History may write me down as a naysayer to the second coming of Christ, but I fear this card may not be the IG killer that everyone says it will be. Salsette Slums has a variety of shortfalls that hinders it drastically in both the Industrial Genomics: Growing Solutions and Near-Earth Hub: Broadcast Center matchup. If all of this is completely alien to you, look at the explanation given by tiedyedvortex below. Remember that this isn't the only solution we have so far for the Museum of History/Mumba Temple matchup: this card has to be compared to Archives Interface, multiple Scrubbers, Imp, Employee Strike, and Net Shield.

  • For starters, as tiedyedvortex pointed out, cards trashed have to be done out of pocket with all the nasty stuff that comes with it. That means no Imping, and Industrial Genomics will send that trash cost sky-high. Of course, you could just run Archives first and then trash it afterwards, and take all that nasty Shock! damage. But what's the difference between doing that and trashing the asset that needs to go with Imp and then running Archives with an Archives Interface out? Of course, running Archives at all can be avoided by playing additional Scrubbers or Employee Strike, but then now you're running 2 silver bullet cards minimum that you need to see both of in one matchup that aren't necessary in any others. On top of that - and this is crucial for Whizzards, who still have difficulty with this kind of asset spam - you don't avoid Hostile Infrastructure damage. Industrial Genomics: Growing Solutions demands that you stop trashing assets because you just cannot afford to pay the net damage or the money. This silver bullet helps you on neither front.

  • Then there's the "Once per turn" clause. This honestly isn't as bad as it could be - often trashing multiple assets in a turn against this kind of deck will get you killed anyway. But it does mean that even if you do see Salsette Slums early, there's only so many cards you can remove from the game before they load up on face-downs and pain in Archives and trashing every asset just becomes impossible.

  • My biggest niggling annoyance with this card is the two-influence cost. That's just too much for a hate card for us to see it out of faction, especially since other silver bullets exist at the 1 influence slot (and sadly, no 0 influence options - sorry Apex, Sunny, Adam, Kit, and Iain) That means this card just gives even more answers to the faction that needs it least, the faction with access to Archives Interface, Scrubber, Hacktivist Meeting and Imp anyway.

  • But actually my two biggest issues with this card are on the type line. You see, hate cards are only effective when their counters are not. Fast Advance continues to be a threat because Cyberdex Virus Suite exists and is a very useful and powerful card. Midseason decks are not because Snatch and Grab is not a very good solution to Film Critic. The Weyland Scorched Earth plan has never been the same since Plascrete Carapace was printed, because hardware are difficult to destroy. Resources are not. In NBN, naked installing a Breaking News along with two other assets, then scoring it and trashing the Salsette Slums is a perfectly reasonable tactic. Naked Breaking News is something you'd probably be doing anyway, as long as they weren't checking every server, so it's already a useful a powerful play without being a counter to this card.

  • So OK then, maybe you just play this card against Industrial Genomics. But they already have a solution to your plans. Enter Elizabeth Mills. Locations are already pretty darn big in the current meta - every Anarch is running Wyldside, and almost every deck is Anarch after all - and Aesop's Pawnshop, Hunting Grounds (which itself acts as Komainu hate) and Off-Campus Apartment are all pretty popular today (in very different decks). So Lizzie already ticks the useful box without considering the card it's countering. It also doesn't have to sit on the board for a whole turn, is reusable thanks to your endless recursion shenanigans, free when you factor in Mumba Temple, triggers Turtlebacks, and removes it's own bad publicity if and when you recur it. Most importantly of all, however, is that it's searchable with Tech Startup. Yikes. Two influence is a little steep, but Industrial Genomics lists are running stuff like 3x Hive - they've got plenty of spare influence.

But as I said earlier, this card doesn't have to be perfect, just better than the alternatives. I just don't think it hits the mark. Archives Interface is more likely to stay on the board, Net Shield protects your hand, and Scrubbers, Imp and Employee Strike protects your economy and are about as fragile but much more versatile. If none of these can solve the problem that is recurring asset spam, then I don't think Salsette Slums will be the solution either.

It does, however, work well against non-IG or NEH decks when using Medium to get those deep R&D digs in. It deals with Cyberdex Virus Suite without putting it in the bin and preventing you from farming Datasucker tokens, and it lets you destroy Caprice Nisei and Jackson Howard without fear of them being shuffled back in by a second coming of the real lord of Netrunner. And of course, it turns on Populist Rally.

