I have to disagree with the other review. There is only one thing that matters in this game and that is winning. That is followed closely by not loosing.

This card must read: Trash to not loose the game right here right now to net damage.

So that's the next best thing to winning. All the other cards in your deck don t matter squad if you hit a June bug with 3 advancements on it and less than 6 cards in your hand (please spare me with only noobs hit traps - apparently you don t have any good Jinteki players around) Is it a niche card? Absolutely but it has a very powerful effect to compensate, on top of it its cheap to install, no MU cost and in the worst case you just sell it to Asops or fuel for Faust. This card also acts as a break of sorts against a couple of specific Ice (Cortex Lock etc)

Lastly like the art.

I am surprised Smoke didn't get any more reviews unless its universally obvious how good she is. In case you missed it let me break it down for you and compare her to one of the most popular Shaper ID. Kate has 45 / 15 ; 1 Link and best case you save 1 credit a turn. However that is best case, as a Shaper you will install, a lot but eventually your rig is ready . Also some cards just don't cost anything to install. On the plus her ability can trigger on the corp turn, I am sure you can figure ways out to make that happen.

And now Smoke, smaller deck but same influence, no link and one recurring credit for Icebreakers. Mind you we are playing netRUNNER not netbuilder so this credit should come into play almost every turn. We could leave it at this and conclude that Kate has a bigger min deck size for an additional link and both have comparable capability to save you some hard credits, if it wasn't for that little word on the ID card " Stealth".

This makes Smoke way better than Kate in my opinion, a stealth breaker is considerably more efficient than a normal breaker. Dagger pumps for 5, Switchblade for 7 or breaks all subs on a 0 strength sentry. Refactor pumps for 3 etc, you see the pattern that 1 stealth credit is worth more than a normal credit. And last consideration, things you want to do to win a game: Running wins games, building a rig does not (directly (Monolith and 3 installed programs however earn you the right to spread your arms as wide as you can and say with a cheesy smile: "That's right, its THAT big"))

This card is great! Unfortunately the trigger will be meet regular so that's covered, and if you play it out of HB you should have the cash to make the trace. The wording is a bit awkward, it should have been:

"Trash 2 pics of hardware and taste the runners salty tears, otherwise better wait for a later use. If you feel like it you could trash resources but that's a waste"

No tag needed, surprising given how common the trigger condition is meet and potential devastating to the runner. Also the trigger condition helps with making the trace if they used credits to trash. The card is a massive improvement over Hellion Alpha Test (same influence mind you) given you the choice of what to trash in any combination. Would it have much use out of faction? Probably not given the influence, if you spend one more you get Scorched Earth and win the game but a good option for HB to strike back at the runner other than brain damage. In my opinion a very good addition to the HB card pool that makes Hellion Alpha Test completely obsolete (sort of the only complaint)

Now what does this compare to? a) Jinteki: Personal Evolution b) Chronos Protocol: Selective Mind-mapping

They all seam to do something similar but in fact it’s very different, let’s break it down.

Jinteki: Potential Unleashed lets you grind out your opponent more quickly if you play a death by a thousand cuts style of deck. The important thing to note is you won't be winning of this ability however you will get your opponent quicker to deplete his deck and look at a very big heap instead. As an added benefit you get to disrupt his deck by random trashing - very nasty indeed. Lastly 3 influences less than the peers, not game breaking but uncomfortable.

Chronos Protocol: Selective Mind-mapping is the quality option, this triggers only once per turn maximum and basically allows you to replace the random net damage trash with a card of your choosing. Given that people want to keep good cards in hand you can disrupt their game plan (also vs Jinteki people just want to have a full hand). Lastly you know what they are up to since you get to look - nice to see whats coming your way.

Jinteki: Personal Evolution now seams to be the weakest of them all - wrong. The ID's ability might have the fewest chances to trigger per game BUT it lets you win games. It makes multi access much more threatening as they may access more agendas than they hoped for. Advanced cards on the bored can turn into out of the red net damage and a scored agenda for the Corp. This ID hands down is still the most dangerous of all of them - especially in early game when there are lots of agendas to score. However this ID is probably the hardest to master of them all.

In summery Potential Unleashed lets you grind down their deck, Selective Mind-mapping gives you the most control on their game plan and Personal Evolution makes them what you relay want as a Jinteki player - question every move they make, fear every face down card and break a sweet when they access a card.