Why PE was banned

jan tuno 2500

In April, I won a Store Championship with a "prison" Jinteki deck that leveraged Prāna Condenser and Warroid Tracker that created a strong, hard to deal with remote that made you rich at the same time.

The deck had few problem matchups, especially "trashy" anarchs that could go infinimp mode and weren't MaxX, but felt very good in most cases. NISEI correctly identified the deck as overpowered and consequently banned Engram Flush. This hampered the deck a whole lot and made it unable to deal with turtle efficiently.

I started revisiting the deck anticipating a turtle ban that never actually came and would have landed it in a very good spot. However, NISEI decided to ban PE while unbanning Kakugo. The Kakugo unban bolsters the Prana archetype a whole lot; the PE ban renders it unplayable.

This list is close to what I would have brought to Worlds with an Aumakua ban, and without unbans. Unlike the previous version, which had Bio-Ethics Association, it doesn't go very wide beyond the frenzy of the first few turns, when you can just do whatever because you're PE: after that, you usually just build a big remote with many upgrades. You still throw 3/1s on the board though, because with Prana in the remote they provide a very good forking opportunity.

The deck has surprisingly good economy: Regolith Mining License is obviously great since it's so easy to hide it somewhere or protect it, and I recently noticed that Tranquility Home Grid is insane here.

Here we play Superconducting Hub over False Lead because all of the Apoc decks are MaxX now, so we don't really need that much tech against it since we can just mill (we even have Warroid Tracker for Stargate!). The extra draw and the room to keep both Snare! and Obokata Protocol in HQ are both really nice.

The ICE suite is eh and can easily be changed, apart from Anansi nothing feels essential. Giordano Memorial Field is really good when you need it and could possibly go up to 2x.

Unlike my opponents, I've grown to love this deck and wish it all the best in NISEI jail. You will be missed, friend <3

5 comments
18 Oct 2021 Berzelius

F

18 Oct 2021 bowlsley

I love it. Thank god its gone.

18 Oct 2021 CJ

What do people think about spiky decks based around Prana Condenser in other Jinteki Id's ?

19 Oct 2021 superheronation

I don't think net damage decks are currently viable outside of PE. PE delivered 5+ fairly reliable net damage sprinkled at times hard for the runner to deal with. Some PE staples, like Sting! and House of Knives, are radically worse outside of PE.

Nisei has suggested that PE may be making its return, and if you're thinking net damage, I think we have to hold off until we see what Borealis brings.

20 Oct 2021 jan tuno

I think spiky decks are definitely viable although not tier 1. Prana is another story; I don't think you can base your deck on it, but a palana deck that uses it as a small econ card along with kakugo and tennin+hok maybe has a point