From October 23 to October 26, the 3rd German Illuminati NWO Championships
were held at Spiel 97 in Essen, still one of the biggest game
fairs in the world. Christian Stenner, the only player who made it into
the 95, 96 and 97 German INWO Constructed Deck Championships
Final, declared victory with his Gnomes of Zurich after a two day tournament
and 4 and a half hours final that was dominated by Nevermore and Apathy
right from the start, but more about the Constructed Deck Final later
on.
The Illuminati, fortunately provided with lots of tables for the
tournaments by the German INWO publisher Pegasus, started the INWO-days
with an Original -Illuminati Tournament. Apart from lot of expected
fun, masses of megabucks and a victory of this years Constructed
Deck finalist Harry Heumer, it was surprising to see how many people
showed up and wanted to buy the old Illuminati game. Sorry, guys, there
might be a re-release in the future, but it is in the hands of The Secret
Masters and / or (Your choice) some people at SJGames (Now, in 2001,
not only re-released, there is even a new expansion set, Y2K, available
at SJGames). Fnord!
On Friday, Rudi Gross Servants of Cthulhu
won the Booster Draft Championships Tournament, which replaced the usual
Sealed Deck Tournament and works as follows: Each player opens a sealed
Booster Pack, chooses one card and gives the remaining plots to his
right neighbor. When the first Booster is emptied, each player opens
his next Booster and passes the remainder to his left neighbor. This
continues until each player has drawn, in our case , 68 cards (We played
with 4 German Limited Booster and one Assassins Booster), out of which
the players have to built the traditional 45 cards-11 groups for victory-deck
. Illuminati could be chosen freely from the referee.
Booster Drafting turned out to be great fun and much more interesting
than the usual Sealed Deck Tournament. Crowds of interested players
gathered around the INWO-stand and wondered how so many people could
sit together, create an immense tension in the air and actually do nothing.(They
were sorting out cards, in fact. The illuminated ways are not always
easy to be seen.)
The Booster Draft Final with The Gnomes of Zurich (Christian Stenner),
The Network (Christian Praas), The Adepts of Hermes (Thorsten Sens)
and two factions of The Servants of Cthulhu (Christian Lobner and Rudi
Gross) was mainly an impressing demonstration of Christian Stenner s
and Rudi Gross huge illuminated knowledge in playing INWO. The
other three players, all newcomers in tournament finals, were reduced
to puppets in the hands of their mighty opponents. They both persuaded
their rivals to spend their actions and plots to hinder each other from
winning and always had enough hidden possibilities for themselves to
be sure that really nothing unexpected happened. In the end, after a
failed victory attempt of Christian Stenners Gnomes of Zurich
and a failed die roll to destroy of Thorsten Sens Network against
Rudis Thule Group it was easy for Rudi to take over and declare
victory. He received a German Booster Display and a Ringbote as first
prize, the others won an INWO Gamebox and a Ringbote.
On Saturday, the Constructed Deck Qualification Rounds and Semifinals
were held. Each player had to win two games to advance to the Sundays
final. INWO fanatics from places as far as Munich, Berlin, Hannover,
Kassel and the Netherlands showed up to fight for victory in the 3rd
German Championships.
Last years finalist Nils Krämer made it into this years
final with an explosive Criminal Overlords- Servants of Cthulhu deck
full of Truck Bombs, assassinations and disasters. Sven Blievernicht,
1995 finalist, was lucky that Stefan Kleinschmidt rolled a 12 when he
needed a successful die roll (i. e.2 to 10) for a sure win. Sven, representing
The Bavarian Illuminati with lots of Liberal Power, took over and his
shouts of victory echoed through the hall; he had waited for two years
to get his next chance to become German INWO Champion. Christian Howe,
also INWO player right from the start, won his semifinal with a slightly
changed version of the UFOs deck he played in the final.
