What a curious ability, you might think.

Make the Corp pick up an unrezzed ice or other installed card about 4 times per game? They'll just spend 4 clicks to put those cards back - and maybe a few credits for ice install costs, so who cares.

Well, it turns out that with proper application, Leela's ability is incredibly strong. Let's have a look how.

The knockout 1-2 punch turn
Firstly, the true value of bouncing cards (returning cards to the Corp's HQ) is the weakness that this can create in a server. For example, if early in a game, NBN fast advances an agenda and has only 1 ice on each of HQ and R&D. You might return the ice on HQ, then on your first click Account Siphon them down to zero credits, then on your next 3 clicks, hammer their completely exposed central servers with some combination of Legwork, Indexing, or Keyhole. Each agenda you steal will let you bounce another unrezzed ice back to HQ. It's not at all uncommon for a turn like this to earn Leela 4-5 agenda points.

The cold war build
It's possible to build a control deck that doesn't run and just builds up credits, threatening to use Leela's ability for a blowout turn as soon as the Corp first dares to score. A great card for this style of deck is Logos, which can compound the threat by letting you go fetch whichever card will target their weakest server. Indexing if they have only one ice on R&D, Siphon for HQ, Sneakdoor Beta for Archives, etc. Initially, it may seem like the only way the Corp can protect against this is to install 2 ice on each central server before they can safely score, which can take a very long time to arrange.

The Corp counterplay
This only works because Corps are accustomed to scoring agendas in the safest way possible - fast advance a 3/2 or 2/1, or install a 3/2 one turn then fully advance it next turn, or IAA a 5/3 then AAA and score the following turn, etc. All of these patterns leave the agenda exposed the least amount of runner turns or minimise the investment of advancements, and are normally a good idea. However, savvy Corp players will realize that what these patterns have in common is that they score the agenda on their last click, which is what Leela is exploiting. So they can fight against a passive control Leela build by IA a 3/2, then AA score it next turn, and still have a click left to immediately put back whatever ice Leela bounces, avoiding leaving any server exposed for a turn.

A more rounded strategy
So against a high level player, a completely passive control build may find it never gets that turn of completely open access to a central server, and so falters. But all is not lost! If by playing Leela you can force the Corp player to change their agenda scoring pattern this much, you have still gained a significant advantage. They're committing more resources to agendas before you have a turn to try to steal them, and you've interrupted fast advance. So, a more rounded Leela deck may use the standard criminal tricks to still run some servers and apply other pressure in the early/mid game, while leaving just one central server alone to still threaten with her ability.

Some great cards for Leela

• You might run Inside Job and Femme Fatale to be ready to steal a slow-scored agenda from the remote when the Corp tries to play around her ability. Or you may opt to attempt to steal an agenda from a central server, then have Leela return the partially advanced card to HQ, wasting the resources that went into advancing that card.
• Crescentus is an incredible card to turn back on Leela's ability in a more aggressive Leela deck that is likely to have ice rezzed. An ideal example of when to use it is during a Legwork run or the second run off an Indexing to ensure there is a facedown ice ready to bounce from the agenda steal.
• With all the ice that is being returned, a cheeky Kraken can also often give the Corp a choice between exactly 1 ice to destroy, blowing another server wide open.
• Really aggressive Leela builds may even forgo Logos to use the always powerful Desperado to pressure more cheaply with early game runs.

Take that, shell game
There is also a particular Corp archetype that Leela is very strong against, and that is advanced-card shell game, such as a Jinteki PE kill deck. These decks thrive on installing and advancing many cards unprotected in remote servers, threatening the runner with dilemma that they may be Ronins that will kill them if they don't run, or Cerebral Overwriters that will kill them (or as good as) if they do run them. This threat becomes very strong once there are two unknown 4-advanced cards installed. Leela's ability is absolutely crippling to this strategy, as she can just focus on stealing agendas from R&D then return any facedown advanced cards to HQ, destroying all the advancements in the process, and preventing the critical mass of advanced cards from ever occurring.

Conclusion
In summary, Leela's ability forces nearly all Corporations to adjust their play strategy significantly, and she is one of the most powerful identities in the game. Also, there are many subtle ways to exploit her ability so the skill ceiling to fully using her potential is very high.

Thomas Haas is an unusual card. He appears to be an econ card, but in actual fact is a 'trick' / utility card.

He is not a normal econ gain card because each advancement on him costs a and 1, and eventually gives back 2, which is a net gain of 1 per - the same as simply clicking for credits. (Less the overhead cost of to install and 1 to rez).

So what is he actually for then?

In a glacier deck he can be installed and advanced in scoring remote to bait the runner into spending a lot of credits running him, thus opening a scoring window the next turn. Compared to using an actual ambush (like Aggressive Secretary), he is a low-risk bait, but with less payoff if successful. Low risk because regardless of whether he is run or not, he can be rezzed and then trashed to reclaim most of the cost invested in him.

However, this same role - of spending runner credits to open a scoring window - can now be better filled by Reversed Accounts in an expensive remote. Either the runner spends a lot of credits to access and trash this, or next turn the Corp can use it to make the runner lose a lot of credits. (GRNDL Refinery can also work if the Corp has a way to turn a credit lead into a scoring window, eg with Ash 2X3ZB9CY, or some big unrezzed ice installed).

Thomas can also be used as a secret credit cache to feign being poor. Once the runner approaches a piece of ice (and passes their last chance to jack out) he can be rezzed and trashed to gain credits then use them to rez that ice.

