Core Jinteki Mindgames

Very often, when creating a deck, you build it around its ID and agendas. Unfortunately, the Core set has incredibly lackluster agendas, especially for poor old Jinteki. Nisei MK II is a fine agenda, and its very powerful "end the run agenda counter" can be used in all sorts of mischievous ways. Runners tend to forget this token in their calculations.

Unfortunately, the only other two legal agendas in Core are Private Security Force and Priority Requisition. PriReq is great for rezzing Archer, good for rezzing Wall of Thorns, but that's about it. PSF is a almost a dead card in this deck, for better or worse, but if the runner stupidly keeps themselves tagged after hitting a Snare!, then you might be able to use it.

What you want to do with this deck is create as many remote servers as possible, some of them iced, some of them naked, then slowly advance some of the unrezzed cards in those servers, either manually or via Shipment from Kaguya. Don't be afraid to advance naked agendas. The Runner will often be worried they are traps and not run them.

On the topic of traps, realize that Snare! protects your HQ and R&D, but is mostly useless in remotes. Keep it in hand when you draw into it, if possible. But, you MUST have 4 credits in hand to spring the Snare. If it's accessed when you have less than 4, the runner will simply trash it for free it into Archives. Never let this happen: always have more than 4 credits at the end of your turn. Always. The other two traps, Aggressive Secretary and Project Junebug need to be installed and advanced in order to fire. They also require money to spring, but not as much. Get those out of R&D and HQ and down onto the board as soon as possible.

Standard openings are icing up the centrals one or two deep: R&D against Shaper and Anarchs, HQ against Criminal. Do not rez ice until it really matters (for instance, don't rez Rototurret unless you can trash one of their key programs). Rezzing ice too soon can keep you poor, and Core Jinteki is almost always too poor. Melange Mining Corp. helps with that (but if not protected, will quickly be trashed), as do Beanstalk Royalties, Hedge Fund, and to a lesser extent, Priority Requisition and Shipment from Kaguya.

A typical mid-game turn might look like: click 1: install agenda or trap; click 2 and 3: advance advance. This can put some psychological pressure on the runner. Allowing you to score a Priority Requisition can often ensure you the win, so now you've put them into a tough position. Another way to put pressure on the runner is: click 1: install Nisei MK II, click 2: install Aggressive Secretary, click 3: play Shipment from Kaguya and advance the Nisei and Secretary. Now if the runner runs the Secretary first, you kill whatever program they need to get into the Nisei or R&D.

What you don't ever want to happen is for the runner to obtain an "R&D lock" on you: where they can always access cards in R&D each turn, denying you the ability to draw into agenads and potentially score them. Therefore, protecting R&D is almost always a good idea, no matter which runner faction you're facing.

If you have 3 Neural EMPs in your hand before click 1, 6 credits, and the runner has fewer than three cards, congrats! You've just won: you can flatline the runner on your turn. This doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's amazing. Your ID, Jinteki: Personal Evolution, will help you keep cards from their hands, along with Data Mine, Wall of Thorns, Neural Katana, and Viktor 1.0.