Theophilius Bagbiter

♦ Theophilius Bagbiter 3[credit]

Resource: Connection
Influence: 4

When you install Theophilius Bagbiter, lose all credits in your credit pool.

Your maximum hand size is equal to the number of credits in your credit pool.

"Why is a raven like a typing desk?"
Illustrated by Matt Zeilinger
Decklists with this card

Honor and Profit (hap)

#49 • English
Startup Card Pool
Standard Card Pool
Standard Ban List (show history)
Rulings

No rulings yet for this card.

Reviews

Unconventional

While functionally similar to the Corp ID Cerebral Imaging: Infinite Frontiers, Theophilius Bagbiter does actually have some combos that could make it a force to be reckoned with.

Combos

Hardware

Ekomind with nearly unlimited Deck-size can allow the runner to install an epic suite of programs, later when the runner is flush with cash & cards, install Overmind and the corp might as well hand the keys over to the runner.

Box-E could potentially provide take the sting out of spending credits on a big push.

Clone Chip would be useful to recur programs that Theophilius Bagbiter may have forced the runner to trash.

Ohter honorable mentions are Brain Cage, Brain Chip, Logos

Programs

Faust is a truly unconventional ice-breaker that has a natural fit with Theophilius Bagbiter, what else are you going to do with all those useless cards anyway?

Origami for a maximum of 9 additional hand size at no cost to install (if all three copies of Origami are installed).

Events

Game Day for only 2 and 1 , this card in combo with Theophilius Bagbiter will allow the runner to quickly fill up his hand, would be really helpful to do once the runner has seen a windfall from the likes of Bank Job etc.

Hostage, got your economy setup and need to get Theophilius Bagbiter installed, this card could help you tutor it.

Resources Beach Party, Borrowed Satellite, Public Sympathy, Safety First all interact with runner hand size in meaningful ways that may prove useful to a Theophilius Bagbiter based strategy.

Fall Guy certainly would be helpful to protect Theophilius Bagbiter in case the corp is able to tag the runner.

Duggar's provides another opportunity to quickly fill the runners hand provided the runner has 10+ .

Pros

Massive grip size potentially makes flat-line due ot corp operations such as Scorched Earth nearly impossible to pull off.

Massive grip size provides tremendous strategic flexibility.

Runners will need to carry a large balance by necessity, this can be used at any opportune time for one big game ending push.

Cons

Credit loss when Theophilius Bagbiter is installed is similar to suffering Closed Accounts, requiring the runner to carefully time installation to mitigate this negative

Financial discipline is required to make a strategy based on this card word as economy will be tied up through much of the game

As a resource Theophilius Bagbiter is vulnerable to being trashed if a runner is tagged, this could be quite painful if the runner has a very large hand-size.

Summary

There are have been some very successful decks based on Theophilius Bagbiter however it is not for the feint at heart. Specific combo cards cannot be neglected and at 4 influence points an all-in commitment is required when used out of faction.

--It just saddens me when I see cards with no reviews. If you appreciated this review, please give a heart and I'll be encouraged to write more.

(Data and Destiny era)
3 Origamis installed actually gives you +9 hand size! —
Thanks Vaslav good catch, I've updated the review accordingly. —
No love for using Sage? —
Brilliant review. I've been looking at ways to use Theo, and this review provies so many options. Thanks! —

This might need some thinking over, but Theophilius Bagbiter in combination with Data Folding is a very interesting long-term setup into a potential CI7-style combo. What sort of runner-side Notrunner can be played with a massive stack of cash and an even larger pile of cards in hand...?

(Quorum era)
1313
Ultimately, it's usually easier to load up a Kati Jones and unload it when you play Bagbiter. Emptying your credit pool makes this card pretty rubbish without a quick way of making it back. If you go to the decklists featuring this card you can see lists exactly like that. —