INWO Deck - Invasion of the Gadget Snatchers

by Aaron Curtis

Introduction

This deck is decended from Double Predator, a deck I wrote which can be found on the DotW archive at predator.html The key concept to Double Predator is to use die-roll-adjusting cards like Murphy's Law, Computer Virus and WITCH to make Las Vegas and Suicide Squad succeed every time, and prey on your opponents' plots and resources. The Predator concept is the only idea that links the two deck, though: This one preys on your opponents' *group* decks, a method previously unavailable...

The Deck

Illuminati

Groups

Resources

Plots

Evil Schemes

The most important tricks in this deck involve Recycling Centers, which is why there are two in the deck.

Recycling Centers have the incredibly useful ability to spend their action token to salvage any Gadget Resource or Group which is discarded. This is the only way to get group cards from your enemies, and the best way to steal Resources. Specifically:

1. Whenever someone fails to take over a group from his hand, and discards it, RC can take the card into your hand, just like Vultures.

2. Whenever someone uses a group card as Agents, whether they succeed or fail, one copy of that card will be discarded. Just salvage it and use it as an Agent when it's your turn!

3. You can FORCE YOUR OPPONENT TO DISCARD A GROUP CARD by using the Society for Creative Anarchism's action, then salvage it with RC. This is a deadly combo, and can really piss some people off.

4. When you play a plot that requires you to discard group cards from your deck (Fnord!, Reverse Whammy, The Big Sellout and 18 1/2 Minute Gap), you can salvage your own card into your hand with RC.

5. You can destroy your opponents' Gadget Resources with Killer Satellite or Deasil Engine, then salvage it with RC.

6. When someone uses Forgery to steal a Unique Gadget Resource, you can salvage the "fake" with RC, then use your own Forgery to take it!

Needless to say, Recycling Centers are the single most important card in this deck. Everything else is designed to either protect them or make use of their unique power. As it turns out, the Discordian Society and Weird Science do this very well. More schemes are listed below.

Lead

If you have NWO Solidarity in your initial plot draw, lead with Comic Books. In almost all cases, however, you want to lead with South American Nazis, as they can control any Weird Science group from your hand on a 10 or less, and one of these is almost guarenteed to be in your inital draw.

Growth

Comic Books can control any Weird group from your hand on a 9 or less, and any Weird Violent group get +12 to control another from your hand, thanks to Discordia's special ability. SA Nazis also do well, as mentioned aboved.

For taking over Resources, there are several options. Grave Robbers can take Flying Saucer, Perpetual Motion Machine or Principia Discordia into play directly from your deck! Use it to take Flying Saucer if possible, as that allows you to take over an extra Resource each turn for the cost of a plot card, and you have lots of Resources to take. Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow can spend their action to take any Gadget Resource, but it has to remain linked to them forever. This is good for X-Ray Specs, Killer Satellite and Orbital Mind Control Lasers, and many Gadgets you can steal from your opponents: Cyborg Soldiers, Earthquake Projector, Soulburner, Weather Satellite, Spy Satellite, and Blivit! If all else fails, you can use your Illuminati token or ATO to take a Resource, but this is to be avoided if possible.

Slowing the Pace

One difficulty with playing a Weird deck is the lack of raw power and quick growth seen in some other decks. A powerful counter to these decks is to slow the pace of growth so as to give you more time to act. The NWOs in the deck are the key cards to do this with:

Solidarity: Doubles the resistance of all groups. With Comic Books, twice nothin' is nothin', but your opponents will have difficulty taking groups out of their hand. This is even more effective against a Secret deck.

The Magic Goes Away: Everyone loses their automatic takeover, among other things. Play this *after* your ATO, with another red NWO in your hand. When the play gets around to the person before you, play the other red NWO *after* he places action tokens. Ta-da, you've stalled your opponents one group each!

Apathy: Groups may not aid any attack. This is best played after someone has attacked you and aided with several groups, as it makes all the aiding actions illegal. [Note: As of 2-22-96, it is not clear whether these actions are lost or returned. Stay tuned.] Apathy makes it very difficult to attack groups out of hand, and nearly impossible to attack rivals. Meanwhile, SA Nazis and Comic Books can still attack out of your hand on a 10 or less all by themselves.

Don't Forget to Smash the State: It's too easy to build a Bavarian Government powerhouse deck, and this hurts those decks a lot.

Interesting Times: It's best to save this NWO until after someone else has claimed victory, as it not only gives you a second chance, but if they claimed victory with a goal card, it gets exposed!

Also, these NWOs can be used to replace other NWOs that help your opponents too much, such as Fear & Loathing, Political Correctness, Gun Control, Bigger Business and Law & Order.

The last method this deck has to slow down opponents is with Upheaval! Bring General Disorder into play first, then play Upheaval! at the first opportunity. When you discard General Disorder, you get him back a turn later! You can salvage one of your opponents' discards with Recycling Centers, but remember that the group is considered destroyed, so either use Media Blitz to revive it or use it as fodder for The Big Sellout later. Note that if Cthulhu is in the game, or if someone brings out Hitler's Brain, get General Disorder out sooner rather than later, in case they have an Upheaval! up their sleeve.

