Fear and Loathing contains cards 81-100 of the Spin Cycle, by FFG. Without a doubt, there’s some good stuff in it for every faction – directly and splashably. Fear and Loathing finally resolves bad publicity into game strategy – instead of just extra credits, bad pub is now fuel for player tactics.
All cards are rated on our scale of 1-3:
1 – cards we won’t be using anytime soon
2 – cards that seem to have decent utility
3 – cards that show promise or excel at their job
Quest Completed
Wow, does this card need alot of setup. If you can spend the actions and credits to run 3 servers successfully, then you can probably run the one that matters with an installed card. And what if that installed card is crappy? To be fair, this card is a reward for running 3 servers – not the reason to run 3 servers. Think about it that way and its existence makes more sense. Still – no thanks. – Dave: 1/3
Glen: 1/3
This card is great when the corp has a glacier in front of his remote agenda advancing server and has lightly protected all 3 central servers. What a great way to surprise the corp who thinks his agenda is protected. Of course, if you show me a corp player who plays like this, and I’ll show you a loser.
A strong ability and has a higher potential upside over Notoriety. Making three successful runs is a challenge, especially in Anarch. Most likely are if you can get through three servers in a turn, you can get through a single remote. This could see play if Ash, Red Herrings and Strongbox is popular in a meta. – William: 1/3
Hemorrhage
I like this program – it’s annoying as hell. I think the virus counters on the card will accumulate quickly considering how many times a typical runner will run. And it gets more dangerous the longer it is ignored. If the corp ignores it, you could theoretically make him trash almost his entire hand in your next turn. And go fishing for agendas soon after that. There are a lot of counters to it though. Hemorrhage has excellent synergy with Keyhole. – Dave: 2/3
Glen: 2/3
Combine this with Datasucker and Dirty Laundry, and the corp will have to protect all central servers and any remote server he chooses to open. This combo will suck memory, and may be too slow.
I like the ability, it disrupts the Corps game plan and can put quite a bit of pressure on HQ without actually running on it. It forces the corp to wipe viruses, spending more actions drawing cards or maybe even using their Jackson Howard early. – William: 2/3
Tallie Perrault
In Netrunner fiction, Tallie is a reporter for the Opticon Foundation – revealing big corporation evils. But as a resource card, her ability is optional, so she can sit around if you want to use her, and I think taking a tag for issuing a bad pub is fair. Just don’t let it bite you in the ass. Unique – Tallie is a one-of in a deck, if you want to use her at all. The card draw ability is a nice bonus. Right now though, gray and black ops exist only on 10 cards. – Dave: 1/3
Glen: 1/3
Usually when the corp plays a gray ops or black ops that might precede this card, the game will be over. And/or you are already tagged and therefore the corp can easily trash Tallie. Lots or risk, little reward and the likelihood of getting the reward is low.
A narrow card ability but currently one of the more effective ways for the runner to give the corp Bad Publicity. This will have use against Closed Accounts, Power Shutdown, multiple Neural EMP’s and to a degree Subliminal Messaging. – William: 1/3
Executive Wiretaps
An excellent tactical card for play anytime. Think the corp is hoarding agendas? Play it. Competes with Expert Schedule Analyzer though, which works while making a run anyway. Pick your strategy, but definitely has its uses. – Dave: 2/3
Glen: 1/3
If you can combine with some sort of R&D viewing, you can constantly know what is in the corp’s hand. Also helps you know if it makes sense to run HQ. Still, I think the cost is too high. Of course, I said the same thing about Running Interference which costs the same and I have changed my mind on that card after play testing.
