2024-03-01

if you don't control rng, part a

intro

so my gf sent me a meme:

i was like "fine"

here are some optimizations that don't involve controlling what cards you draw

section 1: presence

spirits:

green
fractured
might
downpour
any memory
any other spirit that can give green 1 energy

spirit phases:

green adds presence from top track, gains a power card and 3 energy, and plays prolif (3 energy left)
fractured takes the sun growth option, gains 3 time from bottom track, and plays past returns + blur
might adds presence from top track, gains 2 energy, and plays rituals
downpour does anything it wants and plays abundance
memory does anything it wants and plays teachings
the other spirit does a spirit phase that can give green 1 energy

fast:

green gives out a prolif (1)
the last spirit gives green an energy
memory gives fractured 1 air
fractured slips prolif
green gives out a prolif (2)
fractured slips prolif
green gives out a prolif (3)
fractured slips prolif
green gives out a prolif (4)
might plays draw, then gives green gift of strength
downpour gives green abundance
green repeats prolif twice (6)

snek has a presence cap. how many presence can we take off its tracks on turn 1?

spirits:

green
fractured
might
downpour
mentor
snek

additionally, snek needs to be on a board whose land 5 is within range 7 of a land with blight and invaders. this is probably not hard to do, but the land in question depends on the initial explore. fractured also needs to have a setup presence within range 5 of that land. let's call that land the "blurring land"

spirit phases:

green adds presence from top track, gains a power card and 3 energy, and plays prolif (3 energy left)
fractured takes the sun growth option, gains 3 time from bottom track, moves presence adjacent to the blurry land, and plays past returns + blur
might adds presence from top track, gains 2 energy, and plays rituals
downpour does anything it wants and plays abundance
mentor adds a presence from bottom track and plays teachings + share secrets
snek adds a presence to a land within range 5 of the blurring land, and plays absorb

fast:

mentor gives fractured study to play, and prepares plant
mentor prepares plant and gifts snek earth plant plant with teachings
green prolifs snek (2)
snek absorbs green
fractured slips prolif
green prolifs snek (3)
fractured slips prolif
green prolifs snek (4)
fractured slips prolif
green prolifs snek (5)
might plays draw, then gives green gift of strength
downpour gives green abundance
green prolifs snek (6)
fractured blurs the blurring land, cascading blight to destroy 2 of snek's presence
green prolifs snek (7)

in slow, snek prolifs itself with its left innate (8)

notes:

this is enough for snek to have 4 card plays or 6 energy income on turn 2.
this also works for locus since it starts with a free presence off tracks instead of the prolif from left innate.
if blur can cascade 1 more blight, snek can add another presence next turn and be on 5 card plays.

regrowth green has a lot of destroyed presence. how much presence can it have on the board (from tracks or destroyed pool) on turn 1?

strategy: abundance is very good at restoring regrowth's destroyed presence, and it also gives repeats and energy, so we play this as much as possible

spirits:

regrowth
fractured
might
downpour
mentor
tree

spirit phases:

regrowth adds presence from top track, gains a power card and 3 energy, and plays overgrow (2 energy left) (3)
fractured takes the sun growth option, gains 3 time from bottom track, and plays past returns + blur
might adds presence from top track, gains 2 energy, and plays rituals
downpour adds 2 presence from top track and plays abundance
mentor adds a presence from bottom track and plays teachings + share secrets
tree does anything and plays resilient power

fast:

mentor gives fractured study to play, and prepares air water
mentor prepares plant and gives regrowth water plant with teachings
downpour gains 2 energy with its 4 water + 1 more with its right innate
might plays draw, then gives downpour gift of strength
downpour gives regrowth abundance, regrowth adds a destroyed presence (4)
downpour repeats abundance, giving regrowth 2 energy and adding a destroyed presence (regrowth has 4 energy) (5)
fractured slips downpour to replay abundance
downpour gives regrowth abundance, regrowth adds a destroyed presence (6)
fractured slips downpour to replay abundance
downpour gives regrowth 2 energy, regrowth adds a destroyed presence (regrowth has 6 energy) (7)
fractured slips downpour to replay abundance
downpour gives regrowth abundance, regrowth adds a destroyed presence (8)
regrowth adds 4 presence with overgrowth (original use + 3 abundances) (12)

in slow, tree gives regrowth resilient power and regrowth uses its right innate (14)

incarna are usually presence. how many incarna can we empower on turn 1?