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It actually does dodge the Hostile Infrastructure damage. You didn't trash the card, you paid the trash cost and removed it from the game. —
@Ender A: good catch, but would this mean you also couldn't use Whizzard or Scrubber (or Paricia) credits to pay the costs since those cards read "use these credits to trash cards"? —
I'm pretty sure you could still use recurring credits such as from scrubber. You are still paying the trash cost of the accessed card. —
So long as you are accessing the card and paying its trash cost, you can use the credits as usual and still count for Salsette Slums. Contrast with Political Operative/Imp, which are not accessing/not paying the trash cost respectively. —
Impretty sure it doesnt works from archivew. It says "when you pay the trash cost...", not "if you pay...". It means when you normally trash a card (by paying thee trash cost, so imp doesnt play), which you have accessed. —

Guys. Palana Foods. It's finger-licking good. I'm loving it. Make it great, and it'll let you have it your way. Eat fresh. It's way better than global foods, it's Jinteki's.

Palana Foods is the 5th "gain 1" identity. How does it match up to it's peers? More exactly how much money can you expect to gain when you put that power in the hands of your opponent? Let's run down the list by considering an average game with this double-barred ID:

  • The first thing we need to decide is when the Runner NEEDS to draw a card. After all, technically speaking you might never need to draw - but you'll probably flatline to the first Snare! or Fetal AI you see. A good benchmark is when they drop 2 two cards, or in other terms, take 3 net damage. How many times will that happen? Well it's tricky to evaluate, but with Snare!, Komainu, and Tsurugi available for Glacier-style decks and Project Junebug, Ronin and Psychic Field available for trap-style decks, I'd say it's reasonable to expect to get 1-4 credits from net damage alone. That's comparable to Jinteki's other money-making identity, the oft-forgotten Nisei Division: The Next Generation which often only triggers on Caprice Nisei. That's a nice appetizer.

  • But not many games can be won if the runner only plays with the 5 cards in their starting hand. At some point they have to draw to find the three breakers to get through all of your ice. If they run 2 copies of each breaker in the deck, like some popular Whizzard decks at the moment, then they need to draw 20 cards after their opening hand to get a 50% chance of seeing one of each of them. If they spend every on every turn drawing until they find all of them, they can expect it to take 20/4 = 5 turns without additional draw, which is 5 on top of whatever drawing they did to mitigate net damage. With 3x Restructure, 3x Hedge Fund and 3x Beanstalk Royalties, Weyland Consortium: Building a Better World can usually gain 6-9 from it's ID alone, putting Pālanā Foods: Sustainable Growth at least on par with the third best core-set corp ID. Well, it's a starter.

  • Of course, drawing 4 a turn is a pretty unrealistic model of how a runner plays, even when trying to minimize the effect of this identity. Most of the time, they'll draw a couple of times a turn and install a couple of cards or play events. That means it will take the runner twice as long to draw 3 breakers from their deck, which means we can usually expect to see Pālanā Foods: Sustainable Growth pick up at least 11-14. Given that's around the number of run events a typical Ken "Express" Tenma: Disappeared Clone deck runs, we'll probably make more money than the only "gain 1" Runner identity. But let's get onto the main course:

  • Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future is the gold standard for economy identities, typically making 15-20 credits over the course of the game. It's no exaggeration to say that Haas triggers every turn of the game, just for doing the things you have to do anyway. Can Pālanā Foods: Sustainable Growth meet this level? Well so far I've only been considering the runner drawing and playing cards - but not running! A good guideline is that most runners run once every turn on average, which means that by turn 10, they've used 10 running instead of drawing. That's another 2-3. But the real meat of the matter is that Runner's have to make money to do everything we've talked about already, which means they spend time making cash instead of drawing up, which means it takes longer to find the cards they need. If you spend one a turn gaining cash, running, and installing, then of course Palana's gonna trigger on almost every turn of the game. If the runner tries to play around that, then they'll fall foul of one of the other aspects: running into Snares, not finding their breakers until they hit a nasty Archer, not running enough or not having enough money to run. In short, if you don't draw every turn, you're gonna get your just desserts.

