Femme Fatale

Program: Icebreaker - Killer • Install: 9 • Memory: 1 • Strength: 2 • Influence: 1

1credit: Break sentry subroutine.

2credit: +1 strength.

When you install Femme Fatale, choose an installed piece of ice. When you encounter that ice, you may pay 1credit per subroutine on that ice to bypass it.

Criminal • Anna Christenson • System Core 2019 36
All sets:
Links: Decklists | ANCUR
Femme Fatale
Ban List Entries

No Ban List Entries for this card.

Rulings

  • Femme Fatale does not need to match the strength of a piece of ice in order to bypass it. [Official FAQ]

  • The Runner can spend the credit from Cyberfeeder to pay for the bypass ability. [Official FAQ]

  • If Femme Fatale is uninstalled, the Runner cannot bypass the ice chosen by the Femme Fatale when it was installed; the ability is no longer active since the card is no longer active. Even if that copy of Femme Fatale is re-installed, it is treated as a ‘new’ copy and cannot bypass anything other than the ice chosen when it was just installed. [Official FAQ]

Reviews
11

Pros

  • her bypass ability makes her very flexible because you can target a non-Sentry
  • her bypass ability also circumvents "when encountered" abilities, so Tollbooth, Data Raven, and Komainu make prime targets.
  • you can also target unrezzed Ice, if you have a strong read on your opponent what kind of ICE he is hiding there.
  • easily splashable with only one influence point.

Cons

  • most expensive breaker in the game as far as installing cost
  • quite expensive to boost her strength
  • Be aware that the corp can "revive" a femmed piece of Ice with Chum. Now you've got to break Chum, if you intend to bypass the Ice without taking Net damage.

Thoughts

  • seems to be a very strong breaker for Shapers. Not only do they have the "weakest" Killers, they have plenty of tools to take advantage of Femme:
    • Test Run allows you to bypass a certain piece of Ice without paying the 9 credits upfront and you can then choose a different target once you install her "for real"
    • Personal Workshop allows you to take advantage of the timing structure as you can install your Femme during a run after an approached piece of ICE gets rezzed
    • With her high pumping, but good breaking cost makes her a prime target for Shapers strength boosting equipment, e.g. a Femme Fatale on a Dinosaurus is a very efficient breaker against most sentries.
  • Could work in an Anarch deck with Personal Workshop to get into a certain central server you want to hammer
(Up and Over era)
196
You can scavenge a femme to choose a new piece of ice with er ability, not a good enough combo to specifically include one in a deck with the other, but if you happen to have both its useful when you really need to change your target server. —
"Be aware that the corp can "revive" a femmed piece of Ice with Chum" —
Is komainu a good target for femme? Its only subs are from its when encountered. As I understand it from the FAQ and other discussions, the 'when encountered' ability triggers but is not resolved because the runner bypasses. So would you not still have to pay for each sub? Or am I missing something and it has no subs so you dont need to pay anything? —
Sorry, found it now. It costs nothing. Its in the FAQ where it answers what happens when chum is unbroken infront of komainu. It doesnt really say why you dont need to pay for each sub, only that it costs 0. —
This is because, like Troll, Komainu has no subs until encountered. Chum doesn't work with ICE without subs aside from adding strength. —