Gaining hidden information is useful but for a card, 4 credits and two actions the cost is too much. – William: 1/3
Blackguard
Break out the Lemuria Codecracker Jimmy, Blackguard is installed! But at the cost of 11 creds – yikes! Unlike Desperado, this console taxes the corp rather than making the runner richer. But you can make the corp spend creds where and when it doesn’t want to. Works well with Satellite Uplink, Infiltration and Lemuria Codecracker – but especially SNITCH! Oh the abuse of Blackguard and Snitch together – just think about that for a moment. – Dave: 2/3
Glen: 3/3
Game changing card that will be huge when Silhouette comes out. I suspect that it may be too slow once the high cost is paid, but if anyone can afford it, it’s Criminal. Influence is unimportant as it will only be used with Silhouette and Satellite Uplink.
Costly to bring into play but the ability can really disrupt the corps plans. Current Criminal decks don’t need it but with the upcoming Criminal box expansion there might be a deck that wants it. I think the cost and not doing anything on its own will keep it from seeing much competitive play. – William: 1/3
Cybersolutions Mem Chip
Four creds for 2 MU is fair – deckbuilding is about choices. Shaper now has 5 out of the 8 available chips. – Dave: 2/3
Glen: 1/3
I think Toolbox is a much better buy if you need 2 memory. Also Dyson Mem Chip is super and costs no influence.
Having two memory on a single card will open up options for deck building but most decks will make due with the current hardware. But for those decks that are not using influence on a console, the chip is a decent choice if not a very exciting one. – William: 2/3
Alpha
7 creds for a breaker that works on all outer pieces of ICE is fair. Anything less than that would be a broken card. Good for keeping the pressure up and of course synergizes well with Omega. I’m guessing 1 piece of ICE is a target for both Alpha and Omega. – Dave: 2/3
Glen: 1/3
Too expensive to install and only 1 strength makes it expensive to use. For 3 influence, Inside Job is way better.
Good for early game pressure on the corp but expensive and gives options for the corp to play around. The other AI breakers are better options. – William: 1/3
Omega
See Alpha, though often the first piece of ICE is a cheap ETR one, this program forces corps facing Kit Rielle to build 3 deep. Pricey! – Dave:2/3
Glen: 2/3
Expensive like Alpha, but more useful with Kit. Will force the corp to have 3 ice per server against her, but she can still use Crypsis to break the middle pieces.
I like Omega much better then Alpha where it forces the corp to install outer pieces of ice on all servers. Works well with Kit’s ability, forcing servers to have 3+ pieces of ice to keep her out. – William: 2/3
Blackmail
A game changing card – no doubt about it. It’s hard to give the corp a bad pub right now – but not impossible – with lots more cards to come this may get easier. But usually the corp will give themselves a bad pub anyway, so… damn – I wanted to use GRNDL. – Dave: 3/3
Glen: 3/3
I’ve been talking about this card for weeks. Until now, the corp has been quite nonchalant about taking Bad Pub, now they will have to think twice. This card would get a 4 if there was a good way for the runner to force the corp to take a Bad Pub, but both Frame Job and Tallie Perrault are expensive and unreliable. Not coincidental that this came out in the same pack as GRNDL.
Potentially strong card which forces the corp to keep in mind of when adding or playing cards with Bad Publicity. Still it will not see much play currently with not whole lot of BP being played Corp decks outside of Weyland and not whole lot of consistent ways for the runner to give it. – William: 2/3
Blue Level Clearance
A great work compression card, getting you cash and cards at the same time for just 2 creds. Nice. A net of 4cr in Weyland BaBW. Keeps the momentum going, and especially welcome in the early game. Too bad about the card art though – looks like a high school student project with Sketchup. – Dave: 2/3
Glen: 2/3
Another transaction operation, but 2 influence is tough for Weyland to swallow. Also, if you draw 2 cards that you don’t want in HQ, you’ll only have 1 click left. Not as good as Green Level Clearance, but not bad. There is a better card coming , but you’re not cleared to use it.