Sometimes however, Pālanā Foods: Sustainable Growth is even better than the best economy identity in the game. That's because Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future might have to triple-advance it's 5/3 agendas, or otherwise doesn't have anything to install. Against MaxX: Maximum Punk Rock and Wyldside you will gain credits every turn regardless of your actions and Drug Dealer, I've Had Worse and Astrolabe trigger on the corporation's turn for extra credits. You haven't seen the power of a credit every turn until you've played against one of these cards; it really takes the biscuit.

But when it comes down to how to split the bill, how do you spend all that money? Here are a few ideas:

  • Frosties: make money like an HB, play like an HB; spend that money on big fat ice. These kind of decks play a lot like Jinteki: Replicating Perfection, but your natural supply of drip economy let's you swap out the Sundews for Restructure to accelerate your game.

  • Lucky Charms: Marcus Batty and grail ice are a match made in heaven, but fitting all of the cards necessary can leave you low on card slots for economy. Just like how Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future can run fewer cards than Haas-Bioroid: Stronger Together, you can rely on your identity and play more of the cards that make you dangerous.

  • Shredded Wheat: nothing says "need money" like SEA Source/Scorched Earth. My personal favourite, Shreddies goes well with a "Cambridge/Yomi" list to keep them preoccupied before you move in for the kill. Speaking of which, your identity allows for more powerful 3/1 agendas than Gila Hands Arcology and Profiteering that are favoured in "Cambridge/Yomi" decks, like House of Knives, Chronos Project and The Future is Now to find those kill pieces.

  • Apple Jacks: Of course, nothing's stopping you from playing Profiteering. Pālanā Foods: Sustainable Growth actually mitigates the problem of Account Siphon or Vamp really well: by the time they draw it, they've spent enough turns drawing that you've recuperated most of the credits you lost. A constant supply of credits let's you always threaten traps and advance traps further than normal, since the cost to tempo is made up during your opponent's turn.

  • Nesquik: gaining a credit most turns accelerates your game somewhat and let's you score when you should be building up money. Playing fast means they have to find their breakers, which means they need to draw more. So why not play a Jinteki variant of Supermodernism? Think like VinegaryMink's Bed Brew.

  • Honey Cheerios: You may have noticed I haven't mentioned the two other Palana Corporation cards introduced in this pack: Harvester and Pālanā Agroplex. They encourage a more "thousand cuts" style game, where killing the runner will probably only happen after they have no cards left in their stack. Levy AR Lab Access was the final nail in the coffin for that type of deck, but you may be able to make it work. Where is the "Honey", you ask? Sweeps Week! Getting that additional off of Pālanā Agroplex because they have 6 cards in hand is, well, sweet.

  • Special K: take note: if any identity was going to make The Twins/Mumbad City Grid/TL;DR + Komainu happen, it's Pālanā Foods: Sustainable Growth. Watch this space.

Ultimately there's just so much you can do with Pālanā Foods: Sustainable Growth that it's always down for a second serving.

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All I can say about this ID, and moreover this review, coming from Magic where Cephalid Breakfast, Cheerios, Pixy Stix and Eggs have all been deck names, this has made me smile. —

Cmon guys, it's not so bad. Private Contracts fills a very specific niche in the meta that not many other corporation cards can, because it's something to do when you have nothing better to do.

Let's get the clear advantage out of the way first. 5 to trash and a limited supply of credits is a real disincentive for the runner, which means that it often can be left undefended. That's great, because this is not a "money up, rez ice" card like Melange Mining Corp. or Adonis Campaign. That means you really don't want to put it in your scoring server. But that's fine, because:

The subtle second benefit of this card comes from the nature of playing corp. Drawing a card can often be a dangerous action as it may leave you flooded, so often you find yourself spending that last click doing anything else. But there are surprisingly few options: IT Department is arguably the best choice in the right deck, and for money there's only Capital Investors and Shell Corporation, which are easily trashable in most decks. If you extend the search to 2 click actions, there's Gila Hands Arcology and Government Contracts, but they're agendas. That's how Private Contracts circumvents the return on investment problem: when there's no alternatives, then it's the best card available! Shoddy clicks per credits? It's better than 1 click per credit!

