 3/2s (Accelerated Beta Test and Project Vitruvius). If you aren't planning on over-scoring Ares, then it's a blank 4/2, which makes it strictly inferior to Project Vitruvius, or another in-faction 4/2, Efficiency Committee, which at least gives you 3 extra clicks.

So you would have to over-score it to make it worthwhile. It's not too difficult to overadvance it by one: you're effectively scoring a 5-advance agenda and getting one less point, which is justifiable if you are getting enough value.

But if you only over-score by one, then the result is simply "The runner trashes 1 of his or her installed cards and you take one bad publicity". That's a terrible deal. Consider this: one of the best runner cards in the game is Desperado, because it gives you a credit after every successful run. A bad publicity gives you a free credit before every run, whether or not it is successful, meaning that a bad publicity is more valuable than the best console in the game and the runner would gladly make that trade. Especially since you are never going to hit their Desperado--it's the runner's choice, so they're just going to trash a spare Clone Chip or Datasucker or Symmetrical Visage or something else they don't really need and can easily replace.

So scoring Project Ares as a 4/2 is bad, and scoring it as a 5/2 is actively worse. But, you only ever take one bad publicity: maybe it could be efficient if you go for 6 advancements?

But again, if you're going to try to score an agenda for 6 points, you could score a Mandatory Upgrades or a Vanity Project. Scoring a 4-point agenda, or getting an extra click every turn, is vastly superior to telling the runner to trash two cards and taking a bad publicity. So Ares is still bad with 6 credits.

Let's take it up to 11--eleven advancements, that is, give or take. If you can pull it off, you can utterly destroy the runner's entire rig. With no breakers and no economy, you are basically assured victory. This is the optimal play for this card, giving you the best return for that bad publicity.

But even at it's best, Ares falls short of other agendas. Any technique to score something with 9 points or more could be better applied to Government Takeover or Project Beale, likely winning you the game outright.

The fact is, this is simply not a good card. And I don't foresee that ever changing.

While @LeaPlath's analysis is technically correct (the best kind of correct), I think it is a little narrow, because it doesn't take into effect the fundamental purpose of barrier ICE.

All Barrier ice ends the run, and for the vast majority that is all they do. Sometimes the ETR is conditional on a trace or psi game, or can be clicked through, or requires that the runner is tagged, but ultimately the sole purpose of a barrier is to keep the runner out.

But, this takes different forms in the earlier part of the game versus the later part of the game. In the early part of the game, the runner is trying to find their breakers and get their board set up. Meaning, if they don't have a fracter, an Ice Wall is an impassable obstacle. In this part of the game, the corp wants to be using the cheapest barriers they can, to stop the runner at the lowest possible cost. Ice Wall, Himitsu-Bako, and Wraparound are probably the most popular barriers that fit the "gearcheck" archetype.

Once a fracter hits the table, the question is different. Now, a barrier will only keep the runner out if they cannot afford to break it. At this point, your "gearcheck" ice is not going to do much, since it will typically cost only 1 or 2 credits to get through. You will want to be using the big ice. Heimdalls, Curtain Walls or Hadrian's Walls, Ashigaru or Wall of Thorns: these open windows when the runner is too broke to both match their high strength and break their multiple subroutines.

Sherman and Corroder each specialize in one of these areas, at the cost of the other. Corroder mows through most gearcheck ice at 1 each: but taking down an outside Curtain Wall will cost a whopping 11. In contrast, Sherman eats a Curtain Wall for only 8...but the minimum cost to break any ICE is 2, or 4 if it's strength 2 or higher.

But that's a poor trade to make, generally. Because gearcheck ICE typically gets rezzed early, frequently over central servers, you can expect to break a cheap barrier 3 or more times over the course of the game as you put pressure on HQ and R&D. On the other hand, big screw-you barriers will typically be played over the scoring remote, and you're only likely to actually pay through them once or twice. This means that, in the long run, you are typically coming out way behind using Sherman instead of Corroder.

On top of that, while almost every corp runs gearcheck ice to protect their centrals, many corp archetypes don't bother with the expensive ice. HB or NBN fast advance, Jinteki shell game, Weyland murder, and many others spend their efforts on other tactics besides "build a big scoring remote and win".

But that doesn't mean there aren't good reasons to run Sherman.

• It's in-faction for Sunny, letting her spend influence other places.
• It's 0 for anyone with 2 (like Sunny), letting you install non-icebreaker programs like Datasucker or Multithreader without needing to spend money and card slots on memory.
• It has the "cloud" subtype, which lets you get a ton of value out of Security Chip to make those big hail-mary runs in the endgame.

