Darrin Bright on how to win in two turns or less

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Darrin Bright on how to win in two turns or less

Thanks to Darrin Bright for this one.

Playing a 2-turn deck isn't much fun. They tend to be mechanical and if you're winning all the time not much of a challenge. Sort of ruins the spirit of the game if you take things too far. But as a purely technical problem, it gives me something to think about when I'm at work and should be thinking about something else. So I put together this sprawling text to sort of organize my thoughts and ideas. For those of you who want to piss off your local INWO groups and be banished to playing with the Magic-junkies, enjoy. For those of you that frequent cons that actually have INWO events, this little text should get you a lot of attention. And for those MIBs out there who put a lot of hard work into running INWO events at cons, I apologize! Here's some things to look out for.

Trick #1 - Known as the Production Spiral or the Essen Scenario

The Essen Deck, as it became known, is sort of the grandfather of all INWO speed-win decks. Unfortunately, it was named for the tournement it was seen at instead of the deck's creator, Christian Stenner. The Essen Scenario was actually the term used to describe the frustration and futility felt by Stenner's unfortunate opponents. The more the deck was talked about, however, the more the name "Essen" stuck to it.

The heart of the Stenner deck is a trick Aaron Curtis calls the Production Spiral. He's already written an excellent essay on how this trick works and what ought to be done about it. You can find his essay on Ralph's INWO web site. Or if you want a look at Stenner's deck itself, then try the recent news item from the SJGames site.

Simply put, the Production Spiral spends tokens to get plot cards, plot cards to get tokens, and so on. Aaron puts things pretty well and covers most of the plot cards that can be used for this sort of thing, so I'll only add a few of my own comments and ideas. For the purposes of this text, we're not worried about infinite loops, but just getting enough action tokens and plot cards in play to reach victory conditions.

One idea I had involves a bunch of Reload cards and a whole bunch of power 1 groups. Reloads cost an Illuminati action, so play the UFOs. If a group has two alignments in common with another group, thats a +8 to control, so if 5 power 1 groups attack to control 5 other power 1 groups, you've got a good chance of getting 10 groups. I haven't put together a deck like this to see if it works, though . . . its just an idea at this point. Wierd Violent groups in a Discordia deck look like the best bet.

Another idea I actually tried to put together involved a bunch of Big Sellouts and a group deck full of media sensations. I believe the Netrep has already shot down the idea of using more than one Big Sellout in a turn, but unlike Voodoo Economics there's nothing on the card preventing you from using it next turn! With 30 or 40 media sensations, you don't have to worry about losing anything important. But when I tried to put this deck together, I noticed the Media sensations didn't have any control arrows. So I added a couple of copies of Hollywood, the Recording Industry, and Madison Avenue. I also thought about adding the Recycling Centers in case one of THOSE cards was discarded, but at that point I think I decided the deck wasn't going to work as smoothly as I thought.

2. Trick #2 - Stacking The Plot Deck

Ah, what more can be said about Alien Abduction? Has anyone seen a card more powerful and prone to abuse? Unfortunately, the sales and sorting of Assassins being what they were, its pretty difficult to come up with 30 copies of this card. Even if you did, its very difficult to get a dozen or so of them up into your hand on the first turn. It IS possible to get four, five, or sometimes six, however, and if its the right six personalities, this might be just enough for a quick win.

The essence of this trick is to stack the plot deck in such a way that, no matter what comes up on the initial draw, all the plots you'll need to win will be in your hand on the first turn. If your plot deck consists of 30 copies of the same card, then you're guarunteed to have it whenever you draw. Besides the Alien Abduction example, the best example of this would be a Violent Govt. Bavaria deck with a plot deck full of Gun Control.

Of course, a Nevermore on the first turn can shut you down, but unless your opponent's plot deck consists of 30 copies of Nevermore, he has to rely on luck of the draw. And if its a NWO like Gun Control, he'll have to have a different Red NWO to get rid of yours. Then again, if your plot deck is nothing but Secrets Man Was Not Meant To Know, then you could cancel Nevermore before it even hit the table, along with anything else your opponents tried to throw at you (though the chair might be a little difficult to dodge).

