Just like the corp's Research Station, Public Sympathy falls into an awkward place. It doesn't counter anything directly, except maybe the prolonged effects of brain damage, so it's hard to justify including it in your deck. But, I've found it definitely has value, it just needs to be understood to make it work.

The most obvious faction to take advantage of PS is definitely Anarch. Cards like Amped Up, Stim Dealer, and Stimhack look a whole lot more appealing with a larger hand size. And unlike Brain Cage, you can have multiple copies installed simultaneously—and more importantly, multiple copies in your deck without worrying—and you don't have to suffer a brain damage to get there (which remains if you ever lose Brain Cage).

But PS is useful even if you don't plan on giving yourself a full frontal lobotomy. While staples like Plascrete Carapace invariably find themselves in every runner deck worth its salt, it has an Achilles' heel—if the corp has little or no meat damage, it's nothing more than a wasted draw and wasted credits when installed.

PS, on the other hand, has utility even if the corp doesn't do a single damage to you over the course of the entire game. A lot of cards in a runner's hand is scary to the corp. "What is he holding on to in there, I wonder? If I rez Curtain Wall, is he just going to kill it the next run with Knifed?"

Beyond the simple psychological factor, this lets you hold on to those cards you don't need right away, without feeling like they're dragging you down early-on as much as brain damage would. You can also build up a big hand on one turn, and dump 3+ the next for a massive hit, without worrying about falling into Scorched's kill radius, even if you don't have a Plascrete Carapace. Forget Net Shield, your hand size is your safety net. And this works against all types of damage, too! Or why not draw three cards (or five) without worrying about what you'll have to throw away?

The pros are almost too numerous to mention, so I'll just end with this—try it out, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I even find myself taking 2 or 3 of these along and dropping PC entirely.

A card that would be great, if not for its careful, or possibly careless, wording. The simple fact is, if you're putting several copies of this in your deck, you're probably doing it in the hopes of defense against Scorched Earth.

But this isn't the case. Notice the words "the first." That means no matter how many of these you have installed, you will only prevent one meat damage per turn. Just as I've Had Worse won't save you from Scorched Earth if you have 3 or less cards in your hand, 3 of these will do nothing more to save you than a single copy.

In short, if you want defense from Scorched, you're much better off with the blatant Plascrete Carapace or the in-faction Crash Space. And when it comes to ice, this isn't much better. Checkpoint is still scary enough to warrant breaking even with this installed, and Flare's damage can't be prevented. Almost any deck running Punitive Counterstrike is sure to have big agendas, again limiting MB's effectiveness. If only instead of "the first" they had written "one"...

So you might be asking, "Where is this is useful?" Argus Security: Protection Guaranteed is considerably less threatening with this installed. Traffic Accident is also less painful, as if having two tags wasn't bad enough (unless they're from Breaking News), but I'd much rather have Lawyer Up or Decoy.

Overall, there are much better options. If you're worried about not having enough cards post-damage, Anarchs have I've Had Worse, which also works against net damage, with the only caveot being you might have other cards in your hand. Other factions have Public Sympathy, which offers more utility than MB, and costs only 1 more. And if you want to avoid meat damage altogether, the aforementioned Plascrete Carapace and Crash Space are frequently better options.

Express Delivery is an oft overlooked mini-tutor. Frequently disregarded in favor of cheaper, and sometimes more beneficial cards like Diesel. But, what it lacks in scope to full-fledged tutors like Self-modifying Code, it makes up for in flexibility. Consider its advantages compared to most other "true" tutors or simple draws like I've Had Worse:

• Low cost (okay, Diesel has it beat here)
• Cheap to splash
• Can help you get that first copy of a card you have 2+ copies of and really want right away, but only need to draw a single copy of (e.g. Replicator, Paige Piper, Kati Jones)
• Lets you pick any type of card (hardware/event/etc.), even another copy of itself
• Lets you dump cards back into your stack that you don't want right now

That last one is key. Too often you can get a card too early (Monolith?), forcing you to keep it in your grip until you can play it or you lose it before it becomes relevant by taking damage. Or, are you still spending to draw to try and find what you need? This can compress four s spent drawing down to just one, and let you delay things you don't need right away.

Additionally, its low influence is a bigger deal than one might think. The value of a tutor card decreases proportionately with the size of one's stack. As such, you typically want several copies of your tutors to increase the odds you get one early. So, for Anarchs who want to look for cards that aren't viruses, or Shapers who need more than just programs, this fills the role well without bankrupting your influence budget.

That said, this is not without its flaws, though many of them are shared by other tutors. The few that are unique to ED are:

• Terribly frustrating when you draw 2+ cards you very much want, and are forced to shuffle some of them back in your stack
• No guarantee you'll find anything you want, though in my play testing, this is rare

The second point here isn't as bad as it sounds. At least you got to put 3 of the next 4 cards you didn't want right now back in your stack somewhere else, right?