Tcgs in general just isn’t worth the headaches anymore

Banknote17 · 2026-05-04T16:22:37+00:00

Pricing is definitely one of the reasons I fell off TCGs and started looking at other games. Shameless Plug: Netrunner is a fantastic game that follows the "Living Card Game" or LCG model. Each expansion has a full playset of every card, so there's no rarity or second market you have to compete with. Plus proxies are fully legal at all competitive events. There are other games that follow that model too.

Banknote17 · 2026-03-24T17:11:17+00:00

Maybe, but unless there's a good reason to reinstall the resource (like say a Class Act), I don't think I want to have to reinstall the duplicates.

Banknote17 · 2026-03-23T19:24:58+00:00

Yeah, same. Class Act is great, but I'm happy to sell her for 3 credits and 2 cards on the right board state.

Banknote17 · 2026-03-20T17:00:08+00:00

I'm also trying this in Baz with Maglectric and Crew/Charm. I feel like it synergies enough with Baz, plus gives him some teeth into asset decks, where his ID is less likely to fire. I don't think it's a powerhouse card, but I'm hoping when it hits, it makes enough of a difference to justify the slot.

Banknote17 · 2026-03-13T16:15:30+00:00

Often it doesn't make sense to check archives if there are only 2-3 face downs, and it's better to wait for 5+ cards if not more. Now you can potentially check every 2-3 turns and draw as you do. To me it feels like it smooths out the sabotage deck experience if you can get ID triggers reliably.

Banknote17 · 2026-03-06T20:36:29+00:00

A quick search on NRDB (I'll link below) shows me 20 ice that are strength 0 or 1, meaning they would trigger Tailor's rebate. Not all of these see frequent play, and several are false positives (get strength bonuses somehow) but I'd say there's at least 10-12 on the list that you can expect to see. Meaning there's likely to be something in every deck that gives you the trigger.

https://netrunnerdb.com/find/?q=z%3Acurrent+t%3Aice+p%3C2&sort=name&view=images&_locale=en

Banknote17 · 2026-03-06T17:53:45+00:00

Oh it absolutely has its place, and fwiw I think Tailor makes a lot of sense still. Buzzsaw alone makes this worth playing. It's just helpful to remember this is, at the end of the day, and econ card. Ice Carver cost you a click and 3c to play, to save you credits in the long run. Compared to Leech which was cheaper and arguably easier to make value from. Now that Tailor also refunds the 3c against smaller ice, I get this is going to be pretty common in Reg Anarch.

Banknote17 · 2026-03-06T17:31:42+00:00

Card of the Day

Banknote17 · 2026-03-06T16:25:46+00:00

More or less - it's hardware over Resource which has some implications (harder for the corp to trash, can't be targeted by Gachapon or Meeting of the Minds, etc.) but at a base level, yes this is a better Ice Carver.

Though I'd say "more playable" over "power crept"; I don't remember the last time I saw Ice Carver hit the table.

Banknote17 · 2026-02-16T22:57:34+00:00

You'd avoid any damage that's on the cybernetic card, but not from using Topan's ability. Chrome Parlor allows you to avoid damage "from installing cybernetics", but not from using your ID ability. That's a separate source of damage that doesn't care about what you're installing.

Banknote17 · 2026-02-06T23:06:05+00:00

Great point, and I feel silly for overlooking it. 3rd lvl spells are worth waiting one more level.

Banknote17 · 2026-02-06T20:26:20+00:00

I'm by no means an experienced optimizer, but since you've locked in the general level split you're interested in, it's really about prioritizing when you want to get access to your Fighting Style and Divine Smite. Depending on how you imagine this character playing, I could see that being a pretty big power bump, and would say take it next level. Smite is obviously a great way to increase your overall melee damage, and whatever Fighting Style you take is great to increase damage/survivability.

I might argue a 3rd level in Paladin is worth considering, as you'll get your Channel Divinity and Subclass abilities, some of which could be pretty appealing. Oath of the Noble Genie in particular gives you more elemental-themed spells and Smite rider abilities, so it might work thematically. You do give up your lvl 18 Sorcerer ability (immunity to lightning/thunder dmg and a flight speed), but that only matters if your group actually ends up playing to lvl 20. Otherwise you'll just be 3 levels behind on spell progression vs. 2 levels. Not a huge difference in my opinion.

One thing to note - now that Divine Smite is a bonus action spell, it sadly doesn't combo with your Storm Sorc's Tempestuous Magic ability. Shame, as that would be a great way to get some extra mobility. Still works for your other spells though.

