With Uprising released over half a year ago, Gachapon is one of the cards that hasn't been seeing a lot of play. Which is interesting because in a set chockablock with amazing cards, this might be one of the best, in my opinion.

What does it do? After trashing Gachapon, you get to install a program or virtual resource out of the top 6 cards of your stack for 2 credits less, remove 2 cards from game, and shuffle back 3. The card is comparable to Career Fair and Modded, except that the discount is lower. While Modded doesn't see a ton of play, Career Fair does. Gachapon does lose points against it because many great resources aren't virtual (even those that should be, looking at you Daily Casts).

Despite these drawbacks I think this hardware is not to be underestimated. First off, while not obvious at first, Gachapon saves you a click. Since Career Fair installs the target from hand, you need to draw into both cards first, as opposed to the one draw you spend on Gachapon. I think this more than makes up for the fact that it is possible to not find a target in the top 6 cards.

On that note, its supposed downside (removing 2 or 3 cards) is secretly an upside. Most runner decks have bloat, extra copies of key cards and a few silver bullets they don't need in every match up. Gachapon helps you get rid of these, making your deck more lean and mean. It is also worth noting that the text says "may", so even if you have a valid target, you can always decline to install it.

Another huge advantage of Gachapon is that it can be used during any paid ability window. In a pinch, it can get a breaker during a run (if you're lucky), and if the corp doesn't rez their ice you can get Turning Wheel instead. You can dig for No One Home after being hit by Economic Warfare. Or you can install Data Folding after the corp ends their turn.

So why have we seen so few anarchs add this card? I think partially that has to do with the bin breakers. These programs are better installed without spending a click at all, rather overdrawing with Zer0 and I've Had Worse and then dumping them in the heap. Another reason is that the same Anarch lists have been pretty solid for years, meaning players have little incentive to try out new cards unless they are obviously fantastic. And I think this card is great, just maybe not at first glance. Syd7 won the American Continentals with a Hoshiko list on Gachapon. That list forgoes anarch staples like Liberated Account for more Companions, who are prime targets.

How about out-of-faction? Criminals and Shapers don't have much use for this card. Two influence is not inconsequential, they don't usually run tons of virtual resources and have other ways of tutoring programs. I do think this card is well suited for the mini factions. I have been playing this card in Sunny and it has been an absolute super star. The filtering is especially good in a 50 card deck and mother loves to fetch Data Foldings and her new toy DreamNet. Apex also likes this card, as it needs the speed and all its resources are virtual anyway. Gachapon also triggers Wasteland on the corp's turn, which is fantastic. Adam could definitely use this (it tutors Logic Bomb) but can probably not spare the influence

In short, an underrated card that has a lot of versatility. It might start seeing more play after a strong Worlds showing.

Not so much an review as an observation. As I am researching possibilities for the upcoming ID Swap tournament, I took a long look at the assigned influence of every identity in the game. To date, 6 years after he was released in Honor and Profit, Ken remains the only non-mini faction (which are a different story due to their tiny cardpool and need to import) runner blessed with more than 15 influence. 17 to be exact. Meanwhile there are 5 corps who have that privilege (3 of which are NBN), while one even has 22. Near-Earth Hub, AgInfusion and Titan were/are competitive powerhouses, GameNET is very solid, while Harishchandra and Custom Biotics are considered garbage. That to me seems to indicate that an ID's influence is less important than its ability in determining power level. So why haven't there been more runner ID's with 17 influence, especially since Ken hasn't enjoyed a huge amount of success?

One theory is that corps inherently need to import more cards to optimize their strategies, be it kill, fast advance or a well-rounded ice suite. Meanwhile, runners can spend their influence more freely, as they tend to have most tools in-faction. Anarchs especially were notorious for this for a long time. Who can forget Hatebear, an archetype that spend 8 or even 12 influence on copies of Account Siphon. Even nowadays, 15 inf identities like Hoshiko and Val have everything they need in faction, allowing them to easily import a playset of Apocalypse or Bravado. Because of this, even lower tier anarchs like Null and Kim are not exactly weak, just worse than their competition. A 45/17 anarch would need to have a terrible effect to not be considered broken, and printing purposely bad identities is not something either FFG or Nisei aims to do.

