Bad Guac

Recent substitutions since posting:
-Cerebral Overwriter
-1x Punitive
-Voter Intimidation
-3x Breached Dome
+2x MCA Informant
+1x Ben Musashi
+3x Medical Research Fundraiser

Avocado Protocol purports guac for all! Perfect for your next Game Day. But this guac is spiked! Beware to any runner that tries to swipe a scoop. Remember those good old days when Jinteki didn't try to end the run all the time, and running your servers was a fight to the death? The good old days are back!

The Rundown

It's spiky time! Everyone is getting familiar with the joys of Obokata Protocol + Punitive Counterstrike. Starting with that idea, I thought, "how can we make this as painful as possible?" Core Jinteki turns 4 net damage into 5. Kakugo guarantees another damage when over a remote. Data Loop is effectively 2 soft net damage on encounter. Ben Musashi pumps up the tax or the damage even more, and 6 ambushes that go off uninstalled make sure the runner is afraid to hit anything uncovered.
The runner's going to need more than just a Feedback Filter. There's plenty of meat damage in this deck that someone might not first expect from Jinteki.

For agendas, we have House of Knives, further messing up runner math. Show of Force is there to sack the runner's tempo and possibly offer a 24/7 News Cycle kill option if the runner is ever at 0 or 1 cards in hand at the end of a turn. (more on substitutions at the end of the description). Philotic Entanglement also makes a nice 24/7 target; if you can get a jump on advancements (IA for Philiotic and IAA on Show of Force), you can score them AND play 24/7 on your following turn for double the damage. Heck, IAA any non-Obokata to bluff it as one and watch the runner realize their mistake too late for not going after it.

Roughly half your ICE can end the run, so in an opening hand save that ICE for an early rushing remote. Use your spiky, porous ICE on mainly centrals until you draw into some supplementary ETRs; even if you give up an agenda early on, the Breached Domes and Snare! in there will do plenty. A good opening hand has at least one bit of econ (preferably Celebrity Gift) along with at least 1 ICE. Don't be afraid in a hand with 2 ICE to cover one central and create a scoring remote on turn 1; if HQ has lots of trashables or agendas, ICE that, or ICE RnD if that's the bigger liability.

For general play, you'll want to burst up some early cash and set up a scoring remote. That can look like a Kakugo alone or anything with Ben Musashi. If you have a Punitive Counterstrike in hand, maintain your cash and get as aggressive as your setup allows. Don't be afraid to take 1 action like an install and then take 2 credits if you need to. If you got some cheaper ICE up early, your board state will be able to sustain clicking for credits around the edges of your turns. Generally in testing I've found myself not wanting to click to draw more than once per turn early game and usually only clicking for major digs in the end game when everything's ICE'd nicely and I just need agendas.

If you flood with agendas, get creative! Start playing a shell game with them and any ambushes you have. Or if you have a Punitive in hand, install everything (or overdraw to dump them in archives), and flatline the runner when they "steal" them.

Cerebral Overwriter is there for two reasons: You can bait a run when that runner is playing coy and making you think they can't get into your remote when, perhaps, they really can; remember that your remote becomes a must-run when you're on game point, as well. Or they trash it after seeing it in HQ/RnD, and the thought of those in your deck makes them even more cautious.

Pretty straightforward really. As long as you make sure to save some ETR ICE for your remote, and occasionally click for a few credits, you'll be just fine.

Substitutions

Your tastes may vary, and this is by no means a complete list. I could very easily see wanting a few different things out of this deck:

• a second 24/7 News Cycle. I'd probably chop one Punitive Counterstrike and change the Cerebral Overwriter to a Project Junebug (for the same reasons as above). If you're not sold on Junebug, enjoy the extra card slot (and the extra influence)!

• better Film Critic hate! Critic shuts down some of your shenanigans, though thankfully not all of them. Still, a second Voter Intimidation would be welcome. Or you could swap out the same influence for an MCA Informant; it's roughly double the cost in clicks and credits, but it's also more guaranteed.

• Archived Memories or Restore, or a third copy of Ben Musashi, are all options if you want more server supplements.

Wrap-Up

I've always loved corp decks that have the versatility of both scoring AND flatlining the runner. This is that type of deck. Rush in the early game, and if the runner tries to keep up, make them regret it. If they don't, use their fear and caution to jump up on some early points. Your barriers will ensure damage short of bypass effects, and any agendas you score (plus or minus 24/7 News) will mess up the runner's tempo or stop them outright. Happy Hunting, fellow execs!