Card of the Day

Written by Foolkiller

KA-BOOM! The walls come falling down...and how! Pile Driver is an awesome program with a dedicated purpose. The ultra-cheap install cost and high strength make this program a worthy addition to many decks using a standard breaker suite.

Of course, your stealth bits will get used up quickly using this baby, but if you're playing with Pile Driver and stealth in the same stack, you've probably been using too much Lucidrine. In other words, don't mix stealth with this card!

The apparent drawback to this card is the 3 bit cost to break all walls. This gets annoying when your opponent is using Data Wall, but its more annoying when you are using Jackhammer and your opponent is using Toughonium Wall. Pile Driver has excellent utility and the advantage of having a generally "static" cost to use which allows more planning on your part. If you know you can get through any piece of Wall ICE for a set price there is no need to worry about what it might be. The obvious compliments to this card are Big Frackin' Gun and Skeleton Passkeys. With this suite you are pretty much guaranteed to get past any given ICE for 3 or 6 bits.

Broker, while slow, is a very nice compliment to these cards because it pays out in increments that work well with these cards. I try to get two Brokers in play when using this suite to keep one always building. Because breaking is moderately expensive it is also nice to bring some revealer cards with this suite, like Technician Lover and Mouse. Conserve until you know your run will pay off, then go in for the kill.

The real drawback to this card is an opponent that uses deep ICE forts, with cheap ICE. LOTS of Data Walls are a bad thing when using this card, particularly with a Rio/Siren fort. For this reason, it is wise to carry a back-up like Corrosion or Jackhammer, just in case. If you find yourself against an opponent using this ICE strategy you will be glad you brought the other program.

Another theoretical problem is the advent of Silent Impact which could make stealth a much more important tool. But until then, this is a great program.

Both of the Corp's heaviest Walls fall down like tissue paper with Pile Driver. Toughonium Wall and Wall of Ice only cost three bits to break unless "Ice Transmuted" or otherwise improved. If you suspect (or know) your opponent is using heavy walls, let them rez one or two before dropping Pile Driver to get the Corp to waste money.

Pile Driver also has the feature of being a vital card which nearly guarantees getting it in sealed deck play. Of course, this is the environment in which Dwarf is probably the better choice, but its nice to know that Pile Driver is easy to get ahold of.

Pile Driver is a very nice program which takes a little bit of financial planning and a very small amount of finesse to use. If you favor a "break-for-free" strategy, stay away from this one.