It is also possible to use a card that provides for advancing on Thomas Haas to turn those into real credits (eg The Root, Simone Diego). However, this is a convoluted setup for little payoff.

Overall, Thomas Haas is an interesting card, but it is only a very rare deck that he is the best choice for whatever effect you want him for.

Known as JH, Jesus Howard, or the Corporation's Savior.

Pros

• right before the final access step of a run on Archives (or himself), an installed JH can be rezzed for 0 and removed from game to immediately rescue Agendas from Archives and shuffle them back into R&D
• the to draw to cards option is also powerful to find cards you need
  • normally so much draw could lead to drawing too many agendas ('Agenda flooding'), but with JH the Corp can just trash any excess agendas drawn then use JH's second ability to shuffle those agendas back into R&D for later
  • the ability to overdraw, trash any excess agendas, then reshuffle them into R&D is very powerful and probably JH's signature ability
• extra copies of JH can be used to reshuffle any powerful events or other used and trashed cards to use again later in the game

Cons

• takes up 3 card slots, and 3 influence for non-NBN Corps
• 3 trash cost is low enough that the runner will nearly always trash JH if accessed
• doesn't directly help the Corp win, mostly he helps them not lose

Notable Interactions

• after an Indexing run, JH's remove-from-game ability can be used just before access on the following run to reshuffle R&D, denying access to the Agenda that was certainly just placed on top
• using JH to reshuffle event econ like Hedge Fund, Sweeps Week or Restructure back into R&D lets the Corp get more use out of them in a game
• can even be used to recycle trashed ice against runners that are trashing a lot of it with Parasite or Forked/Knifed/Spooned
• invaluable to rescue Agendas against Anarch decks that trash a lot of cards, using Noise and viruses, Wanton Destruction, Hemorrhage, or Gravedigger.
• Watch out for Hades Shard - the runner may (on their turn) install it and then use its trash ability to access your Archives with no opportunity for you to rez or use JH to move agendas out of Archives in-between.
  • This is because in the action window following the Hades Shard being installed the runner as current player has priority to use effects, before the Corp player

Final Thoughts

• one of the most flexible and powerful cards in the game, 2-3 copies of JH is extremely common in decks across all Corps.
• occasionally some decks don't need him though, eg a rush deck that attempts to quickly score agendas as soon as they are drawn
• in closing, let us say the lord's prayer:

Our Jackson, who art in my deck
Howard be thy name.
Thy install come,
Thy drawing be done,
In all decks, as it is in NBN.
Give us this day our daily cred,
And forgive us our trashed agendas,
As we also have forgiven Whizzard for trashing you.
And lead us not into agenda flood,
But deliver us from R&D lock.
For thine is the deck,
And the OP,
And the glory,
For ever and ever.
gg.

(by Ravengm & friends, www.reddit.com)

Pros

• Successful runs and drawing cards might just be the two best things the runner can spend a on, so getting both for one is amazingly good click compression
• At 2 rez cost, he only takes about 3 successful runs to break even on installing

Cons

• Having to pay to remove a tag after an unsuccessful run is very undesirable, so he is best in decks that:
  • can be fairly sure runs will be successful by quite early in the game
  • and/or won't care too much about being tagged
• won't do much as much in decks that only make occasional, high-impact runs

Notable Interactions

• combines well with Desperado and Datasucker to get incredible value for a run
• also nice with Security Testing and Gabe
• can be used to deliberately self-tag by running a simple 'end the run' barrier, in order to use a card like Data Leak Reversal that the runner must be tagged for
• dangerous to use in the same deck as expensive resources like Professional Contacts as these add extra danger to getting tagged

Final Thoughts

• a good supplemental draw option in decks that have no long-term/high-value resources, ignore tags, and rely on Plascrete Carapace to protect from meat damage

Pros

• Trashing two cards for 2 is nearly always good value
• ability to trash normally untrashable cards like Operations and Ice is very powerful
• applies strong pressure to R&D, HQ and cards in remote servers all at once
• sufficiently fears by Corps that sometimes installing it can provoke the Corp to spend a turn purging virus counters

Cons

• only two uses then it runs out
• uses up MU for a non-breaker, so your rig may require extra support hardware to support all programs at once
• Corp can purge virus counters to completely disarm an installed Imp

Notable Interactions

• The extra virus counter provided by Grimoire is particularly valuable on Imp as it gives it +50% more usage
• Great for trashing powerful combo-piece Operations the Corp is holding onto, such as Scorched Earth, SEA Source, Neural EMP, Biotic Labor
• Also worthwhile using to trash expensive assets or upgrades like SanSan City Grid or The Root
• A good virus to use with Noise since you want to keep re-installing it, which will re-trigger Noise's ability, plus the extra trashing synergizes with all the milling from Noise's ability
• Scavenge can be used on an Imp to trash it then immediately re-install it to refresh its virus tokens
• Once used up, this can be sold to Aesop's Pawnshop, then recurred to your grip with Déjà Vu
• As long as you don't use the last virus counter on an Imp, Virus Breeding Ground can be used to recharge it every turn

Final Thoughts

• Deceptively powerful card, this is often brought into other runner factions, even for 3 inf
• One of the most powerful Anarch cards, worth throwing into many Anarch decks even if they don't particularly synergize with the rest of the deck
• Don't forget it can only be used once per turn,
  • although multiple installed Imps can each be used once a turn