Chapter 4 of Learning Netrunner
Playing Jinteki: Tennin Institute Deck

Learning Netrunner is a series of videos and blogs to help you jump straight into the action of the Android: Netrunner as soon as you get your Core Sets. If you are new to the Learning Netrunner series, we recommend that you start with the Learning Netrunner: A How To Play Guide For New Players blog.

As of 06/08/18, the end of official support for Netrunner has been announced. 

Jinteki

Jinteki has a reputation as first-in-class for cloning and biotechnology. In game, they are a Corporation known for tricking Runners and penalizing them for accessing their servers. While no official reports can link them to a growing number of “incidents”, there are many people pointing fingers at this once conservative megacorp.

This Jinteki deck uses the Tennin Institute identity. It was built using a single Revised Core Set, the Honor and Profit Deluxe Expansion, and the Blood and Water Data Pack. The deck imports a few cards from Haas-Bioroid, NBN, and Weyland, using the Influence mechanic found in the rulebook. The influence cost is noted with dots next to the cards in the list below. You can buy these three products direct and build this exact deck!

If you would like to construct your own deck, we recommend watching the Core Set Deck Building Guide and Advanced Deck Building Guide on our Learning Netrunner: A How To Play Guide For New Players blog.

Identity: Tennin Institute: The Secrets Within (Honor and Profit)

Agenda (9)
2x Obokata Protocol (Blood and Water)
3x Braintrust (Revised Core Set)
3x Medical Breakthrough (Honor and Profit)
1x Philotic Entanglement (Honor and Profit)

Upgrade (2)
1x Hokusai Grid (Revised Core Set)
1x NeoTokyo Grid (Honor and Profit)

Operation (20)
3x Shipment from Tennin (Blood and Water)
3x Mass Commercialization (Blood and Water)
3x Celebrity Gift (Revised Core Set)
2x Trick of Light (Revised Core Set)
3x Hedge Fund (Revised Core Set)
1x Archived Memories (Revised Core Set) ••
3x Medical Research Fundraiser (Honor and Profit)
1x Fast Track (Honor and Profit)

Barrier (6)
3x Himitsu-Bako (Revised Core Set)
1x Hadrian’s Wall (Revised Core Set) •••
2x Ice Wall (Core Set) ••

Code Gate (4)
2x Mirāju (Blood and Water)
2x Tollbooth (Revised Core Set) ••••
1x Ichi 1.0 ••

Sentry (8)
2x Shadow (Revised Core Set) ••
1x Swordsman (Revised Core Set)
3x Komainu (Honor and Profit)
2x Rainbow (Honor and Profit)

Normally, Jinteki game plans revolve around Net Damage, confusion, and deceptive plays. Tennin opts for a much more straightforward and traditional style of Corporation play, which makes it pretty unique. ICE your central servers like crazy, advance cards for free using Tennin’s ability, and score out. Note that the advancement counters placed with Tennin’s ability can be placed on any in-play cards, including ICE and upgrades that could not otherwise be advanced (or even Runner cards…if you want to freak them out).

Tennin accomplishes this with two particular cards: Trick of Light and Shipment from Tennin. Trick of Light lets you move two advancement tokens, both of which were probably free from your ID ability, to a card of your choice. Shipment from Tennin lets you place two advancement counters on a card, so long as your opponent did not make a successful run on their previous turn. If you install an agenda and play either of these cards, you can score a three advancement agenda in a single turn. If you install an agenda and play any two of these cards, you can score a four advancement agenda in a single turn!

The ability to score out of hand and eschew the creation of remote servers lets Tennin focus fully on reinforcing central servers. It is common for Tennin to have three or four pieces of ice in front of each central server, making it extremely taxing to make successful runs, especially in quick succession – and yet, the central servers are the only place agendas are hiding!

To make matters more troubling for the Runner, two Obokata Protocols are always lurking. A successful central run AND four cards in hand is necessary for the Obokata steal, so get ready to watch the Runner’s face drop as they realize that they spent 15 credits to get in and still cannot take the agenda! Similarly, the Runner stealing Medical Breakthrough is often good for you, as it makes the others easier to score.

Taking Tennin’s advancement concept even further, this deck borrows a suite of advanceable ICE from Weyland – Ice Wall, Shadow, and Hadrian’s Wall – all of which gain strength for each advancement counter on them. Paired with Mass Commercialization and NeoTokyo Grid, the synergy in this deck starts to become apparent.

Another notable splash is Archived Memories. Archived Memories lets you put any card from archives back in your hand. Given that any two of either Trick of Light or Shipment from Tennin means you can score four advancement agendas out of hand, Archived Memories is a nice splash in the deck, and additional copies are worth including if you buy a second Revised Core.

Finally, there may be opportunities to score in the traditional way by installing an agenda, putting a piece of ICE in front of it, and making a bet that the Runner cannot get in. Keep an eye out for a poor Runner without the appropriate breakers, and score in whatever way is best.

While I cannot go over all the tips and tricks for this deck, you can watch me play it against a Criminal deck in the gameplay video below!

If you have any questions, please comment below and we will be happy to help as best we can.