Midori

♦ Midori 0[credit]

Upgrade: Sysop
Trash: 3
Influence: 3

Whenever the Runner approaches a piece of ice protecting this server, you may swap that ice with 1 piece of ice from HQ. (The new ice is installed unrezzed.) If you do, the Runner may jack out. Use this ability only once per run.

"Looks like someone is being naughty…"
Illustrated by RJ Palmer
Decklists with this card

Future Proof (fp)

#113 • English
Startup Card Pool
Standard Card Pool
Standard Ban List (show history)
Printings
Future Proof
Rulings
  • Updated 2017-04-09

    Midori can only be used at timing structure of a run 2. [Official FAQ]

  • Updated 2017-04-09

    Ice that is swapped is installed, but the install cost of the ice being swapped does not have to be paid. [Official FAQ]

  • Updated 2017-04-09

    If the Runner exposes an ice with Snitch, Midori can still swap the ice unless the Runner jacks out with Snitch. [Official FAQ]

  • Updated 2017-04-09

    Midori must already be rezzed before the run in order to use her on the first piece of ice protecting the server. [Official FAQ]

  • Updated 2017-04-09

    Ice installed with Midori can be rezzed with the Amazon Industrial Zone. [Official FAQ]

Reviews

Midori is an interesting tech right now. You can use her to block cutlery attempts, especially against the second or deeper ICE on a server. As was commented to the earlier review, she can also very easily block any Parasite + Datasucker plays - just rez her when they play the parasite if it's the outermost ICE. Now they have to wait until Parasite kills the ICE naturally rather than make the sucker play. Against Clone Chip you have to prerez so there is no surprise factor, but just discouraging the attempt might be enough to get a scoring window. She also shuts down Surfer + Paintbrush completely. You can rez her in the window after they paint your ICE barrier. If surfing was the runner's only plan, Midori locks the remote and throws away the key.

As commented to the previous review, she can make positional ICE more useful. You know what she's also good with? Grail ICE. That's a real living wall right there. With grails you always have different types of ICE in hand, and you can just screw the runner every time they don't have their full rig - and grail ICE has a bite. Sure, you lose the credits you spent to rez the ICE you replace, but if it lands you a couple of Lancelot or Merlin shots it's probably worth it. Of course a lot of players are just running a certain totally balanced AI breaker... but Midori can drop a Swordsman or Komainu out of nowhere too. "Oh, I see you just want past my TL;DR to spoon my Merlin? Here, have a Komainu!"

Does all this make her playable outside of jank? Maybe not. If her ability was a paid ability then the surprise factor might be worth it, but now runners can always jack out after you rez her.

(Business First era)
51

She simply has not seen a lot of use yet, and that is probably because prickly ICE or even threatening ICE simply isn’t common enough yet to really make her powerful. Having to rez that piece of ICE is an additional cost as well, but at least Midori is free to rez. What she does do extraordinarily well is advance the shell game. That ICE could be anything. It could a simple trap that just is dealt with, or it could be a piece of ICE the runner won’t have the breaker or the money to deal with, leading to a very tough decision - does the runner jack out? (Her ability triggers during 2.0, the approach - meaning she has to already be rezzed before the run starts if it's the first piece of ICE, or she can only affect the second piece onward - and the runner can choose to jack out at 2.2) That insecurity of what is there ahead of them can be the key to bluffing away a lot of runners.

(The Underway era)
422
Midori has some interesting utility if you're worried about parasite and other ice destruction. You can use her to retrieve parasited ice, saving you cards and potentially install credits. Femme is also countered to some extent. Another use is to retrieve positional ice like Chum and Inazuma when the ice behind them is neutralised. The nice thing about those uses is they're genuinely cost neutral. You're not down a click because you got an install out of it, and you're not down a card because you got your Ice back. I think for those reasons she might be worth considering if you have plans to put Inazuma in front of Komainu. —