# Spawn to Kill

by Martin Higham
March 30, 1997

### Foundation Characters

5 Test Subjects
2 Plasma Troopers
2 BuroMil Grunts
5 Instrument of the hand
5 Golden Candle Society

### Hitters

5 Spawn of the New Flesh

### Edges

3 Reinvigoration Process (To recycle the Spawns, but rarely used. May go)
4 Shield of Pure Soul (So what if I lose a BG, I gain a power)
1 Art of War (Big hand means more BGs)

### Events

5 Violet Meds (I'm too busy playing BGs to play many power generating sites)
2 Rig. Dis. (Just added this time, and probably leaving the deck)
2 Iron and Silk
2 Imprisoned
2 Total Wars
3 States of Emergency (The faster you get through cards the more BGs you play)
2 Invincible Chi (The deck relies on one big hitter, try to make sure it gets thru')

### States

2 Fox OutFoxed
2 Elevator to the Underworld

### Feng Shui

5 Fortress of Shadow
2 Birhouse Cafe
2 City Squares (never short of targets to redirect to)
3 Whirlpool of Blood

### Non-FS

2 Biomass Reprocessing Center (More cards = more BGs)
Battlegrounds
5 Killing grounds
2 Portal In tower Squares
2 Arcanoseed
4 Sniper Nest
1 HomeFront
2 Forty-Story Inferno
Total 85 cards (including 15 BGs)

## Notes:

Currently, after about 12 games played, its win rate is approx. 50% which isn't bad for a multi-player deck. My biggest Spawn to date is 13 (achived twice)
Firstly, the deck is still too big. When I started off this idea my first build (never used) was three factions and weighed in at 120 cards. I did whittle it down to 65 (again never used) but it didn't work right either. I've made many changes since then, so I should be able to shrink it by about 10-15 cards. Because of the number of cards it gets through it probably needs to be bigger than the normal 60.
Building around one strike character (backed up by a couple of Plasma Troopers) is a risky strategy. On the plus side, nobody ever wants to Shadowy Mentor or Tortured Memories a Spawn, it doesn't work well for them. But, it can suffer at the hands of Shattering Jade, Larcenous Mist and Thunder on the Mountain - thats something it has to live with.
The most common question from anyone who sees the 7+ battleground sites late in the game is why haven't people taken them? I will lose one or two early on, but once the game progresses people seem to have more on their minds - like winning or stopping Fred from winning. Attacking a battleground appears more like a diversion. A diversion which can turn characters or worse, end in a failed attack. Unless the board is solid with characters, few players can afford to be distracted for a couple of power. When I do lose sites, I can always try to take them back, but rarely do - I'll just play some more.

#### Problems:

The deck currently starts too slowly and doesn't have enough spoliers to draw the game out. Having played four games in the tournament I have some thoughts of which direction to go from here.

Last modified: January 16, 1998.
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