Deep Thought

Deep Thought 1[credit]

Program: Virus
Memory: 1 • Strength: -
Influence: 2

Whenever you make a successful run on R&D, place 1 virus counter on Deep Thought.

If there are at least 3 virus counters on Deep Thought, it gains "When your turn begins, you may look at the top card of R&D."

Illustrated by Anna Ignatieva
Decklists with this card

Future Proof (fp)

#108 • English
Startup Card Pool
Standard Card Pool
Standard Ban List (show history)
Printings
Future Proof
Rulings

No rulings yet for this card.

Reviews

I've played Deep Thought as an early pressure. It can:

1) Scare the corp since you can see what cards are going to draw (and information is key in this game). This can annoy lots of corps. Specially the kind of deck that allows you to go to R&D to eat for some Snare!. And now with more diferent traps like Space Camp or News Team.

2) Also that information can make you want to run (or not) into R&D or make pressure into other places.

3) Make the corp purge virus counters. And if they don't want to be annoyed for that, they need to purge virus counters.

But as the review of Lupus has said, this is not an equivalent of R&D Interface or Medium. This is more like a program verson of Woman in the Red Dress.

Also it has the con of making first the 3 runs (2 with Grimoire) onto R&D before start shining.

(Data and Destiny era)

Then I realize that I could have make a case of Deep Thought in my fresh R&D Interface review.

So Deep Though takes 1MU and 3 runs on R&D before being effective. And then you see the top card of R&D at the beginning of your turn.

Then what’s the point ? Come on, it is in a faction that have waaaay better tools for R&D pressure.

(Data and Destiny era)
I've played Deep Thought as an early pressure. It can: —
I've played Deep Thought as an early pressure. It can: 1) scare the corp since you can see what cards are going to draw (and information is key in this game). This can annoy lots of corps. Specially the kind of deck that allows you to go to R&D to eat for some Snares. Also that information can make you want to run (or not) into RD or make pressure into other places. And if they don't want to be annoyed for that, they need to purge virus counters. —
I included one in a janky Hivemind + Chakana deck to snipe off agendas from the top. The deck doesn't want to run a whole lot so Medium isn't that good (and Hivemind + Medium is killed by CVS anyway). I'm gonna sleeve it this week and probably learn that it's horrible. —

The main use I can see for this card is in Noise: Hacker Extraordinaire decks. Not only is the card a virus, triggering Noise's trash ability on install, but it synergises well with his go-to console Grimoire - allowing for a faster set-up of the ability. The main benefit of this card in a Noise deck, however, is that it allows for a more strategic use of Noise's R&D trashing ability. Once this card is set up, you can use virus installs to trash only those cards in R&D that further the Corp's current plans or hinder you. If the top card is an Agenda, a card that is particularly valuable to the Corp at the current time, or something you would prefer not to access in R&D but don't mind running into in Archives when going for the win (like a Snare! or Cyberdex Virus Suite) you can install a virus with the knowledge that what is being trashed will work to your advantage - whereas if the top card is currently useless to the Corp (like an early gear-check Ice that you have the tools in play already to deal with) then you can forego installing a virus (since the trash would actually benefit the Corp) and avoid wasting runs on R&D that turn - allowing you to focus your efforts on setting up for future turns or pressuring the Corp in another area. Although this card is out of faction for Noise, it being a virus means it can be searched out of your deck with a Djinn and so can easily be included as a singleton to mitigate the two influence cost. In the later game, as the cost to access R&D increases, the card becomes more difficult to set up, but the low install cost provides a cheap R&D trash on installing and it actually turns a profit if sold to Aesop's Pawnshop, or can draw a card or remove a tag with Chop Bot 3000 without breaking the bank.

(Business First era)
34