Pros

  • Can be searched with Djinn
  • very flexible in its use
  • one of the cheapest viruses, so Noise loves it

Cons

  • Virus counters can be purged, so if you rely on it too heavily to be able to defeat ice, sometimes the Corp can shut you out with a timely purge
  • Memory slots for non-breakers are sometimes scarce

Thoughts

  • probably the most non-committal card in order to get some pressure on Archives
  • useful to enable fixed-strength breakers - Yog.0, Mimic and Morning Star
  • usually you get 1 credit worth of virus counter for a successful run on a central server, just that these "credits" can be removed by the corp
  • so you should try to use them liberally
  • they synergize nicely with Desperado and other cards that give bonuses for runs, because ultimately each server has a certain price tag, but it gets more and more expensive for the corp to increase the price while the value of multiple Datasuckers is linear.

Pros

  • very potent ability once scored
  • the timing of paid abilities allows you to use the ability after the runner has broken all pieces of Ice on a server
  • interrupts cards like The Maker's Eye or Account Siphon

Cons

  • as a 4/2, you are unlikely to fast-advance this, or score it from un-advanced, so it can be tricky to keep safe while scoring

Thoughts

  • really strong card
  • as a runner it is sometimes better to bite the bullet and "waste" a Makers Eye before Jinteki can use Nisei on a Stimhack for some free brain damage
  • the opposite is also true with Nisei it is important to be patient an wait for the "right" moment, sometimes the threat is stronger than the execution
  • Nisei allows some very interesting bluffing situations, like not using her on a run into an agenda server. Only do that if the runner is even aware of your counter though. Not rezzing some Ice might raise extra eyebrows. Style points for pulling that off.
  • The opposite is also possible. Install a card into a moderately defended server which the runner can access once and advance it twice. Watch him run it once and use Nisei only to have him Stimhack into the server again, self-destructing on your Junebug with his own brain damage. Double style points!

Use as 1st agenda

  • this agenda is brilliant as a first agenda, since you are vulnerable to Makers Eye or Account Siphon early. Once it costs the runner 10+ credits to get into HQ, you don't need to fear Account Siphon anymore
  • this also poses a serious threat to the runner, because you can now start to build up slowly, while he needs two big runs to make one count

Use as 2nd agenda

  • when scored as the 2nd agenda, you should probably win from here. In order to score a 2nd agenda you probably have a reasonably deep server that should be able to protect any agenda for one turn at an opportune moment.

Use as 3rd agenda

  • Not very good as a final agenda, although scoring 2 points for 4 advancement tokens is doable

Pros

  • her bypass ability makes her very flexible because you can target a non-Sentry
  • her bypass ability also circumvents "when encountered" abilities, so Tollbooth, Data Raven, and Komainu make prime targets.
  • you can also target unrezzed Ice, if you have a strong read on your opponent what kind of ICE he is hiding there.
  • easily splashable with only one influence point.

Cons

  • most expensive breaker in the game as far as installing cost
  • quite expensive to boost her strength
  • Be aware that the corp can "revive" a femmed piece of Ice with Chum. Now you've got to break Chum, if you intend to bypass the Ice without taking Net damage.

Thoughts

  • seems to be a very strong breaker for Shapers. Not only do they have the "weakest" Killers, they have plenty of tools to take advantage of Femme:
    • Test Run allows you to bypass a certain piece of Ice without paying the 9 credits upfront and you can then choose a different target once you install her "for real"
    • Personal Workshop allows you to take advantage of the timing structure as you can install your Femme during a run after an approached piece of ICE gets rezzed
    • With her high pumping, but good breaking cost makes her a prime target for Shapers strength boosting equipment, e.g. a Femme Fatale on a Dinosaurus is a very efficient breaker against most sentries.
  • Could work in an Anarch deck with Personal Workshop to get into a certain central server you want to hammer
You can scavenge a femme to choose a new piece of ice with er ability, not a good enough combo to specifically include one in a deck with the other, but if you happen to have both its useful when you really need to change your target server. —
"Be aware that the corp can "revive" a femmed piece of Ice with Chum" —
Is komainu a good target for femme? Its only subs are from its when encountered. As I understand it from the FAQ and other discussions, the 'when encountered' ability triggers but is not resolved because the runner bypasses. So would you not still have to pay for each sub? Or am I missing something and it has no subs so you dont need to pay anything? —
Sorry, found it now. It costs nothing. Its in the FAQ where it answers what happens when chum is unbroken infront of komainu. It doesnt really say why you dont need to pay for each sub, only that it costs 0. —
This is because, like Troll, Komainu has no subs until encountered. Chum doesn't work with ICE without subs aside from adding strength. —

Pros

Cons

  • Is dangerous to use when net damage ambushes like Snare! and Fetal AI are around, but you can choose how much you want to access, so be careful.
  • Can be useless, if R&D is well defended and virus counters get purged.

Thoughts

  • Very dangerous if you can make multiple runs during a single turn
  • Multiple Mediums stack, just be aware that the total number of accesses is x+y-1 and not x+y (if the Mediums have x and y virus counters respectively)
  • This is especially dangerous with Personal Workshop since you can install Medium from the Workshop without spending clicks during that turn. It is not uncommom to blast R&D wide open and run multiple times
  • When to purge? That's the big question. If R&D is poorly defended then purging won't do any good because the virus counters can be regained too soon. So keep R&D well defended when suspecting (or facing) a Medium. This makes Medium a pretty strategy defining card. When the runner could install a Medium and run thrice on R&D, then you better get cracking elsewhere or defend R&D better.
  • For that purpose Ice with an unbreakable component probably works best to keep the runner from stomping R&D, Tollbooth or Data Raven come to mind
  • another interesting way of defending R&D against Medium is with an Ice Wall plus Matrix Analyzer. As the runner loads his Medium with counters, you improve your Ice Wall along, so you kind of "keep up". Additionally Anarchs are usually the easiest to trace, so even a Trace2 for a tag is probably a concern for them, especially when they want to use as many clicks per turn on running.
I'm confused on the Medium stacking. Let's say I have Hivemind with 4 counters on it and 3 Mediums on the board. I successfully run. Each of the Mediums get a counter, so that plus the 4 Hivemind tokens sounds like 3x5=15 cards accessed. Is that wrong? —
Not quite. Read Medium carefully "Each counter after the first". So that means each Medium is giving you 4 cards in this case, as they each effectively have four beyond the first. 3x4 =12 bonus, so 13 total. —
After the run is successful, but before the runner accesses cards, all three Mediums would get a token. This means, with the 4 tokens on Hivemind, each Medium is effectively at 5. So you should get 3x5+1 accesses, or 16. —
Sorry, I meant 3x4+1, for 13. Not enough sleep. —