Card Analysis - Core Jinteki

Moving on to the next set of corporation cards in the core set, we reach Jinteki.  Known primarily for its lines of clones, which it markets as organic androids available for cheap labor, Jinteki also has divisions engaged in developing biotechnology, cloned organs, pharmacology, agriculture, and medicine.  From the old headquarters in Tokyo, to the new headquarters in New Angeles; from the Biotech Valley in SanSan, to the agroplexes in Mumbad, and even all the way to Mars, Jinteki has many options available to it.  However, with just the core set, those options are fairly limited.

Jinteki: Personal Evolution

Each of the corporation identities out of the core are Megacorp, which represent the corporation as a whole and act as a guiding philosophy.  Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future exemplified the corporation's dedication to efficiency, gaining the most out of every click.  Personal Evolution goes in a different direction.  Every time an agenda is scored or stolen, the runner takes a point of net damage.  This could be dangerous for the runner if they get too greedy, taking too many agendas at once, and could potentially flatline them, or set up for a flatline.  However, with just the core, this identity does not have the agendas available to it in order to take advantage of this ability very well.  Ideally, you'll want a mix of low value and easy to score agendas with some high value agendas that have complementary abilities.

Pair cards: Fetal AI, House of Knives, Clone Retirement, Philotic Entanglement, Project Kusanagi

Nisei MK II

The Nisei line of clones are a prototype of psychic clones, with potential applications ranging from investigation to espionage.  Of course, the line is not fully active yet, and could be scrapped if it performs poorly.  Scoring this agenda gives you the ability to stop a run once.  This could be used to keep the runner out of your scoring server, opening the window to score an agenda.  This can also be used to shut down a critical run event the runner plays, such as The Maker's Eye, Account Siphon, or Stimhack.  As such, you'll want to be careful as to when you use this.

Trivia: It turns out this is actually a reprint.  From the Classic expansion of the Netrunner CCG, we have Data Fort Remapping, which has the exact same statistics and abilities.

Pair cards: Genetic Resequencing

 Project Junebug

The first of two ambush cards for Jinteki in the core set.  This one has the potential to do large amounts of net damage to the runner, and only costs one click to use.  The downside is it has to be installed, so it is vulnerable in R&D and HQ, and you have to spend time and money advancing it, so if the runner chooses not to run into it or exposes it, you may have lost your investment.  Still, with some additional cards, this could be beneficial in other ways.

Trivia: It turns out there is a card fairly close to this one in the Netrunner CCG.  Virus Test Site does 2 net damage per advancement counter, but can do 1 net damage if accessed while it has no counters on it, even if accessed out of HQ or R&D.

Pair cards: Trick of Light, Mushin No Shin, Back Channels

 Snare!

And now the second ambush card for Jinteki.  This time, the card can be activated when the runner accesses it (except in the Archives,) making it useful in R&D and HQ, but the downside is that it costs 4 credits.  Still, it does 3 net damage and even gives the runner a tag, which can be especially dangerous if the runner chose to make a run on their last click.

Trivia: Another reprint.  This time, the original card was called TRAP!, and functioned exactly like Snare!

Pair cards: Scorched Earth, Hostile Infrastructure, Dedicated Neural Net

 Zaibatsu Loyalty

One of the two one-off cards Jinteki has in the core, this card is one that has not seen a lot of play.  Still, it does have applications.  For 1 credit or trashing it, you can prevent a card from being exposed, denying the runner a piece of information.  This can disrupt the runner's plans, especially if they used a Drive By or planned to use Blackguard.  Still, the choice to use this will usually depend on how much expose in in your meta.

Trivia: Remarkably, it is a reprint.  From the Proteus expansion to the CCG, we have Department of Misinformation, which is almost identical to this card, but can't trash itself to prevent a card from being exposed.

