Konjin

♦ Konjin 3[credit]

Ice: Mythic - Psi
Strength: 3
Influence: 3

When the Runner encounters this ice, play a Psi Game. (Players secretly bid 0–2[credit]. Then each player reveals and spends their bid.) If the bids differ, you may choose another rezzed piece of ice. The Runner encounters that ice. (When that encounter ends, if the run has not ended, finish encountering this ice.)

“The Konjin dons the mask of our fears, but what lies underneath?”
Illustrated by Krembler
Decklists with this card

Uprising (ur)

#109 • English
Startup Card Pool
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  • Updated 2020-04-10

    NISEI Uprising Release Notes [NISEI Rules Team]

    What actually happens when the runner encounters Konjin?

    If the Corp wins the Psi game, they choose another rezzed piece of ice and create a forced encounter with it. This means that an Encounter Ice Phase resolves for the chosen ice, but the Runner's position does not change: they are still in Konjin's position throughout, and they will not pass the other piece of ice. When that encounter ends, Konjin's ability is finished resolving and the game proceeds with the rest of the encounter with Konjin itself. So if Konjin has acquired any subroutines of its own, the Runner's opportunity to break those subroutines is after the forced encounter. See section 6.5.2 for more details.

    What happens if an "end the run" effect resolves during an encounter created by Konjin?

    The "end the run" effect ends the forced encounter, the encounter with Konjin, and the run in which Konjin was being encountered (if any).

Reviews

Konjin is a really interesting piece of ice. A third of the times the runner encounters it, it is going to do absolutely nothing but force a Psi game, but two in every three encounters you'll get to have the runner encounter the most dangerous or taxing piece of ice you have rezzed. It's somewhat unreliable, but this is kind of like getting a piece of ice two thirds as good as your best ice for only 3. Definitely a good deal for any glacier deck with huge ice like Chiyashi!

There are some pretty scary ways runners can beat Konjin, though. Hunting Grounds blanks it once per turn, and Hippo can trivially trash it (breaking no subroutines means you broke all of them). I doubt Konjin will be the centrepiece of any ice suite anyway - that's more likely to be the expensive ice you're copying with it - but its worth considering its placement carefully to avoid stuff like Hippo.

Finally, Konjin makes possible a three server Mythic ice combo with Mother Goddess and Loki. With exactly these three ice rezzed, you can have two servers be impenetrable to traditional (Fracter, Decoder, Killer) breakers, and a third server secure 2/3rds of the time. Thankfully Mom is rotated now so we won't see this in Standard, and I'm not convinced its reliable enough to stand up to the crazy kinds of things runners can do in Eternal.

(Uprising Booster Pack era)
Neat little today for Nisei Division! —

also murders Kit in the face. She burns her encounter on Konjin, then has to encounter something scary without her ID ability :O

Its also Hippo proof as it has no subs of its own

@rex_monolith Hippo say "Break all subroutines" as there is no subs they are broken (as stated in review too)