Fujii Asset Retrieval

Fujii Asset Retrieval 5/3

Agenda: Ambush - Security

When this agenda is scored or stolen, do 2 net damage.

Deep down, she knew Benício wasnʼt coming back.
Illustrated by Emilio Rodríguez
Decklists with this card

The Automata Initiative (tai)

#40 • English
Startup Card Pool
Standard Card Pool
Standard Ban List (show history)
Rulings
  • Updated 2023-10-04

    If the Runner steals Fujii Asset Retrieval to earn themselves 7 agenda points with 0 cards in their grip, who wins the game?

    The Runner wins the game in the checkpoint following the steal. The Fujii Asset Retrieval ability becomes pending, but would only resolve in the reaction window following this checkpoint. Since the Runner wins the game in this checkpoint, the game ends and that reaction window never occurs.

Reviews

Here comes the way to reliably Neurospike a runner. Score this, and use Neurospike for a total of 5 net damages. In Jinteki: Personal Evolution, that is 6 net damages, usually enough flatline 95% of the runners, even if their hand is full.

But that is not all. With it, in the early game, you can poison archive. Even better if there is a Sting! alongside it. Normally, one of each would cause a total of 3 net damages, which is painful enough to make it possible to win with Punitive Counterstrike after. In Jinteki: Personal Evolution, that would be 5 net damages! Really, Fujii Asset Retrieval will be the Jinteki: Personal Evolution agenda of choice.

If you are looking for a vegan Jinteki, this is not the agenda for you. For every other Jinteki deck (most are aimed at flatlining the runner), this agenda is phenomenal. Much more proactive than Obokata Protocol (which is banned, in Q3 2023). This is "replacement" is better and encourage more meaningful choices. Multiaccess is good. But with this agenda, which often has Snare! in the deck with it, means you could face 5 net damages (and a tag) if you access 2 cards or more with multiaccess. Before, if you encountered Snare! first, it meant that you could not steal Obokata Protocol. But now, it means you could simply be flatlined, even with 4 cards in hand.

Of course, this agenda is much more fair since it does nothing in the late game if you steal it, because you win from having 7 points before you lose from being flatlined. That is a great design!

While the art is well made, it is a bit baffling to me, flavor wise, because Jinteki is usually not depicted with an industrial prison (or facility) that look more at home with Weyland. I do appreciated however the tree put on the left side of the picture, giving a nice wink to the logo of Jinteki. The quote of exactly what it should be and encapsulated perfectly the meaning of the name and effect of the card, tying them together perfectly. Good job!

(The Automata Initiative era)
4175

Fujii Asset Retrieval is both protective and proactive: it does 2 net damage whether either player steals/scores it (just as it raises the threat level by 3 in either score area).

Design: I really like such agendas (ie. with When this agenda is scored or stolen, … triggers or … This ability is active even while this agenda is in the Runner's score area. statics).


Compare:

Note that, because it has a conditional ability and not an additional cost (as @Diogene says), FAR:

  • can poison Archives if trashed (like two Shock!’s); but
  • cannot defend itself if the Runner already has 4–6 agenda points, even if they only have 0–1 cards gripped (eince the game ended as soon as it was stolen, before the stolen-trigger could resolves).

Synergies:


Flavor: The "assets" are clones and the "retrieval" is re-enslavement.

(The Automata Initiative era)

Nisei: okay, so we're banning Obokata Project, but we have an exciting new card which is bad at everything.


Deep down, you knew Jinteki wasn't coming back.

How bad is it?

FAR is vastly inferior to Obokata on defense. 2-3 net damage is not remotely enough value to justify losing a 3 point agenda, and unlike Obokata it doesn't charge ANY net damage on the game-winning steal. (Obokata's net damage come as an additional cost to steal, so if the runner doesn't have 4 cards available, a steal is not possible. With FAR, the runner steals FAR and wins the game before the net damage are assessed, so you don't need 4 cards to steal the game winner).

One plus, I guess, is that the 2 net damage is not optional, so it might be useful for creating more lethal scenarios. For example, an early/mid game Fujii access is more likely to open up a lethal Punitive Countermeasures window than an Obokata access would. Or some combination of mid-run damage like Anemone or Hokusai Grid could bring down a runner's hand size low enough that the runner has to choose between jacking out now or accessing an agenda which can cause 2-3 damage involuntarily. These are very small benefits in exchange for "if they access this card when they have 4+ agenda points, they instantly win regardless of how many cards they have in hand", though.

FAR is not much better on offense. 2 net damage is not remotely enough value to consider attempting to score a 5/3 offensively, and Jinteki doesn't have the ice, economy, or other support to reliably build around scoring a 5/3 which doesn't actually defend itself. It probably doesn't have the leeway to start adding in Neurospikes on 5/3s which can't actually defend themselves and which generally don't want to be scored outside of game-winning damage maneuvers. Even if an offensive 5/3 WERE viable, which AFAIK might be a first (or a second) in Netrunner history, I think this would be a net loss on interesting gameplay. Would you actually want to play a Netrunner where something like Reeducation/Neurospike is widely viable?

If you're into Jinteki as something which actually exists in reality, losing the best agenda your faction's ever had to make room for Fujii is a huge step down. For everyone else, you'll love Fujii.

(The Automata Initiative era)

"Even if an offensive 5/3 WERE viable, which AFAIK might be a first in Netrunner history..." Or the second after SDS Drone Deployment, which hits much harder when scored than when stolen.

Once again, the org is called Null Signal

Also Nisei: why are you not on track of the exciting changes we've made to our organizational branding over the last year?

:-p