Mushin No Shin-anigans

chemnitz 72

This is a Jinteki rush deck, which uses ambushes and Trick of Light to Fast Advance off of failed ambushes. The key card for setting up those ambushes/Trick of Light-batteries is Mushin no Shin.

Agendas

This is a standard Jinteki-Fast Advance assortment of agendas. All agendas are worth 2 points, so it always takes 3 agendas to win. 6 out of 9 agendas cost 3 or less (Braintrusts, 2nd and 3rd Medical Breakthroughs, and Philotic Entanglement). These can all be scored off of 1) a Mushin no Shin, 2) a Mushin'ed Plan B, or 3) a Trick of Light, making use of a failed ambush. Meanwhile, the 4-difficulty agendas are not meant for scoring, except in need. The NAPD contracts are taxing to steal, and the 1st Medical Breakthrough is useful regardless of whether it is scored or stolen.

Assets

There are six ambushes that are meant for Mushin no Shin. 3-advanced Junebugs are great for a flatline. 3-advanced AggSecretaries will curb-stomp a rig, and they are also useful at 1- or 2-advancements, if Mushin is not available. 3-advanced Plan Bs will score 6 out of 9 agendas. If the runner does not go for these traps, they become Trick of Light batteries. On the other hand, the GRDNL Refinery can be used as a great infusion of money, whether Mushin'ed (20 creds) or Install-Advance-Advanced (16 creds). Also, if the runner thinks that you have multiple GRDNL Refineries, then he is more likely to run on your remotes--to his doom. Meanwhile, Jackson Howard smooths out the flow of agendas. Shi.Kyu defends Archives, and potentially forces the runner to need 4 agendas to win.

Operations

Mushin no Shin and Trick of Light are the all-stars in this deck. The rest of the operations are a variety of economy cards. This deck does not need a ton of economy, since Mushin and Trick are cheap, and the ICE is pretty affordable. Also, Mushin no Shin is a sort of economy and a very effective one at that.

ICE

This is a rush deck, so the ICE layout includes lots of cheap End the Run (Himitsu-Bako, Wall of Static, Quandary, Guard, Chimera). Guard is included in greater quantity because it is great for single-handedly protecting a Mushin'ed agenda in an early-game rush. Yagura is a decent early-game helper on R&D. Hive and Komainu are the big stoppers. Hive should be useful all the way into the end game, since it will still have a subroutine even at match-point. Komainu is effectively an ETR, since only a fool would access an unknown Jinteki card after losing his hand.

Room for Tweaking

I'm still trying to decide what economy operations will be most helpful. Celebrity Gift is good money and can set up "mind games," but it gives away information. Subliminal Messaging can goad the runner into trouble or benefit from turns that the runner is recovering from something like a Komainu or Shi.Kyu. Medical Research Fundraiser is nice, since the ICE is all binary. If they don't have the right breakers, it doesn't matter how much cash they have. I went with Celebrity Gifts, but I could change my mind.

For the ICE, I am still finding the right formula. I am tempted to add Grims to "turn back on" my binary ICE. However, the Bad Publicity would hurt my NAPD Contracts. Right now, the AggSecretaries are doing a good job of program trashing, so that may be enough.

If I could find the room, I would love to add some Snares to guard R&D/HQ, but what would I take out?

5 comments
7 May 2014 wswan

Great write up. I definitely think that Celebrity Gift is worth it if you have some taxing ICE to block HQ with, which in your case is really only Komainu. But that Komainu in front of Yagura or would be deadly (though I doubt the runner would continue after the Komainu).

8 May 2014 CaKnuckleguy

I had a similar deck, and recently cut the HIve right out. They are good early game, but as the game progresses, even in a good scenario, they suddenly become very porous. For the bang and for the influence, I'd heartedly recommend RSVP instead. It's not ETR, but all sorts of Jinteki tricks, agendas, and trash-able assets become invincible because the runner can't spend credits. Cheaper by 2 credits as well. (They are hillarious to put in front of Pup as well!) Run Fetal AI and NAPD behind a single RSVP, and unless they break it, they can't steal. Free and easy score.

8 May 2014 chemnitz

I'm not sure if RSVP fits the deck without a major overhaul. It would only be useful in front of the 2 NAPD contracts or the 1 Komainu. I was considering removing the Hives, though, in order to afford Reclamation Order.

10 May 2014 Tjobakov

Is the limited eco-cards enough to power this deck? I realize that a lot of the ICE is cheap - but what if you run low by siphons or vamps? As you mention in the last comment, Reclamation order was my thought aswell.

4 Feb 2015 mjortman

I know this deck is rather old, but do you think you'd have many updates to it with recent cards? In a league I'm in, you get achievement points for every new ID you play, so I wanted to try this one out. I was instantly drawn to this deck after trying (badly) at Mushin No Shin antics. I love the idea of this deck. The only change I thought about making was swapping out an Aggressive Secretary for a Cerebral Overwriter, but I don't know if it's worth it. It seems the 2nd Aggressive Secretary could be a dead draw maybe, after wiping their rig the first time?

I also thought of changing the Hive to Wraparound. Cheaper to rez, but Quetzal: Free Spirit does break through it easier. It also makes Eaters life suck a little more, which is a big thing right now, at least in my area.

Mushin/Trick of Light is just so sick, and using it with Plan B is amazing. Great deck!