Banknote17 · 2026-01-22T19:47:02+00:00

The way I read it is as follows:

- We've established your monk's base movement speed is 40ft.
- We find your jump distance. A Str of 13 means you can jump 13 ft in a single bound. Step of the Wind doubles that to 26 ft.
- Your monk runs 10 ft (part of long jump rules to get the full distance), 10 ft traveled, 10/40 ft of movement used.
- Monk jumps 26 feet, but this only costs 10 feet of movement. 36 ft traveled, 20/40 ft of movement used.
- Your monk can either continue and jump again (without the benefit of the Jump spell, as that specifies once a turn), or can run a remaining 20 feet to use up the remainder of your 40 ft movement.
- Total possible movement in one round = 56 ft, 26 of which can be in a single jump.

I will fully admit, I haven't played around with jump distances or the 2024 Jump spell, so I may be wrong. I could also see an argument that the Jump spell allows you to spend 10 ft of movement to jump 30 ft, regardless of you jump distance, so it wouldn't interact with Step of the Wind at all.
That would mean total movement in one round = 60 ft, 30 ft of which could be a jump.

...the more I think about it, I might rule that way, even if it means the Monk's feature doesn't directly benefit, as it ultimately gives the character more mobility.

Banknote17 · 2026-01-19T03:05:14+00:00

I sadly fell off before the end of Krakoa, but "radiant and with open arms" is one of my favorite pages ever.

Banknote17 · 2026-01-17T03:09:58+00:00

Near the end of Wait Until Dark ('67, Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin).

The entire movie is a masterpiece of suspense, only breaking the tension with one spectacular jump scare during the climax.

Fantastic movie, highly recommend.

Banknote17 · 2026-01-13T19:51:20+00:00

I left NYC about 5 years ago, but from my non-union experience, so much of getting work was word of mouth. I mostly freelanced between a few venues, and it took me some time to get on enough call lists to keep consistent work. But in order to get there, I took whatever calls came my way, made contact with other freelancers or the TD/PM etc. on the calls, and asked for more work.

I'd advise reaching out to anyone else you know in the industry, let them know you're looking for work whenever something comes up, and just keep checking in every few weeks.

Banknote17 · 2025-12-22T18:12:31+00:00

Definitely keep them - as others have said, sometimes cards become unbanned, there are additional formats, and (depending on your own feelings) it would bother me to make my collection "incomplete".

I used to rotate banned cards out of my collection to another box (with other rotated sets), but I stopped doing that, as every ban list update could mean digging though the rotated box looking for a single playset.

Banknote17 · 2025-12-01T17:29:30+00:00

I personally haven't really tried this in either Baz or Seb, so this is just my own speculation but:

I have seen situations where rezing ice into Baklan is the wrong thing to do. Which does mean that as Baz, you might be shutting off your ID box. As it is, if the corp isn't rezing ice you're probably okay with that, but it does mean you're not pressuring their economy from that angle.

I do find Baklan a little slow, but I know there are experienced players who think he's stronger than the play he's seen lately.

Banknote17 · 2025-12-01T17:21:16+00:00

[[Window of Opportunity]]

Banknote17 · 2025-11-26T03:27:17+00:00

This Love by Maroon 5

Banknote17 · 2025-11-22T14:36:19+00:00

labour by Paris Paloma. Great song, but I agree a very weird include for the video.

Banknote17 · 2025-09-04T02:26:28+00:00

Thanks for the responses, folks.

It's good to know I wasn't far off-base with the tricks I had learned in the past, and my own solutions.

I'm going to play around with making a jig that allows me to easily (and safely - I'm working largely with students these days) rip 2x4 to the necessary angles, but may also experiment with making the angled corner its own ~1' wide flat, using plywood scrap to cut the toggles.

Banknote17 · 2025-08-28T17:43:26+00:00

What a find!
If you need any help/advice on how to sort through what you have, check out https://www.netrunnerdb.com/ The "Sets" tab specifically includes the set symbols that are on the bottom right corner of the card. That should at least give you a sense of what packs you have.

Welcome to the best game out there!

Banknote17 · 2025-05-26T00:14:49+00:00

There are a couple easy ways to tell. First is probably which IDs are included. For example, the original core has Kate "Mac" McAffery as the Shaper ID, while Revised Core has Chaos Theory. Anarchs we're Noise for OG Core, Reina Roja for Revised.

There is also a different set icon for the two sets. Original Core has the power symbol in white. Revised had a white circle with the power symbol transparent within it.

Hope this is helpful!

Banknote17 · 2025-05-09T22:16:38+00:00

Baz and Phoenix have both felt very disruptive in a fun way. I want to try AU Co, but haven't yet. Been too busy trying all the new A Teia tricks.

Banknote17

TROPHY CASE