Hello, and welcome to another issue of Deck Diving, wherein we explore deck concepts with really crummy sample decks. As always, decks have been constructed by your author, thus their general quality level. Also, with this specific deck, no fine tuning has been applied, thus the giant deck size. That said I do like a somewhat fatter Jinteki deck just cause it lets you squeeze more traps in.
This deck I have put together in the hopes of showing how to bluff. Running this deck for a while should give you an idea of how to psyche out your opponent. The Agendas need large amounts of advancement counters, making it much easier to bluff your traps. Also, favored tactics with this type of deck is to play three face down cards. Spend two turns advancing each one once. Then Finish off the actual Agenda on the third turn. This leaves the Runner with very difficult decisions on where to go, especially if you put some ICE on each one. Also fun is to shuffle the three cards before installing so you don’t know which is which either. An important part of bluffing is treating the traps like Agendas, much easier when you don’t know either!
On to the Deck!
Identity:
Jinteki: Replicating Perfection (Trace Amount) Again, the Goal here is bluffing, not winning, so we’ll use the expansion ident.
Total Cards: (74)
Agenda (15) Either 5 or 3 to score. 3s can hang out till you’re ready to score in one turn. 5s can be bluffed as traps. Always remember that many Runners will see a card with advancement counters left for turns and turns as a trap. Use this to your advantage.
Priority Requisition (Core #106) x3
Gila Hands Arcology (Creation and Control #23) x3 A good Agenda to score early as it really boosts Jinteki’s bad economy.
Fetal AI (Trace Amount #32) x3
False Lead (A Study in Static #80) x3
Executive Retreat (Trace Amount #39) x3
Asset (21)
Aggressive Secretary (Core #57) x1 ■■ A nice, unexpected trap since few expect this out of Jinteki. Removal of a few programs can easily win you games. As a one of its even scarier as, once the Runner sees it, he’ll be paranoid for more copies that will never come.
Marked Accounts (Cyber Exodus #55) x2 ■ A non-trap bluff. Throw it down, let it hang out. At some point the Runner will probe it, at which point you start getting money out of it.
Thomas Haas (Creation and Control #12) x3 ■ My favorite trap. Load him up with advancements, then when the Runner goes to check him out you get a nice pay day. Just make sure you keep the 1 bit to activate him.
Zaibatsu Loyalty (Core #71) x2 Spoilers, Dearie. That would ruin all of the fun.
Ronin (Future Proof #112) x3 Sometimes the trap is in the Runner not running it.
Project Junebug (Core #69) x2
Private Contracts (Cyber Exodus #59) x3 Some great burst money.
PAD Campaign (Core #109) x2
Melange Mining Corp (Core #108) x3
ICE (31)
Ice Wall (Core #103) x2 ■
Matrix Analyzer (Core #89) x1 ■■ Another fun bluff. Adding an advancement counter can easily scare of a Runner, since it can take Junebug from damaging to Lethal.
Pop-up Window (Cyber Exodus #56) x3 ■ Chum’s favorite Chum. Also good in front of Archives to get some benefit when they spend a click to get somewhere better.
Rototurret (Core #64) x1 ■
Whirlpool (Humanity’s Shadow #94) x2 Used cleverly you can scare Runners quite nicely.
Wall of Thorns (Core #78) x2
Wall of Static (Core #113) x3
Snowflake (What Lies Ahead #15) x2
Neural Katana (Core #77) x3
Himitsu-Bako (Opening Moves #13) x3
Grim (Opening Moves #20) x2 Program destruction can win games.
Chum (Core #75) x2
Bullfrog (A Study in Static #73) x2
Bastion (Creation and Control #26) x3
Operation (5)
Hedge Fund (Core #110) x3
Celebrity Gift (Opening Moves #12) x2 While this can be money, It’s much more fun for building your Bluff Chops. Show an Agenda and some traps with a well defended HQ and watch the Runner go crazy.
Upgrade (2)
Hokusai Grid (Humanity’s Shadow #95) x2
So, there’s an overly fat Jinteki deck. Again, I would not take that as it is to a tournament, but for learning Jinteki and how to bluff with them this deck should provide more than enough opportunities to do so. Try to have fun with it. You’re not going to win every game with it, but you should win enough to not feel like a complete idiot, and even when you lose the headache you’ve given the Runner should still bring a smile to your face.
Once again, if there’s anything you’d like to see me make a horrible version of here in Deck Diving feel free to let me know in the comments.
Happy Hacking!
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