Editor's note: The ruling on Upheaval! has been changed so that the affected cards are destroyed, not discarded. If you discard General Disorder due to Upheaval!, you do not get him back. Caveat player. RLM 1/24/97

Defense!

Your first line of defense, of course, is Discordia's immunity to Government and Straight groups. Never forget this! It's the reason why you don't need to worry too much about a Green deck stealing Recycling Centers from you, as the key cards Canada and Al Gore are both Government.

Unless your opponents are unaware of the power of Recycling Centers' ability, wait until you have a Jake Day in your hand before you bring them out, and play it on them immediately. Otherwise, you'll have nothing to defend them with except your Illuminati and a few weak points of Global Power. South American Nazis also become more defensible if you play Jake Day on them, but this is less necessary as several of your groups are Violent and thus able to defend them. Making your groups Weird with Jake day becomes much more effective when you have Principia Discordia to boost their Resistance.

The +10 cards (Cold Fusion, Albino Allegators and Terrorist Nuke) are there more for defense than offense, especially against attacks to destroy: five out of the eight groups in this deck have power 1.

Reverse Whammy, 18 1/2 Minute Gap and Computer Virus are also useful defensive cards. Remember to salvage the group card from your deck when you play RW, 18 1/2 MG, or Fnord!

Media Blitz can be used to revive Recycling Centers if your opponents manage to destroy it, or to revive a group which was destroyed (say, by Upheaval!) and salvaged.

Offending Your Foes

There are still plenty of opportunities for attacking your opponents, using guile rather than brute strength. The first involves making your target enemy group Weird using Jake Day or OMCL. If it's Science, the SA Nazis have at least a power of 14 to take it, plus alignment bonuses, plus 4 more if you have L-4 Society. Even better, if Comic Books participate in the attack, the target's Resistance is reduced to 0! This is a very good way to steal someone's Nuclear Power Companies when they least expect it.

Use X-Ray Specs to view your opponents' group decks so that you can spend the Society for Creative Anarchism's token to discard a group you really want, or really don't want them to have. Their also useful for looking at your own decks. Be sure to take notes when looking six cards deep.

Use Killer Satellite to destroy an enemy Spy, Power or Weather Satellite, and use WITCH and/or Computer Virus to guarentee the result. Or use Deasil Engine to destroy the Gadget of your choice. Be sure to salvage!

The Endgame

As much fun as you're having, it's easy to forget that the goal is to win and not just frustrate your opponents. This deck makes no pretentions: win with Discordia's special goal. Well, almost. If you take one or two Science groups from your opponents you can pretend to have Blinded by Science in your plot deck, and this might distract them. Fortunately, there are several ways to get Weird groups with power 3 or more. First, there's WITCH. Second, Jake Day can be used on SA Nazis, or some other group that you stole from an opponent. Third, any Weird Science puppet of S Am Nazis gets +3 power. Finally, New Blood can bring one violent group to power 6. By the time you have enough groups you should have no problem getting at least three with a power of 3 or more.

About New Blood: If you can steal some Cyborg Soldiers from an opponent, play it on the Evil Geniuses for a power of 12. Otherwise, it's best played on Comic Books or General Disorder.

In the reach for victory, or if you're needing some help in the midgame, there are three cards in this deck to get you going. Freaking the Mundanes will reload your Weird groups, up to a total power of 5, for the cost of an illuminati token. This should be good for about 3 tokens, preferably Comic Books, SCA and a Jake Day'ed Recycling Centers, and is best used earlier rather than later, if possible. Seize the Time! is a classic and needs no introduction. One suprise use of either of these cards is to play it after you've used the tokens from SCA and RC, and want to feed again. The third powercard is The Big Sellout. You can use it to turn the useless group cards you've been amassing into action tokens, and you can spend group cards from your deck for action tokens as well, and then use RC to salvage the ones you want to keep. Only The Big Sellout allows you to put tokens on groups that already have one, including your Illuminati. It is best saved until you plan to win.

Substitutions

This is a very tight deck, and too many substitutions will weaken it severely, perhaps fatally. The vital groups are Recycling Centers, Society for Creative Anarchism, SA Nazis, Evil Geniuses, and Comic Books, and at least one other Weird Science group. The vital Resources are Principia Discordia, OMCL, and Flying Saucer. Of the NWOs, Interesting Times can be replaced with A Thousand Points of Light, Don't Forget to Smash the State can be replaced with Military-Industrial Complex or Antitrust Legislation, and The Magic Goes Away and Apathy can be replaced with one or more Solidarity; just be sure to have at least four red NWO to slow your opponents down with.

The plot deck needs the multiple Jake Day, Forgery, Computer Virus and +10 cards in order to be effective. The rest can be substituted, although at least two of the three powercards mentioned in The Endgame should be kept. Note that Voodoo Economics is *not* a good substitute for The Big Sellout.

Cards I had to cull in order to reduce this to 45 cards:

Last modified: January 24, 1997

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