Refractor made better or not ? Let's compare...

  • Install cost : 1 more than Refactor. Not a big deal.

  • Pump cost : 1 more too, but +4 strength instead of +3. Notice how it fits against the brand new code-gate terror. That 1 needed don't have to come from a stealth card to reach its 6 strength. Though, it doesn't do better against the other painful code gate coming in this data pack (Fairchild 3.0, which strangely doesn't have a registered hyperlink as I write this review), neither to the yet to come Mausolus. Against 7+ strength code gates, Refractor rejoices again : 2 stealth vs 2 stealth +2. Little Engine and Wormhole see some plays.

  • Keep the strength pump until the end of the run, so if you encounter 2 or more code gate with strength in a range between 3 and 6 included, it's better than Refractor since it demands only 1 stealth instead of 2. Hopefully, you won't see 7+ strength pieces of ice stacking on one server.

So it's only better than Refractor in some corner cases : in a meta full of 3+ strength code gates, or where DNA Tracker and Archangel are heavily expected.

A note on which Runner can use it at best :

  • Smoke : being released in the same cycle, it is lore-wise her decoder. She can use both Houdini and Refractor at full power without support, but the cost of Houdini over Refractor can be quickly sensitive, while Refractor make you run the risk of being stuck of an heavy coded server. That said... I'd pick Refractor for her, and keep away from any Jinteki unrezzed ice if the corp have 8 or more and don't have any other stealth provider on my rig.

  • Kit : she has more chance to encounter more than 1 code gate per run than anyone. She loves Lockpick more than anyone, too. While it's unlikely she'll overturn her lack of influence with this single card, I feel she'll make the best use for it.

  • Kate : there are some good stealth builds with Kate, but she's the more prone to be stuck out of a coded server. Still she's good at money, so the over cost of Houdini may be less of a problem. Houdini for her, or make room for one of each ?

  • Other shapers : it's late, my eyelids fall.

  • Out of faction : you love jank, don't you ?

So have I answered to the question I asked in the first sentence of this review ? Well, let's consider the illustration : Houdini, definitively !

i would argue that houdini fits much better lorewise with kit. the flavor text is something a transhumanist would say. —
@TKO : I didn't pay attention to that. After reading it, I was wondering if it wasn't some lyrics of an Arcade Fire song or something, but a Google search says it's (almost) a quotation from Harry Houdini :) —
Smoke's theme is magic and both this and Blackstone are named after famous magicians. The flavour text is actually Houdini's mantra. —
Funny that not only are they named after magicians but specifically magicians named Harry. —
I predict that the next killer for shapers will be named 'Dante' after Harry August Jansen's moniker. —
Missed one very important interaction in Enigma. Cost's Houdini 2 cred no stealth to break and Refractor 1 stealth + 2 creds. Enigma is an extremely common cheap early gear check with some bite to it. It's fairly close between Houdini/Refractor in my opinion but Houdini wins in the current meta. On know the meta last 3 aggregated Archangel is the most common codegate with Enigma 4th and Crick 8th whilst neutral Pop up window/essentially neutral Quandry are 2nd/5th. In refractors favour is Tollbooth 3rd, Turing 5th, Lotus field 6th and little engine 8th. Worth noting that Turing/Lotus/Engine combined are less likely to be seen than Enigma nevermind Archangel. Couple this with the fact that efficiency against Enigma involving no need for a stealth credit is much more important in terms of early pressure/tempo than any other efficency. All the common refractor strong ice are relatively expensive rezzes compared to the neutrals and crick/enigma. Regardless Turing can be clicked through and stealth has a great match up vs HB. Little Engine is going to be disgarded against Smoke/Kit everytime or you just laugh paying two stealth to gain 1 credit after they paid 5 to rez is not bad especially as no high strength codegates can be stacked on that server verus houdini. —
@macydus2 : no, Enigma doesn't cost stealth credit to Refractor. —

There's an abundant documentation about "click compression", with a whole generation of student making thesis about it, experts and consultants working hard on it, some Fields medalists putting it in equation and Nobel Prize of Economics laureates refining it day after day, so I'll just give a reminder for rookies around here.

In Netrunner, you must try to maximize the use of your and/or deny your opponents ones the best you can. Also, 1 = 1 as long as you don't play econ cards, so if your deck doesn't improve this rate by at least 1.5 (conservative estimation), go back to your homework (or netdeck, there is not shame to that). Let's just point out that you can deny your opponent through denying , but for that being efficient, you better deny a lot of money with the minimum and you can.

That said, let's analyze Docklands Crackdown : it allows the Corp to deny a few to the Runner at the expense of a lot of .

And that's bad.

Why would I fall in love with a woman like Rachel Beckman ? Because she's strong and fragile at the same time ! She's strong so I feel stronger when she's along me. She's fragile so I feel stronger trying to protect her.

Why would I avoid to fall in love with a woman like Rachel Beckman ? Because she costs me a lot of money and she's prone to leave me without telling !

