For when you absolutely, positively, have had enough of asset spam.

Is your opponent sitting there looking like an asshole with three Museums of History and a Mumbad City Hall? They think you can't trash all the Museums at once, and if you trash one they'll just shuffle it back in with the other two, tutor for it with the Hall, and rez it with their three Mumba Temples, which, by the way, they also have.

Fuck that shit. You're fucking Whizzard, Master Gamer. You have a legion of Scrubbers at your beck and call. When you trash something, it doesn't come back.

Yeah, you have to pay the trash cost, so you can't Imp it, and Industrial Genomics is still a pain. And yeah, you only get one per turn per copy of Slums. And yeah, if your opponent is playing an operation economy it makes you look like an idiot.

But isn't that a small price to pay? Isn't it worth it to wipe that smug look off their face, and say "We're playing by my rules now?"

Take back the meta. #slottheslums

History may write me down as a naysayer to the second coming of Christ, but I fear this card may not be the IG killer that everyone says it will be. Salsette Slums has a variety of shortfalls that hinders it drastically in both the Industrial Genomics: Growing Solutions and Near-Earth Hub: Broadcast Center matchup. If all of this is completely alien to you, look at the explanation given by tiedyedvortex below. Remember that this isn't the only solution we have so far for the Museum of History/Mumba Temple matchup: this card has to be compared to Archives Interface, multiple Scrubbers, Imp, Employee Strike, and Net Shield.

• For starters, as tiedyedvortex pointed out, cards trashed have to be done out of pocket with all the nasty stuff that comes with it. That means no Imping, and Industrial Genomics will send that trash cost sky-high. Of course, you could just run Archives first and then trash it afterwards, and take all that nasty Shock! damage. But what's the difference between doing that and trashing the asset that needs to go with Imp and then running Archives with an Archives Interface out? Of course, running Archives at all can be avoided by playing additional Scrubbers or Employee Strike, but then now you're running 2 silver bullet cards minimum that you need to see both of in one matchup that aren't necessary in any others. On top of that - and this is crucial for Whizzards, who still have difficulty with this kind of asset spam - you don't avoid Hostile Infrastructure damage. Industrial Genomics: Growing Solutions demands that you stop trashing assets because you just cannot afford to pay the net damage or the money. This silver bullet helps you on neither front.

• Then there's the "Once per turn" clause. This honestly isn't as bad as it could be - often trashing multiple assets in a turn against this kind of deck will get you killed anyway. But it does mean that even if you do see Salsette Slums early, there's only so many cards you can remove from the game before they load up on face-downs and pain in Archives and trashing every asset just becomes impossible.

• My biggest niggling annoyance with this card is the two-influence cost. That's just too much for a hate card for us to see it out of faction, especially since other silver bullets exist at the 1 influence slot (and sadly, no 0 influence options - sorry Apex, Sunny, Adam, Kit, and Iain) That means this card just gives even more answers to the faction that needs it least, the faction with access to Archives Interface, Scrubber, Hacktivist Meeting and Imp anyway.

• But actually my two biggest issues with this card are on the type line. You see, hate cards are only effective when their counters are not. Fast Advance continues to be a threat because Cyberdex Virus Suite exists and is a very useful and powerful card. Midseason decks are not because Snatch and Grab is not a very good solution to Film Critic. The Weyland Scorched Earth plan has never been the same since Plascrete Carapace was printed, because hardware are difficult to destroy. Resources are not. In NBN, naked installing a Breaking News along with two other assets, then scoring it and trashing the Salsette Slums is a perfectly reasonable tactic. Naked Breaking News is something you'd probably be doing anyway, as long as they weren't checking every server, so it's already a useful a powerful play without being a counter to this card.

• So OK then, maybe you just play this card against Industrial Genomics. But they already have a solution to your plans. Enter Elizabeth Mills. Locations are already pretty darn big in the current meta - every Anarch is running Wyldside, and almost every deck is Anarch after all - and Aesop's Pawnshop, Hunting Grounds (which itself acts as Komainu hate) and Off-Campus Apartment are all pretty popular today (in very different decks). So Lizzie already ticks the useful box without considering the card it's countering. It also doesn't have to sit on the board for a whole turn, is reusable thanks to your endless recursion shenanigans, free when you factor in Mumba Temple, triggers Turtlebacks, and removes it's own bad publicity if and when you recur it. Most importantly of all, however, is that it's searchable with Tech Startup. Yikes. Two influence is a little steep, but Industrial Genomics lists are running stuff like 3x Hive - they've got plenty of spare influence.