Basically you need to ask yourself: "Am I willing to pay 4 to break a Himitsu-Bako?" and if you're willing to accept that possibility in exchange for some MU and link shenanigans, then maybe Sherman is justified. Maybe.

Kati Jones is probably one of the most overrated cards in Netrunner.

Now hold on--"overrated" doesn't mean "bad". But I think people put Kati in decks where she doesn't always belong, or overestimate her value. I'm here to set the record straight.

Consider this. The value of an economy card is the number of credits it gives you above simply clicking for credits. A Sure Gamble lets you spend to get 4, which is 3 credits more than you would have earned on the basic click for credit action. So that means that the act of drawing a Sure Gamble has an effective value of 3.

Let's apply the same principle to Armitage Codebusting. It takes 7 clicks to install and clear off the Armitage, and doing so gives you a net return of 11 credits. That's 4 credits more than the 7 you could have earned by clicking for credits, meaning that Armitage Codebusting has a total value of 4 credits.

Now what if, instead of Armitage, you had Kati Jones? Installing Kati, clicking her up to 15 credits, and then taking them also takes a total of 7. That gives you a net return of 13 credits, for a total value of 6 credits. And then she's still around afterwards to keep giving you more. Pretty good, right?

Maybe, but there are limitations. For one thing, Kati Jones is unique. Drawing a second Armitage Codebusting means you get that +4 credit economy boost all over again. Drawing a second or third Kati Jones means you've mostly wasted your time, unless you can feed her to Faust or soak up damage from Stimhack or something.

For another, the timing of when you actually get money is different. With Armitage, you break even after installing and clicking it twice: you've spent 3 and gained 3. You can easily do this in one turn, making the tempo hit effectively zero. With Kati, though, the fastest you can break even would be install, click to 3, click to 6, and take, which means you aren't actually making money until 3 or 4 turns after installing.

The point I'm trying to make is that Kati simply cannot be the primary economy engine for every deck. Because it takes her so long to pay out, you need a different source of economy to let you install your icebreakers. Because you need to click her every turn, you need a deck that can afford to be patient, one focused on single, significant runs rather than steady consistent pressure. Because she puts dead draws into your deck, you need a deck that will keep the game going long enough for her to pull her weight. And because she can get sniped out by tagging or Snatch and Grab, you need a deck that can function without her.

Two runners who I think can really make Kati work are Leela Patel and Iain Stirling. Their runner IDs each have a built-in deterrent for the corp scoring, forcing the corp to play slower and set up more carefully, which in turn lets the runner build up to an explosive late game. But Shapers who want to build to an inevitable late game can probably get more value out of Magnum Opus, and most Anarchs and other Criminals are strongest with the kind of early aggression that Kati makes difficult.

People used to think this card wasn't very good.

They saw it, rightfully so, as protection against SEA Scorch--as soon as the SEA Source fires, you pay your 2 and ignore it, making it impossible for the corp to follow up with the kill.

In that context...it was generally terrible, because it goes away as soon as you steal an agenda. If the corp brazenly installs and starts scoring a 5/3, you still couldn't touch it without losing the protection you had. And it never served any purpose against the other popular kill-enabler, Midseason Replacements.

Put simply, installing NACH telegraphed in big neon letters "I AM NOT GOING TO RUN FOR A WHILE" giving the corp free reign to score out at their leisure. The only runner who could make this work was Iain Stirling, who was basically okay with turtleing up and waiting for a good moment to strike. For everyone else, a card which hindered your ability to do the very thing you need to do to win the game--that is, steal agendas--wasn't worth playing over the more reliable counterpart Plascrete Carapace.

But the meta has changed, in two fundamental ways. The first is the introduction of Film Critic. Film Critic allows you to take agendas without "stealing" them. This already helps prevent kills by neutering Midseason Replacements, Punitive Counterstrike, Argus Security, Personal Evolution, and other tactics. With NACH, it can go one further, preventing you from losing your anti-tag measures.

The second is the whole mess of new tagging options available to corps as a result of Data and Destiny. In particular, the appearance of a new kill strategy, 24/7 News Cycle+Breaking News, meant that you can no longer avoid the kill by not running and hoarding credits, while SYNC makes it extremely expensive to clear tags from Data Raven, Gutenberg, or News Team. Strategies are now emerging which use tags for things other than simple murder--cards like Quantum Predictive Model, Keegan Lane, and The All-Seeing I hurt you in devastating, potentially game-ending ways, where Plascrete Carapace isn't going to help.

This means that it is no longer enough to simply run early and clear tags afterwards. You have to actively prevent the tags from ever happening in the first place. And that is where New Angeles City Hall comes in. As long as you have money to burn and Film Critic to help you steal, you will never have to take a tag. And that is a wonderful, wonderful thing.