SG+SU21 duel – Episode 3: Personal Evolution (vs Steve)

Inspired by the final battle in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Episode 3 of the duel series pits Steve "Retrieve" against the Jinteki PE grinder. Can Keanu/Steve take a lickin' and keep on tickin', or will he succumb to a thousand cuts from the House of Knives?

Scene from Parabellum, or promo for Netrunner?

These decks are assembled from the System Gateway + System Update 21 card pool and designed to play well against each other, but are also solid standalone decks. See the runner deck here: SG+SU21 duel – Episode 3: Steve Cambridge (vs PE)

In this matchup, your goal is to score agendas with the help of fast-advance and never-advance tools, using net damage (or the threat of it) to slow down the runner. While Jinteki can deal damage in many ways, this is not a "kill deck”. Flatlining the runner is quite possible, but is a byproduct of first getting to 4-5 agenda points—which pressures your opponent to make dangerous runs—rather than your primary objective.

When starting out, try rushing 1 or 2 Agendas behind cheap end-the-run ICE like Enigma, Ice Wall or Palisade. Doubling up on ICE helps defend against Inside Job; even better if you install 2 different ICE types (e.g. Barrier and Code Gate), which forces your opponent to find two breakers. Use Seamless Launch to help score 4/2 Agendas (Nisei MK II, Offworld Office) the turn after you install them. Your economy is quite poor, so in the early game, only rez ICE that stops the Runner from accessing an Agenda. Be sure to reserve 4 to enable Snare! (or to rez Karunā if a Sentry Killer has not yet been installed), as the threat of net damage will force your opponent to run more conservatively.

Once the Runner installs all 3 breakers, things get much harder. Jinteki's ICE suite is relatively weak, so it's difficult to prevent successful runs. However, there are several things you can do in the mid-game:

1. Click for credits – while R&D still has undrawn Snare!(s), it’s OK to play slowly, e.g. spend the turn drawing one card, (installing a piece of ICE,) then clicking for credits
2. Fast-advance Agendas – use Trick of Light to score 3/1 and 3/2 Agendas from hand. Try to have 2 advancement counters on the board for every Trick of Light card in HQ; this way, when you draw into an Agenda on a new turn, you are prepared to score it immediately
3. Frustrate the Runner – e.g. install Marilyn Campaign in the scoring remote, protected by multiple pieces of ICE (especially Brân 1.0), to waste the Runner’s time and credits
4. Inflict damage – e.g. trigger House of Knives on an opponent running a server upgraded with Hokusai Grid, only to access an Urtica Cipher (maybe advanced once or twice); burning the Runner’s cards forces them to spend the next turn drawing back up
5. Score bigger Agendas during a window of opportunity – for 4/2 and 5/3 Agendas, you need to find the right time to install one turn and score on the next. As Jinteki, you can manufacture a “wider” scoring window than other Corps using #3 and #4 above (as your opponent needs sufficient credits and cards in hand to feel comfortable enough to run)

Once you get to game point, your opponent is forced to check everything you install in remote servers. Use this to your advantage, e.g.

• Install-Advance-Advance an Urtica Cipher; combo it with 2 House of Knives for 6 damage
• Install Marilyn Campaign, Snare! and Urtica Cipher in 3 unprotected servers (normally it’s better to keep Snare! in HQ, but if your opponent is desperate... 👹)

If you previously scored a Nisei MK II or two before game point, congratulations! Now is the time to use Nisei’s end-the-run ability to freeze out your opponent after a taxing run, and score the final Agenda.

In our playtesting, we preferred:

• 3x Marilyn Campaign over 3x Predictive Planogram – Marilyn can be installed as an asset to fake out the Runner, is 3, and lowers Agenda density whenever it gets shuffled back into R&D; Planogram is good as an untrashable Operation that helps you bounce back from low credits, but results in more “linear” Corp play that feels easier for the Runner to counter
• 2x Hokusai Grid over 2x Ronin – Hokusai is typically installed on R&D or the scoring remote, adds guaranteed damage and fits PE's "grinder" playstyle well; Ronin is easier to trash from HQ or R&D (2 instead of 4), and while it can take out a careless Runner that ends the turn with <=2 cards in hand, 3 damage is quite poor relative to the investment of clicks and credits to inflict it

Other thoughts:

• Don’t try to play the Jinteki “shell game” too early; scoring some agendas first is the best way to force the opponent into difficult situations
• Don’t use House of Knives as a one-of; it’s better to accumulate 2-3 HoKs and fire them as a salvo… the threat of big damage will force your opponent to recalculate and overdraw cards before running
• Don't get discouraged if you see the Runner amass a pile of credits; remember that they are still limited to 4 clicks per turn, whereas Jinteki can inflict multiple cards' worth of damage

In building this deck, we used Girometic’s [SG+SU21] Personal Evolution - Thorny Grid as a starting point, and incorporated concepts from asqwasqw’s Pauper PE (Startup, (6-1) in the Ashes to Ashes Tournament); the latter has an excellent writeup on Plan A/B/C/D and when to transition from one to the other during a game.

This matchup is tense but fun, especially when playing face-to-face against your opponent!

SG+SU21 duel episodes (with more on the way)

Episode 1: 🟢 Tāo Salonga -vs- 🟪 Precision Design

Episode 2: 🔵 Zahya Sadeghi -vs- 🟨 Near-Earth Hub

Episode 3: 🔵 Steve Cambridge -vs- 🟥 Personal Evolution