INWO Deck: Big Brother Is Watching You!

by Aaron Curtis

Imagine a militia member's worst nightmare: a secret all-powerful conspiracy taking control of Federal agencies one by one and using them to violently destroy their enemies and anyone else who gets in the way. Now, wouldn't you rather be the one in control of all that? Here's your chance.

The Deck

Illuminati

Groups

Resources

Plots

Strategy

Lead

Lead with Bill Clinton. Not only can he attack to control over half your groups on a 10 or less, he gives a +3 to your other groups attacking to control Govt groups from your hand (except Mossad). If you get blocked, that means someone else is playing a government deck, so be careful. Usually, the CIA is your best second choice to lead.

Early Game

For the first few turns, concentrate on a balance of expansion and defense. Taking over one extra group per turn is usually safe. Just don't grow so fast that the other players gang up on you. In particular, be careful about playing you NWOs: a Gun Control plus a Clipper Chip makes you public enemy #1 before you're ready. In general, keep them in your hand until someone else plays a NWO that hurts you (especially save Law & Order to replace a Don't Forget to Smash the State), or you're ready for the midgame. Also, don't make any attacks to destroy (yet) unless another player asks for your help in eliminating the evil Nuclear Power Companies, for example.

Get your Perpetual Motion Machine out as soon as possible, link it to Cthulu, and use the extra token to play your other resources. Some groups you always want to bring out fast: CIA, FBI, BATF and Secret Service. These are your core groups. The rest are dependent on circumstances and, more importantly, your enemies.

The Federal Reserve is there in case someone is playing a Gnomes Bank deck. If he doesn't have the Fed in play by your third turn (or so), ATO it and wipe the floor with him. Otherwise, hold it in reserve for the midgame.

If someone's playing Gnomes/Bank, hold your IRS until you have control of the Federal Reserve. Otherwise, play it as needed.

The KKK is there in case someone is playing a Shangri-La Peaceful deck. Hold this until you're ready to attack in the midgame.

The Men in Black, NSA and Mossad are all useful, but not as important as the core groups. Be careful if someone is playing a Secret deck when playing NSA or MiB. Also note that the NSA works well with the IRS and Mossad, allowing you to look at the cards in question before you draw.

Midgame

By now you should have most of your core groups out, some other groups, and a few resources. You should be ready for some ruthless steamrollering. You have several weapons in your arsenal:

If any personalities are out there, now's the time to kill. The CIA has a power of 6, which can be brought as high as 17 with Cyborg Soldiers, Clipper Chip and Gun Control NWO. The Secret Service gives a +10 to destroy (or kill) any Government Personality, so use the OMCL to make you prefered target Government for a total strength of 17(power) + 4(CIA vs Govt) +10 (Secret Service) +4 (Cthulu bonus) = 35, or only 21 if the target isn't Government. Of course, the CIA can use a Martial Law or a Terrorist Nuke to add another 10 if the attack won't be enough... If someone's playing a lot of personalities they probably have Bodyguards or other defenses, in which case you might want to link the Perpetual Motion Machine to the CIA so as to strike twice.

Between Gun Control, Law & Order, Clipper Chip, and Cyborg Soldiers, you'll have a lot of power to throw around. Adding Fear & Loathing and no Corporate group will be safe. With the OMCL, *no* one group is safe from your attacks.

If someone is playing a Violent Criminal deck, especially a Cthulu one, keep you FBI in hand until you're ready to kill. ATO the FBI, link the PMM to them and start wasting him with the +10 to destroy Criminal the FBI gets.

The KKK gives you two ways to wreck havoc. If someone's playing a Shangri-La Peaceful deck, the KKK lets you kill them quickly and easily. If not, you can still use OMCL to make your target Peaceful for one kill per turn.

If someone's playing a Media deck, weaken them with a Mass Murder, then start toasting their Corporate groups (after killing Personalities, of course).

If someone's playing a Bank deck, they will likely have the Federal Reserve and the IRS out by the time you're ready to attack. If they don't, you can ATO the Fed and start killing: it gives a +6 to any attack to destroy as well as to control. Otherwise, you'll have to use it as an agent and attack to control (preferably from Bill Clinton). Use Market Manipulation to soften him up before the attack. Use your IRS agents as a lever: offer to destroy it if you can get other players to help you, otherwise attack to control.

If someone is playing a Secret deck, use Assertiveness Training to make the NSA Violent, so as to get the bonus from Cyborg Soldiers and Gun Control (total power 13). With a Martial Law, Terrorist Nuke or Servants' token, you should be able to destroy or capture any one Secret group for each token on the NSA. Clone Arrangers and Cattle Mutilators should be your first strike, as either can easily steal The Men in Black from you if Fear & Loathing is in play. A second trick involves playing Let's Get Organized on The Men in Black and attacking to control Cattle Mutilators while Fear & Loathing is in play, but this requires an unprepared opponent.

Endgame

The only difference between this and the midgame is that this is the point where everyone realizes you are close to victory. Try to make you midgame last as long as possible by restricting your attacks to just your chosen victim or any clear leader. Ideally, they will be the same. Nobody is going to stop you from dismembering the Gnomes, for example. The trick here is timing. You want to go for the win when your enemies' tokens are depleted, possibly after a failed attempt at victory. If you have Seize the Time! in your hand, you can go for it even earlier. At the start of your turn, decide exactly which groups you are going to destroy, and make the count at least two more than the minimum you need to win. If you don't make it, be sure to Seize the Time and try again.

Plot cards

Good Polls, Hoax, and Are We Having Fun Yet? are for defense. The Second Bullet and Bribery are to guarentee a kill after the fact. Forgery, Suicide Squad and Cover of Darkness are for Resource defense (and offense). The one disaster in the deck, Giant Kudzu, is to deplete your opponent's action token rather than to destroy a specific place. Let's Get Organized can be used on The Men in Black, as described above, or on Bill Clinton for a third control arrow.

Substitutions

This deck uses *many* rare cards, especially groups. The core of the group deck is Bill Clinton, CIA, FBI, BATF, Clipper Chip, Cyborg Soldiers and OMCL. The remaining groups can be replaced or dropped if unavailable. The only reason Bill Clinton is in the deck is his huge bonus to control Govt groups, and the +3 he gives to control all but three of the groups in your deck. If it makes you feel nervous, put a Bodyguard in the deck.

Most of the plots are substitutable. The vital cards are the NWOs, Martial Law and Terrorist Nuke. World Hunger is the only other NWO that helps this deck in any way. If you don't have two of each of the NWOs in this deck, or are playing no duplicates, consider putting Big Media and a couple of Blood, Toil, Tears & Sweat in the deck, as Big Media also gives you a +4 to destroy Media groups.

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