Probably the least used card in the Adam pool of cards. Could it be used out of faction? Is it good in faction?

The short answer is no. But it can be made usable, sometime.

For Adam: Compulsive Hacker, using this card is either a desperate move or it is because the deck is build around a combo that you want out as soon as possible, or that needs A LOT of cards in hand to use, because trashing directives makes Adam a blank ID.

At one influence, it would be easy to splash out of faction. But why use it? To make it valuable, you have to be able to get 3 cards or more from it, otherwise you are better off using the influence for Deuces Wild and Build Script.

1. It pairs well with Harbinger, since you get one draw out of each for 1.
2. It pairs also nicely with cards that are near useless when almost spent, like Miss Bones, Flame-out, Imp.
3. It pairs well with card that stop being useful later in the game, like Dadiana Chacon, Corporate Defector, Fencer Fueno, Aesop's Pawnshop, Security Testing.
4. It pairs well with Wasteland, since it would give you some credits along with a draw, thus ofsetting the cost of Independent Thinking.

But where it shine the most is for deck that use Apocalypse. Especially for Anarchs. Because after using Apocalypse, the bin breakers (Paperclip, Black Orchestra and MKUltra) would stay facedown on the board. You can then use Independent Thinking to put them back in the trash, drawing a couple of cards in the process.

The art is stellar, if somewhat violent and gruesome. The quote gives us a peek at the lore of a "free bioroid". The name and effect are in sync with the art and quote. Awesome work!

Soon, we'll have to say goodbye to the best mini faction, as Adam: Compulsive Hacker is rotating.

Adam good because it provided so much early in the game, through its directives. You had 4 choices of directives, and you could select 3 of them.

• Always Be Running, the least used, allowed you to start with a breaker and let you pressure the corp early. It was the bane of Sportsmetal: Go Big or Go Home in the early stage of the game, but forced you to have unwanted runs in the late stage of the game. Of note, Carpe Diem allowed you to not run on the first click.
• Neutralize All Threats was always selected and gave you multiaccess, allowing you to seach for those agendas more efficiently. This directive is always taken. The drawback was that early, you might have to trash an expensive asset that would ruin your early economy.
• Find the Truth was the most splashed out of faction among the directives, since it allowed you to see the top of R&D and then to use Mad Dash on an agenda sitting on the top. Spin Doctor is the natural enemy of this, as it can shuffle R&D out of turn for the corp.
• Safety First was sometime splashed out of faction to have clickless draw, but outside of Adam: Compulsive Hacker and Nathaniel "Gnat" Hall: One-of-a-Kind, the drawback was too great to make effective use of it.

Also, Adam has some of the best cards in the game, with Brain Chip becoming the best console at the late stage of the game and Logic Bomb making fun of any ice out of the blue.

In the Q2 2023 meta, there was Matryoshka that could effectively be used with Multithreader. So that it was not mandatory to use your influence for a breaker. Otherwise, the most often used breaker were Engolo and Paperclip, because you could search for them with Emergent Creativity.

Of all the mini faction, Adam was the best and often felt like a Criminal, but better.

The art shows us a bioroid, demonstrating a possible image of what we would see in the novel Golem (a good novel to read). It is my hope that a bioroid will appear in a faction someday. A quote would have been easy to fit on the card, which is a missed opportunity for such a thematic identity for Netrunner. We'll miss you.

This is the Tech Trader of Apex. While Tech Trader was a "whenever" card, this is a "once a turn" card. Making it much worse. Is this card worth it?

Short answers is yes, if you build around it.

There are 47 cards that will trashed themselves after using them, 7 cards that have a trash condition attached (activated by the corp) and 12 cards that can actively trash cards from the board. Of course, Apex can put ANY card on the board facedown, and Reboot can put 5 cards from the heap on the board facedown.

This ressource will generate money on the third time it trashes something. So, at best, it will start giving economy 2 turns after, if you trash something on the turn you install this ressource. Apex can possibly trash something from the board on each turn, but usually every other turn, because Apex will tend to trash a lot of card on one turn and nothing on the subsequent turn. Other faction would have a slightly harder time, but it would be possible every other turn if building specifically around this card. In a 15 turns game, if you where to install this on the first turn, you would get 5 net (discounting the initial "payment" of 2) out of this, which is just above Sure Gamble in term of value, but scattered throught the game. By late game, this is a dead card, since it will cost you more than it will bring for you. Of course, if you are able to install this cheaper, using Paladin Poemu, you get more value of this. And if you put cards with trash conditions (like Tapwrm), this could be triggered on the corp turn, for a slight increase of value.

Sadly for Apex, it need less credits at the end game, when it is fully setup, than in the early game, when it need to setup, making Wasteland rarely worth it.

For other faction, it could be a good way to generate drip economy, especially if they used Aesop's Pawnshop. By mid game, Aesop's Pawnshop could generate 4 or 5 per turn clicklessly, which is pretty good!

