Hello everyone! Justin from the Rules Team here to walk you through the new Card Text Updates document releasing today. This is a small update aimed at clearing up a few ambiguities that players have been asking about and that we could address without Comprehensive Rulebook changes. The update will be going live on NetrunnerDB soon, but you can download the full Card Text Updates PDF from this link, or at the Rules Hub here on NISEI.net.
Trashing CEOs
Let’s start with the big one. In the FFG big-box sets, each Corporation got an asset representing that Corp’s CEO, and each has an ability like this:
If Chairman Hiro is trashed while being accessed, add him to the Runner’s score area as an agenda worth 2 agenda points.
This card was played with the understanding that the Runner would get 2 points if it was trashed, regardless of if the card was rezzed, unrezzed, or still in a central server. However, later cards such as Illegal Arms Factory made things less clear:
If the Runner trashes Illegal Arms Factory while it is installed, take 1 bad publicity.
A UFAQ ruling stated: “The ability [that gives the Runner bad publicity] is not active if Illegal Arms Factory is not active.” Wait a minute, isn’t that the same trigger condition as the CEOs? Have we been playing those cards incorrectly the whole time? Later still, NISEI printed a whole cycle of cards (such as Nanoetching Matrix) with similar trash triggers, and we have ruled that those abilities are only active if the card is rezzed. In section 9.1.8, the Comprehensive Rules discuss various kinds of abilities that are active while their source is inactive, including abilities that meet their trigger conditions when the runner accesses a card (such as Snare!). But trigger conditions for when a card is trashed aren’t on that list, and if “while being accessed” on a trash condition is supposed to make it fall under the rule that makes Snare! work, it’s certainly not presented clearly.
We have looked at several ways of addressing the problem. We want to keep the current interactions players are used to: the CEOs work when trashed from anywhere, and other trash abilities only work when the cards are rezzed before they are trashed. We plan to make further improvements to Section 9.1.8, but as an intermediate solution we gave the CEOs a small wording update to clarify their intention and better distinguish them from cards like Illegal Arms Factory and Nanoetching Matrix. The new wording of the CEO trash ability is:
When this asset is trashed from anywhere while being accessed, add it to the Runner’s score area as an agenda worth 2 agenda points.
Additionally, some of the CEOs haven’t previously received text changes, so we’ve updated the rest of their abilities to match current style.
Director Haas
Previous Text:
You have +1 allotted on your turn.
When this asset is trashed while being accessed, add it to the Runner’s score area as an agenda worth 2 agenda points.
New Text:
You have +1 allotted on your turn.
When this asset is trashed from anywhere while being accessed, add it to the Runner’s score area as an agenda worth 2 agenda points.
Chairman Hiro
Previous Text:
The Runner’s maximum hand size is reduced by 2.
If Chairman Hiro is trashed while being accessed, add him to the Runner’s score area as an agenda worth 2 agenda points.
New Text:
The Runner gets -2 maximum hand size.
When this asset is trashed from anywhere while being accessed, add it to the Runner’s score area as an agenda worth 2 agenda points.
The Board
Previous Text:
Each agenda in the Runner’s score area is worth 1 fewer agenda point.
If The Board is trashed while being accessed, add it to the Runner’s score area as an agenda worth 2 agenda points.
New Text:
Each agenda in the Runner’s score area is worth 1 less agenda point.
When this asset is trashed from anywhere while being accessed, add it to the Runner’s score area as an agenda worth 2 agenda points.
Victoria Jenkins
Previous Text:
The Runner has 1 fewer to spend during his or her turn.
If Victoria Jenkins is trashed while being accessed, add her to the Runner’s score area as an agenda worth 2 agenda points.
New Text:
The Runner has -1 allotted on their turn.
When this asset is trashed from anywhere while being accessed, add it to the Runner’s score area as an agenda worth 2 agenda points.
The Class Act
We’ve previously issued multiple text updates for The Class Act, as the rules surrounding interrupts and card draw effects have evolved. Unfortunately, the previous wording had an annoying edge case: when you try to draw the last card in your stack, The Class Act would modify your draw to no effect, then force you to put the card you drew back into your deck. We’ve kept the new text for The Class Act in the same style, matching the latest wording for Daily Business Show, but we’ve removed the unintended edge case by adding a check to make sure the Runner drew at least 2 cards before making them put a card back.
