Make 'em Pay V 1.2

Cancer Ace 156

The current Jinteki Deck I am playing, undefeated on OCTGN and doing very well in my local tournaments.

Stealing my agendas costs a lot, between sticking Fetal AI and NAPD Contract behind costly ICE like Tollbooth and backed up by Caprice, plus they will need to have already run on my central servers, which sit behind ICE like Komainu, Tsurugi, Yagura, Shiro, Neural Katana to make 'em pay with their hands. Himitsu-Bako can protect Assets depending on who I'm facing. To make matters worse, the ambushes make my opponents think twice before running on any of my central servers; I'll even dare my opponents to run with Celebrity Gift. When they finally manage to steal an agenda, Punitive Counterstrike can make it hurt or even flatline them, but most of the time they just can't afford to take my agendas before I can score up for game. This list is a lot of fun, you'll find yourself daring your opponents to take risks they can't afford. I have on more than one occasion had both my copies of The Future Perfect in my archives, along with a few Shocks and Shi.Kyu's, and watched my opponents pay to just try and steal them time and again.

A note about ICE: You want a good mix of taxation and punishment without forgetting the ETR ICE. Tollbooth works wonderfully with the theme of the deck, and the Economy is strong enough to support it. RSVP works similarly, as it prevents any of your Agendas from being stolen, but if your opponent does not realize this they may continue the run anyway, potentially hitting ambushes or other nasty ICE. I have also played many games where I stick RSVP in front of Sundew in order to protect my Econ, so it really functions as a "jack-of-all-trades" ICE. Komainu, Neural Katana, and Tsurugi all hit 'em where it hurts, while Yagura and Shiro function beautifully when protecting R&D. Pup is an extra two credits for them to pay- it isn't much, but it's consistent, and without that much cost to you. I usually stick the Himitsu-Bako's in front of Remote Servers containing Sundew or early game Agendas, and move them around later if I need to. Tenma Line is a new card I'm trying out, but I have discovered it allows me to counter the odd Escher or move my ICE where I need them late game.

About Ambushes: I don't run advance ambushes, because I rarely rely on bluffing to hurt my opponent. I'll keep my Snares in my hand all game just to make it hurt when they run on HQ, or be afraid of how many their may be left in R&D. Shock! and Shi.kyu serve the same purpose, and you'll notice this deck technically runs 11 ambushes and 9 agendas. Multiaccess hurts them more than it hurts me, especially if they are face-checking any of my nastier ICE.

Let me know what you guys think, feedback is always welcome.

2 comments
23 May 2014 Jashay

Neat concept! How difficult do you find it to score the 5-cost agendas? That's currently my main issue with Future Perfect.

RSVP is a clever little thing I'd never considered; they can't take most of your agendas or assets without breaking it.

Why Panic Button? Seems out of place. And no Howard? He can be useful in these decks for getting your ambushes back into circulation.

23 May 2014 Cancer Ace

Panic Button is a new addition, which seems a little strange, but there is a reason I run it over Jackson.

Most games I sit with a five card hand I do not want to discard, so when I formerly did run Jackson I almost never used him to draw, and the only time I used his secondary ability was when playing against Keyhole. Panic Button lets me draw the one time when I really need to- to increase my hand size when they run HQ.

As far as the Future Perfect goes, I used to run -1 Future Perfect and +1 Philotic Entanglement. The effect of Philotic Entanglement never dealt much damage in a game I played, and someone scored it in almost every game I played. The Future Perfect's often sit in my hand until I know I can score them. I don't let them stay on the field for more than one of the Runners turns. Install, 2x Advance. Next turn, advance 3 times and score. I'll often wait til the moment I can stick it behind two tollbooths, or other ICE I know they can't get through, or else I'll toss it down at that odd moment when I have 2 or 3 Punitive Counterstrikes in my hand, which happens more often then you would think. Thanks for the feedback!