Christian Stenners Shangri
- La deck brought him victory in his second turn, but have a look for
yourself:
Christian
Stenners Semifinal Deck
Illuminati:
· Shangri-La
Organizations:
· Clone Arrangers
· Fiendish Fluoridators
· Robot Sea Monsters
Personalities:
· Newt Gingrich
· General Disorder
Places:
· Illuminati University
· Silicon Valley
· Orbit One
· Moonbase
Plots:
· Blinded by Science (Goal) 4x
· Blinded by Science (Goal) 4x
· Interesting Times (NWO, blue) 4x
· Apathy (NWO, red) 5x
· Savings and Loan Scam 4x
· Secrets Man Was Not Meant 4x
· Alien Abduction 4x
· Privileged Attack 3x
· Back to the Salt Mines 3x
· Power Grab 2x
· Seize the Time
· March on Washington
A
very fast and hard-to-beat Blinded By Science Deck. The Clone Arrangers
are lead puppet, if blocked choose one of your other two Secret groups.
In your first turn, you should take over a Secret group, along with
a Power Grab, if available. Personalities should only be played with
Alien Abduction for faster expansion of your Power structure. When you
start your second turn, you will have drawn all your nine groups (One
lead, six from the start, one for the first and one for the second turn),
of which every single one is Science. The Secret groups, the Shangri-La
defense bonus and your ability to cancel all supporting actions of an
attack with one of the five Apathies will make it nearly impossible
for your opponents to steal one of your groups. Your enemies will probably
tend to stop you by playing Interesting Times, which is no problem for
you, because Interesting Times (b) doesnt affect the Blinded by
Science Goal, i.e. as long as you still got one of your four Interesting
Times, you can stop the other players, but they cannot stop you! In
your second turn, you should try to control your places and win. Use
your Savings and Loan Scams to draw Secrets..., Privileged Attacks,
Back to the Salt Mines and, of course, your Goal.
Harry Heumer, newcomer in the Championships
Final, though not unknown in INWO circles, played a slower, but also
very effective Full Moon deck with The Society of Assassins in the semifinal:
Harry
Heumers Semifinal Deck
Illuminati:
· Society of Assassins
Organizations:
· Reformed Church of Satan
· Trekkies
· W.I.T.C.H.
· Intellectuals
· TV Preachers
· Church of Violentology
· Moonies
· Nephews of God
· Professional Sports
· Moral Minority
Personality:
· Ross Perot
Resource:
· Perpetual Motion Machine
Plots:
· Power for Its Own Sake (Goal)
· Hail Eris (Goal)
· Interesting Times(NWO, blue) 3x
· Energy Crisis(NWO, blue)
· End of the World(NWO, yellow) 3x
· Savings and Loan Scam 2x
· Full Moon 6x
· Secrets Man Was Not Meant to Know 4x
· 18 and a half Minute Gap 2x
· Messiah 2x
· Seize the Time
· Murphys Law
· Deasil Engine
· Cover of Darkness
· Charismatic Leader
A
Deck full of Global Power: Except Ross Perot, all your groups share
the Fanatic alignment and therefore have Global Power. They all become
awfully Powerful if you play End of the World and use one of your six
Full Moons. You always have enough tokens to control one of your own
groups or interfere in someone elses attack. The first four listed
groups have the alignments Weird and Fanatic and will count double if
you can grab your Goal Hail Eris. To control 50 Power for your Goal
Power for Its Own Sake is never as far as your opponents might suspect
, and this Goal even gives you the ability to win while Interesting
Times (b) is in effect. Just play your own copy, if necessary. The best
way to win with this deck is to wait until one of your rivals fails
in a victory attempt and the other players, may be even you, were forced
to spend lots of their tokens. Make your automatic takeover, play a
Full Moon and you will be surprised how many groups you can control
during one turn, as Harry was, when he managed to control all three
groups he had left during his winning turn.
Finally,
on Sunday 26th, after a night with more party than sleep, the five finalists
arrived for the Clash of the INWO Titans:
The 1997 German Illuminati NWO Constructed Deck Championships Final!
But, unfortunately, as so often in important matches, this years
final was dominated by pure tactics. The players had built decks that
should mainly avoid one thing: The early victory of a rival. Apathy,
Sabotage, Interesting Times, Go Fish, Upheaval! and Nevermore speak
their own language, don t they? Immunity had been an important
factor for the deck builders, three of the five finalists (Harry Heumer,
Sven Blievernicht and Nils Krämer) played The Discordian Society,
which turned into a disadvantage later on, because when two or more
factions of the same Illuminati reach their victory conditions at the
same time, none of them wins! Christian Stenner played The Gnomes of
Zurich and Christian Howe an all - Secret deck with The UFOs that
unmasked into The Society of Assassins later in the game.
