by Steve Brinich
Concept: Radical weirdos out to destroy the Amurrikin Way Of Life....
Your two strongest leads are Bill Clinton (for his bonus to take over your Government groups) or the Feminists (for their bonus to control Liberals and destroy Conservatives). The Feminists lead is generally stronger, but telegraphs your intentions.
This deck has several good keystones for your Power Structure (Bill Clinton, California, Teddy Kennedy, and Triliberal Commission).
You have several defensive abilities to augment Discordia's immunities. All your groups can be defended as a free action by either France or Italy. Teddy Kennedy provides great protection for his Liberal puppets, and the Black Activists and Secular Humanists blunt attacks from Liberals or Conservatives, respectively.
Once you have the skeleton of your Power Structure laid out, it's a fairly straightforward case of slurping up Liberal and Weird groups, and deciding which way you want to win (depending on the availability of Conservative targets). Ideally, you want to feint toward one goal, then make a surprise strike to the other.
The Center for Weird Studies will reload a group at the price of discarding your top Plot card. This is particularly useful for groups with key special abilities such as the Gay Activists -- see below under "Endgame".
The Shroud of Turin gives you some control over draws, and works very well with abilities powered by deck discards (Center for Weird Studies, Fnord!). If you see a card at the top of the deck that isn't very useful, draw from the bottom instead and use the top card as fuel.
You have several good defensive Plots. Besides the straightforward ones (Beach Party, Good Polls, Murphy's Law, Near Miss, Talisman of Ahrimanes), you have the Military-Industrial Complex NWO to extend your anti-Government immunity to Corporate groups. If a rival group looks like a particular threat, Nationalize it (note that the Deprogrammers have an exemption to your anti-Straight immunity, but not to your anti-Government immunity....)
Use your +10 cards for attack or defense, as the situation indicates.
Every Year Is Worse will help you soften up a Conservative target (note that sometimes it's best used on a group that could defend your intended target rather than the intended target itself).
Many of the powerful groups that you _aren't_ immune to are Criminal; your Government groups can launch a Crackdown on Crime.
Try to save NWO: Political Correctness for key opportunities to destroy a Conservative group or grab an arm of a rival Power Structure. Reserve NWO: Chicken In Every Pot in case you need to get rid of NWO: World Hunger or NWO: Global Warming).
This deck can work toward either of two goals: the Discordian goal or the Power to the People goal.
If you can destroy at least two Conservative targets, Power to the People will probably be easier. Get control of six (or five with the Triliberals) Liberal groups (but don't count on Clinton if you can help it), pump up your Power Structure with Political Correctness, have The Second Bullet ready, and take out a couple of right-wing reactionaries. If there are several good targets, change the control/destroy mix accordingly, but be careful not to overextend yourself.
If you don't have good Conservative targets, or Power to the People stubbornly refuses to show up in your hand, go for the Discordian win. California counts double; so will the Swingers with the help of their Liberal friends. The Gay Activists can Weird out Big Media, Bill Clinton, or the Triliberals (or any two of them with an action token reload). Jake Day can make a powerful group Weird; The Weird Turn Pro can boost any weak Weird group. It should be fairly easy to reach the limit of three doubled groups.
If you're faced with a rival Discordian, he'll be immune to your most powerful groups. On the other hand, if he's playing a typical Weird Discordian deck, you might be able to make a deal (he plays his Weird groups, you play your Liberal groups). If not, hold California in reserve and sandbag him (the Swingers will probably be your most powerful eligible group; if you're going for the win, use Jake Day and the Gay Activists to make other powerful groups Weird just before you strike).
If you see a rival building a Power Structure that isn't going to be hampered by your immunities and defensive bonuses, maximize your defenses (get out France and Italy ASAP and boost their Power, hold as many defensive Plots as you can) and work on building alliances against him.
Other groups that should work well in this deck and fit the theme are Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Psychiatrists (which can help you pick off Conservative Personalities), and Underground Newspapers.
If you expect to be up against another Discordian, consider an Orgone Grinder for Bill Clinton. This strips away his alignments (allowing him to attack Discordia), gives him 6 Power, and still keeps his +11 bonuses -- add your California card as an agent, the Discordian ability to control Weirds, and the bonus for rival Illuminati, and your California sandbag will start out with an effective power of 36.
Another option would be to include an Alien Abduction to strip away Bill Clinton's inconvenient alignments. This would yield an effective power of 34, since Bill gets no power-boost. This has the advantage that if you don't need to attack a rival Discordia, the Alien Abduction can be used to take over one of your Personalities.
This deck includes three Rares (Italy, Swingers, Shroud of Turin). None of them are really critical. If you don't have Italy, add some extra defense to compensate. If you don't have the Swingers, add a high-Power Liberal group (Democrats, CFL-AIO), and consider replacing Freaking the Mundanes with an extra Jake Day. If you don't have the the Shroud of Turin, consider including a few Magic groups (W.I.T.C.H., Reformed Church of Satan) and Crop Circles and omitting Fnord!
First posted: March 24, 1996
Last modified: March 25, 1996
Ralph Melton ralph@cs.cmu.edu