[INWO-list] Deck of the Week 83: Attack of the Bodysnatchers

[Kevin Kennedy]

This is a great deck!!
Thanks Martin.
Kevin
--- martin laerkes <plasmoid at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Deck of the Week number 83 is here.
> The deck uses Cast Out False Prophets to win, and
> includes the recipe for a 
> working group denial deck.
> Enjoy :)
> 
> _Attack of the Bodysnatchers_
> Deck of the Week #83
> By Martin Lærkes
> The aliens' plan was as brilliant as it was
> insidious. They would seize 
> power by killing key personal and replacing them
> with duplicates controlled 
> by the aliens themselves. The manlings would not
> suspect that more and more 
> of their brethren were in fact alien invaders until
> it was too late......
> 
> _The Deck_
> Illumintai: UFOs
> Citizens for Normalcy
> Divine Mail Order x2
> Fnord Motor Companies
> Liquor Companies
> Multinational Oil Companies
> Nuclear Power Companies
> Pentagon
> The Thule Group
> The Holy Grail
> Perpetual Motion Machine
> Warehouse 23
> Agent in Place x2
> Comet Hail-Bob x2
> Goal: Cast Out False Prophets
> NWO: Interesting Times x2
> NWO: Solidarity
> Power Grab x2
> Sabotage x4
> Seize the Time
> Senate Inv. Committee x2
> Tape Runs Out x2
> Unmasked x2
> Upheaval x3
> Adepts of Hermes
> Bermuda Triangle
> Church of the Subgenius
> Gnomes of Zurich
> The Network
> Servants of Cthulhu
> Shangri-La
> Society of Assassins
> 
> 
> _The Plan_
> Since DotW submissions are currently few and far
> between, I might as well 
> use the opportunity to feature some neglected cards
> and strategies. 
> Therefore I've decided to create a deck revolving
> around of each the 
> SubGenius goals. The first one was deck #79 - the
> fun'damentalist deck, 
> using Science Can Not Remove the Terror of the Gods.
> This time I'm focusing on arguably the hardest of
> the 5 SubGenius goals: 
> Cast Out False Prophets (CoFP). CoFP can serve as a
> decent plan b in an 
> destructive deck, but using it as your main
> objective entails a few 
> problems: Managing to eliminate a rival from the
> game is not an easy task, 
> eliminating the right one is even harder - and
> that's assuming that the 
> right illuminati is even out there in the first
> place! To do this your deck 
> must be built for this one purpose - so (moderate)
> degeneracy and plentiful 
> ruthlessness is required.
> 
> Your plan is as simple as it is mean. Choose a rival
> and then pick on him 
> from the get go. Keep blasting him with the meanest
> plots and groups in the 
> game, never allowing him to grow beyond 2 puppets.
> Hopefully your remaining 
> rivals will assume that you're just being a spiteful
> git when you finish him 
> off, never thinking what you could be up to. Put his
> illuminati in your 
> destroyed pile, unmask as whatever he was playing,
> reveal Cast Out False 
> Prophets and laugh evilly.
> 
> _Opening Game_
> Lead with Pentagon, because you need a source of
> extra plot draws. If 
> Pentagon bounces, then Divine Mail Order is your
> best back-up. On your first 
> turn, bring out Divine Mail Order as a puppet of
> Pentagon if possible - or 
> either Liquor Companies or Multinational Oil
> Companies if it isn't.
> Other than that, you have 2 priorities: By the time
> that your victim is 
> about to begin his second turn, you must have an
> ATO-stopper (Comet 
> Hail-Bob, Sabotage, Senate Investigating Committee -
> or Upheaval in an 
> emergency) on hand, as well as the means to power
> it. You also need to 
> protect Pentagon with the Holy Grail. Power Grab if
> you can, because you 
> need your tokens for picking on your victim, and you
> need a strong start to 
> really dominate.
> Apart from these objectives, you also need to figure
> out  which rival to 
> pick on.
> 
> Choosing the most vulnerable player is a big part of
> winning with this deck, 
> so consider the following:
> *Picking on a player who is later in the turn order
> than yourself will give 
> you the huge advantage of having an extra turn to
> set up your arsenal.
> *Attacking a UFO player will mean that you won't
> have to unmask but might 
> also alert your rivals to what you're up to.
> *Leave Bavaria and Discordia alone. Bavaria can use
> its privilege to outgrow 
> you, and Discordia is very hard to attack, so your
> deck can't unmask as 
> these two.
