Yeah, I can definitely see that - didn’t know about the history of the deck in Europe, but I guess we followed the same trajectory here, just a few months behind
I stand by my point - Biotech may be inherently weaker than other jinteki IDs (or it may not) but the real issue is that it’s an ID that revolves around a win condition that doesn’t have much traction these days (namely, bluffing and net damage). Cards can change that - maybe even just new deck Ideas could change that - and I think if either of those things happen, this ID could see play.
But doesn’t this ability make you a bit over-flexible, making you focus on too many goals at once and therefore be very likely to be unsuccesful in all sides?
I was playing @mediohxcore at some tourney, and before I finished my turn, he hit me with False Lead, followed by Biotic and 3 Net damage. I was shocked I was dead, 'cause I thought I had more cards in hand. I then, nonplussed, I asked, “How the f*$k did you do that?”.
I’m in early experimentation with this ID currently. I plan on focusing on it for a while. If I haven’t figured anything out by regionals, I’ll probably just drop it. I have been testing a hybrid deck. Very early observations:
Brewery: I haven’t figured out how to kill with this ID without dedicating too much of my deck towards it. I will never play it against a Shaper. IHW is a real problem for it (worse than EMP). And even a FF will stop it pretty soundly.
Greenhouse: So far it feels the strongest. Never-Advancing a Nisei Mk II usually puts me on the winning road. I feel like this will be the default ID. Is there a way to leverage this assumption…
Tank: Haven’t faced Noise yet. I do like the idea of having many events, getting through half your deck, and then flipping to reset momentum (and yes, traps). I’m not sure if this would be better than The Greenhouse, though.
Unlike my usual decks, I feel like this one needs ice, which means it needs extra econ too. So that leaves a lot less room for “toys.”
The inherent advantage is that you get to obscure your strategy until you’re ready to reveal it, where other Jinteki IDs tend to telegraph.
The archives shuffle is recursion that Jinteki has never had and it’s quite a bit of recursion at that. It lends itself to increasing ambush density late game, recycling your economy package, returning notoriously parasite-weak ice to play, cutting some jackson influence for a key card or two, etc.
For the Greenhouse people seem to be skimming over the fact that never advancing a 4/2 is free. You only need enough credits to defend Nisei Mk II for a turn, and you don’t have to telegraph that it’s in the remote. A powerful effect that usually requires setup or combos to accomplish, done for free. Occasionally bluffing a 5/3 as a 4/2 might be useful.
The unique thing I see about the net dmg flip is that it’s the only damage the corp can do without a run condition, remote, or tags. This one seems difficult to build around without going all in because of the prevalence of IHW/Deus Ex; it’s difficult to secure a kill with something like Psychic Field or Komainu unless the runner is dumb or unlucky. However, it’s hard to build a Jinteki deck without SOME form of net damage, and threatening to score out can force the runner to make unwise runs where 2 more net damage is all you need.
Without testing I don’t see a fast advance variant being great in a clot/traffic jam world. I’m personally leaning toward glacier/RP style and never advancing the Nisei Mk II.
Finally got my copy of The Valley in the mail today.
I actually haven’t been playing as much ANR lately. Just been busy, and when I get time I have been doing a lot of DBZ testing.
Anyway, I REALLY like the flip ID’s just based on the fact I don’t have 2 extra copies of a card that are basically kindling.
I honestly wish they would give us 6 ID’s (1 on each side of the 3 cards) form here on out. Not necessarily with the flip function. But please no more 3 of something you only use one of. Unless, I guess, you want multiple decks of a certain ID built at once.
I have no clue how good or bad they will be, but I’m going to have fun with them. I was a tad disappointed in the new packaging too. I really liked the cardboard box ones. However, this is probably less expensive - and I’m all for a company saving $ to have funds to do other things to expand games.
Other than Noise, the only thing I can think to do with Tank is Power Shutdown/Accelerated Diagnostics, but leave a card in R&D after the whole thing is done (somehow). Then flip next turn (somehow defending Archives).
You can leave a card in R&D via Rework or Corporate Shuffle as the last action in your combo, or by scoring Executive Retreat or Hades Fragment at the end. That said, why would you want to do an elaborate combo if it doesn’t even win you the game on the spot?
My prediction (for competitive play) is that Greenhouse is decent and the other two are unplayable.
so, one little thought about bio tech: looking forward at upcoming HB spoilers, and even in this pack with valley grid, I think there are going to be a lot more ways to land brain damage or otherwise reduce max hand size going forward, and this may make the “2 net damage always available” ID much more playable.
I’m bindering this ID… for now. I have a strong feeling that it will become quite playable (even if not truly good) as this cycle unfolds.
