Haarpsichord Studios: Entertainment Unleashed

Haarpsichord Studios: Entertainment Unleashed

This is a great ID, even with Film Critic out there.

For one, you can kill the runner without relying on stolen agendas. Just score out Breaking News plus another agenda. Next turn, activate 24/7 News Cycle to give the runner two tags, before double Scorched Earthing them. The runner can defend this with a Plascrete Carapace, but you can repeat this combination multiple times during the game. Lots of low point agendas work well here. The ID further supports this strategy by guarding against multiple agenda loss, despite having a higher agenda card density.

In addition, the ID is good at scoring wins too. Once you are ahead you can start playing two agendas down to the table. The runner can take at most one, leaving the other for you. Quite often this can lead to forced wins.

Besides the above, you still have the "regular" kill methods (Midseason Replacements, SEA Source) if Film Critic is not in play, as well as the AstroScript Pilot Program fast advance capability, making for quite a versatile deck.

Another major benefit is that the deck is quite easy to play for the corp, whereas the runner has to analyze the game state a lot. Games are fast too, making this an excellent ID for tournaments.

Overall, it's a cracking good ID!

54
Kitsune is a good way to get that initial advantage, slipping through a two- or even three-pointer by forcing the Runner to steal a one-pointer while it's on the board and partially advanced. Plus there's all the stuff your review of Franchise City talks about! —
Ad Blitz

Ad Blitz

This is a great card for Spark Agency: Worldswide Reach decks! Play out your advertisements as they come, and over time, they may get trashed. Then, use this card to play them all back in at the same time!

The effect on the runner is significant, as they have to spend all those clicks and credits removing them again- and perhaps they suspect you have another copy of this card waiting in the wings! For that reason, I observe that the runner does not generally have the appetite to trash everything a second time round. This then gives you a monster economy, allowing you to get your ice installed and lock them out of your servers.

54
Let's not forget the fact that you have to pay the rez cost for all those advertisements and the cost to play AD Blitz. So i don't expect to see many Massreinstallments. This card will probably recurse only one or two advertisements per use. —
Actually, in my experience it's about 6-7 ads. Mostly cheap ones like Launch and PAD Campaign, Product Placement, Special Offer or Pop-up Window, but from time to time an Adonis as well, especially if you play Breaker Bay first click, followed by Ad Blitz. I see this card much like Trope - you use it to be able to burn through your stuff again and keep up pressure, because you know your deck is going to need something to stay ahead in the long run. I wouldn't include this if I made a deck that aims for short games. This is a card that says "This game is far from over, buddy!". After testing it, I'd say, this is the card that makes slow Spark glaciers work. —
I agree with Krams, play this in a slow grinding deck and you can bring back quite a few cards in the later stages. The effect on the runner is devastating! —