Mind you, the same consideration could also apply to shapers and criminals, just less so at this point in time. I am not a game designer, but I do feel it might just be harder to balance a runner than a corp in terms of influence. That's why we might not see another 17 influence runner soon, or ever. I am curious to see the mechanic explored further though, and who knows what Nisei has in store.

This card cannot be reviewed without looking at its predecessor, Foxfire, a card I always liked but rarely saw any play. Link is a very underused subtype (only present on 6 cards, all of which are now rotated), there were fewer virtual resources and because of the higher power level of the meta, cards like Foxfire suffered from "50th card syndrome". Solid, but not good enough to take up a deck slot. But now it is 2020, rotation has happened and the card pool has changed. Is a similar card worth a slot? Let's compare.

First of, trace 7 is still as solid as ever, probably even more so. Rabbit Hole is gone, and even a runner like Sunny may find this high of a trace non-trivial. This trace will either succeed or drain the runner's credits. The cost of 1 credit vs Foxfire's 0 is slightly worse but negligible. It hits chips instead of link, which there are 20 off, so that's nice. The 'remove from game' ability is neat but often insignificant. Resource and hardware recursion is rare. It does get around Wireless Net Pavilion and Dummy Box. Due to not being neutral, unlikely to be seen out of faction. Very significantly, it requires a successful run to play, which decreases its window of opportunity.

So, let's now go over some nice targets. The most obvious one is Turning Wheel, an omnipresent card that wins games. But due to the aforementioned run condition, a runner who keeps bouncing of your ice will play around Scapenet. Huge bummer. DDoS is another great hit, but the runners who play it are unlikely to make succesful runs before they use it. Double bummer.

What does spark joy is hitting the Net Mercur of an unprepared Smoke player. Logic Bomb is also a nice target, as Adam does like to recur these with Reclaim. Many runners rely on the drip from Data Folding. Cyberdelia is expensive and getting rid of it could put the runner over MU limits. DreamNet is another strong card. Other relevant targets include all companions, No One Home (although Best Defense is better), Caldera (for thousand cut decks?), Ice Carver, Hunting Grounds, Gang Sign, Simulchip, Akamatsu Mem Chip and Prognostic Q-Loop. In eternal you can get rid of Crowdfunding for good.

Are those enough targets to make this card relevant? Maybe. I think Scapenet is a nice card for HB, as they are kinda lacking in good answers for resources. NBN tag you and trash your stuff, Weyland do this too and they have Tithonium. Jinteki has Voter Intimidation and Sadaka. HB now has this. But it probably won't be widely used. For now. Who knows what Nisei might release in future sets.

Edit: forgot to mention the art work. Different, but really vibrant colors. I like it!

In terms of numbers, F2P is incredibly solid. 4 to rez, 5 strength is nearly unheard of in sentries. And bouncing any runner card is a potentially devastating effect. And a nice tag to boot. Sure, it won't stop a determined runner, but like a lot of NBN ice, it isn't meant to. It is very taxing, costing 4 to pay through or break with the godtier killer Bukhgalter, and very often more than that.

Mostly, this is a neat toy for Acme. There, this sentry will always be "live", as long as it remains the outermost ice of a server. Of you could park a Data Raven in front of it as the server gets bigger. I expect this to become a staple in said corp, and we might also see it in other yellow decks once in a while.

Also, lovely flavor. A play on the videogame concept 'free to play' (see GameNET, who also gain 2 bucks if you use F2P's ability instead of breaking its subs) and how you can interract with this ice without programs. For a price.

Inspired by NAPD Contract, this is the most straightforward lockdown and probably somewhere in the middle in terms of power. I think it is better than SYNC Rerouting (most runners have answers for tags and paying 4 to ignore the effect is manageble) and Argus Crackdown (unless the corp has Border Control and/or Cayambe Grid) but worse than NEXT Activation Command (just a solid tax) and Hyoubu Precog Manifold (Caprice on demand can be game changing, even if it is only one turn).

Probably best used with a 4/2, since you can install, advance, play this. Now the agenda costs 6 extra credits to steal. It is also solid to install a 5/3, bluffing an asset, and then double advance and play NAPD Cordon on the next turn. Even more mean if the agenda is Bellona. You want to spend 13 credits on that?

Obviously Film Critic is this card's worst nightmare, but then again, she is that for many. Be sure to have an out if your deck relies on this event.