Lets see cards that trash themselves when used, which would trigger Wasteland (in the Q2 2023 meta).

Anarchs (11 with 4 commonly used)

• Gachapon
• Hijacked Router
• Time Bomb
• Chisel
• Fermenter
• Trypano
• Climactic Showdown
• Counter Surveillance
• Crypt
• Liberated Account
• Light the Fire!

Neutrals (5 with 3 commonly used)

• Buffer Drive
• Mayfly
• Daily Casts
• Earthrise Hotel
• Whistleblower

Criminals (16 with 3 commonly used)

• Boomerang
• Flip Switch
• Recon Drone
• Bankroll
• Revolver
• Wari
• "Baklan" Bochkin
• Asmund Pudlat
• Backstitching
• Bug Out Bag
• Miss Bones
• No Free Lunch
• Penumbral Toolkit
• Red Team
• Rogue Trading
• Slipstream

Shapers (10 with 5 commonly used)

• Simulchip
• Self-modifying Code
• Bio-Modeled Network
• Dr. Nuka Vrolyck
• Environmental Testing
• Gbahali
• Kongamato
• Reclaim
• Stoneship Chart Room
• Telework Contract

Sunny & Adam & Apex (5)

• Security Chip
• Algernon
• Logic Bomb
• Hunting Grounds
• Algo Trading

Some cards (11) are not intended to be trashed but have trash conditions, with 3 commonly used.

• Fencer Fueno
• Mystic Maemi
• Paladin Poemu
• Trickster Taka
• Poison Vial
• Respirocytes
• Nga
• Citadel Sanctuary
• Dadiana Chacon
• Jackpot!
• Lewi Guilherme

Some cards (7) can be trashed by the corp actions.

• Clot
• eXer
• Tapwrm
• Acacia
• Jarogniew Mercs
• On the Lam
• No One Home

Here are cards (12) that can trash things from the board.

• Heartbeat
• Endless Hunger
• World Tree
• Flame-out
• Aesop's Pawnshop
• Isolation
• Independent Thinking
• Apocalypse
• Prey
• Cold Read
• Diana's Hunt
• Spec Work

Of course, it also combo with Harbinger well.

While I would have prefered the art to be brighter (it is kind of difficult to distinguish those tentacles), it evoke exactly what the name, quote and effect of the card does, keeping it all in the theme of Apex. Good job!

This is the counter to a lot of NBN ices, and some other ices also. If you play AI breaker, it is almost a prerequisite, to prevent you from getting a tag everytime you encounter IP Block (which is quite prevalent in the Q2 2023 meta).

For Apex, it is also a simple way to get 3 cards facedown on the board fast. In theory, you could also powerup Aesop's Pawnshop with it, but you would normally be better off with Harbinger for that. It will trigger Reaver and Wasteland, so it is beneficial.

It is important to remind yourself that this will not prevent Anansi or Mirāju abilities.

Here are the on encounter effect that can be prevented with Hunting Grounds (12 NBN, 1 HB, 2 Jinteki, 3 Weyland ices).

• Data Loop
• Data Ward
• Funhouse
• IP Block
• Jua
• Mestnichestvo
• Peeping Tom
• Pop-up Window
• Thoth
• Tollbooth
• Turnpike
• Vasilisa
• Loki
• Konjin
• Saisentan
• Anvil
• Bulwark
• Oduduwa

Those encounter effect are useless to prevent.

• Authenticator
• Sandstone

If you expect to encounter NBN often, this card it worth it. All for the very low cost of one influence (and 2). For Apex, you'll want it to help you power you other Apex cards, as a contingency card.

Among the Apex cards, it is the one that seems to have the least relation between the name, effect and art, but you can still see the connection, especially with the nice piece of lore coming with the card. A good design.

With Hunting Grounds and Apocalypse, it is the most widely used Apex cards. At one influence, it is easy to splash in any deck that can make good use of it.

Every Apex, has 3 copies of it. It powerup everything that make Apex work. So, it is an easy decision.

Outside of Apex, it work really well with if you intend to use Heartbeat or Endless Hunger. But also, it can power up Aesop's Pawnshop. With Aesop's Pawnshop, you put Harbinger for one click and then get 3 per turn for 2 turns (clicklessly). That is some serious economy. Which is why it is often seen in decks that use Aesop's Pawnshop. Sometime, you can even power it up further with Reaver, to get credits and draw a card.

But it can power up Environmental Testing and Technical Writer and you can bring it back with Simulchip or with Reclaim. Making it quite valuable if you are going for that kind of deck.

Finally, it is good fodder for SDS Drone Deployment, Degree Mill and when you need to trash something from an ice like Fairchild 3.0.

The card, the color, the image, the baudot code, everything screams Apex and its theme. Downright fantastic!