Once seen only as a salve for the expensive cost-to-break Criminal programs Aurora and Peacock, e3 saw a brief bit of light beyond the box when Darwin decks were popular. Its primary use was to make Haas-Bioroid players sweat bullets, a secondary function then was to save a credit per extra subroutine broken. Now it may be having something of a resurgence, thanks to new cards in the meta. HB Bioroid lovers weep once more.
NB: this is the second ANR card to receive an Erratum (in FAQ v1.5); the (redundant) word "additional" was removed to make the card read how it was correctly & intuitively being played.
Pros:
• Hardware that breaks subroutines, so it doesn't consume MU.
• Only 2 Influence, so moderately splashable.
• Triggers itself, so once one subroutine has been broken, e3 can take care of the rest.
** this means that a click-break of a Bioroid Ice subroutine can trigger e3, allowing the rest to be broken with just credits and no icebreaker.
Cons:
• With an efficient cost-to-break Icebreaker suite, e3 isn't much use, making it a dead draw unless you intend to click-break Bioroids.
• but then, why would you include it?
Combos:
• Using Grappling Hook to break all but one subroutine, e3 deals with the last annoying one.
• Quetzal's barrier-busting ability can trigger e3, meaning that she is able to walk through Eli 1.0 once per turn for a mere credit.
• Knight is one of the more popular AI breakers, costs 2 credits/subroutine to break and so combos well with Quetzal as well.