With a new cycle on the horizon, it's now the beginning of the end for Borealis (at least in startup, which this review focuses on) and so I thought it was good time to put my 2 on the Boat.

When it first came out, I was just starting out, and so with limited experience and cards I HATED it with a passion.

Now, with more experience and cards under my belt...well I still don't like it, but hate is too strong of a word.

Firstly, yes, there is counterplay if it shows up on your board: Drago + tag punishment of your choice (usually Retribution), Nanisivik Grid, Kimberlite Field + Tollbooth, ICE with multiple subroutines, etc. Also, at 5 inf, most out of faction runners are probably only going to be running only 2 max (unless they're forgoing other tools but that's another topic), so if you manage to trash their first copy you have set them back quite a bit.

However, a lot of the aforementioned strategies are quite restrictive. Either due to set up, requiring Jank™, or simply because they die easily (either to a Pinhole or a stroke of bad luck) Furthermore, the moment the boat comes down, its only a matter of time until the runner can walk into any server unimpeded, so if you don't have your wincon at the ready, you're pretty much screwed. (also it bothers me how little sense it makes thematically to include a boat in your deck unless you're Padma but that's because I'm a crazy person who cares too much about theme)

Personally, I think the boat would have been fine if it was more restrictive to use. Limit 1 per deck, can only be used once per turn, loses counters slowly, gives you a tag, idk something. Because atm it's just kinda of a no brainer to use and it makes the game less interesting IMHO.