Jinteki: Replicating Disappointment

I love to hate this corporation, but for whatever stubborn reason, I'm driven to make it work.

I've flipped between the two identities a few times now, but really feel that the original is best. Docking the hacker 5-6 cards through the course of a game seems to be the better option than (maybe) costing a single click to run a central and jack out. Or just hack a central server anyways because it's a good idea, whatever. Both identities focus on disrupting and slowing down the hacker, but the original seems to have a bit of an edge by causing enough paranoia to only make a run with a full mitt.

On the premise of slowing the hacker down, a plodding fast advance strategy has given me more success than a hail-Mary attempt to flatline my opponent. Shipment from Kayuga and Trick of the Light are usually critical to this, which has led me to one of two attempts:

1) Use 2-3 remote servers protected by a few ice each. Ice Wall and Shadow are great splashes, or Tollbooth for further disruption. Junebug and Aggressive Secretary are my traps of choice here. Defend the centrals lightly and drop in some Snares, Fetal AIs and Precogs to dissuade runs against them.

2) Aggressively defend the centrals and go with a huge spread of remotes. Fuck advancing ice, just randomly drop 1 advancement on about half of the remotes. Lots of traps, including Edge of the World, and small shitty ICE like Popup Window to lightly defend the spread. Don't be afraid to leave a 4 resource agenda with 1 advancement on it for a few turns and sweep a few at once. Still not sure about Edge of the World, I've had no luck with it. It usually seems like a wasted action because it relies on sloppy bluffing tactics to work.

Both of these strategies have worked reasonably well, but I still have more consistent wins with HB or Weyland. The most vital part of running Jinteki, and the most annoying, is the need to switch up the deck every game in order to launch a few surprises. I've found the corporation doesn't do well with ANY set deck list unlike the big two tournament corps. Unless I'm just fucking things up vOv

Anyone else here have frustrating experiences with this corp, or strategy ideas that seemed to have worked?

I haven't played much with Jinteki but so far people prefer the original identity. Not because it makes the Runner lose some cards but because it forces them to have one more card in their hands to steal an agenda and puts them into Neural EMP range more easily.

The big problem of Replicating Perfection is that you need to make a "big" server on R&D and HQ and you also need to have painful ICE as the first in both of those places. That's though, because rearranging ICE eats valuable slots and there aren't that many ICE that work in those places, just Pop-Up Window and Ichi. And sooner or later you end up with either a poorly defended R&D or your last ICE is harmless.

I think just running a set of Snares, Juneburgs, Tricks of Lights and Wall of ICE do the trick well for the original identity. Tag variants seem to inconsistent to my taste so I wouldn't build one. The overall idea is: The Runner must spend clicks eating traps, looking for traps or otherwise not gaining money. The more assets you have, the more time lost. You msut use that to your advantage, it's the key there.

Just some thoughts. I don't think I was too useful but I hope that helps

I think you are one the correct path. The problem with Jinteki is that the traps almost work far better in other decks than they do Jinteki with the exception of Fetal AI and SNARE!. Here is a rough outline of the deck I built:

Agendas: All the Jinteki standards plus False Lead. With Personal Evolution, False Lead is (1) another way to strip cards without costing you too much; (2) if you advance it, it becomes a sort of Nesi Mk II “lite”.; (3) potential Archer food. Braintrust is very important to score a “5” on, as it helps lower the cost of ICE.

ICE: I don’t think Shadow works as well because it had no stoping power. Better to add PopUp Window as you gain money and there is a “soft” stop of 1 credit. I instead rely on Ice Wall, Chimera, and Enigma to slow the runner down. Ichi 1.0 is a heavy hitter along with Wall of Thorns. Chum also is nice, but I think 2x works best, otherwise you need Sunset to help with proper placement. However Chum + Data mine is awesome, especially if you hold off on it.

Other combos: I think you’ve got the best with Trick of Light and Shipments from K. I like Beanstalk Royalties for SNARE! cash and Dedicated Server is a better thing to force a runner to go for.

Best card coming for Jentiki: RONIN- Asset- 2 trash- Can be Advanced. If Ronin has 4 or more advancement counters on it, it gains “[click], trash: Deal 3 net damage to the runner”. This card will serve as a better lure and “trap” for Jentiki.

I've pretty much stopped using Chum after Sensei came out. Trading out the net damage for a second 'stop' routine on a few ICE is just far more useful in defending the centrals (usually R&D or Archives, once I have a few Snares in hand I don't bother defending HQ much). Data Bomb+Chum is one of those cruel options I slide into my deck every few games to keep the runner paranoid. It's far more useful to use the threat of it than the actual combo in practice. If there were a reliable way for ICE to be tutored like programs, things would change fast and Jinteki would take off in a huge way.

