Most Interesting Starter Cards at the moment

[Kemmler]

I played a SR36 guy who was using Darla as a starter. I ended up beating him in the end, but not before Darla has caused some significant item stealing damage.

How viable are characters like Darla to start, as nothing more than to add some flair and to throw the opponent off? Are there any other characters like her which would be strong starters with a bit of skill?

Ubuntu is an old one, threatening his doom move or chalice intercept, or buffing single hit attacks.

In the aforementioned game my opponent tried to keep Darla in as long as possible to steal items with the innate and threaten her long range attacks and it looked like good fun.

[Kernest]

The guy you faced could have just been testing a deck, in my experience Darla is very unlikely starter, and is best switched in at far given her limited close range abilities after enemy item is stolen.

[Kemmler]

Originally Posted by Kernest

The guy you faced could have just been testing a deck, in my experience Darla is very unlikely starter, and is best switched in at far given her limited close range abilities after enemy item is stolen.

She is still viable in the right hands, and as I said the main advantage will be the unexpected factor. With some skill she could pull some good item stealing antics and switch out unharmed.

[TheIdioticIdiot]

i love darla, but i don't like her as a starter
tho against many ppl, if i choose a random deck and i get darla as starter, intercept the first turn (unless my opponent has a useless item on that character, like say juju + general's, tho they might still switch, but general's is actually a pretty good item on darla), then if fails, intercept the next turn (unless i was about to die, in which case i might still intercept, or i would switch), if doesn't fail, i switch or intercept again, or plifer
if the second time also fail, i either try again, switch, or plifer (if darla's innate didn't already steal it)
and if the innate activates the first turn, unless the i had a good match-up, i wouldn't intercept, because my opponent wouldn't have to worry about item steal, same thing with the second and the third turn

this may not sound practical (with all the intercepts and stuff), but it works almost every time

[agroagro2]

I had some success using darla as a starter.

Pros

-her poison dagger it very underrated. doing enough damage to put many characters in two hit kill range.

-almost everyone chose go close vs her so you can set up an energy depleted opponent. Also risky you can choose not to go far and have a energy advantage for next turn.

-Dubloons can really mess up characters energy game.

-Fluky innate item steal.

-Steal a critical item. ie like a girdle that would mess up your rath. or a breastplate.

-Go far 2x quad daggers kills a few characters.

Cons

-getting caught switching (tho who doesnt suffer from that)

-Openers with heavy nukes under 50 energy. sets up an unpleasent 50/50 on the first turn.

-going far isnt always advantageous. far plus torpedo or pilfer leaves you with no energy for a move the next turn. Far quad x2 leaves you with no options either.

-70 hp and low def is pretty fragile. This makes mug a good option (I mostly played her with mug or dubloons, tho spyglass can make short work of amaya and ranec).

[Cerberus™]

Are you sure this opponent wasn't simply playing a random deck? Imo Darla is not useless, but still low tier. She is especially bad as a lead, because she is bad at close and weak to close-ranger nukers as well, which are often led, such as Gunby or CC.

[bbobjs]

The only reason I can see to use Darla as a starter is to attempt exploiting her innate since it can proc before either player acts.

[Golden119]

I don't have a paricularly good opener at the moment (i.e. I don't have Bestor yet, nor a Girdle to go with CC) so I'm finding alternatives that look threatening or tempting to mess with the opponent's head:

Rumi/Powder - if no stun protection you can stay close. Otherwise go far and rest/dart/shuri/switch are all good options.
VV/tomes - CC won't dare intercept even with girdle. Bestor won't be happy. A bit of a gamble though.
Balt or Zina - everyone wants to hit these guys while they power-up, so you can change range (or not) and switch instead.

I can see the reasoning behind Darla, as nobody wants to lose their item on turn 1, so far > rest/switch/intercept are all likely good options. You are pretty much committing to go far on turn 1 though.