A massive, scary Bioroid sentry. This gives Ichi 1.0 a run for its money in terms of bang for the buck. For one more credit, you get one more strength and the same number of subs. In terms of what the subs do, you trade in the two trash and a throwaway sub in Ichi with a pseudo end the run sub and two strong brain damage traces.

It's slightly more positional than Ichi. While you prefer Ichi in front of other ice, it can do its job alone. Vikram being at position 0 on a server make the first subroutine null and void for the most part. It WILL still stop the runner from doing things like running Deus X to stop a Snare! from hurting or trashing your stuff withh Imp. It does NOT stop Medium or Nerve Agent from working, or stop something from being a Keyhole run: only paid abilities are stopped.

However, as an outside piece of ICE, it has an advantage over Ichi 1.0 in that all of its subroutines matter. Brain damage always hurts, and being unable to use programs encountering other ICE is usually a recipe for disaster for the runner. It doesn't have the game ending "surprise" power that Ichi can have when encountered clickless, but it can also do more to effectively keep the runner out in some desperate situations. All in all, though: they both do different things, and both do them well.

Pros:

• Big sentry
• Three subroutines
• Its subroutines are not to be trifled with
• Great price point
• Will be taxing when broken conventionally
• Splashable influence

Cons:

• Bioroid weakness
• Slightly positional
• Weak against runners with lots of link

Words cannot describe how powerful this card can be in the late game. Generally, a glacier deck will be trying to keep you out of servers in the following priority, as a Shaper:

1. R+D.

2. Scoring server.

3. HQ.

4. Archives.

This card takes advantage of this order of importance. Stay off HQ for most of the game (unless it's wide open). Focus on R+D and remotes until they become difficult to access. Wait for your opponent to set up what seems like a scoring window.

Then you play Escher. And the game changes.

The exact advantages depend on the game. Maybe you put all the code gates in one server for Cyber Cypher or Gordian Blade to smack down. Maybe you line up all of the non etr ice on a vulnerable server. Maybe you put that Tollbooth on Archives. Maybe you switch the places of Crick and Turing. This card wins games. It's a 1x, as x3r0h0ur mentions, but it should seriously be almost an auto-include in any Shaper deck. You won't need it some games, true. But when you do need it, it helps you like no other card can.

This, in my opinion, is the strongest of the space ice, and probably the most interesting code gate in the game. It's not quite as straight-up taxing as Tollbooth, although it's close (one less when encountered with the standard Shaper decoders, 3 less with D4V1D). However, in place of your boring etr subroutine, you have the most magnificent subroutine on a piece of ice in the game: the ability to resolve ANY other subroutine. "It's cool in theory," you say "but, really, you will end the run 95% of the time." FINE! End the run, if that's the strongest play. But, what if you have a destroyer rezzed? Or AP ice? Or Architect? Or NEXT Gold?! The ability to choose what happens from so many things, on a strong piece of ICE that is likely to hit, while still being able to end the run, is just great. This is auto-include for 1 or 2 in every Weyland deck, IMO. It shines, like all of the space ICE, in Blue Sun because of the OAI synergy, but the advance ability also makes it viable for less economically powerful IDs, and other factions (though a piece of ICE sitting with 3 advancement counters on it is a bit of a giveaway).

Wormhole has one major drawback: You need other non-wormhole ICE rezzed or it does absolutely nothing, so it's not that strong early game as a first-rez. But no 9 rez ICE is going to be ideal for your first piece on a central server.

3x Tyson observatory makes the following things viable:

• Play 1x of whichever console you want. Desperado can be played in Shaper now and be consistent without throwing away 12 inf.

• For 8 credits and 10 clicks, get all of your Prepaid Voicepads out. This is in comparison to 6 credits and an unknown number of clicks and draw cards used to get all three out.

• Carry 1x Plascrete without being swingy against meat damage.

There are other things, and I'm sure they are viable, but these things alone make it a game changer. 3x Tyson, 3x PPVP, 1x Deseperado, 1x Plascrete is 8 cards and 3 inf in Shaper. For that deck space and influence you get meat damage protection when you need it and a mega economy with room for whatever tricks you want. It's legit.

This is one of my favorite pieces of ICE. As your first piece of ICE rezzed, it doesn't get too much better for keeping the runner out. Obviously, you can't avoid rezzing other ICE throughout the game, but there are some very interesting interactions:

• NEXT is the obvious one. Another piece of NEXT ICE, taxing enough later in the game to not regret.
• Blue Sun: Uninstall the other ICE you rez. Put this on a scoring remote. The runner needs AI breakers, Femme or Inside Job or they cannot get in. Exceedingly strong, but hard to set up.
• It could, theoretically, synergize with other ICE that don't have Barrier/Code Gate/Sentry for their subtypes. Right now, the list is pretty short: Traps and Excalibur, and kinda sorta Chimera, at least until all the breakers are out. This could be a tricky set of ICE, but it would be porous. Jinteki, maybe?

From a card interaction standpoint, it doesn't get much more interesting, ICE-wise. This is a fun, stong card.