Why would I write a stupid sexist rant on NRDB while half drunk ? BECAUSE OF YOU, RACHEL, BECAUSE OF YOU ! Sure, you gave me awesome time we spent together, but let me at the reach of a Hard-Hitting News and flew away without looking back as soon the havoc struck me.

Kati is so much more faithful than you. Soon I'll meet Beth, and while I know she won't stay forever, hopefully she won't let me broke. Heck, I'd rather let this cat-eyed chick suck my brain out even though she'd spend only 2/3 times as much as you. Plus, I'd get a chance to forget you if her drug hit the right neurons. (That said, I won't let Akshara replace you. She's the best intentioned woman I know, but her naïveté makes her as unreliable as you, while in a very different way).

And I won't cry anymore, Rachel, I WON'T CRY ANYMORE !

(I just realized I mistook the effect of Beth Kilrain-Chang with the one of Algo Trading...) —
Came to learn how the card could be used. Left with a laugh instead. Thanks. :) —

From my experience, play a broke 0-link Runner, and this card is pretty obnoxious. Well, playing a broke Runner is maybe not a good idea.

Now, in the current meta (summer 2016, beginning of Flashpoint cycle for the record), from Runner standpoint many game are more "how can I avoid tag" than "how can I get into that server." NBN: Controlling the Message, Hard-Hitting News, Zealous Judge are brand new and very effective, Midseason Replacements is not rotated out yet, Data Raven and Snare! are still popular. On the other side of the board, tags are a concern, so expect Sports Hopper for link, Networking and even Forger to get rid of tags.

So for Corps, there are better way to tag : make them rain and/or use high trace strength. And for Runner, they tend to have good answer for a tag from a 2-strength trace they can see coming.

At least, you may want to use it as a Current, but in-faction Targeted Marketing is more popular. That said, NBN: Making News likes to trace left, right, up and down, and for this ID, Manhunt is arguably still a good choice.

Trashing ices is an Anarch thing, derezzing them is a Criminal thing, sending them back to HQ is a Shaper thing. For doing these, Anarchs have wonderful cards, Criminals have neat ones, Shapers have False Echo. This last one only works on unrezzed ices, so it needs some out-of-faction support to work, like DDoS or Crescentus and that's why Shapers hardly bother to use this mechanics of their own.

Here comes Ankusa, a new way to fit this mechanics, with a few things to consider. First it comes embedded in a fracter, only working on barrier, while Shapers have some way to deal with that (Tinkering and Paintbrush). But out of these shenanigans, I suppose every dedicated Kit sparked the same idea seeing this card : "take back your barrier standing after that Enigma and dare to install it again, I'll handle it with my powerful decoder next time." No jank, can it work ?

Sadly, it comes embedded in an icebreaker with numbers that are somewhere between Aurora-bad and Leviathan-bad.

Want to deal with Wraparound ? Pay 6 to install, 2 to break. Does it matter to never see it later again, when a single Inti allow you to handle it 8 times a game for the same cost (including installation) ?

Eli 1.0 ? 6 to install, 8 (eight) to break, and a Corp that will eventually install it back since it will cost less to him than to you. Talk about econ denial. With these 12 you can install 2 Cerberus "Lady" H1 and use them to pass Eli 6 times.

This Oversighted Curtain Wall played by a Blue Sun deck ? Do you need to send it back in hand if you can afford to break and trash it ? Do I need to do the math ? (I hope I don't, I don't know how to count that much).

Ankusa suffers 2 things :

  • crushing bad stats.

  • it competes in-faction one powerful fracter (Cerberus "Lady" H1) and one really helpful though you won't ever use it as your main fracter (Inti).

Shapers are not supposed to be good at breaking barrier, but it happens that they are. So I totally understand that they don't need another good one or even "just-decent-but-with-neat-messing-up-effect." But still, the numbers on Ankusa doesn't even allow jank-lover to dream...

Well, maybe someone should give it a try before we bury Ankusa, just in case I'm plain wrong. But I won't be that guy.

I've seen first hand how this works out of Nasir with Surfer. Pretty hard to create scoring windows. It's definitely not your main fracter but it can cook on Personal Workshop for a few turns and then come out to dismantle a server. —
I'd like to see that. Kudos for that guys who gives back a few hope for my inner-jank-lover. —
Running CT with Dinosaurus 3x Multithreader and Net-Ready Eyes is something I'm looking forward to trying. Maybe even with a Study Guide to get extra value from the Multithreaders. Sure that's a lot of pieces but you don't have to set them all up before running. Dounds like fun :3 —
@Yziel : so if your plan is to install Ankusa on Dinosaurus, can we call this archetype Ankylosaurus ? It's for my inner dino-fan. —
YES! This needs to be a thing! :D —
Would Nasir even be able to afford to break the barrier after his ID wipes his credit pool? —
This deck was all recurring credits and ghost runner so yeah, disgustingly, it could. —