Playing certain cards on the table evoke emotion for the Corp. Lamprey; agitation. Medium; concern. Record Reconstructor; confusion. Whenever someone plays an Incubator, I feel an omen. A death knell practically sounds when this hits the mat.

Combo incarnate, Incubator is a pricey Virus supplement that creepily whispers "Things are gonna get nasty for somebody, and it ain't me." Paired with Medium, Nerve Agent, or the all-mighty Hivemind, this card defines the term 'explosive turn.' Otherwise, it's a 3 credit sink that sits on it's ass and does nothing.

Take any Hivemind combo, and Incubator multiples its power. Bringing your Darwin and multi-access Viruses to huge in one click is immense, and can immediately end the game. Search up a deck made with these two cards and you'll be deckbuilding with an evil cackle all day.

Protecting against Incubator is tricky. You can play it safe and purge every time it reaches 3-5 counters, but even that may be too little too late if the game is halfway over. Naturally, Cyberdex Virus Suite stiff-arms Incubator. Not only do they waste the click, but you nullify their entire plan.

Expect big turns from Incubator. ICE can't protect you from a 10 strength Darwin, but Upgrades certainly can. Look to Caprice Nisei and Ash 2X3ZB9CY on your R&D. There are other creative ways to stop giant Medium digs before they happen, and I'll leave that to you to find.

This card is great, and I love it's mechanic. It creates pressure in a unique way and it's one of my favorites.

Excalibur is the Grail unlike the other Grail. Sharing nothing in common with the other ICE of it's type (Galahad, Lancelot, Merlin), Excalibur can only be revealed, unable to reveal its buddies itself. And it can often be overlooked, allowing many runners to save a credit or Cerberus "Lady" H1 counter when used with the other Grail ICE. No, Excalibur is a beast of its own. I see it as:

Neutral Trap ICE with a nice effect

Trap, because Excalibur notably has no ICE type. It cannot be broken except by AI breakers.

Excalibur, instead, hangs out with the Upgrades. For a measly 2 credits, Ash 2X3ZB9CY, Red Herrings, and Caprice Nisei, along with other strong Upgrades that typically require a second clean run, become maximally efficient. Excalibur + Red Herrings in a server means that the Runner will pay those 5 credits.

Ultimately, try to separate this card from the Grail subtype. In fact, I would instantly cut it from decks running the actual Grail ICE. I firmly believe this card is strongest when slotted into Glacier-style decks that intend to score in a remote, who naturally run powerful Upgrades to protect them.

Breach is an astoundingly good Barrier breaker, lagging only 0.10 behind Corroder when comparing average costs. In fact, Breach defeats many commonly seen Barriers even cheaper than Corroder, usually by more than 1, while breaking even with other common ICE.

Breach breaks the following notably common ICE cheaper than Corroder:

Curtain Wall (6 vs 11) [!!!]

Wall of Thorns (4 vs. 5)

NEXT Silver (2/4 vs. 1-6)

Galahad (2 vs. 3)

Notable ties include Eli 1.0(4 vs. 4), thought you will find yourself paying another for Wraparound and Ice Wall.

For Criminals looking to focus their eyes on centrals, saving an influence on a second Corroder, and/or looking for some Blue Sun hate, Breach can be considered cool enough to be in the same room as Passport, while Alias weeps in the dumpster out back.

If the Corp manages to clear the first bad publicity generated by Valencia, this card will be a dead draw. Getting this off early, against decks that even bother removing bad pub, can perhaps save your Blackmails against Elizabeth Mills, but the rest of the bad pub removal suite tends to come in twos: Witness Tampering, Veterans Program, and Restoring Face.

It may be worth cutting your Investigatives if these cards become played, otherwise, it can be a great econ card if used early game. Only force it if you plan on utilizing Itinerant Protesters, otherwise, any bad pub past 1 is simply econ.

Reinforcing Addison's review, I wanted to make the interactions with this card very clear. If you decide to run it, all players should know it's most important interaction.

If you play this resource as a 7-credit card and use it immediately, there is no window in which the Corp can utilize Jackson Howard before you do. Your turn, your effects take priority.

Playing this card using the free mechanic may be a mistake, because the Archives run itself prompts the Corp to use Jackson before it is in play. And this card does not prevent the Corp from installing Jackson on their turn, overdrawing, discarding, and using the last window on their turn to activate Jackson before you do, due to priority.

Unless you are seeking a specific strategy, it is almost always best to play this card from your grip.