A Jinteki Doctrine

With the conclusion of the first cycle, one should deduce how Netrunner has evolved, diversified, and strengthened every faction. I think we can all agree that each faction is no longer as linear as at inception, and all are roughly on the same playing field at a competitive level.

Yet Jinteki continues to inspire skepticism; its true potential muddled with grandiose schemes of building abstract combos, overzealous killing mechanisms, and implausible digital fortresses. A cursory glance reflects this lamentation: many a thread out there call for some love for Jinteki (including a couple of my own!). However, is this truly necessary for Jinteki to become a major contender? I had sincerely thought so, despite my personal successes with it. However, I have found that Jinteki's key weakness lies not in its available card pool, but rather a lack of understanding and practicality. Let this testament illuminate Jinteki's true potential, and show runners why Jinteki demands proper respect.


First and foremost, Jinteki differs from the other corporations in a very large regard: it's skill-based. General consensus is that victories are achieved for most corps via 70% deckbuilding, 30% skill. Jinteki flips these stats. Whenever someone tells you what you should and should not do with your deck, take it with a grain of salt. An excellent Jinteki player can win with a mediocre deck far more often than a mediocre player with a perfectly-built deck. This is the reason Jinteki is plagued with issues - strategy and bluffing reign supreme. Runners are clever. Once they see you pursuing a linear strategy, they'll exploit its weaknesses and adeptly maneuver around it. Drop your one trick pony. Take it out to pasture and shoot it, please.


The next step is to determine where you want your deck's strengths and weaknesses. What do you want to focus on for your win conditions? What are you willing to divert attention from in order to strengthen your deck as a whole? The single biggest issue I've seen is that people feel obligated to focus on flatlining if not primarily, then at least as a secondary condition. Jinteki's strength is not in doing large sums of damage, but rather as a means of sabotaging runners. You're not doing 3 net damage - you're depriving the runner of key cards and tricks, and forcing them to waste valuable clicks in order to maintain their grip. This is something no other corporation can do consistently - use it!

Through experience or hearsay, you probably think Jinteki's primary weaknesses lie in the porosity of its ice, and a lack of an economic engine capable of supporting ice, advancing cards, and paying for traps. While yes, these are setbacks, they are not insurmountable. The latter weakness is simply overcome by increased focus on economy cards. The former is more troubling - how are you supposed to use Melange/PC for much-needed econ when the runner can cheaply break through your ice and trash it? There are three options: 1) import 4+ out of faction ice with decent stopping power, 2) focus on shell game antics and use this opportunity to waste the runner's resources, and 3) make your ice less porous. The first option is by far the most commonly utilized, and the least effective. In doing so, you use up to 2/3rds of your influence, you are completely reliant upon drawing said cards, they cost extra which marginalizes your extra econ and takes away from your traps, and they are instant derez/parasite bait. The second option is far more practical - you even have an identity that supports it! However, it does have its drawbacks. Ignoring remotes in favor of R&D locking is extremely prevalent in the current meta, and runners focused on econ denial will still be able to shut down your economy. This leaves option three - a seldom used strategy, and one that I am admittedly biased towards. Program trashing fits in perfectly with Jinteki's goal of sabotaging the runner, and bestows much-needed stopping power in Jinteki's ice.


General Jinteki Gameplay Advice:

• Just because you can rez ice, doesn't mean you should! Rezzing ice telegraphs the importance of what lies behind, and whether the runner should proceed or jack out. Use this to your advantage and misdirect the runner. Additionally, it may mean you won't be able to pay for a Snare or other trap.
• Don't be afraid to score Fetal AI. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario for the runner. Keep them in your hand only if the runner consistently runs HQ.
• Be patient. Most runners seek to dictate pacing, and as such, they all make mistakes. Focus on capitalizing on several small mistakes rather than being obvious and attempting a large mistake.
• Think out of the box. Predictability is your Achilles Heel - don't be afraid to randomize your decisions and incorporate strategies that go against the current meta.

