Runner Strategy: Phase 1 Cards

A card belongs to a particular phase if it should be played/installed during that phase. For example, an icebreaker might be effectively played during Phase 1, if you happen to get one you can pay for at that time, and it will be used extensively during Phase 3, but most icebreakers are considered Phase 2 cards because that's when you should focus on installing them. Spending your actions/bits to install icebreakers during phase 1 when you could be running for free is counterproductive.

Some cards, of course, can and should be used whenever the opportunity arises; all other things being equal, i stuck them in the earliest phase. Thus the Phase 1 list is much larger than the Phase 3 list. Really the lists don't do more than point out that you shouldn't play Lucedrine Booster Drug during Phase 1, and it' s wasteful to play Weather-to-Finance during Phase 3.

Disclaimer #1: While i don't expect you to agree with all of my choices, i figure i'll learn more about how to play these cards by hearing your explanations. i don't have all of these cards, of course, so i may not understand their actual effect when in play. Disclaimer #2: For the most part i'm looking at cards in isolation. Card combos are a different matter, and i'm not very good at figuring out new ones.

Phase 1 cards: Chosen because they are most effective during Phase 1 or because they extend Phase 1. These include many preps-sabotage and most viruses. Most bit gainers fall here, since during Phase 1, there usually are only two or three runs worth making each turn. The additional turns should be used to prepare for speeding through Phase 2. For some reason, i also cheap meat-damage prevention in here.

• Fall Guy (cheap cost, ability allows you to run with a bit less fear, base links available in Phase 2 make this card less useful in later phases).
• Wild Card (cheap installation cost and it will get you through Banpei)
• All-Nighter (also Phase 3, but only if your runs are cheap)
• Broker (really useful for Phase 2, but if you can get him on the line early in the game, he'll come through for you when you need him)
• Crash Everett, Inventive Fixer (same here)
• Custodial Position
• Edited Shipping Manifests (most hurtful to corp on the first turn, but its real purpose is to accelerate you through Phase 2)

  Comment by Stephane Bura:
  That's what I thought too. I had it used against me in a very annoying way during a game in which I couldn't seem to protect HQ and the runner JBBS'ed the damn thing every turn. I find it very useful against "one-big-fort" decks during phase 3. The corp usually counts the runner bits and waits for the right moment to install an agenda. This card (along with some Lucidrine BD) convinced the runners I know not to try this tactic against me :)

• Executive Wiretaps
• "Green Knight" Surge Buffers (cheap cost, makes you braver in Phase 1)
• Hunt Club BBS (can tell you if it's really time for Phase 2 yet or not; also helpful when transitioning from Phase 2 to Phase 3)
• If You Want It Done Right...
• Jack 'n' Joe
• Livewire's Contacts
• Rigged Investments
• Score!
• Short-Term Contract
• Boardwalk
• Bodyweight(tm) Synthetic Blood

  Comment by Stephane Bura:
  I'd say it's a phase 1 card only if you can deal with the fact that you'll have to discard most of these cards (or if you play with a fair number of MRAM Chips).

  Rebuttal by Skipper Pickle:
  Which, i suppose, aren't really out until Phase 2. You're saying that BSB is really a flatline prevention card. Okay. It goes to Phase 3.

• Butcher Boy
• Cascade
• Cockroach
• Expert Schedule Analyzer
• Floating Runner BBS
• Gremlins
• I Spy
• Inside Job (the corp only THOUGHT it was Phase 2)
• Junkyard BBS (this may seem like an odd choice, but I think that JBBS is most useful when it retrieves Preps-Sabotage that extend Phase 1)
• Karl de Veres
• Kilroy Was Here

  Comment by Stephane Bura:
  IMO, this and Romp Through HQ are really phase 3 cards. Romp Through HQ is THE card to use against speed decks (trash those advancement operations). Killroy Was Here is really useful only if you have the means to profit from it (either by knowing what you're going to trash or if you can access several cards AND make at least two runs this turn).

  Rebuttal by Skipper Pickle:
  All good points. Until you can access multiple cards (and since these are preps, it can only be done with hardware installed), Romp and Kilroy are of limited value. They are herewith moved to Phase 3.

• Krash (if it's ever effective, it's effective here)
• Newsgroup Filter
• Pox
• Private LDL Access
• R&D Protocol Files
• Restrictive Net Zoning
• Romp through HQ
• Security Code WORM Chip
• Shredder Uplink Protocol (see note on Inside Job)
• Skivviss
• Trauma Team(tm)
• Weather-to-Finance Pipe (if you can't play this during Phase 1, there's not much point)
• Wilson, Weeflerunner Apprentice
• Code Viral Cache
• Deep Thought
• Desperate Competitor (or, hey, whenever)
• Diplomatic Immunity (ASAP!)
• Forged Activation Orders

  Comment by Stephane Bura:
  If you put this one, you should consider False Echo, too.

  Rebuttal by Skipper Pickle:
  Okay. If you say so. i'm not happy with False Echo, and i don't understand quite how to get the most out of it. It does seem that it would be most useful early in the game, when the corp is short of bits. Am i using it to control WHERE the corp rezzes ice?

• Full Body Conversion
• Hot Tip for WNS (see note on Desperate Competitor)
• Incubator
• Lifesaver(tm) Nanosurgeons
• N.E.T.O. (allows you to go fish for Go-Fish cards)
• Organ Donor (hmmm... maybe i should move this to Phase 3)

  Comment by Stephane Bura:
  Unless you insist on keeping BSB on this list ;) Really, bits are not the most important thing during phase 1 (unless the corp plays with a lot of trashable cards).

• Playful AI
• Priority Wreck

  Comment by Stephane Bura:
  It's best to have many bits with this one. Stick to Weather-to-Finance Pipe during phase 1.

  Rebuttal by Skipper Pickle:
  i assume that, in general, the corp will have more bits than the runner as the game progresses. By Phase 3, you can either spend your bits to run or spend them to Wreck the corp's Priorities. i can't see playing this later. On the other hand, i've never played it at all. Time for someone to chime in with a pertinent anecdote.

• Quest for Cattekin (if you're willing to take the chance, you might as well make the most of it)
• Record Reconstructor (if this card has any use, it's to prolong Phase 1)
• Self-Modifying Code (play it in Phase 1; activate it in Phase 2)
• Synchronized Attack on HQ
• The Shell Traders (by the time you get a program from Shell Traders, it's Phase 2)

Rebuttal by Skipper Pickle:
i did consider the Interfaces as Phase 1 cards originally, because they can make Phase 1 more poignant for the corp, but their expense forced them down the list. Your point, that they force the corp to spread and rez more ice, is well taken: back they come to Phase 1. BTW, in my own defense, i had them listed under Phase 2 with the note "great for Phase 1 if you can afford it."

Comment by Stephane Bura:
For the same reason, Shredder Uplink Protocol may be a good phase 1 card. If the corp rezzed ice in front of HQ and has not yet a subsidiary fort with two pieces of ice, it is a good thing to install SUP. I must admit, though, that I played a game where I had it in my opening hand but I had so many other things to do that I never used it (I like sabotage preps :)

Rebuttal by Skipper Pickle:
i have Shredder in the Phase 1 list already. It's my belief that you won't get much use out of it any other time, since one of two things will eventually happen barring an actual win by either side): 1) you'll have to overwrite it (it does cost 2MU), or 2) the corp will protect the archives.