The first turn showed what was to come for the next ten rounds:
A slow expansion of the players Power structures, mainly through
automatic takeovers. Christian Stenner (Gnomes of Zurich, lead puppet
NSA) takes over the Bank of England, the Clipper Chip with his Illuminati
token and knocks. Harry Heumers Discordian Society (C.F.L.A.I.O.
as lead puppet) controls the Burschenschaften, their special ability
equals the combined special ability of the Fraternal Orders and the
Fred Birch Society, and knocks. Christian Howe, with the Rosicrucians
as lead, whose originally intended lead, the Clone Arrangers, blocked
with Nils , takes over his second copy of the Clonies and uses
his UFOs token to control the Perpetual Motion Machine. Sven Blievernicht
plays NWO Tax Reform to tax both Christians with his lead I.R.S.( All
other players are Discordians and therefore immune), but Christian plays
his first Apathy over Tax Reform. In revenge for this, Sven taxes him
, makes an automatic takeover on W.I.T.C.H. and spends his Discordian
Societys action for possession of Xanadu. In his first turn, Nils
Krämer (Discordian Society), with The Mafia as second choice lead,
takes over the Cattle Mutilators and doubles The Mafias Power
with a Cyborg Soldier, before he knocks.
This boring procedure continues until Christian Stenner plays
Alien Abduction for an automatic takeover on Nancy Reagan during Nils
next turn, which causes Sven to play the notorious card depicting a
black raven: Nevermore. Christian Stenner, he seems to be the only one
who really does not want to have Nevermore, spends all his tokens to
draw plots that could cancel it, but without success. Nevermore is in
effect! Then, Nils ; Cattle Mutilators force him to expose all
his hidden plots, before Nils Men in Black, boosted with Albino
Alligators, take advantage of Christians disability to use his
plots for defense and destroy Nancy Reagan.
For the next two rounds, the finalists continue with their Takeover
and knock - strategy, until Nils blackmails Sven: You give
me your Upheaval! or my Arms Dealers will trade all your plots.
Sven obeys and Christian Stenner once more shows his cleverness, when
he persuades Nils to play Upheaval! at once: Christian controls the
most groups (Five plus Illuminati, the others four plus Illuminati)
and therefore would have been the next player to lose a group, anyway.
Upheaval! goes directly into the Nevermore pile, as well as Alien Abduction,
Good Polls, Military Industrial Complex, Sabotage and Savings and Loan
Scam at that point of the game. Nils discards the Comic Books, Christian
Stenner discards Savings and Loans, Harry California, Christian Howe
the Clone Arrangers and Sven the Tabloids.
During the following two rounds, Christian renounces his automatic
takeover in order to look harmless, while the other players still expand
their Power structures. The next one to lose a group is Harry, whose
C.F.L.A.I.O. with the puppets USA and Lady Di become the victim of a
Truck Bomb played by Nils Mafia along with The Big Score. Harry
uses Murphys Law to turn Nils die roll into a failure, but
Are We Having Fun Yet?, powered by Christian Howe and Nils, cancels
the required Illuminati action.
One turn later, after Svens W.I.T.C.H. turned Harrys
attempt to control Big Media along with a Censorship from the USA into
a failure, Christian Howes UFOs reach out their hands for
world domination: Christian unmasks as The Society Of Assassins , takes
over the Fiendish Fluoridators and now controls seven Secret groups.
Nils interferes immediately and exposes Christians plots, among which
are three Pizzas for the Secret Meeting. Christian does not react, and
therefore Nils trades two Pizzas against two nevermored plots with his
Arms Dealers. Then, he plays a Pizza on Christians Clone Arrangers
and finally nevermores the Pizza, which kicks Christian nearly out of
the race: the desperately needed second highest Secret group NSA is
still controlled by the Gnomes of Zurich.
Australia, Svens eighth automatic takeover, brings him into
possession of his 10th group, assumed that three groups count double.
At this time he controls the I.R.S. with the puppet Comic Books, California
controls Australia and W.I.T.C.H. the Gay Activists. His Illuminati
also control the resources Xanadu, Center for Weird Studies, Blivit
and Warehouse 23. Although Sven needs just one more Weird Power 3 group
for control of 11 groups and a potential win, he does not try and ends
his turn with the comment that the first player who declares victory
wont win anyway.(The Assassins had not declared victory.)
