At first blush, this card looks like it is designed for jank. Figure out some way to see (or pick) what's on top of your deck, and then install it cheaply.
The problem though, is that most of the ways to control what's on top of your deck (i. e. Test Run) cost enough to make the discount somewhat questionable. (Test Run + Rejig is probably a better combo. Although Rejig did just rotate out of startup...) I guess you could check the Prognostic Q-Loop every turn to see if something expensive is on top, but that feels kind of clunky. (And it just rotated out of startup.)
After playing around with this card though, I think I was evaluating it wrong. It's not a jank piece. It's just a really efficient installation tool and deck thinner.
For 3, it gets you a program draw and a free install.
The downside is that you don't get to choose what gets installed. But the upside is that you pay 3 for it, whatever it is. So if all the programs in your deck cost at least 3, it will always be worth it.
The other downside of course, is that you might get something redundant. If you have more than one copy of each breaker, you might get the same breaker twice. So it might be worth pairing this with cards that let you sacrifice unneeded programs for profit. (Spec Work or Aesop's Pawnshop, for example.) Or just only including one copy of each breaker, if you have decent recursion. (Which you probably do if you're playing shaper!)
And I want to make it clear - even if you install something useless or redundant, that's still useful, even if you just end up selling it to Aesop. Because you're thinning out your deck and removing the cards that you don't need, so you won't draw them later. (I mean, don't get me wrong, you'd still RATHER hit things that directly advance your board state. Just saying that it's not all bad.)
Two final thoughts:
- Why did they limit the discount to 10? As of this writing, there are exactly zero programs that cost more than 10. Is something huge coming in a later set???
- When you get it to install Orca, it feels better than just about anything else I've done as a runner in the past year.
Of note, if you plan to have cheap programs like Paricia or Pelangi in the deck, Spark Agency: Worldswide Reach should not be used then, as it would make those programs more expensive than they are, and fetching them is not exactly good.
— DiogeneIf you plan to have ANY programs in your deck, you shouldn't include Spark Agency: Worldswide Reach in your deck- Spark of Inspiration, though, could be used to get out an Orca even with a Pelangi in deck, using Test Run jankiness (though counting the clicks to draw and play the combo, it saves you only 2 credits of value). The 10cr limitation is maybe a callback to Eureka?
— m.pSpark Agency: Worldswide Reach should never be used in any runner deck
— SlipTheDrip
I'm guessing they're limiting the discount to 10<span class="icon icon-credit"></span> to future-proof a potential program that would cost 15<span class="icon icon-credit"></span> or more, which isn't a bad thing imo.
— DDarkray