So that's the intention: play this card in a deck where drawing and playing a card is worse than doing nothing. When does that happen? Well, it's potentially an issue for Jinteki: their HQ defense is pretty weak anyway, and if they draw an advanceable trap they can't really use it anyway. On top of that, they might want to preserve cards on top of R&D in case they're being deep-digged by Medium. The comparatively high rez cost does hurt it here though, since Jinteki needs money most when they're poor, like after Account Siphon, but the richness of the runner allows them to go in and trash Private Contracts when they wouldn't be able to touch alternatives like scored Gila Hands Arcology.

But the deck I've seen Private Contracts shine most in is asset spam Gagarin Deep Space: Expanding the Horizon, especially around about the time Order and Chaos came out, before cards like Public Support came out to take up deck slots. Gagarin's weakness is central servers, and hitting Private Contracts stops agendas going into hand and doesn't put fresh cards on R&D. It's effective 6 trash cost is obscene, it's an asset so synergises with everything from Tour Guide to forcing the runner to keep you honest, and unlike other options like The Root or advancing space ice it gives you "real" credits to help land SEA Source. The second most popular Gagarin deck on OCTGN runs 3 of this card. "Worst card in the game?" Hell no!

So when do you slot this card? Well, count the number of times you click for credits in a normal game. If you do it 3 or fewer times, you don't want this card. if you do it 6 or more times, it's a decent return on investment. If you do it more than 9 times, then your deck probably doesn't have enough money cards in it anyway and Private Contracts alone won't solve your problem. After all, it's only a little over a credit per click.

And even if you decide to put it back in the binder, at least take a moment to appreciate the sick green rimlight.

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Poor old Weyland only got a single card in this pack, and it's a real tough one to use effectively. I'm gonna comprehensively cover every card it interacts with, from the "meh" to the downright disgustingly good. "Faceup" means that ice and assets have to be rezzed, and agendas have to be Public, limiting the pool to Weyland's Renovations and agendas targeted by Casting Call. That leaves 3 types of cards that you can combine with Dedication Ceremony: Public Agendas, Advanceable Ice, and Advanceable Assets. Let's go through each of them in turn.

Despite the seeming focus of this card on it's interactions with the over-advanceable Public agendas, Dedication Ceremony does little to impress. Reminder: "placing" advancement counters is not the same as advancing, which means that the abilities do not fire when Dedication Ceremony is used. However, it does mean that the agenda gets to its advancement cost quicker, which means it can be overadvanced before it is scored. Let's assume the player spends as many clicks advancing as possible, and scores it the turn they can. That means two potential plays:

  • Install/Advance/Advance // Advance/Advance/Advance, versus

  • Install/Dedication Ceremony/Advance // Advance/Advance/Advance

Let's look at the three current cases:

  • Underway Renovation trashes 7 cards for 5 credits normally, and with Dedication Ceremony, it trashes 8 cards for 5 credits. I wouldn't play a card that milled a single card for 0 credits even if it didn't require an agenda on the table. Pass.

  • Oaktown Renovation gains 5 credits normally, and with Dedication Ceremony you can reach 7 credits over the course of 2 turns advancing. I know, that's a worse Beanstalk Royalties. Uggh.

  • Hollywood Renovation has a higher advancement cost, which is why it actually may work with Dedication Ceremony. That's because you actually gain the benefits appreciably earlier. Normally you can place 5 advancement counters with it for 5 credits, but with Dedication Ceremony that goes up to 9. It even allows you to Fast Advance:

Install Hollywood Renovation/Dedication Ceremony/advance // Install Project Atlas/advance, placing 1 counter on Project Atlas/advance, placing 2 counters on Project Atlas/score both for 5 agenda points.

As a three card combo, however, and a fast advance strategy that requires an agenda already on the table (defeating the point of playing fast advance in the first place), I'm afraid I can't see this strategy appearing outside some janky decks. So let's move on. What about advanceable ice? Well, the closest comparison I can make is Patch, a card that already rarely sees play. For most ice, Dedication Ceremony is a credit more for a credit extra tax, which is not a terrible improvement, but it can't touch non-advanceable ice. I wouldn't recommend building a deck around it, but as a potential side-use of one of the other strategies it's not completely terrible.

