Democracy and Dogma UFAQ

This is the third in a series of unofficial FAQs released with each new data pack. Below are rulings from Damon Stone, the head designer, regarding some of the cards in Democracy and Dogma.

Political Assets

If the only piece of ice protecting a Political asset from Democracy and Dogma is returned to hand by Blue Sun at the start of the turn, does the ability of the political asset still trigger?

Yes. If the Corp chooses to trigger Blue Sun before triggering the asset’s ability, then when the asset’s ability resolves the "if" clause will be true and allow the ability to resolve.

Political Graffiti

If I add Political Graffiti to an AstroScript Pilot Program, is it worth negative 1 agenda point or 1 agenda point?

It would be worth 1 agenda point.

If I add Political Graffiti to a Project Beale with an agenda counter on it, how many agenda points is the Project Beale worth?

Project Beale will have +1 and -1 point, so it will be worth 2 agenda points.

The Runner makes a run with Political Graffiti when the Corp has a Hostile Takeover and no other agendas in their score area. During the run, the Corp rezzes an Archer, forfeiting the Hostile Takeover. What happens when the run is successful?

Political Graffiti’s "if successful" ability is not optional, so resolve as much of it as you can. When the run is successful, there is nothing to host Political Graffiti on, so the Runner does not access cards, and then trashes Political Graffiti once the run ends.

The Runner steals a copy of Breaking News, Turntables it to the Corp, and then plays Political Graffiti on that Breaking News. Is the Corp allowed to play Punitive Counterstrike on their turn?

The Corp can always play Punitive Counterstrike because it always initiates a trace. But if no other agendas were stolen during the Runner’s turn, Punitive Counterstrike would not do any damage.

The Runner applies Political Graffiti to an Accelerated Beta Test. Later, they steal a Domestic Sleepers and use Turntable to swap it with the Accelerated Beta Test. How many points is the Accelerated Beta Test worth?

The Accelerated Beta Test is worth 1 point. While cards in the Runner’s score area are inactive, cards hosted on them can still be active.

Political Operative

Can recurring credits from cards like Whizzard and Scrubber be used to pay the cost for Political Operative's ability?

No. Those cards specify to use their credits for trashing cards, so they cannot be spent on using Political Operative.

Is the cost of Political Operative's ability affected by cards such as Industrial Genomics and Skulljack?

Yes. Whenever an ability queries a value from the game, modifiers are taken into account unless otherwise noted.

Sadyojata

Can Sadyojata use its ability to swap itself out with another copy of Sadyojata in grip?

Yes. Sadyojata does not specify "that is not a copy of itself".

Is swapping Sadyojata with another Deva considered an installation?

No. Swapping just exchanges the places of the two cards.

If Sadyojata is hosted on a Scheherazade when it is swapped with another Deva, must the new Deva also be hosted on Scheherazade? Does this gain the Runner 1?

Yes, the swapped Deva exchanges places with Sadyojata, so it must be hosted on the same card. The new Deva is not installed, so the Runner does not gain 1 from Scheherazade.

If Sadyojata is hosting The Personal Touch when it is swapped with another Deva, is The Personal Touch trashed or hosted onto the new Deva?

Trashed. The hosting card was removed from play, so all hosted items are immediately and unpreventably trashed.

The Runner has no unused MU. Can they use Sadyojata’s ability to swap it with a Deva, without trashing programs to free additional MU?

Yes, because the rule about MU and trashing is about installing, swapping is a simultaneous exchange of two cards. The moment the one Deva is coming into play the other is leaving, with no overlap, so there is no need to free up MU.

If the first piece of ice Kit encounters is a NEXT Bronze, giving it the code gate subtype, is it considered to have 3 subtypes for the purposes of breaking with Sadyojata?

No. Changes in subtypes are tracked cumulatively, but the state of having a subtype is binary.

"Freedom Through Equality"

Is "Freedom Through Equality" trashed while in the score area if another current is played or an agenda is scored?

No. "Freedom Through Equality" is added to the Runner’s score area as a blank agenda worth 1 agenda point. Additionally, agendas in the Runner’s score area are not active.

Councilman

Is the rez cost in Councilman's ability affected by constant abilities on cards such as Breaker Bay Grid?

Yes. Whenever an ability queries a value from the game, modifiers are taken into account unless otherwise noted.

Is the rez cost in Councilman's ability affected by modifiers at the time of rez, such as from Worlds Plaza?

No. A modifier that is part of a non-constant ability only applies during the resolution of that ability.