If you're going to put more than one type of card in your plot deck, then you might want to add plenty of S&L Scams to make sure you get what you need. And another card that can make things go along a little quicker is a healthy supply of Blitzkriegs. Remember, Blitzkrieg can be played on any card that has just been taken over, even an ATO. I put together an Alien Abduction/Blitzkrieg Cthulhu deck (detailed below) that fed personalities to the Church of Violentology that seemed to work really well, but every once in a while I'd have plenty of Alien Abductions and no Blitzkriegs or vice versa. The more different kind of plots you put in, the more likely you'll draw something you can't use quite yet.

One last trick you can use to get around this when you need a handful of different plot cards to claim victory is to use Crop Circles. Put one copy of every card you'll need, and then fill out the rest of your deck with Crop Circles. Make sure you lead with a Magic group so you can power Crop Circles. Add a resource that gives an extra action token (Book of Kells, Center for Wierd Studies, PMM), and you can use the first token to get a S&L Scam and another token for the rest of your draws. Although this trick is harder to use on turn 1, it can make turn 2 a breeze.

3. Trick #3 - Stacking the Group Deck

The trick here is to optimize your group deck down to 7-9 cards. You lead one group, draw six to start with, and draw another one on your first turn, so if you only have 8 group cards, then all of them will be either in play or in your hand and ready to go on the first turn. If you really need a 9th card, you can spend an Illuminati action token and draw another one, or leave it there so you can draw it on turn 2. You can't win on your first turn anyway, so might as well wait.

If your lead group bounces, then you can pretty much be guarunteed that it'll be in your hand on your first turn, ready for an ATO. But if someone else gets one of your groups out first, then you've got to hope you can pull off an attack to control with an agents card, or you're probably going to go home early. With so few group cards, you really can't afford to lose one of them. Likewise, if someone plays Let's You and Him Fight, you're screwed. Hopefully they'll never get the chance.

4. Putting It All Together - Sample Decks

Here's some sample decks that should, in theory, get you kicked out of any respectable INWO group/tournement. Most of these examples haven't been fine-tuned or even tested for that matter. Feel free to try them out, and let me know how they work.

Adepts of Hermes

Groups: Thule Group
Resources: Flying Saucer; Frog God (x10); Hitler's Brain
Plots: Crop Circles (x20); Grave Robbers; Forgery (x2); Secrets...; NWO/Blue: Global Warming; NWO/Red: Apathy

Weaknesses: This really isn't a 2-turn win deck, more like 3 or 4 turns, but its hard to stop. Once you've got Hitler's Brain linked to the Thule Group, you can just sit back and bring out Frog Gods all day. The only weakness might be resources-killers like Suicide Squad and Weak Link.

Bavarian Illuminati

Groups: CIA; Pentagon; Texas
Resources: Clipper Chip; Cyborg Solders (x3); Flying Saucer
Plots: NWO/Red: Gun Control (x30)

Turn 1: Lead Pentagon to make sure no one else gets it out first. ATO either Texas or CIA, then bring out Flying Saucer and a Cyborg Soldier. Make a privelaged attack on whatever is left, if you want to.

Turn 2: Bring out ALL your remaining resources. Privelage attack on whatever group is left, if you didn't do so on the first turn.

Weaknesses: Interesting Times, (possibly) Nevermore

Bermuda Triangle

Groups: Lama Ramadingdong; Mafia; Professional Sports; Texas; Triliberal Commission
Resources: Black Helicopters; Cyborg Soldiers (x2); Flying Saucer
Plots: NWO/Blue: A Thousand Points Of Light

Turn 1: Lead with the Mafia. ATO either the Trilibs or Lama. Bring out the Flying Saucer with a Cyborg Soldier. Attack to control Professional Sports.

Turn 2: ATO Texas, Bring out another Cyborg Soldier and Black Helicopters and link them up to Texas. Attack to control Lama.

Weaknesses: I originally posted this deck as the Bermuda Shorts deck. It reappears here pretty much unchanged. You may want to trade out Black Helicopters for Midas Mill or OMCLs. Don't Forget To Smash The State can slow you down. Watch out for alignment changers like Gay Activists or OMCLs!

