SDS Drone Deployment

SDS Drone Deployment 5/3

Agenda: Security

As an additional cost to steal this agenda, the Runner must trash 1 installed program.

When you score this agenda, trash 1 installed program.

“Drones are precision instruments. Collateral damage is merely an undisclosed target.”
—Chief “Pinchy” Wilson
Illustrated by Olie Boldador
Decklists with this card

Downfall (df)

#56 • English
Startup Card Pool
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Rulings

No rulings yet for this card.

Reviews

When you think of Weyland 5/3’s, they’re often very specialized and require building around:

High-Risk Investment barely sees play outside of Titan and Hollywood Renovation the same treatment outside of SSO. City Works Project generally does not require being built around and synergizes well with common green cards Punitive Counterstrike and Dedication Ceremony but it does have the Public subtype downside and is blank in centrals.

So for a Weyland 5/3 to see play alongside GFI and SSL, what will it need?

• On-score/on-steal ability like SSL? Check.

• No influence or unicorn unlike GFI? Check.

• Throwback to now-rotated flavourful Weyland card? Check.

SDS Drone Deployment is nasty and is the program-trashing Weyland card that might keep runners honest again. Sure Clone Chip is back in full force and yes, the conspiracy breakers are everywhere but icebreakers are bigger and more expensive than ever these days.

Unfortunately, SDS has one big weakness and that is on-steal, it allows the Runner to choose which program to trash. Whether that be a Rezeki, a Datasucker, or maybe even a Bankroll, the flexibility is huge and I wish this had specified “icebreaker” instead.

Overall, I don’t see this agenda seeing too much play over SSL or GFI. It’s just as weak to Film Critic or Whistleblower, provides flexibility to the Runner, and it has additional hate in popular cards Clone Chip, Dummy Box (on-score), or the conspiracy breakers. It’s disappointing that this is the case though as this card screams Weyland.

(System Core 2019 era)
375
Beong —
Being able to choose the program yourself is still enough to see some play in rushy decks. Maybe the outfit? But I mostly agree with you. —
Yeah, it's a zero-sum game for agendas. You can only slot SDS by removing your current 5/3 so I'm not even sure rush decks would give up GFI. If Skorp were still around... —
SDS has potential to pull ahead of Food in two very important respects: first, it is not restricted, so if you want Surveyor you can't also have Food, and second, it actually rewards you for scoring it. SDS is competing with SSL Endorsement though given that it too has those advantages over Food. —

Forgive me if this is a hopelessly "newbie" question -- but if the Runner accesses this agenda, say, from a run on R&D, and doesn't have any programs installed, can it still be stolen?

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No, trashing program is a cost to steal SDS so if the Runner doesn´t have any programs installed they can´t pay the cost and therefore they can´t steal the agenda

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