Finger Snap V.3

I'm originally a 1996 Netrunner player, and have recently discovered FFG's resurrection of the game. Unfortunately, I only have a single local player to test my decks with, and he does not build his own decks.

When I first saw Jinteki Replicating Perfection, I saw a myriad of opportunities present itself. My first attempt at Finger Snap was cold turkey, and had several deficits. After it's horrible failure, I followed a few of the blogs and podcasts available, and learned where I went horribly wrong. Finger Snap V.2 performed a lot better, but suffered from the classic weak Jinteki economy. I learned that there have been a couple of attempts at a Replicating Perfection deck here, but I think that I'm approaching it from a slightly different angle. Finger Snap V.3 is my untested latest build trading Uroboros out for GRNDL Refinery and adjusting the ICE for the missing Uroboros.

The strategy behind this deck is to maximize the impact of running a central server for the runner. This is a classic Jinteki flatline deck with a moderate rate at scoring 7 agendas. By playing an Agenda and "Runner Valued Asset" light deck, I am minimizing the use of remote servers resulting in the runner being cornered into running HQ or R&D to hunt for anything of value. Building iceberg central servers with little ETR ensures that the Runner pays for every fishing attempt, with enough traps in R&D that the runner will get their fingers snapped more often than they find an agenda.

Be warned, in every play test of the previous versions this deck has resulted in longer than normal games.

AGENDA: The Agenda's selected for this deck were prioritized for low density and maximum utility. Trick of Light should be saved to rush the winning agenda, typically by moving Ice Wall tokens to the Agenda. Fetal AI is a must in any Jinteki flatline deck. Priority Requisition offers an alternative rez for Archer than forfeiting the expensive agendas in this deck. Executive Retreat is a two pronged tool that allows for recycling Agendas and Assets into R&D while providing a hand refill if you find your game stalled. One interesting tactic when the ICEd remote currently has a card installed is to drop an Agenda outside of the ICEd remote with an immediate double advance. Many runners will assume that this is a bad attempt at Jinteki trapping, and ignore it.

ECONOMY: When it comes to economy for this deck, we are faced with the classic Jinteki shortfall. In this latest iteration, I'm throwing in GRNDL Refinery to supplement the Sundews. I do have one card choice that may raise eyebrows. Successful Demonstration seems like a reach, but it's my answer to a shortfalling that I've discovered in Replicating Perfection. While Replicating Perfection requires that a run be made against the central servers before a remote, it does not require that the run be successfull, or even complete! As soon as my opponent and I realized this, my opponent started to initiate runs, encounter the first piece of ice, and then jack out so that they can target my remote. Eating the runner's click in this way is a small advantage, but with Successful Demonstration I can make the runner think long and hard before pursuing this strategy repeatedly.

ASSET:
As with most good Jinteki philosophies, this deck is all about mind tricking the opponent. Shock and Snare are present to give the runner a bit of fear in running HQ or R&D, with Shock performing double-duty in the Archive as publicly known damage if they attempt to access the Archives. Snares should stay in the hand or R&D as they have a very short life in the remotes, usually ignored after you fail to advance them. Project Junebug is actually very effective with a bit of preparation. During the early and mid game I will play GRNDL, Ronin, or Agendas exclusively. I strive to create a pattern for the runner to identify, usually of drop and double advance or drop and triple advance the next turn. If the runner succeeds in trashing a Ronin or Agenda, then I know that the seeds for Project Junebug are planted. I will intentionally misplay a GRNDL or Ronin in an attempt to lure the Runner into trashing it. Two solids hits in the remote will give the Runner the confidence necessary to waltz into an advanced Junebug.

ICE: The ICE is noteworthy in the few ETR pieces that are present. The ICE is tax type with the intent of forcing the Runner to complete a gauntlet to access the Central servers. The 5 pieces of ETR barriers are present to protect remotes with advancable Ice Walls, Archives to prevent an easy source to satisfy Replicating Perfection, and to provide a little more solid protections for HQ if facing the appropriate Criminal deck. R&D should welcome a Runner that is willing to run the iceberg gauntlet due to the high number of Snares and Shocks present coupled with the low number of Agendas. During the mid to late game, the Runner will likely start jacking out after the first piece of ice as a stepping stone to access a remote server. Whirlpool provides a costly detour to this strategy that can easily land a flatline with an appropriately advanced Ronin.

FUTURE: Honor and Profit and Double Time offer several exciting cards for Jinteki, with my eye focused on Philotic Entanglement, Inazuma, and Mushin No Shin. House of Knives is interesting in this build, but needs further analysis before trading a higher agenda density for the Knives utility. Plan B just ends up with too many negatives every time that I consider the available uses for this card. I really like Uroboros in this deck, but need to be able to solve my economy problem before I can spare the influence for Uroboros.