The Class Act
Previous Text:
When your discard phase ends, if you installed this resource this turn, draw 4 cards.
→ The first time each turn you would draw any number of cards, increase the number of cards you will draw by 1. When you draw those cards, add 1 of them to the bottom of your stack.
New Text:
When your discard phase ends, if you installed this resource this turn, draw 4 cards.
→ The first time each turn you would draw any number of cards, increase the number of cards you will draw by 1. When you draw those cards, if you drew at least 2, add 1 of them to the bottom of your stack.
Malia Z0L0K4
If Malia Z0L0K4 is blanking a resource, when exactly does that effect expire after Malia is trashed? If the blanked resource was DJ Fenris hosting René “Loup” Arcemont, will DJ Fenris regain its abilities in time to give the Runner a card and a credit for trashing Malia? It depends on when exactly Malia’s abilities leave the game state. If DJ Fenris gets its text back by the start of the next checkpoint after Malia is trashed, it will be able to create a pending instance of the conditional ability it has from Loup, which the Runner can trigger for their credit and card. But if DJ Fenris doesn’t have Loup’s ability by that time, it will miss the opportunity.
So when exactly does Malia’s ability go away, relative to the checkpoint after the Runner trashes it? With the previous wording, it’s reasonable to interpret “the text box of that resource is blank” either as a static ability (that merely refers to a choice the Corp made when resolving the “when you rez” ability), or as nested within the “when you rez” ability, and added to the game state as a lingering effect when that ability resolves. These interpretations are close enough that we don’t often have to worry about the difference, but the expiration of a lingering effect has slightly different timing than a static ability becoming inactive. When the duration of a lingering effect runs out, it stays in the game state until the next checkpoint clears it—too late for DJ Fenris. But if the source of a static ability becomes inactive, the ability stops applying to the game state immediately, which means DJ Fenris gets its abilities back in time.
While this isn’t an interaction that comes up very often, we have gotten questions about it, so we want to clear up the ambiguity in Malia’s ability classification. With no standing ruling to act as a precedent, our priority is to make a change that yields a simple and intuitive card wording. We chose to rule that the static ability interpretation is correct, in part because we could reinforce this ruling simply by adding a paragraph break between the two sentences of Malia’s text. The second sentence is a distinct static ability, which leaves the game state as soon as Malia becomes inactive, before any checkpoints are carried out. This means that DJ Fenris will get back its abilities, and those of its hosted identity, in time to see that the Runner trashed Malia Z0L0K4.
Malia Z0L0K4
Previous Text:
When you rez Malia Z0L0K4, choose an installed non-virtual resource. The text box of that resource is blank.
New Text:
When you rez this asset, choose an installed non-virtual resource.
The chosen resource loses all printed abilities.
Otoroshi
We missed this card in our update accompanying Comprehensive Rules version 1.5, in which abilities that talk about server locations got updated to the new terminology. Otoroshi now uses the updated style for cards in the roots of servers, instead of the old style where cards were installed “in” remote servers.
Otoroshi
Previous Text:
You may place up to 3 advancement tokens on a card installed in a server. If you do, the Runner accesses that card unless he or she pays 3.
New Text:
You may place up to 3 advancement counters on 1 card installed in the root of a remote server. If you do, the Runner accesses that card unless they pay 3.
Typos
Political Graffiti and Omega had minor mistakes on their text: “this operation” on an event, and a missing period, respectively.
Political Graffiti
Previous Text:
Run Archives. If successful, instead of breaching Archives, add this operation to an agenda in the Corp’s score area as a hosted condition counter with “Host agenda is worth 1 less agenda point. When the Corp purges virus counters, trash this counter.”
New Text:
Run Archives. If successful, instead of breaching Archives, add this event to an agenda in the Corp’s score area as a hosted condition counter with “Host agenda is worth 1 less agenda point. When the Corp purges virus counters, trash this counter.”
Omega
Previous Text:
Interface → 1: Break 1 subroutine.
1: +1 strength.
This program can only interface with the innermost piece of ice protecting a server
New Text:
Interface → 1: Break 1 subroutine.
1: +1 strength.
This program can only interface with the innermost piece of ice protecting a server.
Conclusion
That concludes all the updates we have for Worlds 2021. We wish you the best of luck if you are participating, or have fun if you will be watching!
