In my opinion by far the weakest lockdown printed so far. This might not be obvious at first glance. Caprice Nisei was pretty strong, right? And it's even 0 cost! Well...
1) First of all this card has the HUGE downside of telegraphing your score. In a faction priding itself on deception and bluffing that is kind of bad. Now the runner can adequately prepared for the steal/your score.
2) It doesn't even do all that much. End the run, are you kidding me? From a flavour perspective this is a huge missed opportunity in my opinion. If Jinteki orders a lockdown there should be all sorts of scary things happen. Maybe accessing ICE chosen by the corp? Maybe running on a different server without the option of jacking out? Switching agendas around or refilling counters on them? Net damage? BRAIN DAMAGE? Certainly very tame for the old treefolk.
3) The effect is NOT automatic. Runners who dabble in Poker tournaments might just win the Psygame. And then what do you do? Sitting there with a bunch of nothing.
4) But isn't the role of the lockdown also to strengthen your bluffs? Lay down a trap and then play the lockdown. I have seen this reasoning pop up and think it's pretty weird. First of all: If you install a card and advance it as Jinteki you are already bluffing! There is simply no need for this card at all, just Mushin like the good old days. Well you might say, the play of this lockdown might just up the stakes for the runner! But the problem is: if you win the Psygame you end the run, preventing the runner from accessing your trap! Why would you play this card in shell game? I just don't get it.
5) Chose a server. HAHAHAHAHAHA. The final nail in the coffin of this card. If you slap down this card the runner might just win elsewhere. All other lockdowns present an opportunity to protect yourself across the board at least and i don't think those are even all that strong.
In summary this card is spectacular underpowered in my opinion. In theory i admire the design space that lockdowns present but with the cards seen so far i don't think they will get used all that much.
First of: I love psygames :) That is not the point. I think both Nisei MK II and Caprice present more of a lingering threat for you scoring. This card telegraphs very clearly what you are trying to do. In that sense i think the bluffing aspect is very clearly lost.
— AterriblesoundI think this is what Caprice should have always been and I am so exciting with the design space that Nisei has created for such a beloved game.
— Daddy249Kart
I think the fact that this isn't the card that you want it to be doesn't make it underpowered. Plenty of Jinteki decks, including most of the competitive ones, are not any more invested in high variance bluffs than any other faction. Clearly this is designed to score a 4/2 in a well defended server, much as Caprice did. And it's not like last minute ETRs haven't always been a Jinteki thing; as well as Caprice there's Nisei MK II, as well as bounce effects that often work as ETRs in practice. And how can you criticise a Jinteki card for using the psi game when the rest of your review seems to revolve around how much you like bluffing?
— Greasythumb