Discordian Society

Groups: Church of Elvis; Elvis; Evil Geniuses For A Better Tomorrow; General Disorder; Lama Ramadingdong; Manuel Noriega; Saddam Hussein; South American Nazis
Plots: Alien Abduction (x30)

Turn 1: Lead with SA Nazis. ATO Church of Elvis. Attack to control Evil Geniuses with SA Nazis. Spend Illuminati token to buy plot card. Now play five Alien Abductions, making sure to put General Disorder on the SA Nazis.

Weaknesses: A rival Discordia might lead or get out one of your groups. Better hope you can get it away from him on turn 2... Other problems, like Alien Abduction being Nevermore'd or Interesting Times... might as well fold, eh?

Gnomes of Zurich

Groups: Federal Reserve; IRS; Jimmy Hoffa; Lama Ramadingdong; Manuel Noriega; Ollie North; Ronald Reagan; Wall Street
Plots: Alien Abduction (x30)

Turn 1: It's hard to top a Gnomes speed-slurp deck with the Federal Reserve and S&Ls (see Ralph's DotW page for a good Gnomes deck). This one above is almost identical to the Discordia deck. Lead with the Federal Reserve, ATO Wall Street, and attack to control the IRS. Spend Illuminati action token for a plot card, and plop down 5 personalities. I wanted to use Bank of England to draw plots, and then use the Gnomes action for a Clipper Chip, but that'd take two turns to get that many group cards in hand.

The Network

Groups: Al Gore; Fidel Castro; Finland; Fraternal Orders; Post Office; Princess Di; Saddam Hussein; Teddy Kennedy
Resources: Clipper Chip
Plots: Alien Abduction (x30)

Turn 1: Lead with Fraternal Orders. Since this can be a popular lead group, you want to make sure you get it out first. ATO Finland. Bring out the Clipper Chip with an Illuminati action. Get your last group card with the Fraternal Orders. Attack to Control the Post Office with Finland. Now bring out 5 personalities.

Weaknesses: Since one of your group cards is going to be undrawn before your ATOs, there's a chance your undrawn group is going to be an important card. Play cautiously for the first turn, and see if you can win on turn 2. This deck is very susceptable to certain NWOs like Don't Forget To Smash The State or World Hunger. I couldn't think of a good way to counter these, so if they come out, you're screwed.

Servants of Cthulhu

Groups: Al Gore; Church of Violentology; Fidel Castro; Gordo Remora; Gun Lobby; Hilary Clinton; Lama Ramadingdong; Princess Di
Plots: Alien Abduction (x8); Blitzkrieg (x8); Pledge Drive; Savings and Loans Scam (x3); Secrets...; Terrorist Nuke; GOAL: Let Them Eat Cake (x2); NWO/Red: Apathy (x2); NWO/Blue: A Thousand Points of Light (x2)

Turn 1: Lead with the Church, and ATO the Gun Lobby. Now, abduct a personality, load them up with a token with Blitzkrieg, then feed them to the Church. Each time you do this, you get to draw four cards. Repeat.

Turn 2: Its possible you'll run out of either Alien Abductions or Blitzkrieg due to a bad draw. By now, your opponents know what you're up to, however, and will do their best to stop you or help you successfully destroy the Church. Use Apathy and Terrorist Nukes to keep the Church intact.

Weaknesses: Of all these decks, this one probably requires a little more strategy than most. I think it might work better with feeding conservative personalities like Ronald Reagan and Ollie North. Anyway, since the plots are so diverse, you're not guarunteed to draw what you'll need.

For the Moonbase enthusiasts, here's an Alien Abduction variant that takes two turns:

Church of Violentology; Moonbase; Six assorted personalities
Resources: Ark of the Covenant
Plots: Alien Abduction (x30)

Turn 1: Lead with the Church or Moonbase. ATO whichever one you didn't lead. Bring out the Ark.

Turn 2: Get five or six Alien Abductions into your hand and start plopping them down. Now, you've got to guess if your opponents are helpless to stop a failed attack against the Church, or if they plan on stopping it. If there's enough tokens around to make the attack succeed, write down the name of the Church under the Ark. Otherwise, write down the Moonbase. If you guess right, Moonbase goes boom.

