Still smokin' hot (1st Iberian Lockdown #5)

Longi 1891

smoking hot

After having chosen the Architects of Tomorrow as my corp for Iberian Lockdown 5 I counted the remaining ID points and started to choose my runner. After having seen the ban list my criminal heart sank. Once again I was forced to leave my blue colours at home and start looking in green. Generally, I am not good with Shapers. I assume it is because I am just not patient enough. There is one exception, though. Smoke! She was always kind to me and even helped me to win our last Nationals. I was not sure she was still hot enough after last rotation but I decided to give it a try.

Since The Turning Wheel was banned I chose R&D Interface as my multi-access. Therefore I had to make the deck rich enough. Peace in Our Time was suitable choice since with stealth-rig you do not mind corp being rich. You also have Beth to benefit from it. Having PiOT meant no influence for Deuces Wild which I love as additional draw. Therefore I chose Aniccam that helped with draw instead. Three days after building this deck I saw that @Odol posted his version of Swiss Army Smoke on netrunnerdb. Seeing that our builds were quite similar and knowing that @Odol is superb Smoke player I knew this would work. And it did!

I knew that by choosing Smoke I used up all 10 ID points which would make it difficult to squeeze myself into top 4. Unless, of course, I win everything. Which was, kind of, what happened. I did not lose in first three games and that allowed me to safely ID the last swiss game and have some time to make myself a dinner. And somehow, my luck hold also in the cut. I lost only once but that was with my corp. I am not gonna list all the IDs I faced during games, instead I will list all the lovely opponents since every single of them was nice and willing to chat and made the tournament very pleasant to attend. Thank you @anarchomushroom, @met4, @Haway, @Cpt_nice, @Baa Ram Wu and @cableCarnage.

First special shout-out goes to @Cpt_nice since during our cut game his connection failed while I was leading 4-0 and after our discussion about the foreseeable outcome of the match he graciously conceded the match.

Second special shout-out you goes to the relentless TO and commentator @Vesper who continues to make this amazing series happen!

11 comments
31 May 2020 Baa Ram Wu

Note to self for future - afterimage breaks drafter for 1 real credit! 🙄

31 May 2020 Longi

@Baa Ram Wu Note to self for tuture - Quetzal can click through Border Control! :D

1 Jun 2020 Baa Ram Wu

^never forget! ;)

Wish I had your reaction over voice chat recorded - it was pretty epic!

1 Jun 2020 Longi

@Baa Ram Wu Oh yes, that was a genuine surprise after I had fired the Border Control fast and naively only to be reminded that it would not stop you :) Good game!

2 Jun 2020 hermes

Did you ever feel like missing Kati in the late game?

2 Jun 2020 miroslavseckar

@hermesKati is really useful in Smoke builds in general. I this deck however, she would been the 42nd card (41st being Mantle). I cannot say I missed her as the build is quite rich. But I did play only a few games with it so it is hard to say anything conclusively.

2 Jun 2020 Longi

@hermes Kati is really useful in Smoke builds in general. I this deck however, she would been the 42nd card (41st being Mantle). I cannot say I missed her as the build is quite rich. But I did play only a few games with it so it is hard to say anything conclusively

3 Jun 2020 Odol

Nicely done @Longi!

@hermesI feel like this handful of flexible slots in Smoke is always torn between additional economy and tech cards. For me Kati is also something I would totally play in a 45-card deck, but it will not make it into my 40-card build as long as Scarcity of Resources exists in the card pool :|

3 Jun 2020 Saan

I have liked using Aniccam in Modded Smoke for a bit now, and I'm glad others are doing the same. One of Smoke's issues is getting set up fast enough, and this makes things feel so much better, as well as gives another target for Modded to work on as an added bonus.

3 Jun 2020 Longi

@SaanThe thing is that in Lockdown 5 The Turning Wheel was banned. So with R&D Interfaces the Modded was easy choice. In standard environment I would still prefer The Turning Wheel as a multi-access for Smoke. That being thes case I am not sure the breakers and Aniccam are enough to justify Modded inclusion.

3 Jun 2020 Longi

@Saan But I agree that Aniccam is the right console. It speeds up the set-up more reliably than Astrolabe did.