When I first read Vamp I was scratching my head (I'd only played a few games by the time I picked up Trace Amoung), but I've figured a nifty tactic that works early game and with few to no Ice rezzed. It requires a bit of setting up, but if you can Armitage or Liberate Accounts for a couple clicks you can run Vamp on HQ then hit a Remote Server or R&D after draining all the Creds that the Corp thought they had for Rezzing Ice. I tried it (and with favorable timing) ended up getting a free run at a Remote Server with 2 layers of Ice. Seems to work great early game, possibly mid-game if the Credits are high and the runner can end Vamp with 5-6 while draining the Corp's pool to none or just enough to prevent a trace later in a run. Thought I would post this as a warning or tip and ask if there are any other tricky things to do with Vamp.
Vamp-ing the Corps(e)
Vamp pairs well with Forged Activation Orders, as well, it would seem.
Drain their creds, then FAO a high profile piece of ice (or what you think is one if you don't know ).
We should look into the "Account Siphon" playbook for other combos. Despite the differences, I'm sure a lot tactics using AS would work just as well with Vamp as far as credit denial is concerned.
I personally don't see much use for this card. In fact, I think it is quite horrible.
Vamp requires the runner to have more credits than the corp, since they get no return from it. However, runners have a slightly weaker economy than the corps (which is thematically understandable), and among them, Anarch have the weakest (Vamp might have been acceptable as a criminal card). Not only that, corps need to pay for ICE only once, while runners need to pay every single time they attempt to break them. Generally speaking, therefore, it is more likely to see the corp player sitting on the bigger pile of credits, rendering Vamp essentially useless. Sure, there are some rare scenarios when Vamp could come handy (especially during the early game), but its use is so conditional that I would not waste precious deck space on it. Not now anyways; though, it is possible that Vamp will become more useful later.
Plus it gives you a tag…
Rince said:
I personally don't see much use for this card. In fact, I think it is quite horrible.
Vamp requires the runner to have more credits than the corp, since they get no return from it. However, runners have a slightly weaker economy than the corps (which is thematically understandable), and among them, Anarch have the weakest (Vamp might have been acceptable as a criminal card). Not only that, corps need to pay for ICE only once, while runners need to pay every single time they attempt to break them. Generally speaking, therefore, it is more likely to see the corp player sitting on the bigger pile of credits, rendering Vamp essentially useless. Sure, there are some rare scenarios when Vamp could come handy (especially during the early game), but its use is so conditional that I would not waste precious deck space on it. Not now anyways; though, it is possible that Vamp will become more useful later.
Plus it gives you a tag…
I disagree. I can see this card being very useful especially running on servers with unrezzed ice.
In single analysis, Vamp will always come up short, especially since Account Syphon exists. However, card analysis in a vacuum is a useless exercise. While you may not build a "Vamp" deck, Vamp is a perfectly good card because there are enough supporting cards to create a deck with the cohesive strategy of doing what Vamp does, ie: denying the corp resources, specifically credits.
Rince said:
I personally don't see much use for this card. In fact, I think it is quite horrible.
Vamp requires the runner to have more credits than the corp, since they get no return from it. However, runners have a slightly weaker economy than the corps (which is thematically understandable), and among them, Anarch have the weakest (Vamp might have been acceptable as a criminal card). Not only that, corps need to pay for ICE only once, while runners need to pay every single time they attempt to break them. Generally speaking, therefore, it is more likely to see the corp player sitting on the bigger pile of credits, rendering Vamp essentially useless. Sure, there are some rare scenarios when Vamp could come handy (especially during the early game), but its use is so conditional that I would not waste precious deck space on it. Not now anyways; though, it is possible that Vamp will become more useful later.
Plus it gives you a tag…
There are currently only 7 pieces of ICE that can be rezzed for less than 3 credits. Only 3 of them can actually stop a run, and only 1 (Ice Wall) does so without conditions. Making a run while bankrupt isn't too big a risk in such a scenario.
For that matter, with Infiltration, Satellite Uplink and Lemuria Codecracker, you can ensure such efforts aren't in vain.
TBH, I myself am wary of using this card in my decks. I'll even admit that I'm not too comfortable using Account Siphon. However, tags and money are meaningless in the face of winning the game. In the early game, money problems are more crippling to the Corp than the Runner. A successful Vamp can be enough to let the Runner walk in and out of servers as he pleases.
I had pretty much written off Vamp, but this thread is causing me to rethink it. Corp ICE is generally priced with a return over time; it costs a lot up front, and costs the runner credits over time. While Vamp's effect is 1:1, both sides being bankrupt does favor the runner.
Also remember that it's a may effect; if the Corp ends up rezzing ICE on HQ with the aim of bankrupting themselves, you can just access the card you're normally entitled to instead.
Funny thought: if you play Vamp and your opponent rezzes ICE to stop you, as long as you survive without getting hurt too much and even if you don't successfully complete the run, you still actually succeed at what Vamp is meant to do: drain the Corp's cash.