Carnivore

♦ Carnivore 4[credit]

Hardware: Console
Influence: 3

+1[memory unit]

Access → Trash 2 cards from your grip: Trash the card you are accessing. Use this ability only once per turn.

Limit 1 console per player.

“It hungers to sink teeth into problems.”
–Loup
Illustrated by Martin de Diego Sádaba
Decklists with this card

System Gateway (sg)

#3 • English
Startup Card Pool
Standard Card Pool
Standard Ban List (show history)
Printings
Rulings
  • Updated 2021-10-11

    If the Runner chooses to use Carnivore, can they draw with René “Loup” Arcemont before trashing cards from their grip?

    No. The Runner must fully resolve Carnivore’s ability before the trigger condition on Loup’s ability is met.

  • Updated 2021-10-11

    Can the Runner use Carnivore to trash an operation or piece of ice?

    Yes. Carnivore does not care whether a card you access has a trash cost.

  • Updated 2021-10-11

    Can the Runner use Carnivore to trash an agenda they don’t want to steal?

    Yes. Once the agenda is trashed, the access ends. The Runner will not steal it.

  • Updated 2021-10-11

    Can the Runner use Carnivore if the last subroutine on Ansel 1.0 resolved earlier in the run?

    No. That subroutine prohibits the Runner from trashing cards they access in any way, not just by using the basic trash ability.

Reviews

Unless you plan on using this card like 5+ times, Imp and Stargate are a hell of a lot better and don't take up a console slot. But... at only +1 MU, this card limits your ability to play cards like Stargate and Imp. So you're making a huge commitment to discarding a LOT of cards from your hand. The problem is that most of the cards that you'd be discarding, are better than this card.

There's no price at which this would be a good card. Carnivore's ability is absolute garbage and Anarchs have better MU options. As long as Keiko exists ($2 for +2 MU plus occasional $1 gains), this console cannot possibly be justified at 2+ credits. Even Maw is better than Carnivore. Maw costs 6 credits and offers +2 MU and an okay trash ability, and it's generally thought to be overpriced. If you wouldn't pay $6 for a 2-MU Maw which reaches into HQ and trashes cards on its own, don't pay $4 for a 1-MU Carnivore which demands an additional discard cost to trash cards you've already paid to see.

Lastly: the card discard. Carnivore is far overpriced in every way. For $4 and 4 cards discarded a corp can use Anoetic Void to end two runs, a huge impact which could win a game. For $4 and 4 cards discarded and a console slot a runner can install Carnivore and trash two accessed cards. You could have gotten the same effect with an Imp for $2 and no cards discarded and no console slot. Brutal.

Flavor

Creating stuff is very hard, and carelessly trashing it is all too easy (except for Carnivore, ironically). Many other cards do a really good job on flavor, worldbuilding, and entertainment value. The plane never landed for Loup, but how often does a writer actually know what will work before they throw themselves at it? ❤️

(System Update 2021 era)