I fail at Tennin. Wat do?

Pretty much what it says on the tin. I’m a veteran MTG player but pretty much a Netrunner noob. One of the lists I’ve put together is the Tennin deck that won Polish Nationals and though the deck seems good on paper, when it’s time to shuffle up… dear god, how did this pile ever win? Ice is expensive, half the econ is unplayable T1. It’s like a classic case of midrange MTG decks all over again: Your cards rock, but the moment you draw the wrong half of your deck…

Any tips on stuff to look for during mulligans and general mentality playing the deck? Also, does the ID ability trigger on turn 1?

If I remember that list was a little… weird?

Tennin ability does not trigger on turn 1.

Try this list out to start.

Tennin Institute: The Secrets Within (Honor and Profit)

Agenda (11)

Asset (5)

Upgrade (3)

Operation (12)

Barrier (8)

Code Gate (6)

Sentry (4)

  • 2x Grim (Opening Moves)
  • 2x Komainu (Honor and Profit)

15 influence spent (max 15)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Honor and Profit

I use a really nice deck that runs Tyrant which is a really nice piece of ice to drop free counters on.

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What’s the point to playing Tennin here? To beef up your Ice Walls and Trick of Light? I hate to see such a beautiful ability used so… ‘optimally’ ! :frowning:

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I don’t think the Tennin FA decks stand up to scrutiny. Relying on your ability to keep opponents out isn’t very strong, especially with shock in the era of Security Testing. Furthermore, the agendas aren’t very good, and having only one option for fast advancing exposes you to a lot of variance. Play HB or NBN for fast advance, they’re just better. Keep in mind that Netrunner isn’t like Magic in the sense that if someone wins a medium sized tournament you know their deck is legit. There are few enough great Netrunner players that someone can win with a deck that will only go 20% against the field on perfect play because their opponents are playing far from perfectly or are playing mediocre decks themselves.

Not my decklist, just providing an example :smile:

I more or less agree here. Fast Advance is not really in Jinteki’s wheelhouse, and probably shouldn’t be your primary strategy. I think a Never Advance strategy with FA as an out works really well. I also think that Crisium Grid and Power Shutdown are great places to spend your influence on.

What you’re going to want to mulligan for are cheap ice and econ, this is true for pretty much all corp decks. Play mentality is to keep your centrals tight and try to score aggressively. Again, not really different from most corp decks.

That Tennin list is legit as fuck, but I wouldn’t hand it to someone who doesn’t at least have a good understanding of the card pool.

Idk about that. Maybe it’s okay against some things. I’ve only really played against it as Andy, but I basically never lose and can never see a way I could.

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Just use the patented @Chill84 click-tracking method and you’ll find a way pretty fast.

The trick with this deck is to get your ability firing. You’re looking for cheap ice in your opening hand. Wall of Ice, quandry etc. You’re going to spend a lot of time clicking for cash, and advancing icewall.

When possible, put ETR ice in front of icewall so you don’t have to rez. This will keep your advancement tokens from getting sniped with parasite.

When I played around with this deck, it worked pretty well - but it was boring. Play cash cash. You need a lot of cash for this deck, so even tho it looks flush, don’t draw for celebrity. Play ice, and click.

You’re using jackson to recur biotic, & trick of light, and to manage agenda flood.

Its ok to put medical research out as bait, to set up a win with iteration 2 & 3. Just put it out smooth, and people will think its a jackson.

Failing to make a successful run, you can advance with the tenin ability then 3 to score.

Don’t make a scoring (or other) remote server.

I think the deck is solid. Beginnings are hardest, especially against agressive runners - andy, gabe. Not as good as NEH. But still pretty good.

For a minute there, I felt like I wandered into a CI thread :stuck_out_tongue:

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Tenin is all about forcing hard choices on your opponent with very limited knowledge about what you WANT them to be doing. Are you trying to capitalize on them running (to deny your free advancement token, if nothing else)–because the runner wasting a click hitting their face against a PAD campaign every turn is not be shaken at with sticks. On the other hand, it could be more of a glacier deck that PLANS to get that free advancement token, maybe using Haas Arcology AI as a free click battery and then SSCG or Biotic Labor as fast advance support with your trick of lights.

Think of your ID ability sort of like a crop deck that wants to tag you, there are a number of variables to consider: can I punish them if they are clearing tags? Can I punish them if they AREN’T clearing tags? How reliably can I get tags on the runner? To apply that to Tenin, you want the runner GUESSING whether its in their interest to run or not, and capitalize on those mistakes. Paywall Implementation and a subliminal messaging means both that you get money no matter what the runner does, AND they have no clue what your imperative is.

As to what specifically you want to play for out of Tenin–first is definitely shutting down run-based economy, primarily security testing, followed by desperado+datasucker. Crisium Grid is GREAT for those and its got the kind of trash cost you like to see. You also probably want to play Snare! and you might just get lucky and get the runner to hit it click 4–if you ask me people have become all too comfortable with the lack of Snare!s in decks and its time to make them pay for it. program hate is another obvious way you ca defend against cards like datasucker but also be able to hit breakers and give yourself scoring windows. Power Shutdown means you probably will only ever need to set it at 1-2 (1 for datasucker, 2 for corroder) and PS in Jinteki is always funny when the runner might be afraid you’re trying to dump traps in there (and maybe you are!).

Tenin very much is a freestyle deck type–you build it as specifically as you can–but ultimately you have to be VERY aware of what ID the runner is playing, and HOW they are playing (aggressive, passive, etc.). FA normally doesn’t really care what the runner is up to, its a flat-out race to the finish line, but as we all know, Jinteki is weird.