Cortez Chip

Cortez Chip 0[credit]

Hardware: Chip
Influence: 2

[trash]: Choose a piece of ice. The Corp must pay 2[credit] as an additional cost to rez that ice until the end of the turn.

Named after Hernando Cortez, a former Weyland technician convicted of smuggling company tech. He still collected his pension while in prison, the last beneficiary of a loophole in Weyland's standard employment contract.
Illustrated by Mauricio Herrera
Decklists with this card

What Lies Ahead (wla)

#5 • English
Startup Card Pool
Standard Card Pool
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Rulings

No rulings yet for this card.

Reviews

This will always be my favorite bad card, because we knew it was bad back in the Core Set days, and all through the years - no matter how much the game changes - it just keeps being bad.

God bless you, Cortez Chip!

(Order and Chaos era)
953
oh, well, I used with my core set in combo with Forged activation orders when I wanted to destroy an ice and worked properly and in faction. Nowadays there are better ways to do that (anarch cards mostly) but... —
The only use I can think of is in conjunction with blackguard. —
Because the Corp can't be forced to pay additional costs as part of an ice rez, Cortez chip is actually anti-synergistic with Blackguard. Same for Running Interference. —

A great support card for econ pressure decks. Not very good alone, but strong synergy with other Criminal cards.

Combo (ICE manipulation)

FAO - Pay the extra 2, or lose the ICE entirely.

Shutdown - Interestingly, Cortez Chip lasts until the end of the turn. I maximized this effect with shutdown by making the Corp rez the Cortez ICE twice.

Synergy

Siphon - Hit the Corp's credit pool harder in one run.

Inside Job - Gets you in the server when you need it most.

High-Stakes Job - SHOW ME THE $$$$.

(Democracy and Dogma era)
101
Tech Trader!? —
Since we are at Tech Trader, Armand "Geist" Walker? —

This goes well with expose, which takes the guesswork out of it (target a specific piece of ICE you know the corp can just barely afford to rez, rather than firing blindly and praying). With the right exposition and timing, it could net you a slew of R&D accesses that the corp thought they could keep out out of with their single piece of big beefy ICE.

The problem is, expose just isn't that strong OR that common and will often want to be aimed at things installed in remotes rather than ICE. Combined with the fact that you have to GET the expose effects AND expose an ICE that the corp can just barely afford to rez AND the corp needs to have WANTED to almost bankrupt themselves in order to rez the ICE, this will often end up just being a two credit drain. Which probably isn't worth the deckslot + click + card. And without knowing what ICE you're aiming at, this is just downright terrible.

...or, is it? Would you play a card that said "The corp loses two credits or doesn't rez target ICE this turn, draw a card"? If so, then one Armand "Geist" Walker: Tech Lord would like a word with you. Trash cards in-faction for Criminal are surprisingly thin on the ground, and the zero cost of this one makes it a neat little gadget for Armand to use for deck thinning plus a small benefit. If you WANT a smaller Armand deck, this is absolutely worth looking into, particularly since in a pinch it can be trashed on the corp's turn to save you from a flatline.

(Data and Destiny era)
You don't necessarily have to expose the ice first to make this work out. If you're using Emergency Shutdown or Crescentus, for example, you can use this to just pile on the hurt after you de-rezzed their expensive ice. —
That's true, although it's probably still not QUITE worth the deck slot outside of Geist. Given Geist absolutely loves Crescentus, though, that does make it a lot more powerful in a number of builds that use him. —
This card is actually now worth considering for Armand - Think about it - with 3 Tech Traders out you are talking "Corp pays 2 or doesn't rez ice, gain 3 credits, draw 1 card" - not bad for ZERO cost. —