Now its Nils eighth turn. As automatic takeover he
places the Psychiatrists on an open control arrow of the Mafia that
has Angst and therefore permanent Power 1 since Harrys last turn.
The Mafia is also the master of Loan Sharks. The Arms Dealers are linked
with the Cyborg Soldiers, the Cattle Mutilators receive a second token
from the Book of Kelts and the Discordian Society still controls the
Men in Black, i.e. with the Goal Criminal Overlords he also controls
ten groups, but Nils doesnt try to win (Apathy is in effect since
the first turn).
Christian Stenner takes over the Tobacco Companies as a puppet of the
NSA that also controls Cable TV. His Gnomes also control the Clipper
Chip, the Federal Reserve, Helmut Kohl and the Bank of England, which
adds up to ten controlled groups, but Christian ends his 9th turn without
trying to win - maybe he knows that his chances for victory increase
rapidly. Harry can t do much, takes over Lady Di as a puppet of
the USA and also controls the permanently Straight Nuclear Power Companies,
the Burschenschaften and the Democrats, but his Discordians are too
weak for achieving their Goal Power to the People. Harry didnt
even manage to destroy one group.
Christian Howe loses his last turn in this years final due
to a Senate Investigating Committee played by Christian Stenner. Now
it s up to Sven to reveal his illuminated Powers: He takes over
the CONspiracy, a Powerful German Promo card, that gives +1 Power to
all your other Weird groups and especially benefits his Gay Activists
(W.I.T.C.H. and California count double anyway). Sven declares victory,
but is stopped by Interesting Times (a), drawn by Christian Howes
Rosicrucians. Christian Stenner nevermores Interesting Times, i.e. the
next blue NWO in effect will probably decide the final, but Sven doesnt
manage to draw one.
Nils, in his last turn, takes over the International Cocaine Smugglers
and now controls 11 groups, but he cant win, because Sven plays
the same Illuminati and also has reached his victory conditions. The
only way to win for Nils is to take away a group from Sven s Power
structure, but not enough that his rivals Power structures are
full with tokens, Christian Howe exposes a Deep Agent to show Nils that
even a win through a potential Privileged Attack is out of reach.
Then, the Cattle Mutilators expose the Gnomes hidden plots,
who, as usual, return all their plots back in the plots deck, except
the blue NWO Chicken in Every Pot, that is played over Interesting Times.
Unfortunately, the other players forget to nevermore Chicken in Every
Pot. After a short waiting period, Christian s Bank of England
uses its action to draw two plots, i.e. Chicken in every Pot may not
be nevermored anymore. Now Nils tries to capture one group from Sven
along with the blue NWO Fear and Loathing (nevermored by the Gnomes),
but he finally decides to use his tokens against Christian Stenner,
whose turn is next.
Christians takeover on Walls Street in his 10th turn brings
him into possession of his eleventh group. Nils uses his second Cattle
Mutilators token to expose him, but Christian cancels the Cattle Mutilators
special ability with Are We Having Fun Yet?. Christian Howe counters
Are We Having Fun Yet? with an 18 and a half Minute Gap, i.e. the Gnomes
hand is exposed. All plots except two Apathies, (still not nevermored),
are immediately put in the plots deck. Nils plays A Thousand Points
of Light (nevermored by Christian) over Chicken in Every Pot, but Christian
reveals another copy of Chicken in Every Pot. Far too late, Chicken
in Every Pot is finally nevermored: the other players have run out of
yet not nevermored blue NWOs.
Heres a list of all 17 nevermored plots of this years final:
Alien Abduction, Good Polls, Military Industrial Complex (NWO: yellow),
Sabotage, Go Fish, Savings and Loan Scan, Upheaval!, Censorship, Albino
Alligators, Pizza for the Secret Meeting, The Big Score, Secrets Man
Was Not Meant to Know, Deasil Engine, Interesting Times (NWO, blue),
Fear and Loathing(NWO: blue), 18 and a half Minute Gap, Chicken in Every
Pot (NWO: blue).