But as I said earlier, this card doesn't have to be perfect, just better than the alternatives. I just don't think it hits the mark. Archives Interface is more likely to stay on the board, Net Shield protects your hand, and Scrubbers, Imp and Employee Strike protects your economy and are about as fragile but much more versatile. If none of these can solve the problem that is recurring asset spam, then I don't think Salsette Slums will be the solution either.

It does, however, work well against non-IG or NEH decks when using Medium to get those deep R&D digs in. It deals with Cyberdex Virus Suite without putting it in the bin and preventing you from farming Datasucker tokens, and it lets you destroy Caprice Nisei and Jackson Howard without fear of them being shuffled back in by a second coming of the real lord of Netrunner. And of course, it turns on Populist Rally.

Salsette Slums is best compared to the other remove-from-game Runner card: Archives Interface.

Both cards can be stacked and cost two influence outside of decks. Interface costs 1 more than Slums to install but is a Hardware instead of a Resource, so it's difficult to trash for the corp. Both cards are silver bullets to Museum Asset spam, but Interface offers a lot more than Slums does. Why?

Advantages

• Slums doesn't need a run on Archives to activate. This may save you a if you trashed the card installed inside a server. Furthermore, you don't need to beat the ICE on Archives in order to activate it's effect. This is great news if the corp has piled a pair of Cricks on Archives.
• Slums stacks with Whizzard, Scrubber and Paricia etc.
• Slums is 1 cheaper to install.

Disadvantages

• Slums doesn't work on ICE, Operations or Agendas. Interface works on anything in Archives. Permanently removing recursion targets for the likes of Jackson, Museum, Archived Memories, Reclamation Order, Clone Suffrage Movement or even the new Raman Rai can greatly weaken an opponent's deck, especially one that relies on recurring cards from Archives. decks that frequently feature ICE destruction don't want to see ICE getting re-installed by Team Sponsorship, Architect or Interns.
• Slums doesn't work on Ambush assets and upgrades if they are discarded or trashed by the Corp. This means the Corp can dump Cyberdex Virus Suite, Disposable HQ, News Team, Space Camp, Shock! and Shi.Kyū in Archives and make it quite painful for the runner to run it. This frees the corp to cycle Agendas in and out of R&D with Jackson and Museum and also puts the hurting on Datasucker. Corps that use a lot of archive ambushes can also take advantage of cards like An Offer You Can't Refuse and Susanoo-no-Mikoto.
• Slums doesn't synergise with Imp
• Slums needs Employee Strike as a back-up against IG or costs can get out of control. Otherwise the Slums user has to run Archives and suffer all the aforementioned nasty Ambush effects.
• Not compatible with Political Operative or Drive By etc.

Econ & Deck Issues

Archives Interface works well with Modded, Personal Workshop or The Supplier. It can also be tutored using inefficient hardware tutors such as Trade-In or Tyson Observatory.

Salsette Slums is a waste of a Career Fair but also works great with The Supplier (free installation). There are no special cards [yet] that tutor for Location sub-type resources. Non-compatibility with trash effects like Imp, Demolition Run or Noise mill means the runner is forced into spending s to remove cards.

Opinion

I've been running 1x Archives Interface out of Noise for a few months now and it is a stunningly effective card against about 1/3 of the corp decks I encounter. Salsette Slums on the other hand allows the corp to recur ICE and Operations, as well as use Archives Ambushes. Even worse, the cost means it's best played out of Employee Strike Whizzard and turns off the option of Imp for expensive cards like Jeeves Model Bioroids or SanSan City Grid.

This card is a problem for rules consistency. In my opinion the rulings on Salsette Slums with NBN: Controlling the Message/Hostile Infrastructure (and I'm assuming Gravedigger/Reaver?) should be made consistent with the rulings with Maw/Aeneas Informant/Aumakua. Either you did trash the card or you didn't. If they really want the interactions to be distinct, at least errata them.