I'd like to share a simple experience to illustrate a point. A couple weeks ago, I was playing a Gabe on OCTGN. On his first turn, he ran HQ. I elected not to rez Snowflake and let him collect 2c and access a card. Click two he used Account Siphon. I then rezzed Snowflake and bid 0c. He assumed I'd want to go all out to stop the run and paid 2c. By allowing him to access HQ the first click, I forced him to waste an Account Siphon, which would have been severely detrimental to me if played at the appropriate moment. As Jinteki, you have to continuously misdirect the runner, or you'll find your weaknesses severely exploited. By the way, he rage quit mid-game after hitting an Aggressive Secretary and Archer back to back.



Without further ado, here is my personal Jinteki deck. I'm sure there are better out there, but my thought process is to what I want attention drawn, as it's not the typical "ima firin mah lazor" strategy many Jinteki decks have.

Identity
Jinteki: Personal Evolution (Core)

Total Cards: 49

Agenda (11)
Braintrust (What Lies Ahead) x2
False Lead (A Study in Static) x2
Fetal AI (Trace Amount) x3
Nisei MK II (Core) x2
Corporate War (Future Proof) x2

Asset (11)
Snare! (Core) x3
Aggressive Secretary (Core) x2 â– â– 
Ronin (Future Proof) x2
Zaibatsu Loyalty (Core) x2
Melange Mining Corp (Core) x2

ICE (19)
Chum (Core) x3
Chimera (Cyber Exodus) x2
Neural Katana (Core) x3
Whirlpool (Humanity's Shadow) x2
Archer (Core) x2 â– â– 
Eli 1.0 (Future Proof) x2 â– 
Snowflake (What Lies Ahead) x3
Wall of Static (Core) x2

Operation (8)
Trick of Light (Trace Amount) x2
Hedge Fund (Core) x3
Aggressive Negotiation (Core) x1 â– 
Archived Memories (Core) x2 â– â– 

This deck was designed with the intention of targeting and eliminating Jinteki's weaknesses with precision. Unreliability of net damage-inflicting traps has been removed, cards are universally multipurpose, and special attention has been paid to Jinteki's late-game dysfunctions.

[float='right'][lightbox='an/med_archer-core.png']an/ffg_archer-core.png[/lightbox][/float]Archer, Aggressive Secretary - The workhorses of this deck. They singlehandedly allow Jinteki to be viable even in late-game, and slow down the runner considerably more than raw damage. Most runners will face check a single-advanced asset, since a Junebug that does only 2 net damage is well worth the risk. They'll think twice if they knew what it actually was. There's an added bonus - What does a runner do when a program is trashed? They mill through their stack until they bring it back. That milling is far more efficient at decking a runner than net damage any day. Trash four programs, and the runner will probably be out of a certain icebreaker! GG sir, GG.

Archived Memories - One of the most underrated card in the game. Wonderful at recycling economy cards, Snares, and for playing mind games. Watch that runner sweat bullets as you recycle a Ronin then play and advance a Secretary. AM also pulls double duty and directly counters Noise.

Chum - Amazingly versatile. Place above Chimera early game, or above a Whirlpool to add insult to injury when forcing runners into a trap.

Eli 1.0, Snowflake - The yin and yang ice in the deck. Snowflake works wonders early game while saving money to pay for traps or an early agenda. Eli on the other hand, scales extremely well into late-game without being prohibitively expensive if you draw it early. If you are concerned about the runner getting lucky with your Snowflake...Chum it!

Ronin - Simply the threat of Ronin is enough to make runners think twice about that advanced asset. Won't run my Secretary? That's okay, I'll advance it twice more and leave it there. Plus a twice-advanced Ronin on the table means that any turn the runner ends with fewer than three cards is game over.

False Lead - Amazing as Archer bait or if you have an advanced Ronin on the table and the runner hits a Fetal AI or Snare.

Trick of Light - Allows a score out of hand when the corp desperately needs a last minute win condition, and offers a use for traps that don't get run.


I'd love to hear Jinteki advice, criticisms, and stories. It does have its weaknesses, but if played properly, I sincerely belive Jinteki (and NBN) are the most fearsome corps currently.