A Bird, a DJ, and two Politicians walk into a bar...

Odol 1685

For anyone interested, here is my take on Smoke in the new Standard, along with a couple of notes on my choices:

  1. Aniccam and a plethora or good economy Events help us set up extremely fast. We no longer have access to Modded, so the best way to get our breakers out is via SMC + Overclock. To my surprise, I do not recommend VRcation – our draw is pretty amazing anyway, and having too many good cards in our grip at the end of the turn tends to be awkward.
  2. As usual, Imp is our answer to most of the threats that the corp might be throwing our way and 3 Simulchips help us recur our fiendish friend like there is no tomorrow. It is also our primary weapon against assets, along with Net Mercur whose credits can replace themselves, acting as a pseudo bad pub.
  3. We are still using the same breaker suite – no need to fix what ain’t broken (pun very much intended). The addition of Egret is our answer to things like Chiyashi, a triple-advanced Pharos and a Data Ward in ACME, that we can now just bypass with Afterimage. If we are short on stealth, it will also help us break Anansi or Mausolus for 4 regular credits with Paperclip. And in case the corp rezzes Magnett or just a bigger threat comes to town, we can always reposition our heron with a Simulchip.
  4. Political Operative is a two of, as we do need a good answer to things like Anoetic Void / Clearinghouse / SanSan City Grid / Manegarm Skunkworks, depending on which color we play against. Having two of them gives us the comfort to also target Rashida Jaheem to deprive the corp of some tempo, or Spin Doctor, if we suspect they are in the middle of smuggling some agendas through the Archives.
  5. Steve Cambridge: Master Grifter is our… I mean, DJ Fenris is our way to recur the economy and toys in mid-late game. By that time Aniccam is usually in play, so the Events we recur with our friend Steve are gaining some additional value. And we can also retrieve our Simulchips or Political Operatives if needed.

This is the best Smoke list that I was able to come up with in the current Standard and I am giving it to you forever. Use it wisely 😊

Always Be Smoking!

6 comments
2 Apr 2021 g4rr3t

I was about to write you a pm saying: "Hey, look! Someone made deck that looks just like yours". Well, then I've noticed the author. Well done, Odol!

2 Apr 2021 JamesG

Great deck - and fairly similar to the list I'm building. Have you considered swapping the peace in our time for a docklands pass and replace the econ with 2 copies of Telework Contract? With the new shaper economy smoke does not seem to have money problem

2 Apr 2021 Ark1t3kt

I've been working on an Aniccam Smoke deck myself, but DJ Fenris didn't occur to me, that's genius! How does the multiaccess feel with only Jailbreak and The Turning Wheel? I've moved to Stargate...

2 Apr 2021 Odol

@JamesGI did not test Telework Contract in practice. I guess I am still a little afraid to let go of Peace in Our Time entirely, but you might be right that this card is no longer needed with the amount of good economy that shaper just received. Not sure if Docklands Pass would be my choice for the influence though, as I still miss the Falsified Credentials of one of the previous iterations of this deck.

@Ark1t3ktI am quite comfortable with the multiaccess as it is. At some stage this deck had a Conduit with Contaminate and Friday Chip, but I felt it was a little too greedy. As for Stargate, I fear that with Spin Doctor in almost every deck it is a little too easy for the corp to retrieve their agendas from Archives to invest so much MU and influence into this card. I might be wrong, though - Stargate is one powerhouse of a card after all.

3 Apr 2021 Saja_PL

Like it 👍

10 Apr 2021 hermes

DJFenris is a touch of genius.