Chakana - Incan Cross

Chakana from Inca mythology also known as the Incan Cross symbolizes the three levels of existence. sky, ground & underworld. Translated as a virus for Android netrunner when fully loaded with 3 virus tokens Chakana can make the corps objective of scoring agendas fundamentally much more difficult.

Combos

Chakana can combo with up to 2 more copies of itself, with 3 fully loaded Chakana 3/X agendas will be as hard as Vanity Project to score. Djinn is a common program used to host 1-3 instances of Chakana and helps with tutoring them when needed too.

Getting Loaded up: Chakana doesn't do any good unless it's fully loaded, Surge can help especially after a purge, Grimoire can give a one-time boost (until purged). Hivemind (perhaps installed on Progenitor) along with Virus Breeding Ground are an insanely powerful combination that allow the runner to very quickly rebound from a purge.

As a virus itself each time Chakana is installed it can trigger abilities on cards like Noise: Hacker Extraordinaire.

Running on R&D with Medium also installed makes those doubly productive pushing the corp to loose to purge viruses sooner and more often.

(Any other obvious combos I'm missing? please let me know in the comments below and I may be persuaded to add them)

Pros

Powerful answer to fast-advance decks

Pushes the corp to loose to purge viruses sooner and more often giving a momentum bonus to the runner

Cons

Chakana just takes up space providing no benefit to the runner until after it's fully loaded so the threat of virus purge can interrupt the runners plans at most any time.

The cost can make it difficult to include in a runner's rig if s are tight.

Summary

See tyrellian's Can o whupass for a very popular demonstration of how Chakana can be used in a competitive virus deck. When fully loaded Chakana can put the fear into the corp and slows the corp down in two very important ways, agenda scoring & virus purging often giving catch-22 decisions to the corp that the runner always benefits from. It can stand alone if the runner is able to make repeated runs on R&D but it really shines when used with combos that get it loaded up quickly even after a purge.

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Putting Hidden Credits to Good Use

is always good for economy, and for using icebreakers is next best thing!

Combos

Cloak & Dagger besides this phrase being a staple of 1980's culture one of the most efficient anti-sentry combos out there. It's main limitation being where to get those credits from. One possibility? More Cloaks.

Cloak & Switchblade the Criminal version of the combo above is even more efficient but utilizes credit even more inflexibly from Stealth cards.

Cloak & Refractor is a decent anti-code-gate combo, there are other decoders that don't require the exclusive stealth , so Shapers are more likely to have this combo all to themselves.

Cloak & BlacKat is a decent anti-barrier combo, again not as compelling as the anti-sentry combos above, but none-the-less a noteworthy combo mostly for Anarchs

With the need for for stealth credit other options are: Dyson Fractal Generator, Ghost Runner, Lockpick & Silencer

Akamatsu Mem Chip and other + options help make room for more copies of Cloak

Pros

Excellent economy option, 1 install cost pays for itself on the first turn it's used. Freeing up for other uses.

Can be trashed as fodder for Trash a Programs in place of more vital programs

Combos could result in breaking ice for no out of hand turn after turn

Rare source of stealth-sourced

Cons

Costly memroy requirement considering the often limited space

Credit unable to be used for other stuff

Summary

Stealth decks are most certainly going to auto-include Cloak, perhaps 2-3 of them. As a pure economic card it's not bad for many other decks, lots of flexibility particularly for Shapers means Cloak deserves a look.

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Atman: Meta Defining Card

At 3+ install cost, Atman can be tailor made to target all instances of ice that share a particular level of strength. It is however inflexibly unable to target ice that is higher OR LOWER than this tailor setting. It's common for runners using Atman to install several copies of it forcing Corp players to diversify the strength of their ices when building their decks.

Combos

Atman is one of the few ice breakers that actually combos with itself. Runners makes sense to have more than one copies installed simultaneously. This strategy allows the runner to target multiple strength levels of ice

Plugging holes: with a suite of Atmans installed at different strengths, Datasucker can potentially be used to fill in the cracks. Additionally for Anarch, Mimic, Yog.0 & D4v1d could add more efficiency to such a strategy.

Atman can be installed in the early game to deal with a specific hole in the runners deck, then trashed to make room for other programs and then brought back (to deal with an end-game headache) from the heap with recurring cards like Retrieval Run, Clone Chip, Déjà Vu, Test Run, Scavenge or Trope but watch out for Blacklist or Chronos Project!