False Lead is another card I've toyed with. Archer is a shit card right now with most decks packing 3-6 cards to derez ICE, so I don't so much see the Archer food ability being a benefit. Emergency Shutdown is probably a card that will stay in most decks, so I don't see this ever changing. The discard ability on False Lead is great, and has won me a game, but I'm not entirely convinced. Right now I usually run with a mix of Jinteki standards and a Personal Security, but I change this between games.

The funny thing is that with the current meta of strong ICE being a liability, traps are more important than ever. There are tons of economy options to give any corp a good backbone. Despite this, Jinteki still struggles :v

I waffle on Sensi vs. Chum. If the runner can break the next ICE after Sensi then one additional subroutine is only +1 credit. However Chum adds +2 credits from the credit increase and they MUST break the subroutines or suffer the damage. Also Chum is cheap so Chum + (Chimera or Ice Wall) is 2-3 credits to rez vs. Sensi + (Chimera or Ice Wall) is 5 or 4 credits to rez.

You are correct about Archer, but I still think that False Lead works well in providing Jinteki with 1 extra net damage with little risk and good fast advance agenda. Maybe Oversight AI would be better in cash poor Jinteki. For me Personal Security requires a tag to make it happen but it does make SNARE! more fearsome.

I hope as the meta improve Jinteki is not just the net damage faction as that will get boring, but they do need to improve something about the ID. It might be OP, but some brain damage cards would be interesting as it would further limit hand-size but HB covers that.

SaMoKo wrote: I've pretty much stopped using Chum after Sensei came out.

That's surprising because Chum works very well with Sensei.

Archer is a shit card right now with most decks packing 3-6 cards to derez ICE

Archer is better than ever now. There are more agendas to feed it and Oversight AI gives you the strongest ICE in the game for a pittance. Not that it matters, the problem is that it can be rezzed in your face, not that it sticks around!

Consider that it's extremely hard to break for Anarchs, and it's so strong it eats up a Stimhack. You don't care about the 1pt agenda, you play them for their effects, you don't need their points. And forcing the Runner to work around the possiblity of a 6-strenght sentry is huge.

That's good enough to include them in every deck that can run some small agendas or is overloaded with tricks. You don't need to keep it around.

People really thought ES would outright kill Janus 1.0 and Archer yet I see them at every tournament. After all, only Criminal and the ocassional Chaos Theory deck run Emergency Shutdown and you are already defending HQ hard with the former.

I'm the only one who has been tinkering with Crescentus around here. It's a good card but we don't seem to have a proper shell for it. But even then, I wouldn't stop running Archer.

<3 Archer

EDIT: I wouldn't play them in Jinteki, though.

I've only really invested much time/thought into a HB acceleration deck so this is all so weirdly foreign to me. Which I think is awesome.

I've had some fun just chucking everything out there (agendas, assets, traps) in their own servers without any protection and just pretty much randomly advancing them, never scoring any of the agendas until I have 7 points worth ready to score.

The runner will run on them and steal some, but eventually he'll likely run face first into a triple advanced junebug.

This, of course, requires Zaibatsu Loyalty and a rather timid runner. I would never, ever play this in a tournament, but it can be fun. Doesn't mean it's good, either.

I've only ever used it a couple times, though, so it may be even worse than it seems.

Erik Twice wrote: People really thought ES would outright kill Janus 1.0 and Archer yet I see them at every tournament. After all, only Criminal and the ocassional Chaos Theory deck run Emergency Shutdown and you are already defending HQ hard with the former.

I'm the only one who has been tinkering with Crescentus around here. It's a good card but we don't seem to have a proper shell for it. But even then, I wouldn't stop running Archer.

<3 Archer

EDIT: I wouldn't play them in Jinteki, though.

The meta is kind of wierd here. Every deck seems to be packin 3x ES, 2x Crescentus and 2x Femme Fatale. It's very unusual for a corp in that environment to spend big money on big defenses vs. big money on LOTS of ICE. I've yet to see a corp relying on big ICE not be screwed, especially with heavily advanced Weyland stuff.

As much as it pains me to do, one of the biggest ways I've removed Fatale as a threat is to immediately replace the ICE they put the token on. Especially if they've paid the full 9 credits to get her out. I'm sure most folk tutor her though.

This is all like a sexy, sexy foreign language that has me intrigued beyond belief. Yet sad that I think I'll probably never understand for lack of an opponent.