It's Biotic Labor, except it costs 1 less and the runner can trash it because it is an asset. Actually though, because you need to install this friendly bioroid before he can get to work, you are essentially spending 2 clicks... to gain 2 clicks. So the strategy is installing Bass and using him on a later turn. This makes Bass less attractive than Biotic, despite being 1 less credit.

Of course, being an asset also has a few upsides. He can be reinstalled with cards like Team Sponsorship, rezzed more cheaply with Breaker Bay Grid, searched with Tech Startup and can be used in combination with Biotic in MirrorMorph. He is a combo player's dream, and I imagine people will continue to do cool things with him. Also, he is "only" 3 influence as opposed to Biotic's 4.

So yeah, less straightforward than his operation equivalent, but also wilder.

Týr, Tithonium, Anansi, Thoth... The list of powerful, expensive, and painful to facecheck ice goes on. Each corp has access to at least a few, while a couple of them just can't get enough of the things. So what's the caveat with ice like this? Well, as mentioned above, the stuff can be expensive; even worse, it might be unique. And while that's all understandable for "balance reasons" or whatever, who wouldn't love to have the money and ability to put two Týrs in the same remote server?

Well, Ganked! doesn't completely solve that problem, but it sure helps. You know what's almost as good as two Týrs on the same remote server? Making the runner hit that single Týr a second time after they touch the Ganked! they thought was a Project Vitruvius. Or having Ganked! in there with an actual Project Vitruvius, and laughing to yourself as they trade an agenda score for 2 brain damage, you getting to wreck an integral piece of their board state, and three credits. Depending on how much they paid to get into your server in the first place, that's the kind of tempo loss that'll seal a game.

Doesn't have to involve your remote, either. Give them a second dose of the DNA Tracker that's protecting R&D during a deep dig, or slam into multiple Afshars when they Legwork. Make the Sneakdoor Beta run that they thought would be ice free Not So. Make them encounter Komainu a second time, with twice as many subs (I smell net deeeeeath~). Combining it with Konjin allows you to force the runner to encounter a piece of ice in a different server twice, all in the same painful run. There's so many possibilities, almost as many as there are ice, unsurprisingly enough.

So at only two influence and with no actual credit cost (Outside of the cost of rezzing ice you were going to rez anyway, right?), keep this little ambush in mind for your next glacier deck. Depending on your ice spread, this thing could be nasty. Of course, getting Ganked! often is.

If you have rules questions about this card, you are not alone. To answer your question, this card should be officially errata'd to read: "As an additional cost to steal Obokata Protocol, the Runner must trash 4 cards from his or her grip at random." All of the rulings support this errata.

A 4 strength sentry with 2 subs (ideally 3) for 4 credits is great value for the corp. However, because of the traces, even if the runner face checks this, there is no guarantee it will actually fire. Trace 3 is just high enough to be relevant, especially now that Power Tap and a whole assortment of link cards are rotated. Outside of Sunny, who laughs at this card, and maybe link-friendly shapers like Kabonesa and Lat, there isn't a runner who can brush this off. And being able to trash a console is game-winning, while it can end the run as well.

Pretty decent card, especially if you can park it on HQ. Probably best in Earth Station. Not fantastic though.

With the rotation of Lunar and C&C, I was interested in seeing how Smoke would adapt to the loss of Cloak, Ghost Runner, Dagger, Switchblade and Refractor. But then Nisei printed very similar replacements so all that worry is now water on the bridge.

In the case of Afterimage, despite being able to breaks subs for real credits like Dagger, I think the similarities to Switchblade are more immediate. Both need to be imported from criminal (and you should, because what other killer are you gonna play. Fawkes?). Afterimage costs 1 more credit and 1 more influence though. On top of that, while Switchblade breaks nearly any current sentry for 2 stealth credits (Orion, a well-placed Surveyor and overadvanced Colossus not withstanding), Afterimage needs to be boosted twice or even three times to deal with higher strength sentries.

However, to bring up similarities again, once per turn you can bypass any sentry for the cost of 2 stealh credits. This is fantastic, as it essentially allows you to deal with even the most insurmountable of ice, like say a 16 strength Surveyor for an affordable price. And as an added cherry on top, you get to ignore annoying encounter effects such as with Data Raven. Don't use this abillity on Anansi though. Also keep in mind that due to timing, you can't use Pelangi to make something a sentry and then bypass it.

Due to starting at strength 2, this breaker also deals nicely with lower strength ice, such as Cobra, Sapper and Rototurret. All cost 1 credit, two subs or not. It also breaks almost every sentry of strength 3 and 4 for a regular and a stealth credit, instead of 2 stealth. News Hound, Cortex Lock and Drafter come to mind. Then again, Switchblade is great vs Tour Guide, a card you need an answer for. Although Afterimage can also get past it via bypass...

So all in all, I think the takeaway is that Afterimage is a very strong successor of Switchblade, better and worse in different aspects, and a card that keeps Smoke relevant in the current meta.