> *Look at your rivals leads and first ATOs. Your
> victim shouldn't have too 
> many matching alignments or other slurp bonuses -
> and definitely shouldn't 
> have managed an extra group takeover on the first
> turn.
> *An adepts player focusing on resources may have a
> weak group composition, a 
> Bermuda player may have a problem with alignments,
> and Cthulhu may be too 
> destruction oriented to recover from your
> pre-emptive attack.
> *If any rival's first ATO is a resource - smite him!
> 
> _Midgame_
> When your victim's second turn starts, it is time to
> get dirty. You need to 
> block his every ATO, (and attack to control) from
> here on out. The first 
> time you do it, downplay it. Your rivals don't yet
> know that you're going to 
> do this repeatedly, so you may well get help with it
> early on. Besides, 
> everybody likes to see someone else lose a group.
> In fact, as long as the remaining players haven't
> figured out what you're up 
> to, they should be happy to see you ruining it for
> someone else, while not 
> really progressing yourself. If someone decides to
> interfere, kindly tell 
> them that your nasty plots and groups could be used
> against them instead. If 
> your rivals start pestering you about why you're
> being so mean, either say 
> "because I can", or bring up a past situation where
> your victim has wronged 
> you - whether real or imagined.
> 
> Regarding your ATO-stopping plots: Remember that
> Sabotage can potentially be 
> powered by Pentagon or the Multinational Oil
> Companies instead of the UFOs 
> and that Senate Investigating Committee stops the
> turn cold. Comet Hail-Bob 
> can be used to stop any attack to control, so don't
> use it on an ATO unless 
> you have to.
> After that first important turn, you need to keep
> knocking your victims ATOs 
> down.
> Take your own ATOs, do what you can to get another
> ATO-stopper into your 
> hand, and save the rest of your tokens for screwing
> over your victim. If 
> you're in a position where you don't have to search
> for plots, then that is 
> probably a good time to take over the Perpetual
> Motion Machine and linking 
> it to the UFOs.
> 
> There are some quite nasty groups in your deck, and
> you should pick the 
> order of your ATOs according to your plot hand and
> the opposition you expect 
> to be facing. Multinational Oil Companies is big,
> and will keep a rival off 
> your back once you close in for the kill. Fnord
> Motor Companies will save 
> you from having your key attack ruined by a Murphy's
> Law or a bad roll. 
> Liquor Companies can block his plot draws. Finally -
> the NPCs is a monster, 
> but don't bring it out early if you think that it
> will antagonize the 
> remaining players. Remember to make your corporate
> groups puppets of 
> Pentagon for more plot draws.
> You also need to consider when you're going to start
> picking off your rivals 
> 2 remaining groups. Ideally you can start doing this
> by turn 3 (when 
> opponents can first be knocked out), but turn 4 (or
> even 5) may be more 
> realistic.
> 
> _End Game_
> What you're doing isn't going to be easy. Hopefully
> you'll have the element 
> of surprise on your side.
> Assuming that everything goes according to plan,
> your rival will have just 2 
> groups and his illuminati when you're ready to
> eliminate him. This is the 
> proper time to ATO the Thule Group. Also, you'll
> most likely need one or 
> more of your Upheavals.
> Probably play the upheaval first, to deprive your
> opponent of a valuable 
> defensive token. If the other players complain, make
> whatever deal you can. 
> For the final attack, remember to use Multinational
> Oil Companies to shut 
> out whichever rival can interfere with the most
> power, and use the Thule 
> group along with all those illuminati groups to push
> home the attack. With a 
> little luck you'll be able to take out your victim
> in one fell swoop.
> 
> If you fail, hopefully you can still block one more
> ATO, and then try again 
> on your next turn. Or perhaps use your Seize the
> Time to get a second go 
> with the Thule Group straight away - (you're not
> really playing any plots 
> with the Thule Group, just discarding them).
> If you do manage to knock out your victim, then it
> is time for the final 
> step of your wicked plan. You probably need a turn
> to recuperate before 
> completing your transformation and revealing your
> true self. On your final 
> turn, the Citizens for Normalcy is your best ATO,
> because it can help 
> strong-arming your Unmasked! through. On a technical
> note, remember that you 
> don't have to reveal what you intend to unmask as
> until after your rivals 
> have decided whether to cancel or not. So if they
> don't cancel then they can 
> not take it back, and if they do cancel then you
> don't lose your illuminati 
> agent.