Pros

Similar to Femme Fatale, the runner has lots of control in targeting ice, being able to custom create an instance ofAtman to deal efficiently with a specific level of ice is why Atman has been so popular in the past.

Big taxing ice like Orion, Wotan etc can be much more efficiently managed with Atman targeting it at significant savings especially if the ice is guarding a server like R&D or HQ where the runner may wish to run repeatedly.

As an AI ice breaker, Atman can break nearly every ice out there

Cons

Atman's inflexibility once installed means runner will most likely still need a full suite of ice breakers

Advance-able or otherwise adjustable strength ice such as Shadow, NEXT Bronze, Quicksand, Resistor, IQ, Fire Wall, Hadrian's Wall, Ice Wall can give a headache to any runner relying specifically on #atman as their AI of choice.

Other strength adjusting cards such as: IT Department, Lag Time, Experiential Data, Encrypted Portals Improved Tracers can throw off a very carefully tailored Atman

Summary

Can be an interesting Shaper auxiliary ice breaker and possibly cheaper to install & certainly cheaper to use in many cases compared to others. It's inflexibility however makes Atman extra challenging to pilot. It's cons are pretty tough to overcome which is probably why this card hasn't been reviewed up until now.

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It's the Economy Stupid

This card doesn't look like much, however Gila Hands Arcology is an economy card, not shiny, or dazzling, just faithful & sure. It's the tortoise rather than the hare. Since often the difference between victory & defeat is a single this card certainly has a place.

Combos

Economy combos with everything

Snare! - the requirement to hold onto 4 at all times is made attainable since the minimum the corp could now generate per turn (if fully spent on generation) is now 4 instead of 3 or use Gila Hands Arcology often to maintain 9 minimum if you suspect runner is packing Account Siphon

Trick of Light along with advancement counters on some other card can get Gila Hands Arcology scored out of hand in one turn.

(Did I miss something obvious, I'd appreciate suggestions in the comments below, I may add it to this review)

Pros

Creates perpetual 1.5 per economy for the rest of the game after scored

Only 1 agenda point so damage is minimal if stolen by the runner

Can allow corp to quickly recover from Account Siphon and still allow corp.

Cons

requirement takes 2/3 of corp's turn limiting

Single agenda point comes at cost to card/agenda compression ratio

Summary

A number of winning decks say they ONLY lose when Gila Hands Arcology is buried in R&D. The earlier it is scored obviously the better. As a faithful econ card at no influence cost, this card can find home in many decks. It's ability is flexible and doesn't require any combos to use it successfully.

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1.0 Vs 2.0

Compared to Viktor 1.0, the extra 3 to rez Viktor 2.0 gets you two extra strength, for the first subroutine instead of the Do 1 brain damage it now features a trace dependent to give the runner a brain damage in the form of a power counter that can be redeemed by the corp at nearly anytime, additionally the runner has less flexible options for breaking since it must always use to break both 's instead of a single for each unlike most Bioroid ice including Viktor 1.0

Combos

Viktor 2.0 is often included in decks with Viktor 1.0 to maximize brain damage inducing situations for the runner

Defective Brainchips & Sentinel Defense Program effectively doubles the pain from brain damage from cards like Viktor 2.0 potentially creating a game ending event

Marcus Batty &/or Tyr's Hand: Sticking a surprised runner with either of the s on Viktor 2.0 could potentially be a game ending event, or at very least put some momentum into the corps favor.

Pros

Strength of 5 makes it very expensive to use many icebreakers to break either of it's . and unlike Viktor 1.0 it's strength of 5 puts it out of range for Yog.0. Got a Parasite? Probably have a bit of time

to break s i very taxing to runner

Surprising the runner with insufficient s may result the runner losing some IQ due to brain damage possibly swinging momentum into the corps favor.

Power token can be saved and used at just the right moment, giving corp lots of flexibility and possibly cause the runner to question himself at every turn.

Can end the run

Cons

Like other 2.0 Bioroid ice, higher cost makes rezing this card more challenging

With it's higher cost, such cards become juicy targets for operations such as: Emergency Shutdown or Forged Activation Orders etc.

Even though it is taxing, runner has lots of options to navigate through this card.

Do 1 brain damage is dependent on successful trace taking away some control from the corp.

Summary

Brain Damage decks are always looking for ways to cause brain damage, Viktor 2.0 provides such opportunities. Glacial decks should give Viktor 2.0 a look because of it's tax value to the runner at reasonable cost.

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