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.

After finding out how deckbuilding in the Star Wars LCG works, something I’ve wondered about this card is whether instead of banning it outright, a more interesting restriction would be to force the runner to also include an equal number of copies of Sūnya and Nfr.

At 3 copies, that’s about 6 additional deck slots devoted to inefficient icebreakers. I believe this makes for an interesting trade-off, where to use the most overpowered console in the game you must use it with underpowered breakers. The console also synergies well with the breakers, and helps make up for some of their inherent weaknesses. (Whereas before, with free reign over what to include with it, it simply made strong breakers even better.)

In effect, the console basically becomes an exclusive buff to these two breakers.

As it is now, none of these cards are used in any capacity, for various reasons. This sort of unconventional deck-building restriction may change that (although this may be a level of complexity too far).

This Shaper console lift the heritage of Astrolabe that rotated at NISEI's first rotation. Astrolabe was the go-to console for both Anarch but also often imported out of faction, since it was only 2 influence and super cheap at 1c. Often it would make sense to include it instead of cards like Akamatsu Mem Chip since it basically did the same, but better. Also Astrolabe was very good against asset spam, as it had the powerful "whenever" clause to draw a card every time corp created a server. Then again, were you up against glacier, astrolabe might end up drawing you only 1 card!

At first look, this looks more expensive (3c vs 1c) and harder to import (3 influence vs 2). Also, the effect does nothing against asset spam, but don't let that deceive you: the effect that Aniccam have, are more versatile than it looks.

Let's start with the basics:

• 1 mem for 3c. Compare that to Akamatsu Mem Chip, it is expensive, but not bad. Maya and Mirror gives you 2MU for the same credit. Cyberdelia cost the same for same MU, but is not a console and stacks and have a discount effect. Mind's Eye have similar stats, but a different effect.
• Playing an event will trash the card (for currents this will happen once the current is trashed due to agendas being scored or another current being played). so the first time you play an event (each turn, but I am not aware of any effect that let the runner play events in corps turn), you may draw a card. Compare this to another Shaper console: Comet. Since playing an event always triggers it, I would say Aniccam would be guaranteed to fire more often than Comet, as it both triggers by playing an event, and by other means (se more below). Also it is 1c cheaper but one more influence (but hey Ken "Express" Tenma: Disappeared Clone has 17 so maybe we will see it splashed in criminal run event decks too!)
• Shapers are not big on events, but they do have a few that synergizes: Diesel will draw you 4 cards, In the Groove and Spec Work will draw you an extra card.
• Since the trash effect is in both turns and from any location, Aniccam also gives you damage prevention against grindy damage decks such as Jinteki: Personal Evolution and Argus Security: Protection Guaranteed as long as they hit an event -sort of a mini I've Had Worse
• Anarchs love to trash their grip so many Anarch archetypes could splash this card for draw. (EDIT)MaxX would get draw as well, when trashing an event.
• Anarchs love to peddle the streets, but events always were a pain to have on your peddlers. Well now you at least get a draw, if you have this console, since hosted cards still have a type (unlike cards installed face down -see below)
• Criminals always need draw, so I have already seen Aniccam replace Paragon in crim decks. Also Aniccam arguably synergize better with The Class Act than Paragon, given that actual draw is better than a scry that you already get with TCA.
• Aniccam also synergizes with the Uprising hardware Buffer Drive giving you both the draw, and putting the event back in the stack (EDIT) as long as the trash was caused by damage
• In the release notes it is specifically mentioned, that playing Modded to install Aniccam, will draw you a card, since the installation completes and Aniccam becomes active as part of resolving: Modded's play abilities in step 8.6.6 of playing an event and is then trashed in step 8.6.7, so Aniccam sees its trigger condition being met.

• Release notes also specifically mentions, that Aniccam will not trigger if runner trashes an installed On the Lam: "On the Lam is a condition counter while it is hosted on a resource, so it is trashed as a condition counter and doesn’t return to being an event until after it enters the heap."

• Note that Aniccam will not trigger when a facedown card is trashed, as they don't have a card type.

Let me know in the comments what decks you have used Aniccam in, and any nice synergies i have missed!

I'm not sure if there are other cards that are basically a must-include in a particular Corp deck, but Wall to Wall is built for Earth Station. Note that it only activates three abilities if you only have one asset rezzed. Earth Station, no matter the side, only allows for one remote server. In fact, aside from Rashida, this was the only Asset I had in my "not-quite-GNK" Earth Station deck at my LGS.

So why is this built specifically for Earth Station? As I said, this only kicks in if there's no other rezzed Asset. Apart from Rashida, this was part of my Earth Station glacier (which was devastated by an Alice running Apocalypse round 1). That's beside the point. If there's only one server, you can fire off three abilities, so it's perfect for Earth Station. You can get a credit, draw a card, advance that Colossus so the poor Runner has to trash their Progenitor hosting Aumakua when they face-check it at 4 strength. Or, if you have an agenda you want to slap down, simply bounce it back with the fourth ability. This is a powerful Asset that becomes weaker in Asset Spam decks, but in single server decks, it is a terrifying thing to go against. Why? It gives you three clicks worth of things to do before you even do your mandatory draw. This is precisely why I feel it was made specifically for Earth Station: it benefits most from the limit of one remote server. Wall to Wall is unique, so you can't spam it; you're stuck with the one. Otherwise, it would be far too powerful.

Unless you're playing a single-server deck, find a better drip econ card, like PAD Campaign or Rashida. If you want advancements, play Tennin or run Cayambe Grid. This fits best in one-remote glacier decks, especially with its bounce ability allowing you to return it before you draw and then slapping down something else.

I think it's an asset spam or rush / jammy card. Rez for 1 is always good with a trash cost of 4. And it gives you 2 credits or a card the first install each turn. So you want to use it to install cards often on this and in a jammy list it means you are not losing tempo while jamming stuff.
IAA usually costs you 3 clicks & 2 credits, with this it "only" costs you 3 clicks.

Installing & firing Rashida Jaheem means 3 cards & 5 credits, what's not to like? But it also means you need some ice to protect this card. Advanced Assembly Lines can give you the bonus twice, once in your & once in your opponents turn.
It might make sense with costly assets you only use once and don't keep in the server, like Bass CH1R180G4. And then we are fast in comparing it to Breaker Bay Grid which rezzes for free (until 5), so in the territory of 0 - 1 this is better (or multiple installs) from 3 - 5 BB is better. In combo decks like Spombo Asa also BB is the better choice, as you can use it for multiple items a turn.

So what are cards you want to throw in the server?

• Hyperloop Extension
• Megaprix Qualifier
• Rashida Jaheem
• NGO Front
• Advanced Assembly Lines
• Adonis Campaign / Marilyn Campaign / Launch Campaign (these will take some time so you can't use the ability again)

But also cards that are useless otherwise can go in the remote and force runner actions like CVS while giving you credits or cards.

The draw can be something that is better as this is also something BB does not offer.

The trash costs of 4 is a huge thing, so usually when I see it as a player I can't afford (in terms of tempo) to trash it.