1st Place Antwerp Regionals: Better than a cardboard box

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Repartition by Strength
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Better than a cardboard box - variation
I wish I had time to practise this Smoke before worlds
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ryanbantwins 2748

This is the deck that I played at Antwerp Regionals (13 players). It went 6-0 with wins against ACME, The Outfit, Titan, Argus and 2x Palana (Data Loop).

Smoke is pretty good right now and has a decent matchup against most corps (maybe except for Argus). Big ICE is making a comeback and Smoke simply has the best breakers (looking at you Switchblade). Added bonus is that she is not bound to a certain restricted card, which allows you to include Film Critic.

Film Critic: FC is so strong right now. A lot of decks are using very nasty agendas these days: Obokata, Sting, QPM, SDS, even SSL. And it also shuts down cards like Punitive and Complete Image.

Deuces: I don't like misdirection, and at least this card will always be good.

Khusyuk: Very strong card for shapers. Normally targetted at 1 cost, but I did use it in the top cut for 3 cost.

Gebrselassie: During testing I lost a game against Blue Sun, beause I didn't had the money to beat a double Chiyashi, double Border Control remote. Those high strength barriers are a weakness for Smoke. Gebr fixes that problem easily since you only need to pump your Corroder once. Added bonus, it costs 1 so it synergises with Khusyuk.

Kati Jones/SecTesting: Flexible econ slots, might swap one of them for an Armitage in the future.

Political Operative: I don't like silver bullets, but I like cards that messes with the gameplan of your opponent. Great against: Ronin, Judge, SIU, Rashida, Crisium, Reduced Service, Daily Quest, Recoco, ...

Clot: Wins games (against Titan)

5 comments
11 Jun 2019 Rahrhino

I love the Gebrselassie include! Did you play against Scarcity? I always found that card wrecks my Smoke decks...

11 Jun 2019 Ajar

Gebrselassie is really smart even without Corroder... putting it on Switchblade can speed up pressure. I might try it out in my Pelangi Smoke lists. Congrats on the win!

11 Jun 2019 ryanbantwins

@RahrhinoI didn't encounter a single scarcity throughout the day, but it is indeed annoying. Luckily the decks that tend to play scarcity are quite forgiving in the early game (Glacier which is already a good matchup). Most of the times I like to just click for credits, install Mercur and put pressure on their centrals.

12 Jun 2019 FreqKing

Very nice build. I have been a strong proponent of Gebrselassie in a number of different builds, happy to see your success with it. I was somewhat surprised that you identified your primary target as Corroder. Interesting use. In my meta the challenge is more typically multiple Surveyor remotes in combination with Border Control. Do you ever use it to preserve stealth on the efficient but stealth hungry Switchblade?

12 Jun 2019 ryanbantwins

@FreqKing It depends, most of the time I've an abundance of stealth credits but a lack of 'normal' credits in the late game. So saving 6 on a Chiyashi is often better than saving 2 on a Surveyor.

But sure, if I'm running low on stealth credits, I would definitely install/move it to Switchblade (or Refractor depending on the ICE).