News Hound

News Hound 2[credit]

Ice: Sentry - Tracer
Strength: 4
Influence: 2

If a current is active, News Hound gains "[subroutine] End the run." after all its other subroutines.

[subroutine] Trace[3]. If successful, give the Runner 1 tag.

"Most reporting these days can be done by AI. We just need the talent for the name recognition."
Illustrated by Darren Waud
Decklists with this card

Data and Destiny (dad)

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

No rulings yet for this card.

Reviews

So this piece of ICE is pretty dumb.

Without its second sub it's Hunter for an extra credit. That's pretty bad, but as soon as you put a current on the table things go off the damn rails. A 2 cost 4 str tag/etr sentry is bonkers. Here are the costs to get through News Hound on all the killers printed as of D&D:

Alias: 4

Cerberus "Cuj.0" H3: 4

Creeper: 6

Dagger: 1 stealth, 2

Faerie: 2

Femme Fatale: 6

Garrote: 4

GS Shrike M2: 4

Mimic: 1 sucker, 2 creds

Ninja: 5

Pipeline: 8 and a bucket of your own tears

Shiv: 3 other breakers

Switchblade: 2 stealth

So basically, the only things that get through this dog reasonably are Mimic/Sucker, stealth breakers, and Faerie. Everything else pays at least double the rez cost.

TL;DR, NBN just got one of the best pieces of ICE in the game. Arf arf.

(Data and Destiny era)
856
It's easy to see how ludicrous this ice is in Sol (or anywhere else with a current running) by comparing it to Eli. It's a credit cheaper, a sentry (generally better than a barrier), can't be clicked through, and is taxing on facecheck (!). This ice alone probably makes Sol the best of the DnD corp factions. —
Someone mentioned on another piece of ICE that it depends on a current being in play, NOT on a Corp current being in play. Thus the Runner cannot disable it by overriding with a Current of their own. This is also true for News Hound. —
4tman might be the most popular counter to this (aside from Mimic/sucker). —
What? No Gingerbread? —

I feel kinda silly pointing this out, but I had a runner miss this: any current counts. If a runner plays Employee Strike to kill Paywall Implementation or Surveillance Sweep, News Hound keeps its second sub.

So in a twisted way, this card punishes a runner for playing their own current. Take that, you dirty anti-corporate hippies!

(Data and Destiny era)
I love the flavor of that mechanic: no matter who the target of the scandal is, the media always benefits in the end. —

My favorite ICE.

Obviously this piece of ICE is great in New Angeles Sol. An 2 Rez, 4 Strength Sentry with a punishing sub and ETR that will almost always be active? Yes, please!

However, it almost never sees play outside of that ID. In a meta that is becoming dominated by Employee Strike and Rumor Mill, that might be a mistake.

Corps, or NBN at the least, should start considering packing both a Current of their own and this. The Current to fight the aforementioned Runner ones, and this because it remains good even if they win the Current battle.

(Blood Money era)
This is basically the best ICE in the game when there is a current on the table. I've never run it outside of NAS but you may be right, it may be time to start. —

Here is the forgotten ice. Since the ban of Currents, ages ago, nobody as look to this ice. Can it still do anything?

The most comparable ice is Turnpike. So let's review it. It has the same cost to rez. Turnpike has strength of 3 while this is strength of 4. Here are the three most popular killer and the total cost to pass the ices.

Except for Bukhgalter, it is usually easier to pay for the trace (cost 3 for most runners and 2 for runner with 1).

Like Turnpike, it can be boosted by Improved Tracers. But considering that you could play Turnpike, there is not much reason to play this ice. If it was to give a tag while keeping the rez cost low, you would be better off playing Authenticator.

So, don't play this ice, unless it is to see the amazing art and quote. A job well done on the card art and flavor.

(Parhelion era)
4175