Can I use Fall Guy to protect Councilman but still pay the rez cost and get the effect?

No. You can use Fall Guy to prevent Councilman from being trashed, but then you will not get the derez effect. "If you do" requires that both the credits are paid and the Councilman is trashed in order for the rest of the effect to resolve. Note that if you choose to use Councilman but then prevent it from being trashed, you still pay the credits.

If the Runner uses Councilman on Lakshmi Smartfabrics, does Lakshmi Smartfabrics still gain a power counter?

If it is the Runner’s turn, the Councilman resolves first. Lakshmi Smartfabrics will then be inactive when its ability would trigger, so that ability fails to resolve. If it is the Corp’s turn, Lakshmi Smartfabrics resolves first, so it will gain a power counter, which will remain hosted on it when it is derezzed.

Clone Suffrage Movement

If the operation returned to HQ with Clone Suffrage Movement is facedown in Archives, must the Corp reveal it to the Runner?

Yes, just like when returning a copy of Subliminal Messaging from Archives to HQ, the Corp must reveal this information as the ability resolves.

Political Dealings

If the Corp draws an agenda and a non-agenda with Daily Business Show and uses Political Dealings to install the agenda, is the Corp forced to return the non-agenda card to the bottom of R&D?

No, the Corp can return the installed agenda to the bottom of R&D if desired, as the game still knows that it was drawn by Daily Business Show.

If the Corp draws two agendas with Daily Business Show and uses Political Dealings to install both agendas, is the Corp forced to return one of the installed agendas to the bottom of R&D?

Yes. The game still knows that those were the two cards drawn with Daily Business Show, so one of them must be returned to the bottom of R&D.

Can the Corp use Political Dealings to reveal and install the agenda found with Fast Track?

No. Adding a card to HQ is not the same as drawing a card.

"Clones are not People"

Is "Clones are not People" trashed while in the score area if another current is played or an agenda is stolen?

No. "Clones are not People" is added to the Corp’s score area as a blank agenda.

Sensie Actors Union

If the Corp has Sensie Actors Union and Daily Business Show rezzed, how is the Sensie Actors Union’s ability resolved?

The Corp draws four cards, adds one of the drawn cards to the bottom of R&D due to Daily Business Show’s ability, then adds any card from HQ to the bottom of R&D due to Sensie Actors Union’s ability.

Mumbad City Hall

Can the Corp use Mumbad City Hall when there is only one card in R&D? Does it matter if that card is an alliance card?

Yes you can, whether the last card is an alliance card or not. Since R&D is a hidden zone, the game doesn’t check whether the last card in R&D might meet the criteria for the search when determining if Mumbad City Hall’s ability has the potential to change the game state.

Can the Corp use Mumbad City Hall when R&D is empty?

No. Searching and shuffling an empty deck does not change the game state.

Can I use Mumbad City Hall to search for an alliance card that I can’t afford to play or install, just to shuffle R&D?

Mumbad City Hall can resolve at least partially any time there are cards in R&D, so it can be activated regardless of the outcome its effect will have. However, you can only fail to find on a search if there are no cards matching the search criteria. If there are any alliance cards in R&D that you can play or install, you must find one of them, reveal it, and play or install it. If there are only alliance cards that you cannot play or install, you must reveal one of them before shuffling it back into R&D. If there are no alliance cards in R&D, then you do not reveal any cards, and the effect just shuffles R&D.

If Near-Earth Hub uses Mumbad City Hall to install Mumba Temple in a new remote server, do they draw a card before or after shuffling R&D?

Near-Earth Hub draws before shuffling R&D, as the trigger to draw a card interrupts Mumbad City Hall’s ability due to the rule on chain reactions.

If the Corp uses Mumbad City Hall to play Heritage Committee, when is R&D shuffled?

Mumbad City Hall shuffles R&D after the event is played, so the corp will search R&D, play Heritage Committee, draw three cards, add one card from HQ to the top of R&D, then finally shuffle R&D.

Bailiff

If the Corp uses Sub Boost or Sensei to give Bailiff an additional subroutine, and the Runner uses Breach to break both subroutines at once, does the Corp gain 1 or 2?

The Corp gains 2. Even though the Runner only triggered one ability, both subroutines were still broken.

Surat City Grid

Can I chain triggers to rez everything in and protecting the server Surat City Grid is installed in at a discount?

Yes, if you use Surat City Grid’s ability to rez another card in or protecting its server, it triggers again.