Aaron Curtis on Control/Destroy Goals

August, 1997

For starters, all of the control foo destroy antifoo goals are difficult. Their best use is as a backup goal. For example, a Liberal deck might but in Power to the People, just in case. A Violent Cthulhu deck could throw in Hand of Madness or Up Against the Wall. Theoretically, Shangri-La could put in Kill For Peace and win that way, but I have never seen this done.

The easy part is getting enough foo groups in your power structure; just play monochrome. The first difficult part is finding targets: if nobody plays antifoo groups, you can't win with that goal. The obvious solution is to supply your own antifoo groups, but for some reason everybody gets suspicious when you start attacking your own groups. One example here is "I Am Not Left-Handed", which contains both Liberals and Conservatives. Another example is "Gaia's Revenge II", a Green deck which includes its own Corporate groups (CFL-AIO, Lama Ramadingdong, and possibly Dittoheads) for Earth First.

The second difficult part is actually destroying the requisite two antifoo groups. The first target should not be a problem, even if you're Shangri-La destroying Violent groups. After that, anybody but the most inexperienced players will expect you to have the appriate goal card in your hand or deck, especially if you have several foo groups in you power structure. They will actively oppose your second attack, or even attack your foo groups to bring you down to four or less.

Note that bringing out the Fred Birch Society or Triliberal Organization, both of which count double, doesn't help. There is no clearer sign that you're going for Power to the People or Let Them Eat Cake, and your opponents will be opposing you as soon as they see the card hit the table.

So, what can you do if you want to try to win with a control foo destroy antifoo goal from the start, and not just hope-to-get-lucky? Sneak it in, of course. Here are several ways to do this; if you have more, I'd love wto hear them.

1. Play Cthulhu and just destroy two or three groups apparently at random, one of which is antifoo, then destroy your second antifoo group at an opportune moment. This can also be done with other Illuminati, as long as you have an excuse to make the attacks: you had a big bonus, or they had Sorry, Wrong Number played on them, or it was the IRS or Nuclear Power Companies. I've used the Militia as an excuse to destroy, because I wanted to bring their power up.
2. Use a Privileged or instant attack for the second antifoo group. For example, I have a Violent Government deck that wins with Up Against the Wall by playing disasters on its own Government places.
3. Use a group's Special Ability (or side effect) to wipe out a group without a regular attack. "Valley of the Shadow of Death" and "The Invaders' Plan" both use the Church of Violentology to wipe out their own antifoo groups (and, in the first case, cleverly allowing Shangri-La to win with Hand of Madness!). Other ways to destroy a group by suprise: Moonbase (see "Abduction Moon Party"), Center for Disease Control, Ark of the Covenant, Necronomicon (w/Cthulhu and Murphy's Law), World War Three (see "Fusion Seppuku"), Druids, and Imelda Marcos.
4. Use Rewriting History to make a group antifoo after you've destroyed it. This is difficult, because you now need two cards in hand to win, you have to prevent the card or action from being canceled, and you still have to destroy two groups. Pack lots of cancelers. I have not seen this option performed successfully.
5. Use multiple control/destroy goals in your deck, and hope to get lucky. A Liberal Green deck could include Power to the People and Earth First, noting that its prime target, the NPCs, counts for both. Up Against the Wall and The Hand of Madness can work together in a Violent deck.

Conclusion: Control foo destroy antifoo goals cards are difficult to win with, second only to Fratricide. But, for some enterprising deckbuilders, that just means it's a more of a challenge! Go for it!