Tennin-jutsu (5th place Malaysian Nationals, 7th in Swiss)

zafuri 35

First time making a write-up here !

You can find my Runner deck in this link: https://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/45208/noisy-mills-5th-place-malaysian-nationals-7th-in-swiss-

This deck is based on Sanjay's FAQ Page 20 Tennin: https://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/44275/faq-page-20-2nd-place-colorado-regionals

Basically its the same old Tennin FA deck where you ICE up the centrals, making profits from the ID ability and then ToL to win. However, I like decks that has a Plan B installed, thanks to Sanjay, incorporating Fumiko + Psychic Field kill had given Tennin some interesting plays to make manual advancements in remotes without relying on successful central blocks (Clot is very, very annoying, and at times when you are down in econ ICE up centrals is just not effective)

If you don't know yet, Fumiko triggers after Psychic Field resolves in the latest FAQ update. Which means, whenever you win the Psy game as the Corp, Fumiko will deal the meat damage lethal for the win, because they now lose the grip THEN only the meat damage will be dealt.

Matchups:

Game 1: vs. Andromeda (Loss)

In game 1 I didn't draw well for my good ICE and Andromeda got a very good start, Siphon-ed my econ and then starting to deny my triggers. I went to install Psychic Fields and Fumiko with a mix of some agendas, trying to bluff out some chances. However, the runner declined to even check on my remotes and continue banging my R&D and HQ. I managed to score manually to 5 points and then crawling back to the game, with both of us close to the game point. However, I made a mistake to challenge my opponent to steal a lethal Obokata without protecting it well. My opponent seize the chance and took the gamble to break that scoring remote and well, he wins.

Game 2: vs. Edward Kim (Timed Loss)

Game 2 was very strange. Both of us started slow but neither of us could pull ahead. The runner went very well against my R&D and managed to trash away my key operations, which further nullified by speed of scoring. I was left with a bunch of credits but of no good ICE to build a remote / protecting my R&D. Alas, the runner completed his rig and scooped off the agenda that made him a timed win.

Game 3: vs. Whizzard (Win)

Game 3 ended surprisingly fast with the runner running into my first turn triple installed remotes (non-of them are agenda) trying to get away with an easy agenda steal. However, he ran into Psychic Field instead with my Fumiko installed. I won the Psy game and got him flatlined. Lucky win.

Game 4: vs. Andromeda (Win)

Another Andy matchup. This time around I got my Plan A running great with superb ICE on centrals, turtle up for the combo finishes. The runner did not start well and stumbled for some time, granting me plenty of breathing spaces and scoring windows. In the end, he was drawing for cards again and again digging for something which I'm not sure what could it be while I got away with a double Shipment from Tennin on an installed Obokata for the win.

Top 8 Game 1: vs. Tool Kit (1st place) (Loss)

My opponent, being a Tennin player as well, outclassed me in every way. His Tool Kit deck https://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/45051 was very efficient in creating econs and the fact that Kit's ability turns my ICE into Code Gates is making my games hard to play. I drew aggressively to restructure my hands and managed to sneak to 6 points but didn't find a scoring window to sneak in my last 3/2 agenda. The runner, already built his rig perfectly, went for the R&D kill and scored for the win.

Top 8 Game 2: vs. Hayley Kaplan (Win)

The game went well for me as I got to FA to 5 points very early before the runner sets up. Packing with Psychic Field and Yamamori combo which my opponent is well aware of, I managed to sneak an Obokata on the back of my kill combo, trying to bluff my way out on a lightly protected remote. The runner decided to econ up for a big R&D dig but I was a turn faster to win. You can find the runner's deck here: https://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/44996

Overall thoughts:

Despite being a fun combo, I don't think there's actually a need to play Psychic Field and Fumiko Yamamori in Tennin. The "HA! Got ya'!" surprise element is less potent when the players are well experienced. I would suggest to look at the 1st place's Tennin deck which in my personal opinion, plays much better than my list here: https://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/45043/turtle-tennin-1st-place-malaysian-nationals-2nd-in-swiss-

The reason why I dropped a Fumiko and Preemptive compared to Sanjay's list for SfT is because I found that with the combo present, once you wall up the centrals and DON'T ADVANCE your remotes, its spooky and the runner MIGHT not make runs, which makes them your 4th - 5th ToL. This will save up a lot of your burden to rely on ToL and open up more options for FA-ing your agenda. But SfL is very situational and its good when you are AHEAD but doesn't pull you back when you are behind, which is why I play only 2 copies.

Overall, I think I did not as good as I expected for my Corp deck and would definitely improve my games in the future. It was fun piloting Tennin ! And congrats to Rezalbyks for winning the Malaysian Nationals, scoring his Championship point with Tennin !

3 comments
5 Sep 2017 Sanjay

I apologize for being a bad influence!

7 Sep 2017 zafuri

@Sanjay It's not your fault ! The deck is whole lot fun to play ! With ToL rotating this Psychic Field and Fumiko build could be an alternative moving forward too :)

22 Oct 2017 atuk84

@zafurihow useful "Clones are not People"?