The Woes of Weyland - Part V: Capital Competition

Economy Creep

Hmm...

How could I even suggest that Weyland has monetary problems? What is this lunacy? Aight, here's the dealie. Weyland's economy is as good as it's ever been. The issue? Every other faction's economy (Corp and Runner) has considerably improved.

Long gone are the days of NBN and Jinteki haplessly clicking for credits. Sweeps Week alone catapulted NBN's economy (particularly if found turn 1 against Andromeda) and is seen in triplicate in basically any competitive NBN deck, while Near-Earth Hub's inherent synergy with assets heavily bolstered the likes of Marked Accounts (and the classic PAD Campaign).

The Woes of Weyland - Part IV: Flatline Frustration

A Tragic Trajectory

The glory days.

I'm sure this part came as no surprise to you all. Since Core Set days, flatline has always been one of Weyland's 'things'. One of their most influential cards is the notorious Scorched Earth - the bane of many a careless and/or unlucky Runner, depending on who you ask. In the earliest stages of A:NR history - from 'pure core' through early Genesis Cycle - Weyland was a genuine force to be reckoned with. Its ability to rapidly rush out agendas behind small gear-check ice like Ice Wall and Wall of Static, transitioning into Archers and Oversight-ed Hadrian's Walls, all while maintaining the ever-present threat of flatline - in the form of the dreaded SEA-Scorch combo - was something that none of the other Megacorps were capable of at the time.

The Woes of Weyland - Part III: Subpar Scoring

The Agenda Story

The stellar art on these cards fills me with the deepest of sorrow.

Welcome back. So, many consider one of Weyland's greatest flaws to be that they have the weakest agenda selection out of the four factions. Let's investigate that, faction by faction, shall we?

The Woes of Weyland - Part II: Rush Revisited

Forcing the Gear-Check

I am cognizant that Enigma is neutral; Weyland's code gates leave much to be desired.

Having established thus far that Weyland and glacier strategies do not gel well, how about the other end of the spectrum? That is to say, aggressively scoring agendas behind one or two ice, before the Runner has the necessary breaker solution. Yes, rush is the strategy that Weyland's more merit-worthy ice are geared toward.

The Woes of Weyland - Part I: Abhorrent Advanceables

AOWR Agony

"Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions." - T.S. Eliot

This is probably no surprise. A large number of Weyland's ice make use of the 'ice advancement' mechanic - currently, 16 out of 30 of Weyland's ice are able to be advanced (17, if we include the technically unadvanceable Builder, which is basically an advanceable ice support card in ice form). Sadly, this is not a good thing. In fact, I do not hesitate to say that the designer's continued efforts in developing advanceable ice for Weyland have unfortunately hurt the faction's ice selection considerably. I believe that the abominable, advance-only-while-rezzed ice (Salvage, Tyrant, and Woodcutter), henceforth to be known as the AOWR suite, and their awful surrounding suite of support cards from the Genesis Cycle (Weyland Consortium: Because We Built It, Simone Diego, Amazon Industrial Zone), have done more damage to Weyland's card pool than many realize.

The Woes of Weyland: Introduction

[Note: The majority of this article was penned before the announcement of the NAPD Most Wanted List, whose impact on the meta has yet to be determined. As such, all references to the 'current meta' within the article, unless otherwise indicated, pertain to the period post-Data and Destiny, but pre-Mumbad Cycle and before the Most Wanted List takes effect. I address the MWL where I deem appropriate, but it is not the primary topic of discussion.]

[Note #2: This series contains absolutely absurd amounts of alliteration. Probably about half of the cases were intentional. Believe it or not, a substantial number of instances were excised during the editorial process. All the same, please do not let my juvenile literary proclivities dissuade you from continuing on - the discussion and analysis contained herein still stand on their own merits. Hopefully. 

Already adore affected alliteration (and assonance, apparently)? Amazing! Amusement abounds ahead. Allons-y!]

Hi, occasional readers of intermittently updated blog - Divadus here. So, on the heels of what could be the final deluxe expansion and a bold move by the game's new lead designer, impassioned discussions in Netrunner circles regarding the future of the game are frequent. I am but one of many. But my particular cause for concern is one greater than myself and one that is shared by a not inconsiderable segment of the Netrunner community. This time the focus of my interest, ire and imminent impudence is none other than our beloved Weyland. Oh boy...

Divadus Rants - Crappy Chrome City Cybernetics

[Warning: Much rage is about to be unleashed in textual format about a highly specific piece of pasteboard. There will be mathematical analysis throughout, but also a lot of subjective disappointment and considerable butthurt. Continue at your own risk. Also, the furious affectations donned by the author may be a teensy bit exaggerated. Just a smidgen. Kthx.]

It's been a long time - I shouldn'ta left you... without a strong rhyme to step to. So, I have been playing and loving Netrunner recently (I really do intensely adore this game), but a niggling question compelled me to revisit this blog and say my piece about it: How did the ANR design team manage to drop the ball so thoroughly with the cybernetics? More specifically, why is Net-Ready Eyes so good when the other pieces of cybernetic hardware are not? Most specifically, why is Skulljack so phenomenally bad? Before I launch into my full-fledged tirade, I suppose that a bit of a 'current card pool' spiel would be worthwhile at this point:

Discursions with Divadus - The Dark Side of the Moon

Hey y'all - so I have been in a fairly remote geographical location for the past several months with limited internet capabilities. As such, I was unable to provide any sort of update, let alone pack reviews as they arrived (which was my original intent).

Nonetheless, over the past couple months, I did manage to scrawl some thoughts on the latter half of the Lunar Cycle, thanks to text spoilers (bless you, snow-jax). Of note, my thoughts are substantially less organized than last time - these scribblings do not begin to approximate a review, nor are they intended to be any sort of summative statement about the cards discussed. Additionally, I have left certain cards un-addressed, either due to lack of any appreciably interesting thing to say on them, lack of experience/understanding of a new mechanic ushered in (would love to have talked about Leela, but felt I needed some games with her under my belt) or simply lack of time (I've been busy yo), and some of my remarks may betray ignorance of the most current of current spoilers. It just seemed like a shame to let my ramblings go to waste, even though their precise temporal standing, with respect to the present meta, is no longer especially relevant. So yeah, here's to belated housekeeping.

I hope to actually be a little more active on this blog in the coming year, so stay tuned for more (engaging) content.

Discursions with Divadus - First Contact

Like any sane Netrunner aficionado, I salivate in Pavlovian fashion whenever shiny, new cards are presented before me. The third data pack of the Lunar Cycle, First Contact, certainly elicited such a reaction. Thus, being an avid lucubrator, I decided to scrawl some of my thoughts about the pack's contents. Sorry, just grabbing a napkin - won't be a moment.