But what about that final group. This list contains the assets that gain a benefit from a Dedication Ceremony, with a couple that don't work like Constellation Protocol. This is where we get into some pretty ridiculous jank territory, with some of it verging on being playable. Let's dive in to my favourites:

  • Allele Repression: recurring 3 Scorched Earth's for 2 clicks and 3 credits isn't bad.

  • Ronin: A really interesting reason to run Dedication Ceremony in Jinteki: it let's you fire an unadvanced Ronin for 2 credits and 3 clicks.

  • Haas Arcology AI: Yeah, I knew you had to mouse-over that card. Dedication Ceremony gives Haas Arcology AI a chance to make something of itself: remember once again that placing advancement tokens is not the same as advancing, which means that Haas Arcology AI can be targetted with Dedication Ceremony when rezzed. If it's ability could be used multiple times in a turn, there might've been a hope to quadruple Scorched Earth the runner, landing it a place in some real tier 1.5 decks. As it stands, it can act as a poor man's Director Haas. Which is... OK? Search it out with Executive Boot Camp.

  • GRNDL Refinery/Reversed Accounts: this combination is why I wrote this review in the first place. If you don't see it: Install asset/Dedication Ceremony/fire to gain 12 credits or make the runner lose 12 credits. all at the cost of a single credit. If you were wondering, the reason why Dedication Ceremony makes such a difference to the playability of those cards is the 1-turn factor. If you have to stick it a scoring remote, it can be trashed, leaving the click investment wasted.

Gaining 12 is pretty astounding: it's a similar credit swing to the ol' Oversight AI/Curtain Wall combo in Blue Sun: Powering the Future, but without the risk of failure (note: with the exception of the upcoming Councilman, the runner cannot stop this). But the latter is ridiculous. 12 credit loss is like a corp-side Vamp, opening up scoring windows by sheer force. On top of that, runners tend to have control over their credit pool and never let themselves dip too low, which means they lack economy cards that can even be played at a couple of credits.

In Blue Sun: Powering the Future, the large ice you use guarantee a scoring window if not two, and the credit swing can put you back into SEA Source range. I like rezzing a Corporate Town at the beginning of my turn to trash a loaded Kati Jones, then they get to see their economy get ripped to shreds as they scramble up the 5 credits needed to trash it. Meanwhile, Spark Agency: Worldswide Reach can send the runner back to the early game before they escaped the advertisement trap and keep them there with City Surveillance. It's so good I'm putting it in the "Tier 1.5" category. Take it to a GNK and proceed to make some stories.

Moral of the story? Don't sleeve it up with your Renovations. Cut the ribbon with something that you really want to show off.

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Contract Killer is worth mentioning. It's similar to Ronin but it does 1 less damage, can hit connections, can be fired off in a single turn from non-rezzed (install first click, rez, Dedicate second click, activate third click), and is entirely in-faction for Weyland. —
I think the interaction with Oaktown Renovation is both better and worse than you're positing. On the one hand, I think your numbers are slightly out - with straight advancement, Oaktown actually earns you 6 credits (4 advancemeents for 1 gain each, plus 1 for 2), whereas with Dedication Ceremony replacing one of the clicks means the first turn breaks even and the second turn is gain 6. So it's actually 6 vs 6 and Dedication Ceremony has given you a profit of absolutely 0! BUT - what it gives you is flexibility. If you install-advance-advance Oaktown, then next turn you have to spend at least two clicks advancing further, or else leave it on the board for another turn. With Install-Dedicate-Advance, you have a choice: you can score it instantly if you need clicks for something else (and scoring it cost/gained you a net 0), or you have a click-for-two-credit action available for you as many times as you can spare this turn. So Dedication does some work with Oaktown, but purely as flexibility, rather than as finance. —
Careful. Though it's clear from the rest of the sentence, saying "you can score it instantly" might be misleading as you can't score it on the turn you dedicate it. "...immediately when your next turn begins" would have been less ambiguous. —
Given the ruling on Tennin, does Dedication Ceremony allow you to put advancement tokens on your ID? And runner cards? —

It's also worth mentioning that Run Amok is exceptional at getting into 1 ice servers, allowing it to be used as DDoS 4-6. That's because if the corp doesn't rez, then you steal the agenda. But if the corp does rez, you can let it fire, trash the ice, and then run the now undefended server. It even stacks with DDoS, allowing you to get into two deep servers.

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