www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp

I like him. Powerful trace that can shut down the runner on a run. Reinforces HB's defensive nature.

I like this guy quite a bit. Perhaps should've just called him Ash, because who's gonna bother with 2X3ZB9CY? Can't wait for them to show us what the new HB identity is like.

 Curious to see how high trace strengths will go. This'll be the strongest trace in the game for now, are they willing to let them powercreep up much further over time, or will this remain a very strong trace throughout the game's life?

I'm sure there will be powercreep.  It's almost impossible to avoid it in any card game.  Sometimes it can even be a good thing.

As for Ash, I think he's going to be an auto-include in most HB decks, at least until the card pool is big enough to allow each faction multiple viable build options.

With his 2 Influence cost I can see him being quite popular in other Corp decks as well. Trace 4 is really powerful and if you have some spare Credits then it will be hard for a Runner to get passed him. On top of that, he's not unique so you can have 3 Ash 2X3ZB9CY protecting 3 Servers. :)

Thee Forsaken One said:

You might want to have another, closer look at the image of Ash :)

Thee Forsaken One said:

As has been pointed out, the Diamond in Ash's title means he is, indeed, unique.

One rezzed at a time.

 I didn't really think about the power of unique corp cards unrezzed, but I would include and install multiple copies, then just lose the old one if I had to rez a new one when the runner accessed that fort. It's much easier for the corp to run unique cards than the runner.

Saturnine said:

Fail. > < Ignore what I said. ^^; I guess he would be too good to be true if he wasn't unique.

 i dont think it needs to be said but your also forgetting how much NBN would LOVE this card!! theyre good at traces and this would totally protect a high cost agenda like a requisition while you just uses your events and ice to pump the hell out of it. im still not sold on haas though.  probably cause i still dont truly understand them.

Not a Sysop? Even the quote suggests that this guy should be one.

LordxMgen said:

definitely. can't wait to get ahold of him.

I am allmost come to conclusion, that it is better to have zero links when playing Runner and use you card pool for something else… You lose every trase. but you can purge them and don't waste your clics to play cards that give you more links… I hope that I am wrong. Can anyone explane why I would need to be worry about trace? I have played only 10 games with every faction and links just don't seesm to be worth of it… You lose the trace in anyway…, well if not playng Chapers in anyway.

 Winning a Trace attempt is not the same thing as tagging a runner. So if you lose this trace you are not tagged and forced to clear a tag, you are locked out of trashing anything other than Ash, meaning if you want to trash the agenda or asset on that server you must run it all over again.

And if you are losing every single trace as the runner your corp player is spending a LOT of money over the course of a game in which case you should be doing decently okay on how much ice he is rezzing and agendas he is advancing.

Hannibal_pjv said:

There are some Traces in the Basegame that don´t just give out a Tag but deal Braindamage, on Ichy 1.0 for example. You can´t get rid of that braindamage at all. You should also consider that getting rid of a tag costs you a click, so winning a trace bid will save you one click you can use for other stuff…

Ok, but would it not be cheaper just to break that ice subrutine that makes the trace?

Hannibal_pjv said:

If you're still talking about Ash then you might notice he's an Upgrade and not ICE. He cannot be broken, although a Runner card may come out that allows you to trash Upgrades without accessing them.