In a desperate last attempt, the Suicide Squad kills the Clipper
Chip, but the Gnomes cant be stopped anymore. Bank of England,
Federal Reserve, Wall Street, Tobacco Companies and Cable TV (+1 Power
for Helmut Kohl) all have Power 4 or more and Svens Gay Activists
can only remove the alignment of one group: Christian Stenner is German
Illuminati NWO Constructed Deck Champion in 1997. He receives an Assassins
Display as first prize and will also be rewarded with an INWO Church
of the SubGenius Set as soon as it is published (our guess is Spring
98). Nils and Sven both share the second place and receive half an Assassins
Display plus the Church Set. Christian finishes fourth place and Harry
is placed fifth. They will be rewarded with the Church Set, too. As
special prize, the finalists are qualified for the Illuminati Superround,
a deluxe tournament with all finalists of the tri-monthly INWO tournaments
that take place in the FABRIK Duisburg.
First
place deck at the 3rd German Championships by Christian Stenner:
Illuminati:
· Gnomes of Zurich
Organizations:
· Offshore Banks
· I.R.S.
· Savings and Loans
· Wall Street
· Bank of England
· Federal Reserve
· NSA
· Cable TV
· Madison Avenue
· Tobacco Companies
Personalities:
· Ronald Reagan
· Nancy Reagan
· Helmut Kohl
Resource:
· Clipper Chip
Plots:
· Chicken in Every Pot (NWO, blue) 4x
· Apathy (NWO, red) 5x
· Bigger Business (NWO, yellow) 2x
· Secrets Man Was Not Meant to Know
· Good Polls 5x
· Alien Abduction 4x
· Censorship 4x
· Go Fish 2x
· Savings and Loan Scan
· Seize the Time
· Senate Investigating Committee
Clearly
the strongest deck, containing all six Banks. The NSA as lead puppet
makes it hard to attack you early. Censorship can be used for privileged
attacks against your Media groups Madison Avenue, Cable TV, Ronald Reagan
and Nancy Reagan. Apathy is handy when more than one group tries to
attack. The Gnomes and Federal Reserve give +10 on any attempt to control
any Bank. Good Polls provides lots of Power to defense, while Alien
Abduction, and Savings and Loan Scam enable you to expand your Power
structure very fast. The resource Clipper Chip equals a potential Power
decrease of the Government Power reducing NWOs. Finally, Go Fish and
Senate Investigating Committee are always useful if you want to stop
a rival from winning.
Second
place deck by Nils Krämer
Illuminati:
· Discordian Society
Organizations:
· Clone Arrangers
· Int. Cocaine Smugglers
· Arms Dealers
· Loan Sharks
· Cattle Mutilators
· Men in Black
· W.I.T.C.H.
· Gay Activists
· Comic Books
· Psychiatrists
· CONspiracy
Resources:
· Cyborg Soldiers 2x
· Book of Kelts
Plots:
· Criminal Overlords (Goal) 3x
· Fear and Loathing (NWO, blue) 2x
· Interesting Times (NWO, blue)
· A Thousand Points of Light (NWO, blue)
· Apathy(NWO, red)
· Gun Control(NWO, red)
· Military Industrial Complex(NWO, yellow) 2x
· Secrets Man Was Not Meant to Know 2x
· Good Polls 3x
· Pizza for the Secret Meeting 2x
· Albino Alligators 2x
· The Big Score 2x
· Terrorist Nuke
· Truck Bomb
· 18 and a half Minute Gap
· Giant Kudzu
· Deasil Engine
· Savings and Loan Scam
· Power Grab
Not
such a fast deck as Christians deck, but also highly playable.
5 groups fit your Criminal Overlords Goal and if you play NWO Gun Control
and control the CONspiracy, all your Weird groups get Power 3. 5 +10
- Booster, Truck Bomb and Giant Kudzu enable you to attack a rival even
while Apathy is in effect.( Nils is the only player who successfully
destroyed two rival groups during the final.) Finally, the variety of
six different NWOs gives you flexibility in removing unwanted NWOs.
2nd
place deck by Sven Blievernicht
Illuminati:
· Discordian Society
Organizations:
· Evil Geniuses for a Better...
· CONspiracy
· Intellectuals
· Comic Books
· Gay Activists
· W.I.T.C.H.
· Tabloids
· Big Media
· I.R.S.
