Cambridge Monte (PDX Regionals 1st place)

As far as PE Cambridge style decks go, I don't know that there's really anything too special about this deck. A lot of the tricks it uses are very old school... Like, very old school. But then there's a few new things too, like Sting! in the agendas suite.

Basically, it's an old fashioned shell game. Install lots of cards, both assets and agendas, and then tinker around with slow advancing in misleading ways, until you have the runner at a disadvantage. If you do it right, runners either get scared to run and seize up, plowing into your iced R and D and HQ, or they hit everything and you damage them into oblivion.

Piloting the deck requires a pretty ribald bravado at times, as well as a really good grasp of yomi and mindgames, and being able to read all your different opponents quickly and accurately. While some of the cards have obvious interactions (such as the tag-meat damage suite of Hard-Hitting News, Consulting Visit, and BOOM!), the real magic of how to operate the deck comes from how well you can out-yomi your opponent.

2019 PDX Regional Tournament

This is the deck I took with me to the 2019 PDX Regionals yesterday, and which helped me reach 1st place. All in all, I believe I played it about 5 times, and only lost one game, and that to the second place winner during our final's pairing. Typically of classic Jinteki PE, most of these games felt like they were on a delicate knife's edge the whole time, but it's worth noting this deck never once completely tanked. No serious floods, no serious credit famines, not too few nor too many ICE. All in all, I was really pleased with how consistently it operated.

Notable Games

vs Edward Kim

This match-up actually had me sweating bullets when we started. Kim is one ID that can really wreak havoc with Jinteki (or any build for that matter), but I was lucky enough to attrition the runner down to two cards while I had a naked Sting! installed, and simply advanced it out for a net kill win... One of the most classic, and satisfying, Jinteki win methods. Also one of the most elusive, honestly...

vs 419

I had prepared for 419 by slotting in an extra Psychic Field than were originally included. After a few turns in I had yomied a naked Sting! out into my remotes with one advancement, and was actually able to pull off the "Install Psychic Field, allow 419 to expose it, win psi-game, score 1 pointer agenda for a kill" win.

vs MaxX

I actually play MaxX myself, religiously and almost exclusively, so I had a pretty good idea what to expect as to how the play of this match-up would feel. 2nd turn I Mushin No Shin'd out a Ronin, and after a few turns more I also had a naked Sting! on the board. A little careful timing and yomi, and I was able to bate the runner into taking damage from stealing a few agendas, and then Ronin-scored him to death on my next turn.

After these games I made the top 4 cut, and only played one more game with PE, which I lost to the same 419 I had Psychic Field-Sting!'s earlier... (He survived just long enough, installed a Caldera I couldn't quite get rid of, made lost of money, and eventually all my bluffed agendas caught up with me...) Even here, in losing, though, the deck operated very well. My opponent played a very good, incisive match, and the card fell the way they did.

All in all, I was very pleased with this deck. It is somewhat dependent on luck (as are all classic PE shell game decks), and would certainly need to be tweaked from one meta to the next (maybe more psychic fields, maybe more shattered remains, maybe less Shi.Kyus), but the basic bones are solid.

Thanks everyone (Veee, Sam, Justin) for the awesome games!