Reply: Android: Netrunner:: Strategy:: Re: My first custom deck ever

by hoobajoo

Sparticuse wrote:

So I decided to finally move beyond preserving the out of box decks for teaching purposes and move on into creating my own decks. this is my first attempt. I went with Jinteki because I love the bluffing aspect and wanted to play that up more than any other element.

ice

Neural Katana (3)
Matrix Analyzer (3, 6 inf)
Chum (2)
Cell Portal (2)
Enigma (3)
Data Mine (2)
Wall of Static (3)

Asset - Ambush
Project Junebug (3)
Snare! (3)
Aggressive Secretary (2, 4 inf)
Ghost Branch (2, 2 inf)

Asset - other
Zaibatsu Loyalty (1)
Pad Campaign (2)
Melange Mining Corp (2)
Security Subcontract (1, 1 inf)

Operations
Shipment from Kayuga (2, 2 inf)
Hedge Fund (2)

I would cut all the cards in bold. First of all, you have nothing special to do off a tag, so Ghost Branch and Matrix Analyzer aren't doing you any good. The free advance of MA isn't as good as it looks initially, either. Neither is Shipment from Kaguya; in the situations where it works to full effect, it nets you a click and 2 credits (seen another way, 3 credits). Beanstalk Royalties nets you 3 credits in all situations.

Cell Portal and Data Mine are both very poor ICE. The former is very hard to set up, requiring you to draw it very early, and is expensive to use. Especially since you have no really painful ICE (Tollbooth, Archer, etc) it's 5 credits to make them break, what, Wall of Static and Neural Katana? Too finicky to set up. Data mine is just lousy; it never stops a runner and the damage is paltry. Better than Cell Portal though.

Here's the thing about traps: you do need a backup strategy. With cards like Infiltration and Lemuria Codebreaker, they don't always work even with the most expert of bluffs. I would put in at least 2 Wall of Thorn and possibly splash in 2-3 Tollbooths. Tollbooths HURT. Also put in a third Hedge Fund for sure; it's amazing and should have three copies in every deck. I'd also splash Ice Wall and/or Rototurret, depending on how much influence you have left over. They're both extremely efficient early game and are easy on influence. Rototurret can also be a devastating surprise, if that's what you like best about ANR. Trash a criminal's only Gordian Blade, or an Anarch's Corroder, and that could by itself win you the game.