So FF wanted to include a neutral 3/1 agenda in the new core set, which is probably a reasonable goal given that Core Set 1.0 HB was forced to have 1 more agenda point than it needed, which was poor game design. In general having an extra 1 pointer just gives new players more flexibility, which is probably the point.

There were 4 agendas they could have chosen from, assuming they didn't want to design a new card: Veterans Program, Profiteering, Chronos Project and False Lead (original page with reviews).

Veterans Program is too niche, and 2.0 includes Elizabeth Mills anyway.

Profiteering I would have preferred to False Lead. I think new corp players would have liked to have the credits trading that for essentially giving the runner 3 credits every turn thereafter. Until Lizzy comes along anyway. Certainly it's not overpowered, but FF decided False Lead was preferable.

Chronos Project would have been my pick for sure, but was probably excluded due to FF considering it OP going forward. I suspect they want the runner's heap to be more involved in the game and don't want the corp to have a blanket way of removing it from the game. Shame though, I'll miss it.

So that leaves us with False Lead. The card that won out. The original page gives a list of possible uses. In core set the best use would be in HB to stop the runner from clicking through to score even more points, but I still think that's a niche case for 3/1.

Beyond core set there are better 3/1 agendas for this to be in any way relevant. I guess FF though this was the only option for this slot in the set, and they are probably right, but for players new and old it's mostly irrelevant. For new players, only include it if you need the 1 point to make the minimal agenda points for a valid deck, and buy a datapack with better agendas as soon as you can.

Oh, I think it does have it's role in Core Set 2.0 only beginner games. Just tag the runner during the run with a Hunter or Raven, then False Lead away their clicks so they can't remove the tags and scorch them. This agenda basically says 'run 2nd click and I kill you' in Weyland, which is an okay effect for a Core Set card. It teaches you to watch your clicks and be on guard for killing options. —
I'm an idiot and Scorch has rotated, just ignore me :D —
But Chronos doesn't rotate yet, it's from the lunar cycle. And I think that the use of "you can't take that tag out unless you're in clic 1" can be nice even if the only fear is to Close Accounts or your resources being dumped. —

I'm actually bummed this card keeps getting reprinted. Cards that make priority window critically important outside of runs are super annoying, with the runner needing to ask permission between click actions. :( Really taxes game pacing.

Assuming you've already got a bunch of bioroid ice in your deck, the only downside to this card is that it doesn't do anything on it's own. This is really only a problem early game. You can think of this similarly to positional ice, except it's temporal ice - other ice needs to be rezzed first.

It's 2 stronger than Viktor 1.0 for the same price. If you are one of the few people still using that card, swap them for this now.

Actually, from my experience it's not Viktor 1.0 you want to swap with this, but Viktor 2.0. The fact that Ravana is weak early game means that *you need early game ice to go together with it*, or it's useless. And Viktor 1.0 actually offers one of the best combos with Ravana, giving you the choice of either firing two brain damage routines or one brain and one end routine. Of course, all this discussion may be moot, as the two Fairchildren seem to me to become the de-facto code gate choices for any Bioroid ice suite in the future. —
Fairchild 1.0 looks to be in the same vane as Pup and Popup window, basically causing a 2 credit swing in the corps favour for the most part. I could see that combing with Ravana at the right time though, if you can see the runner has no credits and forcing them to trash something. Not bad for the price. I'll think about the combo with Ravana and Victor 1.0. It might be worth putting 1 or 2 back in my deck. —
This card has made me revisit Stronger Together. The stats are nuts! It stinks if you get 2 or 3 of these before any other bioroid, but hopefully that won't happen often. But you have so many choices once you are up and running. Brain damage, trash a program, end the run, even give a tag if you got sherlock 2.0 rezzed. I'm pretty sure sherlock 2.0 is the only ice that has a sub that straight up gives a tag. —

Dirty Laundry is a card I really wanted to like, especially in combination with Comet but it falls down in several respects.

  1. You need to be certain your run will succeed or you are just wasting credits. The likelihood you'll have this card in a window where you can use it turns out to be pretty small.
  2. If you are waiting until you've got 2 credits more than you need to make run, you are probably not running early enough.
  3. There are other, more flexible economy options that will push this out of your deck.

Most of the time, this card sits in your hand waiting until a time when you can both be sure of a successful run and have 2 credits more than you would otherwise need to make that run. For me that has happened once out of about 5 games.

It combos pretty well when you are going to run anyway. This card compresses clics. For example, imagine that you have Desperado and Grifter out. You need to get in. If you use sure gamble you need 2 clics (one for cash, other for the run). Here you make 2 things in one clic. That's worth a cred. (more less). —
Also, you can make pressure into the archives and add more tokens to your datasuckers. (if the archives are clean). But, of course is not as universal as Sure gamble or easy mark. = ) —
If you are only playing a Dirty Laundry once in five games then you are having some problems my friend. First off this card should not be used by itself. This card should be in Criminal decks with desperado, security testing and other cards that benefit from running, or in prepaid kate decks, when that was a thing. Second with the current meta of the corps playing remote heavy, you should have no problem running on an asset they have out to gain credits and trash their cards to make them poor. This card is actually pretty good, i honestly just think you are putting it in decks that it doesn't need to be in, which doesn't make this card bad. —
My first review. Thanks for the feedback. Maybe I'll give it another try in a month or two. I'm still experimenting with Creation and Control and a Hayley deck. —
This card never falls down in a Ken deck, who's running Public Terminal now thanks to MWL. With Public Term out, A Ken Dirty Laundry Run becomes 'click for eight credits.' Nine if you have Desperado up. That's a massive swing, especially because you're going to access as well. —