Compile

Compile 2[credit]

Event: Run
Influence: 3

Make a run. The first time you encounter a piece of ice during this run, you may search your stack or heap for a program and install it, ignoring all costs. When the run ends, add that program to the bottom of your stack if it is still installed.

Illustrated by Liiga Smilshkalne
Decklists with this card

Whispers in Nalubaale (win)

#88 • English
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Rulings
  • Updated 2024-03-22

    ANCUR UFAQ 23 [Michael Boggs]

    Does the Runner have to shuffle the stack after searching it with Compile?

    Per the rules on searching a deck for cards, after a search is performed, the deck must be shuffled immediately before proceeding with any remaining effects initiated by the search.

Reviews

Similar to Test Run, Compile lets you get programs from your stack/heap at a fixed (lower) price.

The main benefits of Compile over Test Run is that it's a run event, and the program tutor is delayed until you hit encounter ice. This gives you the freedom to make an educated choice on what to pull, and under certain circumstances, it might dissuade the Corp from rezzing any ice at all!

Compile has a bad interaction with Femme, who can't bypass the first piece of ice, since you have to encounter the ice before Compile's tutor activates. For any ice other than the first, she works fine though.

Notable differences to Test Run:

  • the tutored program goes on the bottom of the deck, not the top
  • the program vanishes at the end of the run, not the end of the turn

You can do some fun things with non-breaker programs like SMC and Grappling Hook. I'm sure there are other candidates for shenanigans in this direction; I can't think of any others at the present time.

Overall, where Test Run is great for banking up and finding stuff you plan on keeping, Compile's flexibility gives you a bit of push power to get into servers you couldn't normally reach. It's best suited for programs that trash themselves or conditional breakers.

(Whispers in Nalubaale era)
114
If you build a deck with Trupano and Hivemind, you could melt an ICE while running —
Trypano, I mean —