> 
> Once you've shed your skin then all you need to do
> is reveal your goal.
> 
> _Potential Problems_
> This is not a powerful deck. Lots of things can go
> wrong, but fortunately 
> you are not without contingency plans.
> If you manage to wear down your rival, and then
> someone else manages to 
> finish him off before you do, then you're in
> trouble. In a 3 player game - 
> see below. In a game with 4 or more players, you may
> be able to buy your way 
> into a shared victory. The conditions are simple:
> You give the shrewd rival 
> both your goal, the Unmasked! and the illuminati
> agent, in return for a huge 
> chunk of his power structure, allowing you a basic
> goal win alongside his 
> CoFP win.
> 
> If the whole thing falls apart, and you can't apply
> enough pressure to your 
> victim, then you have to rely on Unmasked! for a
> conventional win. You have 
> 2 groups that will count double towards the Gnomes
> goal. Even better is the 
> SubGenius goal: You'll have 2 illuminati tokens, or
> even 3 with the PPM, 
> each counting towards the basic goal. Finally,
> should Shangri-La be in the 
> game, you know you'll want to join him.
> Remember that if your original plan fails, all those
> nasty plots can be used 
> to bring down the leader, buying you more time to
> set up your own 
> contingency plan.
> 
> _Variants and Substitutions_
> The deck list above is just one way of creating a
> Bodysnatcher deck. But 
> there are many more.
> When I designed this deck, a number of excellent
> cards didn't make the final 
> cut. Jesus B. is an excellent corporate group that
> could supply you with an 
> illuminati token when you need it the most, and the
> Black Helicopters is an 
> easy way to claim privilege on your final
> eliminating attack. Crystal Skull 
> is extremely powerful when it comes to finding the
> right plots, but it is 
> often hotly contested.
> 
> As for plots, NWO: The Magic Goes Away looked
> promising because it can 
> permanently jam your victims ATOs. Unfortunately it
> will also annoy everyone 
> else, and will render the Thule Group tokenless.
> Fickle Finger of Fate is 
> also wicked, because whether your victim uses his
> illuminati token to remove 
> it or to get his free +10 for an attack, you can
> cancel him with the NPCs, 
> stripping him of all his ATOs. The problem with any
> Zap! based solution is 
> that if any 3rd part decides to intervene, then your
> Zap! goes down the 
> drain.
> Another variant of this deck could be based on
> government groups. Leading 
> with Germany will ensure that you can make a massive
> attack on your final 
> turn (perhaps with a Dictatorship and a Truckbomb),
> while Bank of England 
> and NASA can generate plenty of plot draws. IRS will
> deprive your victim of 
> potentially important plot cards, while you can
> either use them against him, 
> or sacrifice them to the Center for Weird Studies.
> NWO: Don't Forget to Smash the State was what made
> the government version my 
> runner-up choice, but the NWO could be countered
> with a Clipper Chip.
> The greatest problem with either of these decks is
> that they require a 
> handful of the rare Sabotage to work properly.
> 
> _Variant: Liquor Denial_
> One version that does not require 4 Sabotages is the
> Brown Bag Sandbag.
> For years I've tried to come up with a deck that can
> actually win through 
> group denial, and CoFP has finally made this
> possible. Before CoFP, ruining 
> the game for a single player was not a winning
> strategy, and attempting 
> group denial on several players was hardly a
> realistic scenario.
> Lead with Liquor Companies, and use it to block the
> group draws (not plot 
> draws) of your chosen victim. Either the NPCs or a
> second Liquor token from 
> China can block his attempts at extra draws. This
> means that beyond his lead 
> and first ATO, he will only have a 6 card group hand
> - the rest of his 
> groups will stay undrawn in his deck. Use Smite Them
> All!, and Let's you and 
> Him Fight to remove further group cards from his
> hand, use Sabotage to block 
> his ATO while you do it, and use Upheaval and Comet
> Hail-Bob to nail any 
> successful ATO. Once you've removed his group hand,
> you can keep him out of 
> the game by blocking his draws - and then eliminate
> him and unmask just like 
> in the other versions.
> 
>
_________________________________________________________________
> Få alle de nye og sjove ikoner med MSN Messenger
> http://messenger.msn.dk
> 
> _______________________________________________
> INWO-list mailing list
> INWO-list at sjgames.com
> http://www.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/inwo-list


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing.
http://photos.yahoo.com/