Places:
· Australia
· California
Resources:
· Blivit
· X-Ray Specs
· Xanadu
· Warehouse 23
· Center for Weird Studies
Plots:
· A Thousand Points of Light (NWO, blue)
· Tax Reform (NWO, red) 2x
· Military Industrial Complex (NWO, yellow)
· Nevermore 3x
· Secrets Man Was Not Meant to Know
· Are We Having Fun Yet?
· Go Fish
· Murphys Law
· Back to the Salt Mines
· Forgery
· Deasil Engine
· Cover of Darkness
· Registered Trademark
· Foiled
· Straighten Up
· Upheaval!
· Jake Day
· Nationalization
· Angst
· Sweeping Reforms
· Giant Kudzu
· Sorry, Wrong Number
· Scandal
· Double Cross
The
only true Discordian in this years final. Three copies
of Nevermore ensure that the game will move into an unexpected direction.
All other plots are useful to spread weirdness among the other players,
although it is quite obvious that Sven did not design the deck for a
win. The principle idea of this deck is as follows: Drive everyone crazy
and wait what happens. Surprisingly, this strategy was enough for the
second place.
4th
place deck by Christian Howe
Illuminati:
· The UFOs
Organizations:
· Clone Arrangers 2x
· NSA
· Men in Black
· Cattle Mutilators
· Rosicrucians
· Fiendish Fluoridators
· Templars
· Vampires
· Elders of Zion
· Subliminals
· Robot Sea Monsters
Resources:
· Suicide Squad 2x
· Perpetual Motion Machine
· Orbital Mind Control Lasers
Plots:
· Unmasked 3x
· Society of Assassins 3x
· Interesting Times (NWO, blue)
· Energy Crisis (NWO, blue)
· Pizza for the Secret Meeting 3x
· Cover Up 3x
· Savings and Loan Scam 2x
· Sabotage 2x
· Nevermore
· Are We Having Fun Yet?
· Murphys Law
· Deasil Engine
· Cover of Darkness 2x
· Deep Agent
· Upheaval!
· Annual Convention
· Rewriting History
The
dreaded all-Secret deck, that provides a lot of immunity, but also bears
many dangers: An early NWO The Magic Goes Away can freeze the expansion
of your whole Power structure. You must unmask as Assassin and therefore
have to pay attention not to lose your Unmasked and Society of Assassins
- Plots (The Society of Assassins Plots , if used for unmasking, may
not be canceled, btw). Pizza for the Secret Meeting and Cover Up are
of course very useful for achieving your Goal, but opponents who steal
them can easily destroy your dreams of victory when they use these plots
against your groups. Sabotage, Murphys Law, Deep Agent, Upheaval!,
Annual Convention and Rewriting History are useful for disturbing greedy
rivals, but be aware that your groups are not very Powerful for attacks
against them.
5th
place deck by Harry Heumer
Illuminati:
· Discordian Society
Organizations:
· Burschenschaften
· Nuclear Power Companies
· Swingers
· C.F.L.A.I.O.
· Girlie Magazines
· Big Media
· Triliberal Commission
· Democrats
Places:
· USA
· France
· California
Person.:
· Lady Di
Resources:
· Crystal Skull
· Orbital Mind Control Lasers
· Perpetual Motion Machine
Plots:
· Power to the People (Goal) 2x
· Interesting Times (NWO, blue) 3x
· Political Correctness (NWO, red) 3x
· Military - Industrial Complex (NWO, yellow)
· Secrets Man Was Not Meant to Know 3x
· Sabotage 3x
· Alien Abduction
· Good Polls
· Savings and Loan Scam
· Nevermore
· Murphy's Law
· Senate Investigating Committee
· Deasil Engine
· Cover of Darkness 2x
· Censorship
· Back to the Salt Mines
· Martial Law
· Benefit Concert
· Nuclear Accident
A
traditional Destroy Conservative and control Liberal deck,
with the Discordian Society for immunity against the mighty Straight
and Government groups. NWO Military - Industrial Complex, a clear choice
for Discordia, extends the immunity to all Corporate groups. Burschenschaften
and Triliberal Commission count for two groups towards your Goal, Lady
Di should be easily controlled along with an Alien Abduction (This doesn't
work anymore, as AA has been errataed) and Back to the Salt Mines can
be used for control of your places, but note that a successful attack
of your rivals against your key-groups can burn all your plans for world
domination.