Card of the Day

Written by Foolkiller

On-Call Solo Team (OCST) is one of a series of cards which punish the tagged Runner with meat damage for an action. Other similar cards include Strike Force Kali, Corporate Headhunters, and Solo Squad.

OCST, Corporate Headhunters and Strike Force Kali are all agenda cards. They are difficulty 4, 5 and 6 respectively. Each provides 3 Agenda Points if scored. OCST does 1 meat damage per action; Corporate Headhunters does 1 meat damage per action AND reduces the Runner's hand size by 1 each time it successfully does damage; and Strike Force Kali does 2 meat damage per action. Solo Squad is a node which has a 0 rez cost and 3 trash cost, but which otherwise acts as OCST.

What is nice about OCST, aside from the fact that you might be able to flatline a Runner, is the ability to surgically pick away at the Runner's hand. Strike Force Kali does not give the option to reduce the amount of damage done to the Runner, and you do not always want to flatline the Runner outright (such as when they have Emergency Self-Construct in play). The Runner cannot be saved by Arasaka Owns You or ESC if you just pick away one card at a time. Keeping the Runner out of cards is certainly an advantage. OCST is also much easier to score.

OCST does not compare so favorably with Corporate Headhunters. For only 1 more difficulty, you can essentialy do "brain damage" to the Runner every time you deplete his/her hand.

OCST has two significant advantages over Solo Squad. First, it is an agenda so it does not occupy a fort after it is scored. This makes it invulnerable whereas the Runner can always trash an annoying Node. Second, OCST gives you Agenda Points! The free rez cost of Solo Squad makes it a nice substitute for OCST until you have one scored, and thus it compliments the agenda nicely in a deck. Overall, however, the permanent status of OCST makes it preferrable.

Of course, there is the tag requirement to use this card's ability. That means more space required in your deck devoted to tagging the Runner. You can leave out the Operation cards which would normally be used to damage the Runner since you will have an alternative. Of course, those Operations could just as easily stay in instead of ICE.

A card to consider using when playing with OCST is Cybertech Think Tank. If you can successfully advance Cybertech Think Tank, you can use as many counters as you wish to increase the damage done by OCST. Thus, if the Runner has 3 cards, putting them outside of your one-turn ability to flatline them, you could use two counters from the Tank to increase the damage done by OCST on your first action, then use your second to do another point, flatlining the Runner.

Overall, OCST is not as good as Corporate Headhunters, and in a constructed deck environment, that is the card of choice in this type of strategy. This requires substituting Project Consultants or Management Shake-Up if you plan to fast-advance. OCST is an excellent card in a limited or sealed deck environment, however. Since it is vital, it is likely to appear in a deck. In sealed deck, getting a tag on the Runner is generally much easier so you will probably have an occasion to use OCST's ability. Another type of deck that I find perfect for cards like this are "Highlander" decks where only one of any card is allowed. OCST is nice because it gives you an option each time you have a tag on the runner. I like to diversify the abilities granted by my agendas in Highlander decks, giving me the broadest spectrum of options and variety.

So the final word is, use Corporate Headhunters if you can, but in a pinch OCST can be a nice card to have in the "scored" pile.