In comparison to other tutors, Tyson Observatory is very slow. This is of course by design.

Most tutors cost you 1-2 and 1 more than just having that card in hand. Special Order is a to play, and then you'll need to to install the breaker. Planned Assault and Consulting Visit are doubles, but you play the event as part of that action. Hostage lets you install the connection you searched for. Levy University is a little slower because you have to to install itself, to search, and to install the ice. Self-modifying Code is so good because it does not cost you an extra . Tyson is the opposite: it costs 1 to install, 2 to search, and a 4th to install the hardware.

That's a boatload of s for 1 card, man.

However, programs are much easier to trash and much easier to recur. Hardware is very hard for the corp to trash and very hard for the runner to get back from archives. This is most likely why Tyson was designed to be so slow; hardware is a very resilient part of the runner's rig, and tutors can make something like that very powerful.

I think you're only slotting this if there's several very specific pieces of hardware you're looking for, and you're in . You could use this to get out your first Replicator, but from then on your hardware will tutor for other copies on its own, which thins out your deck and helps you find any missing rig pieces. So maybe if you're not using replicator but still have lots of hardware. It better be worth it; it's costing you an entire turn to get out the first hardware. So don't waste it on NetChips, man. I will slap you.

Guy Fawkes walks into a Samurai bar...

The Katana is absolutely a meta-shaper straight out of the box. When you are learning the game, this is the ICE that teaches runners to facecheck Jinteki with caution until their killer is found. 3 net damage can set a runner back if not outright kill them. Once rezzed, the sword will keep runners who can't break it out.

Here's the little exercise that everyone does with the core set. It teaches faction strengths and weaknesses, deckbuilding strategies, AND basic math skills.

How Much Does It Cost to Get Through Neural Katana?

• Pipeline: 5
• Crypsis: 4+1
• Ninja: 4
• Femme Fatale: 3
• Mimic: ONLY 1

Ding ding ding! The cheapest-to-install killer of the bunch breaks through Katana for 3-5 times less than the competition. And Mimic only costs 1 influence, so every runner can use it! As a bonus, we also see why no one uses Pipeline.

So for your 4 to rez, you're probably getting a 1 tax per run. That's atrociously bad. So the corp learns to only rez this if it'll fire, and to just install over it if they have a Mimic on the table.

As the card pool expanded, more and more better options emerged, pushing Katana out of slottable range and onto the island of misfit ICE with Cell Portal, Matrix Analyzer, Shadow, and Heimdall 1.0.

Better AP ice would be Cortex Lock, Cobra, and Chetana. Also, Pup and Yagura have good rez-to-break ratios.

EDIT: It's notable that Katana has the highest damage of any hard damage subroutine (barring situational Cortex Lock), making it the best candidate for Batty kill). Thx @WayneMcPain for pointing this out!

Katana will probably never be used unless a Core Set 2.0 errata occurs where its rez cost is halved, or Mimic's install and/or influence costs would increase.

TL;DR: I like it, but I wouldn't say it's competitive.

Rigged Results is a flexible one-time bypass effect with the drawback of chance. Seeing as bypass is a strong runner ability (not as infuriatingly powerful as ice trashing, but possibly as good as derezzing), and that bypass effects are pretty rare, Rigged Results deserves a good look-over.

The Good

• Unlike Inside Job, the bypass doesn't have to be the outermost ICE.
• Unlike Run Amok, the ICE doesn't have to be unrezzed.
• Unlike DDoS, the ICE doesn't have to be unrezzed, and also doesn't have to be the outermost ICE.
• Unlike Femme or Nexus, you don't need a + to install it.
• Unlike Feint, you get to access and do shit.
• If you lose the "pseudo-psi" game, you're only out a and 0-2, which is not very much.
• It costs more influence than in-faction options.

The Bad

• It's not guaranteed like Inside Job, DDoS, Feint or Femme Fatale.
• RR is only good for 1 run, unlike DDoS, Nexus, or Femme Fatale.
• It doesn't synergize with Ken Tenma or Adam/ABR like Inside Job or Feint.
• It costs less influence than out-of-faction options (well, the same as Femme)
• RR is less effective if your credit pool is strained because the corp knows how much money you'll need to get into a server and you might not.

The Strategy

You would most likely use this in similar situations to an Inside Job: They've installed a card in their scoring server thinking you can't get in because you either lack the right breaker or don't have the creds. Even with the right breaker, having a chance to get past a Tollbooth for <2 instead of 7+ is pretty good.

This use is effective against traditional scoring corps, but not as much against FA because they often don't need their remote. Against FA you could combine this with HQI/Nerve Agent and run on HQ when they thought you couldn't get in, but then you're stacking it with a chance of not accessing an agenda.

The Verdict

I actually really like this card on paper. I don't think the cost is unreasonable for what you're getting, and it encourages a little player interaction. Unfortunately, many people who play Netrunner like the guaranteed strategies over leaving it up to chance, so this card will probably not be at the top tables at Worlds anytime soon. On top of the chance factor, costing an influence means it's competing against utility cards like Film Critic or Employee Strike and against stronger effects like Parasite.

It's uncommon for me to play as Corp and think, "man, I really wish I could draw up." Usually it's when I only have 1-2 cards in hand, one of which is an agenda, and I want to pad my hand to reduce the odds of a score. Obviously I don't want to trash the agenda (barring Jackson on the table).

So when else would you use Election Day?

• Maybe you've drained your hand with a Shipment from MirrorMorph?
• Maybe you're Gagarin and you've drained your hand spamming assets?
• Maybe you care less about what's trashed bc you have Museums?
• Maybe you are using Subcontract last , but not as part of a kill combo, and so you play your Hedge Fund or whatever and then play this to start next turn with a full hand. Rushy rushy!
• Maybe you're Argus, the runner just hit an unforeseen Snare! and has 2 tags with only 1 left. It's like turn 3 and you don't have any Scorches yet. So you ditch your hand in a desperate attempt to find some tag punishment.
• Maybe you're running Midseason Replacements in Weyland and the runner stole last turn. You don't have Midseasons or Consulting Visit in hand, so you trash HQ hoping to hit one, leaving you two s to play the CV.

I don't know; it's feeling pretty niche to me. It's like a Corporate Shuffle that hurts you when you're flooded, and I haven't seen that card played much recently.

More like "Election LAME" amirite???

Maybe try it in a rush deck with MirrorMorphs and Clone Suffrage Movements and crap. You know, ditching all those operations you don't need right now and Suffrage them back on the turn you want them. Lemme know how it goes.

Ramujan is great with the non-non-preventable brain damage abilities that some cards give you. As of the end of the Mumbad Cycle, I believe that list is:

• Spinal Modem
• Skulljack
• Brain Cage

All you need to do is draw and install Ramujan first before any of the adverse effects hit. So instead of Brain Cage saying "Your hand size goes up by two, but trash a random card from your hand" it says, "Your hand size goes up by three, just lose a , a , and trash the top card of your stack. But only if you filled up some of your deck slots with fluff."

Wait a minute...that doesn't sound very good.

More like Rubbish-Reliant, amirite???

P.S. The text of Skulljack is often read, "wtf put in Scrubber if you want this effect; no one is going to burn their Snatch and Grab on it, it's fine."