Decent enough and will see play in HB but the other corps will stick with Green Level Clearance including Weyland. – William: 1/3
Strongbox
Strongbox works well in an HB deck against runners that routinely use their actions to click-through bioroid ICE. Now they have to worry about not using all their actions as well as having money to use against ASH or Corporate Toubleshooter. Too bad about the 1 trash cost, though I’m diggin’ the synergy those 3 upgrades have in the same scoring server. – Dave: 2/3
Glen: 2/3
Similar to Red Herrings, but more expensive to rez. The best part of this card is that it exists. The runner has to consider not burning his last click on Bioroid ice if there is an upgrade in the remote server.
Most runners don’t run on their last click so the ability not going to be much of a deterrent but certianly something that needs to be keep in mind. Of the accessing upgrades (Red Herrings and Ash) its probably going to see the least amount of play. Replicating Perfection might like it. – William: 1/3
Toshiyuki Sakai
Ha! I love this Jinteki card because of its chaotic fun, leaving the corp with lots of options: it masquerades as an agenda while being advanced, but can be swapped for an asset trap or agenda when accessed – corp choice! Makes an in-hand Fetal AI an excellent choice, or Edge of World useful again. – Dave: 2/3
Glen: 1/3
Will someone explain to me the purpose of this card – Pulease? The best thing about this card is the runner won’t waste 2 credits to trash fodder for Trick of Light. Totally useless if Raymond Flint is in play.
Fun if you manage to pull it off but making Ambush cards take twice as much difficulty for the runner to run into isn’t worth it. – William: 0/3
Yagura
Jinteki now has a code gate that does net damage, besides the threat of Chum. Doesn’t end the run, but combos well with runs on Jinteki R&D filled with Shock! and everything else for that matter. Makes a great code gate only trap with Chum. Annoying, but effective? – Dave: 1/3
Glen: 1/3
A zero strength code gate? Really?
Good early and annoying ice to put on R&D, the ability to filter card is quite strong. Of course suffers from the Yog problem, but only costing a credit to rez makes that moot and for all the other breakers it costs about the same as an Enigma. – William: 2/3
Restoring Face
Not especially effective for Jinteki until Honor and Profit comes out – there just aren’t that many sysops, executives or clones. Immediately useful for everyone else though – another use for Executive Jackson Howard. No blood on teddy please! – Dave: 2/3
Glen: 1/3
Maybe has future use, but little now, especially in Jinteki.
Nice to have around and one of the better ways of removing Bad Publicity. Not a whole lot of BP in Jinteki currently and will have to look to neutrals such as Grim and Profiteering. Needing another card to function is bit of a stretch, but Jackson Howard is everywhere nowadays. – William: 1/3
Market Research
A very useful 4/2 agenda because NBN hands out so many tags, then it becomes a 4/3. What’s not to like? except that it messes with your fast advance a little. – Dave: 2/3
Glen: 3/3
In the right NBN deck, this is a 4 for 3 agenda that only costs 2 if stolen. Huge upside like Project Beale. NBN rocks!
Really like seeing more tag matters abilities. Being a 4 for 3 is really good and fits into many existing NBN plans of tagging the runner and give the runner even more reason to clear them. – William: 3/3
Wraparound
Love this card! Remember how everyone rushes to get their sentry breakers first? Use that delay to your advantage now with a strength 7 barrier for only 2 creds. Does it replace Ice Wall? Not really. While almost as taxing, Ice Wall also advances for variable strength when needed, and advancement counters for utility uses like Trick of Light. Replaces Paper Wall if you have the influence though. Great outer ICE for Inside Job, and Shaper’s Alpha. – Dave: 2/3
Glen: 3/3
This would be a 4 if strength 8 putting out of Knight range. Still, fine to trash this to get rid of Knight. Pretty much forces the runner to get a Fracter in play, and still will have to pay 1 to break every time. NBN can now save 3 more influence by using this instead of Ice Wall.
