[Official FFG] [Core + H&P] Bait & Blast

This is an official FFG sample deck, as shared in this article http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4655

It may not be the most competitive deck out there, but it is a viable deck created from only a single core set and Honor & Profit, and vastly better than the nonsense deck provided in the Honor & Profit insert. So it's an excellent option for new players who only own these expansions so far.

Official Description

Several popular Android: Netrunner identities offer players economic rewards for meeting various triggers: installing programs or hardware, running on HQ, or installing cards from HQ. Nisei Division (Honor and Profit, 2) joins these identities, allowing a Jinteki player to gain a credit whenever he or she reveals any number of secretly spent credits. Naturally, all such identities are most effective when their triggers are met as many times as possible, so these identities tend to encourage highly focused deck builds. To further explore how a Jinteki player might take advantage of the Nisei Division identity, we present this sample deck list, created from just one Core Set and a copy of Honor and Profit.

Like many Jinteki decks, “Bait & Blast” plays a bit of a shell game; it wants to create a good number of remote servers, dare the Runner to run at them, and catch the Runner off-guard with a lethal Ambush.

The deck is light on ice, but it has a decent assortment of ice select to end runs, strain the Runner’s credits, and deal net damage. Meanwhile, the deck’s economy is driven forward by a number of operations, including Diversified Portfolio, which becomes more effective as the game goes on and you can create additional remote servers. It gains additional efficiencies with cards like Mushin No Shin and Shipment from Kaguya.

Of course, because this deck is built around the Nisei Division identity and its focus on secret bids, it includes a number of cards that create such secret bids. Currently, in Android: Netrunner, secret bids are the signature effect of Jinteki’s Psi cards, so “Bait & Blast” leans heavily upon a trio of Psi cards that appear in Honor and Profit – The Future Perfect, Psychic Field, and Cerebral Cast.

As you can see, each of these cards introduces a powerful gamble. Win, and you can prevent the Runner from stealing three agenda points, wipe out his grip, or give him a brain damage or tag. Lose, and you find yourself short of the credits you wagered, as well as any investment you made into installing, advancing, or playing the card.

Of course, if you do the math, it would appear that two-thirds of the time, you should win these wagers, but Jinteki’s Psi cards represent the corporation’s research into the untapped potential of the human mind. They point to information that lies beyond the commonly accepted limitations of human perception, and if you can tap that information, perhaps you can shift the odds more fully in your favor with each of these wagers.

Meanwhile, each of these gambles plays into your larger strategy. Your deck doesn’t test itself against the Runner; it tests the Runner. It dares the Runner to pursue your agenda points. It dares him to hunt for agendas in servers that you’ve lined full of traps. It dares him to run blind, and it dares him to expose cards. With “Bait & Blast,” you set the Runner upon a razor’s edge, forcing him to run without slipping even once, and if he should ever slip, you have a host of cards to deal net damage, brain damage, and even meat damage.

(Note: The deck as published has an error - it is 50 cards. I reduced Diversified Portfolio from 3x to 2x to correct this.)