Deconstructing: Jinteki

Welcome back to my Deconstructing series, looking at the cards for a faction in detail. For this penultimate article in the Deconstructing series, we will be looking at the final Corp faction, with Jinteki.

Jinteki have more means to apply net damage than any other Corporation, keeping the Runner on their toes.

So, let us begin

Identity
Jinteki: Personal Evolution (Core) - With this identity, show straight away that they intend to cause the Runner harm. By causing a single point of net damage every time you score an agenda, or that they steal it from you, it forces the Runner to slow down by keeping a large hand. It is worth noting that if the Runner steals an agenda which brings them to seven or more points, they win before you can deal them net damage.

Agenda
Nisei MK II (Core) - Our one and only agenda, and in my opinion, the most powerful agenda in the game. Whilst it breaks the common advancement to points scale, by costing four to advance to only grant two agenda points, the effect for scoring it is what makes it so strong. Being able to end a run once, without the Runner being able to do anything about it, is incredibly powerful. Due how how timing works, the Runner can get through all of the Ice protecting a server, decide they don't want to jack out, at which point you can end the run (ETR) and they get nothing. Essential when it can make or break the game. As of yet, there is no means to put a token back on however.

Asset
Project Junebug (Core) - The first of our assets, and one of two ambush cards. Much like those belonging to Haas-Bioroid and NBN, this one is advanced when installed, to trick the Runner into thinking it is an agenda. However, Project Junebug can flatline the Runner if they don't have enough cards in hand, which cannot be done by the other Corps ambush cards. Only having an influence cost of 1 makes it easy to slide into other Corp decks as well.
Snare! (Core) - Our second ambush card, and unique in the fact it does not have to be installed to work, allowing it to damage the Runner inside a remote server, or when accessed from R&D and HQ. Whilst it does come at the price of four credits, once again being able to cause unexpected net damage and flat line them, with the added bonus of a tag, causes a sever threat to the Runner.
Zaibatsu Loyalty (Core) - Our final asset, and a strange one in that it does not help with credits, nor harm the Runner like the ambush cards. Instead, it helps keep your cards protected from Infiltration (Core) and Lemuria Codecracker (Core), stopping them exposing your cards, to know if that card with two advancement tokens is a Nisei Mk II or a Project Junebug. Almost every Runner deck I see runs Infiltration, so denying them the benefi of their event can alter what the Runner was intending to do for the turn. Plus, as it has a trash cost of 4, it can be installed in an unguarded remote server, to tempt the Runner into making a run against it, and are unlikely to trash it, wasting that click.

Ice
Cell Portal (Core) - Our first piece of Ice, and is different to most other Ice, due to instead of damaging the Runner, starting traces against them, or trashing their programs, it makes the Runner go back to the outermost piece of Ice, and break them all over again. Whilst it is a subroutine to make them start over, with strength 7 it will be hard for the Runner to pull it off. The downside to this is that because you have the derez Cell Portal, it will cost you five credits every time you want to disrupt the Runner. It is also our only piece of Ice that does not involve dealing net damage in some form.
Chum (Core) - An amazing piece of Ice, because it is cheap and easy to splash into other factions due to the influence cost of 1. Alone it is useless, so you will almost always (there are rare exceptions) be paying to install it infront of other Ice. But when combined with either high strength Ice, or those with multiple subroutines, it can put a Runner off continuing their run, as they know they will take net damage if they fail to break the subroutines on the following card.
Data Mine (Core) - The only Ice in the game that alone costs nothing to rez, and is not one of the three standard types of Ice. As a result, it can only be broken by Wyrm (Core) or Crypsis (Core), or having Tinkering (Core) played on it first and they have another Icebreaker. If you have this as your second piece of Ice, Chum as your outermost, and something else as your innermost, then assuming they don't break Chum, they will take four net damage, plus whatever the final piece of Ice is, assuming they don't jack out or flatline. It also means Chum will then slide down and support the following piece of Ice for future runs.
Neural Katana (Core) - Our only Sentry, and like most of our other Ice, causes net damage. With a strength of 3 however, it will cost 1-5 credits for a Runner to break it, which depending on their means of credit generation and cards in hand, they may decide they can handle losing cards and continue on the run. As such, the lack of ETR could be off-putting. Overall it depends how much you can slow the Runner down with net damage, and take other ETR Ice.
Wall of Thorns (Core) - Our only Barrier, and also our only Ice with ETR. Taking 4-8 credits to be broken by Icebreakers, once this card is rezzed, it will slow down the Runner until they can get through, which could be enough time to score agendas. However, due to a rez cost of 8, it will not be an early shock to the Runner.

Operations
Neural EMP (Core) - An offensive Operation, similar to SEA Source (Core) in that the Runner must have made a run, however Neural EMP is only restricted by the fact that they made a run, not that it had to be successful. Whilst dealing net damage is good, it has cost us a click to play and two credits, whilst it will only cost them a click to replenish their hand, assuming they need to. If you can score an agenda and they only have one card in hand, it would mean you can win the game, but overall I feel it is unlikely, and as such this card will be sitting in storage for some time.
Precognition (Core) - Whilst card draw is always powerful, knowing what cards you will draw, or that the Runner will access if they successfully make a R&D, can be even stronger. Being able to manipulate your own deck, meaning you know how much you need to draw without risking bloating HQ and being forced to place cards in Archive. Whilst it has an influence of 3, it is a tempting card for Haas-Bioroid players to combine with Accelerated Beta Test (Core) to increase the chances of maximising the return.

Upgrades
Akitaro Watanabe (Core) - Our only upgrade, and unique at that. But if you rez a single piece of Ice that would normally cost 2 or more, he breaks even (click to install, 1 credit to rez), and any more then that he makes a profit. As an AGOT player, I normally go for only a single copy of a unique card, as I can only have one in play, an attitude others may initially have. But he may get trashed. Or, you may have got one server as rezzed as it will get, and want to focus on another one, and so will install and rez another copy, forcing the previous version to be trashed. As such, he has plenty of potential and reasoning for multiple copies in a deck. If only they didn't give you just a single copy in a box...

So there we have it, Jinteki, the Corp who wants to cause damage and account for half the ambush cards in the game. On one hand, the Runner will always have to be concerned that if they make a run with few to no cards in hand, it could cost them the game. But on the other hand, they also know that with enough cards in hand they can make a run and be unlikely to hit a piece of Ice with ETR. Because of this, neutral and out-of-faction Ice with ETR are recommended. One thought I have looking at them is going for a large number of traps in the deck, so that if you install one and advance it, but they don't fall for it, you can install another and bait them into that instead (which I did last night in fact). The feasability of this is not something I can comment on without more practice, but is an idea that appeals in terms of a 'trick' deck.

Next week will be the final article for the Deconstructing series. So if there is anything you would like to see covered in the future, that is not already covered by one of our other excellent article writers, then please say in the comments box.

Finally, please combine this with Corporate Operations, written by Nerdcore, for more of a practical approach to using this and other factions.

Please note that like so many people, this is based on theory and a small but growing amount of practical experience. I do not dare declare myself as a seasoned veteran, although I do plan to be one day