Weaknesses: Guess wrong and the Moonbase won't be destroyed. Maybe throw a Sucked Dry and Cast Aside into the plot deck and hope that comes up later. Interesting Times might ruin things as well. Nevermore can make you an unhappy camper, but you might get a chance to build up normally without the Alien Abductions.

Shangri-La

Groups: Japan; Nutrition Nazis; Texas
Resources: Big Prawn; Clipper Chip; Necronomicon
Plots: Sufficiently Advanced Technology (x30)

Turn 1: Lead Japan to make sure you get it out or make sure it bounces. ATO Texas or whichever then bring out the Big Prawn and put it on Texas, making it Peaceful.

Turn 2: Play Nutrition Nazis on Japan, make it magic with Suff. Adv. Tech., then bring out the Clipper Chip and Necronomicon.

Weaknesses: Nevermore won't stop you, but a NWO like Interesting Times or Don't Forget to Smash the State will. Resource-killers can also send you home early.

Society of Assassins

Groups: Cattle Mutilators; Clone Arrangers; Jimmy Hoffa; Manuel Noriega; Men In Black; Ollie North; Saddam Hussein; Ronald Reagan
Plots: Alien Abduction (x30)

Turn 1: This one was a little trickier than Discordia or the Gnomes, but same basic principle. Lead with the Clone Arrangers. ATO Cattle Mutilators. Attack to control the MiBs and aid with the Clone Arrangers for a 10 or less. Spend an Illuminati action for another plot card, then plop down 5 personalities. You shouldn't need a Cyborg Soldiers...if you can get out the Clone Arrangers, its unlikely that anyone else will have a larger secret group by turn 1 or even turn 2.

UFOs

Groups: General Disorder; Newt Gingrich; Nutrition Nazis; Orbit One; Rosicrucians; Saddam Hussein; Silicon Valley
Resources: Center For Wierd Studies
Plots: Alien Abduction (x3 (thought I was gonna put 30, didn't you?)); Crop Circles (x20); Savings & Loans Scam (x2); Secrets...; Sufficiently Advanced Technology; GOAL: Blinded By Science; NWO/Blue: World Hunger

Turn 1: Lead with Rosicrucians (or any magic group should do). ATO Silicon Valley. Bring out the Center for Wierd Studies. Save your tokens for defense/plots.

Turn 2: Stock up on plot draws, then get what you need with a crop circles. You need at least 3 Alien Abductions, Suff. Adv. Tech., and GOAL: Blinded by Science. ATO Orbit One. When Saddam comes out, play the Nutrition Nazis on him, and Suff. Adv. Tech. on the Rosies.

Weaknesses: This deck can, with a little luck, handle something like Interesting Times or Nevermore. If someone leads Science Alarmists, bring out World Hunger. The nice thing about this deck is you only need 3 Alien Abductions, and it might actually be possible to put this deck together. Using the Network instead of the UFOs is also possible, if you add Eliza.

UFOs

Groups: Finland; Int'l Weather Org.; L-4 Society; Moonbase; Nutrition Nazis; Orbit One; Phone Phreaks
Resources: Center For Wierd Studies
Plots: NWO/Blue: A Thousand Points Of Light (x3); GOAL: Blinded By Science (x30)

Turn 1: Lead with Finland. ATO L-4 Society. Bring out the Center For Wierd Studies. Play Nut. Nazis on Finland, then attack to control the Phone Phreaks. Ok, now you have a net +10 to attack a computer+science group. Reload Finland with the Center, then attack to control the Int'l Weather Org. Attack Orbit One from the L-4 Society. Attack the Moonbase from the UFOs. Sit back and cackle with glee.

Weaknesses: Well, with four attacks to control on turn 1, there's roughly a 1 in 3 chance you'll roll an 11 or 12 on one of them. If you're playing best out of 3, then the odds are still in your favor. Nevermore can't do much to you. I put in three Blue NWOs to possibly deal with Interesting Times, World Hunger, or Energy Crisis. There's some yellow NWOs that could cause trouble for Finland... but as long as you get the Phone Phreaks out before that, you should be ok.

Well, that about wraps it up for now. Hope you learned something. By all means, let me know what you think.