Fairchild - Android: Netrunner LCG

Now, they have all come together.

There is actually quite a history behind Fairchild, this being the fourth card in a line that has spanned multiple sets. Before Fairchild, there was Fairchild 1.0, Fairchild 2.0, and Fairchild 3.0. How are they all connected? Let's start with something easy first: the art. Each card has art done by Liiga Smilshkalne, so all feature a similar palette and style. Now for the first three cards, each card depicts a separate figure, but here the heads of all the figures have joined together into one entity. Another quick note is that all the cards until now have be non-unique, but this version of Fairchild gets unique status, again showing the growth of the card.

Another thing is that each card serves as an upgrade of the other. The most obvious is the increasing cost and strength of each card. Even the influence cost goes up as the card gets more powerful. Next you have the first ability. With bioroid cards, most of the cards have text that allows the runner to bypass so many subroutines is they spend so many clicks, with 1.0 being one, 2.0 being two, etc. With Fairchild though, things have evolved to the point where that piece of text has dropped off completely, which really strengthens the card.

The subroutines have also evolved over time, though the last one makes some more drastic changes. Fairchild 1.0 had two subroutines that were pay 1 credit or trash a card. Fairchild 2.0 upgraded this to pay 2 credit or trash a card, plus it added another subroutine that did 1 brain damage. Fairchild 3.0 upgraded this again to 3 credit or trash a card, and added the option of ending the run to the last subroutine. But now we get to Fairchild. Now all the subroutines are about ending the run, with each one offering an alternative cost for the runner. So the first two subroutines lets you pay 4 credits, the third one lets you trash a card, and the fourth one lets you suffer brain damage. All these subroutines still call back to what came before, but they have still been completely modified.

Overall, what interests me about this card is less the card itself and more the journey it has been on.