The Archer!

By zachbunn, in Android: Netrunner The Card Game

A few days ago, I posted a blog with my deck list in it over on my Team Covenant account. The more I continue to play, the more I continue to fall in love with Weyland! As we continue to get more players at our store, the debate rages on about the ICE Archer card. Personally, I really like the card. I have three agenda's only worth a single point, and this ice is just ridiculous. Costing 4 credits for 6 strength and four sub-routines is crazy! Let alone the fact that those sub-routines are just great.

What do you think, is Archer worth any card slots in a deck?

Zach

Its in my Jinteki deck, the first routine helps with Jinteki's economy problems, and the routines are savage. To be fair, my 'teki deck tends to want to burn the runner to death, so agendas aren't a big sacrifice either.

I was running 2 copies in my NBN deck during GenCon. Taunting calls of "Danger Zone!" rung as I destroyed their most precious breakers.

I'd be a little bit reluctant to toss even a Hostile Takeover for it, but there's no better use for Priority Requisition. Great card; I'm tempted to try to make an HB deck with it…

subochre said:

I'd be a little bit reluctant to toss even a Hostile Takeover for it, but there's no better use for Priority Requisition. Great card; I'm tempted to try to make an HB deck with it…

Except you can't score agenda's while the Runner is making a run (or on their turn at all), so you'd be rezzing Archer during your turn, and not catching the Runner off guard.

Edit: When it says "trash a program," who gets to choose? Is this handled in the rules at all?

It isnt clear in the rules, but it is the corp that chooses.

Paul Grogan said:

It isnt clear in the rules, but it is the corp that chooses.

Ah, yes. I had to go back and look at the "net" damage wording as a guide. Everything is worded as if the card is speaking to the Corp, so that probably holds for this as well.

:)

Corp cards speak to the corp, runner cards to the runner. ~Amazing, isn't it?~

Anarchosyn said:

Except you can't score agenda's while the Runner is making a run (or on their turn at all), so you'd be rezzing Archer during your turn, and not catching the Runner off guard.

Whoa now, you can't score agendas during the Runner's turn? I can see this from he timing chart but it still doesn't seem right. There was no constraint in the old game was there?

Treguard said:

There was no constraint in the old game was there?

You indeed cannot score an Agenda on the runners turn. The first time we played this, I got it wrong, and someone with Matrix Analyser advanced and scored an Agenda before I got to it.

Khudzlin said:

Corp cards speak to the corp, runner cards to the runner. ~Amazing, isn't it?~

Stow the snarkiness. It's not a stretch that a Corp trap could read "Take 1 net damage" (i.e. speak to the Runner).

jhaelen said:

Treguard said:

There was no constraint in the old game was there?

I don't recall any CCG card that allowed you to advance (and thus potentially score) an Agenda that didn't require the Corp's action. Do you have an example?

It's worth adding that it doesn't take any clicks/actions to score agendas in Android: Netrunner. I'm not entirely sure this was even what you intended to imply, but since you used the word "action" I wanted to clarify (I also get that you were talking about Classic Netrunner).

The only one that immediately springs to mind is Lesley Major:

netrunner-lesley-major.jpg

I believe the intention here is that the advancement counters are used to score an agenda/further a trap before the Runner accessed the data fort. I would have said Vapor Ops as well, but that requires an action to move saved up advancement counter.

Now with NBN's Astroscript Pilot Program, the potential to score a agenda mid-run is evident, so I can't see a reason why the following sequence couldn't work:

Spend advancement counter from Astroscript > score Priority Requisition > rez Archer for free (ideally as the Runner approaches it)

Except that the one trap we have reads "do 1 net damage". On the other hand, Stimhack reads "suffer 1 brain damage". So the cards really are written from their side's point of view. So snark aside, I just hope FFG sticks to that.

Treguard said:

The only one that immediately springs to mind is Lesley Major:

netrunner-lesley-major.jpg

Treguard said:

"Now with NBN's Astroscript Pilot Program, the potential to score a agenda mid-run is evident, so I can't see a reason why the following sequence couldn't work:

Spend advancement counter from Astroscript > score Priority Requisition > rez Archer for free (ideally as the Runner approaches it)"

Just to reiterate what Grogan said: the rules don't allow the corp to score agendas during the runner's turn. So you couldn't ask for a Priority Requisition to rez ice during a run.

Kissing_Crimson said:

Treguard said:

"Now with NBN's Astroscript Pilot Program, the potential to score a agenda mid-run is evident, so I can't see a reason why the following sequence couldn't work:

Spend advancement counter from Astroscript > score Priority Requisition > rez Archer for free (ideally as the Runner approaches it)"

Just to reiterate what Grogan said: the rules don't allow the corp to score agendas during the runner's turn. So you couldn't ask for a Priority Requisition to rez ice during a run.

I prefer "Paul" :)

But yes, the rules specifically state "The only times the Corporation can score an agenda is right before his turn begins, or after he completes an action."

So, yes, you could remove the marker from Astroscript Pilot Program, and you could put it on your uncompleted agenda. But you cant score that agenda.

Treguard said:

Whoa now, you can't score agendas during the Runner's turn? I can see this from he timing chart but it still doesn't seem right. There was no constraint in the old game was there?

There was absolutely that constraint in the old game. Say you have 3 advancement counters on a difficulty 3 agenda, but you don't score it (say it was Project Babylon.) You can't wait for the runner to run that fort and then just score the agenda as they approach it.

Keep in mind with both iterations of the game, there are limitations to when you can score an agenda. However, there is no rule that you must score an agenda as soon as you meet the difficulty requirement (or else a card like Project Babylon would make no sense.)