I've been playing with Data Dealer for a while now, and I think it's better, or at least more versatile, than I originally thought. Let's get the obvious out of the way: poison assets (or useless-when-stolen agendas). News Team, Shi.Kyū, et al., all get turned from grief to gold, as 9 is a massive amount of money to get for a single , not to mention the agenda point gain. The problem is, or was, the odds of a corp running them were low enough that you couldn't justify including DD.

Enter Fan Site. Now, even if the corp isn't running said poison, this is still kind of useful. But wait, this has some trouble too, as you need to get the Fan Sites out early enough, and you need to allow the corp to score to even make them worthwhile, and this all assumes you have DD ready to go at some point as well. And finally, Fan Site is out of faction, so you're (in all probability) either importing DD into Shaper or Fan Sites into Criminal. So even with Fan Site, this is still passed over in favor of other econ options.

Finally I asked myself, "What if I actually sacrifice real agendas (i.e. things actually worth points) to this?" Sounds crazy, right? I thought so too at first, until I realized there are times when that is exactly the right thing to do. For example, in a recent game I was way behind; the corp had 6 points scored, and I had only a single 1-point agenda in my score area. He had already burned through his options for fast advance, so what does the corp do? He continually plays agendas into his scoring server, with the hope that I'll eventually run out of econ and be unable to contest them for even a single turn. Desperate, I sell my agenda to the DD, giving me enough credits to contest the server and steal the next agenda. This snowballs, as I now have another agenda to pawn off, and I can just barely afford to break into the server every time he plays an agenda there.

I eventually face-plant into an Aggressive Secretary, and lose the critical breakers I needed to get in to the server. Game over for me? Not so, as the corp has only two cards left in R&D, and, as it would turn out, only one of them was an agenda—the bottom one. It's his final Self-Destruct Chips (corp was playing Cybernetics Division), and he has no way to score it this turn. Even if I have no way to contest the server, it doesn't matter, as I can just sit back and do nothing. When mandatory draw finally rolls around, he's dead.

Was I lucky? Yes. But that's missing the point, as none of this would have been possible without DD. It allowed me to snatch victory from the utter depths of defeat, and turn an impossible situation into merely an improbable one. Sometimes you've just got to cut off the finger to save the hand, and DD lets you do that while keeping you on the edge of your seat in true Criminal style. And it's because of this flexibility that I've really come to appreciate this card for what it is, and what it does. If nothing else, it will probably make for some of the most memorable games of ANR you've ever played. How often does selling off 11 agenda points seem like a good idea?

This card has been in the game since Core, but it is one of those cards which targets a part of the game that isn't fully implemented (poison agendas), and so you have to re examine it every time a new pack comes out. My feeling is with Data and Destiny and the data packs immediately preceding it this card has finally come into its own.

Examining the fundamentals of the card will be brief. It costs 0 to play. It allows you to click for 9 (NINE, for emphasis. People feel comfortable with Magnum Opus turns where you quad click for 8) at he cost of one of your agendas.

So, what Agendas (or Ambushes) are worth forfeiting?

Vs. HB: Domestic Sleepers would be worth forfeiting, but it is basically not played. Mandatory Upgrades might need to be forfeited, if they have Media Blitz

Vs. NBN: 15 Minutes is worth forfeiting, and will be in just about every deck News Team is worth forfeiting, remains to be seen how often this is played.

Vs. Jinteki: Medical Breakthrough might be worth sacrificing. Judgement call there. Shi Kyu is worth forfeiting, played in decks that poison archives.

Vs. Weyland: Weyland doesn't have any agendas that are automatically worth sacrificing.

Beyond the silver bullet saves listed above, clicking for 9 is a big deal in its own right. Sometimes it is the right play if you have a 1 point Agenda and a sudden and urgent need for credits (say, you've just snagged a Vanity Project and the Punitives are incoming).

As always, mention must be made of Iain Stirling: Retired Spook , who loves this card because he doesn't just get 9 credits, he can reactivate his drip economy identity ability.

Added to Core set as a single - not for being good but rather than being worse on its release.
Took a long time until H+P to make sense.

PROS:

• Gain 9 creds for a click
• Get rid of an agenda you don't want
• splashable for only two influence

CONS:

• mostly you don't want to get rid of an agenda.....
• who wants to splash this?

COMBOS:

• Iain Stirling: Retired Spook
  to get behind on agenda count to activate your special ability
• Shi.Kyū
  reverse the intention of this card by being thanktful for the corp spending credits for it (like a weird Account Siphon)
• Domestic Sleepers
  You dont need 0 AP, dont you?

SYNOPSIS:

Almost unusable at the beginning, this card is getting better now. The problem is, that its VERY situational, because you have to hit a deck including the combo cards and/or choosing Iain as ID.
There are far better ways to boos your Credits.
For instance a Bank Job with Desperado gains only 1 cred less (installed over The Supplier breaks it even) but is more versatile.

Usually, trashing agenda for 9 credits is more a desperate move than a winning strategy.

This all change if you pair Data Dealer with Fan Site. With Fan Site, you will get up to 3x 0 point agendas in your score area. Which you can trash for 9 credit each. All for 1 click for 9 credits. Even taking into account installing the Data Dealer and the 3 Fan Site, it is a pretty sweet deal and well worth the include in the deck.

It also allow you to trash negative agendas (Meridian, Shi.Kyu, News Team, Hangeki) and 0 point agendas (Standoff, Project Kusanagi). Remember to thank the corp for that include in their deck, when you shutdown that part of their gameplan with a single Data Dealer.

Anarch will seldom use Data Dealer, because it will cost them too much influences to make sure it is not a dead card in hand. But for Criminal and Shaper, this is good. Especially Hayley, who can install 2 ressources in a click.

In the Netrunner World 2020 (organized successfully by NISEI) the corp that won was a near iceless archetype. That corp used Game Changer to great effect, making that strategy very tough to beat. Data Dealer will completely shutdown that strategy.