Longevity Serum

Longevity Serum 3/2

Agenda: Research

When you score this agenda, trash any number of cards from HQ. Shuffle up to 3 cards from Archives into R&D.

Limit 1 per deck.

We make you anew.
Illustrated by N. Hopkins
Decklists with this card

System Gateway (sg)

#44 • English
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Rulings
  • Updated 2021-10-11

    If the Runner has Spoilers installed and the Corp scores Longevity Serum, can the Corp choose to add the card trashed by Spoilers to R&D?

    No. The abilities on both Spoilers and Longevity Serum have the same trigger condition. Since agendas are always scored on the Corp’s turn, the Corp is the active player and must fully resolve their abilities before the Runner resolves any of theirs.

Reviews

If you're passing on a blank 3/2 like Project Yagi-Uda, I'd pass on this as well. It's a uniquely clunky effect for a 3/2 and totally unsuitable for the 3x Spin Doctor role of instantly protecting agendas faster than the runner can react. A 3/2 agenda will never be instant anything.

All of the other unique 3/2s have much stronger abilities which are almost always impactful. Longevity Serum is not much better than blank. And, worst, when you really DO need Longevity Serum's effect, you're probably in a dire flooding situation, usually a hard time to score an agenda safely. Even attempting a Longevity Serum play to clear a flood leaves your extra agendas vulnerable in HQ at least 1 turn longer than they would have been with a Spin Doctor. I think this effect would probably be more suitable for a 2/1 agenda.

I would only choose this card in decks where trying to score 4/2s would be too hard (e.g. Shipment from Tennin decks can use it to recycle Shipment from Tennin back into the deck). If you can score 4/2s, it doesn't make sense to cut a 4/2 to include this card -- any combination of Nisei Mk 2, Cyberdex Sandbox, Corporate Sales Team, Offworld Office, and possibly even Viral Weaponization are stronger.

Note: Longevity Serum might have off-brand use in Ampere. Ampere can only run 1x Spin Doctor and might actually benefit from backup recursion. Ampere also has better access to fast-advance cards and economy than Jinteki has, so a 3/2 is inherently more interesting to Ampere even if the ability isn't always valuable.

(System Update 2021 era)

This is the replacement for Philotic Entanglement, from the past meta. In my opinion, it is the weakest if the 2/3 agendas which have a limit of 1 per deck.

It is better than Project Yagi-Uda, whose secondary effect has almost never be seen in play, because it basically act like an instant Preemptive Action, with the possibility to trash card from HQ so that you may put them back in R&D, like if you are flooded with agendas.

This is why it is a worthwhile agenda for Jinteki, allowing you to have 7 agendas in a 49 cards deck (6 3-pointers and 1 Longevity Serum).

There are layers of art in this card, with layers of flavor, along with the quote. Nicely done.

(System Update 2021 era)
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