Excellent barrier and will been seen both in NBN and other Corps decks. Will replace Ice Wall in many non-Weyland decks. Its immune Parasite before a fracter hits the table but dies right away after. – William: 3/3
GRNDL
Be sure to read the fiction that comes with Fear and Loathing to understand why this card starts with 1 bad publicity. (Ties in with Tallie Perrault too.) I like it – a great insulator against 1st turn Account Siphons. Also gets you down the Scorched Earth or Restructure path fast! Also allows you to rez killer ICE like Janus, Heimdall 2.0 or Curtain Wall after a single Hedge Fund. I suspect the Influence hit to 10 (ouch) is to make you behave more like the big bad that Weyland really is – a fair trade. Added incentive for Elizabeth Mills – just watch out for Blackmail – it’s nemesis. Love the card art too. Good work Mr. Rodriguez. – Dave: 3/3
Glen: 1/3
Sure you can get a faster start, but at what cost? You lose an ability vs. the other 2 Weyland identities you lose 5 influence and 1 bad pub. Too much cost, but still fun to play. I may be proved wrong on this one – did you hear me Will?
Starting the game with the bonus from scoring a Hostile Takeover is strong but at the cost of losing 5 influence, a blank ability or even having that Agenda to sacrifice to Archer. Doesn’t the flexibility of Building a Better World but could see it being played as a dedicated rush or Tag and Bag deck. – William: 2/3
Vulcan Coverup
Every Netrunner card has an upside and a downside. Is Vulcan Coverup’s benefit worth scoring a 3/1 agenda? Not really I think. Is the downside of it being stolen worth playing a 3/1? Not really. Hoping beyond hope that you can coordinate this with a tag, or Scorched Earth or whatever is a bit much to ask. Too bad, because I love the gritty artwork. – Dave: 1/3
Glen: 1/3
I don’t like 3 for 1 agendas and this one has a huge downside. Still, in the right hands, it could be a game ender after a Scorched Earth. But risky set up.
I don’t think most Tag and Bag decks want it over a Posted Bounty especially with it having a downside. Of course scoring it on the same turn as a Scorched Earth is always a thing. – William: 1/3
GRNDL Refinery
I had this card played against me in a tournament the day after the data pack was available, and it kicked ass. Masquerading as a trap or agenda while being advanced, the payoff for GRNDL Refinery is immense if it’s not discovered in time. This card in your opening hand is a godsend, and it has a 2cr trash cost to boot. Try it and see. Combine it in your deck with Project Junebug, and watch the runner go nuts. – Dave: 3/3
Glen: 3/3
If you listened to Podcast 18, you’ll know that I consider this an “ambush” and until now Weyland had none. Install, advance, advance – and the runner has to decide to deal with it or not. If not, you get 16 credits for 6 clicks and 4 credits, a pretty good deal. If so, runner has to pay to get through your ice and not get an agenda. Either way, the corp wins.
Requires quite a bit of investment and protection but the payoff can be big. Will probably see it fitting in decks with 5/3 agendas and a few advancable ambushes such as Cerebral Overwriter. – William: 2/3
Subliminal Messaging
An ok one-of in your deck, so why not? There’s no action cost to playing it, and having more than one in your deck just doesn’t make sense. Unfortunately, it’s not a transaction but a Gray Op, so no particular bonus to Weyland, and repeated use is good for Tallie Perrault. But if she’s in play, remember its use is optional. Really good defense against Hemorrhage counters, because it works in the trash anyway. – Dave: 1/3
Glen: 3/3
Phenomenal artwork! Love this card to keep the runner honest. At the very least, you get 1 credit for a click, If the runner skips 1 turn running, you can pull all 3 of these from archives to HQ, then use one on each of the next 3 turns.
Would have been more useful coming out at the start of this cycle, the Corps economy options have gotten much better as the cycle has gone on. Does give some decent trickle economy but not sure what decks is looking for or has room. Has some synergy with Celeberity Gifts, allowing for you to fill your hand while not needing to expose everything. – William: 2/3
Agenda7 