Pair cards: Turtlebacks, Executive Boot Camp, Tech Startup, Diversified Portfolio

 Neural EMP

A card that could potentially win the game for you, and its existence will likely force the runner to draw cards to avoid that situation.  For 2 credits, you can do a point of net damage to the runner.  This could allow you to pick off a card from their hand, or it could be fatal when combined with other damage cards.  Still, this card is dependent on the runner having made a run on their previous turn, so you may not be able to use it when you want to.

Pair cards: Archived Memories, Chronos Protocol: Selective Mind-mapping

 Precognition

Knowing what will come ahead is always beneficial.  With this, you could rearrange your cards around to move agendas deeper into the deck or move traps closer to the surface.  You could move a card you want to the top and then draw it.  The potential applications of this are great.

Trivia: Another reprint.  This time, the card was called Planning Consultants, and its flavor text, "Chance favors the prepared mind," is highly appropriate.

Pair cards: Mutate, Accelerated Diagnostics

Cell Portal

The first piece of Jinteki ice shows the tricky nature of the faction.  It is a remarkably high strength piece of ice, but that strength comes with another cost.  The one subroutine on this returns the runner to the outermost piece of ice on the server, and then Cell Portal derezes itself.  This can be a problem if Cell Portal is the only piece of ice on the server.  Also, it can be expensive to use this over and over.  Still, Jinteki does have some ways to possibly make this work.

Trivia: There doesn't seem to be a direct correlation of this card to an older card, although there are a series of Deflector ice from the Classic expansion.  However, most of them required you to spend money to deflect the runner onto another server.

Pair cards: Sunset, Tenma Line, Akitaro Watanabe

Chum

Another porous code gate, and another one that requires good positioning.  If the runner can't break this, then the next piece of ice they encounter becomes stronger and they will take damage if they don't break all the subroutines on that piece of ice.  This card will likely force the runner to spend more money to break this, although they may just ignore the Chum if breaking the next piece of ice would be cheaper, even with the extra strength.  Also, if the runner triggers this effect and bypasses the next piece of ice, they will take the damage since they didn't break all the subroutines.

Pair cards: Sunset, Tenma Line

Data Mine

Another interesting piece of ice.  Note that this doesn't have a barrier, code gate, or sentry subtype, which means that most icebreakers will be unable to deal with it.  Still, you'll have to decide if it is worth it to possibly guarantee a point of net damage on the runner.

Pair cards: Chum, Chief Slee

Neural Katana

Another piece of porous ice, but this one has a potential threat.  Unless the runner can deal with a sentry, this could do 3 net damage, which could force a runner to jack out prematurely.  Still, most killers can deal with this fairly efficiently, with Mimic breaking it for 1 credit.  As such, it's not a commonly used piece of ice.

Trivia: This doesn't appear to be a direct reprint of anything, though there is a card from the original game called Neural Blade.  Also, the designation Ak.wa in the flavor text is probably a reference to Akitaro Watanabe, who we will be meeting soon enough.

Pair cards: Chum, Patch, Sub Boost

Wall of Thorns

The only piece of Jinteki ice in the core that actually has an EtR subroutine.  It's fairly expensive to bring online, but could potentially do some damage to the runner as well.  Plus, it could be fairly expensive for the runner to deal with.

Trivia: Another reprint, actually.  The original card was Shotgun Wire, and also Razor Wire has the same subroutines, but cost 6 to rez and has 3 strength.

Pair cards: Akitaro Watanabe

Akitaro Watanabe

Time to meet the man behind Neural Katana, as well as the other one-off card for Jinteki.  His ability is very useful, as lowering the cost of ice means you need fewer credits to protect your servers.  Of course, since he is unique, you can only have him on one server at a time.  Still, if all of the ice on that server is rezzed, you could rez him on another server, thus overwriting the old copy.

Trivia: At the time of this writing, this is the only Unorthodox subtype card in the game.  Perhaps more were meant to be included, or some sort of synergy was planned, but it has yet to come to fruition.

Pair cards: Recruiting Trip, Isabel McGuire, Restoring Face

And that is all for the core Jinteki cards.  Next time, we move on to NBN.

Until then, they are always watching.