how to empower each incarna, from easiest to hardest:

eeb: just take the growth
tree: take growth 2, play blooming, repeat blooming. alternatively, move incarna into a land with vitality, add another vitality, and somehow have or make a sacred site to add a third vitality in the slow. this can be done by a second card play to play resilient power, or a presence movement, or a prolif.
voice: take growth 3, play turmoil's touch + frightful keening, either receive elemental support for moon+air or receive 1 card play to play exhale
boddys: add 4 presence from top track
locus: add 6 presence

it's pretty easy to get 3 empowers with fractured+green+mentor, but it isn't possible to get 4. here's the proof:

we need 2 non-incarna spirits that can give out 3 prolifs, a card play, and a repeat. the only spirit that can give out multiple prolifs is green, and the only spirit that can increase that to 3 prolifs is fractured.

the only incarna spirit that can give out any of these 3 is locus, which needs 5 prolifs, too many for fractured and green to give out. (fractured can gain at most 3 time, which is at most 3 repeats of prolif)

otherwise, fractured needs to give 2 slips to green, 1 to voice, and 1 to tree, and fractured does not have enough time for all of this.

section 2: power cards

how many cards can you remove from the power card decks on turn 1? (i say "remove from each deck" because i'm including putting into days that never were)

strategy: play boon of reimagining as many times as possible. playing it on fractured removes 3 minors from the deck, 4 if fractured still has unique powers remaining in hand or discard.

spirits:

starlight
fractured
sparking
downpour
mentor
nourishing

spirit phases:

starlight does its most standard opening (1 energy remaining) (1)
fractured takes growth 3, plays past returns + blur (5)
sparking reclaims, plays harbingers + lightning's boon (6)
downpour gains a minor, plays abundance (7)
mentor gains a minor, plays share secrets + teachings (9)
nourishing gains major+minor, plays rituals (0 energy remaining) (11)

fast:

mentor prepares air and gives fractured moon air with teachings
sparking innate to mentor (13)
sparking lightning's boons starlight
downpour abundances starlight
starlight shapes itself and gains 3 energy (fast from lightning's boon, 4 energy remaining) (14)
starlight reimaginings fractured, fractured forgets pts (fast from slip) (18)
fractured slips starlight, starlight uses reimagining fast and replays it (starlight has 3 energy left)
starlight reimaginings fractured, fractured forgets stasis (fast from slip) (22)
fractured slips starlight, starlight uses reimagining fast and replays it (starlight has 2 energy left)
starlight reimaginings fractured, fractured forgets a random minor (fast from slip) (25)
fractured slips starlight, starlight uses reimagining fast and replays it (starlight has 1 energy left)
starlight reimaginings fractured, fractured forgets a random minor (fast from lightning's boon) (28)
starlight reimaginings nourishing, nourishing forgets a unique (repeat from abundance, 0 energy remaining) (30)
mentor gives nourishing memes to play with its newly gained energy
nourishing gives starlight gift of strength
starlight reimaginings mentor, mentor forgets study (repeat from gift of strength) (33)

in slow, nourishing gives memes to mentor (35)

strategy: having more energy tends to make gaining majors easier, so the main power to repeat will be one that gives both majors and energy, i.e. boon of growing power

spirits:

keeper
fractured
mud
downpour
mentor
nourishing

spirit phases:

keeper gains 1 major, plays growing power (2 energy left) (1)
fractured gains 1 major with moon growth, takes 1 time from top track, plays blur + stasis + past returns (0 energy left) (7)
mud gains a major and plays exaltation (3 energy left) (8)
downpour gains a major and plays abundance (1 energy left) (9)
mentor gains a major and plays share secrets + teachings (0 energy left) (11)
nourishing gains 2 energy and plays rituals (2 energy left)

fast:

mentor gives memes to nourishing to repeat (nourishing has 0 energy left)
nourishing gifts keeper strength
downpour abundances mud
keeper boons mentor (fast from slip, mentor has 1 energy) (13)
fractured slips keeper, keeper uses boon and plays it again (keeper has 1 energy left)
keeper boons mud (fast from slip, mud has 4 energy) (14)
fractured slips keeper, keeper uses boon and plays it again (keeper has 0 energy left)

slow:

keeper boons fractured (fractured has 1 energy) (16)
keeper boons fractured (repeat from strength, fractured has 2 energy) (18)
nourishing memes fractured (fractured has 0 energy) (20)
nourishing memes fractured (repeat from mentor) (22)
mud exaltations mentor (mud has 2 energy, mentor has 0) (25)
mud exaltations downpour (mud and downpour have 0 energy left) (27)

dances up earthquakes can impend cards. how many can they impend on turn 1?

strategy: repeat flowing power or primordial deeps as much as possible

spirits:

due
fractured
snek
sparking
mentor
downpour

growths:

due gains a minor, impends their 2 cheapest cards (1 energy) (2)
fractured takes sun growth, plays past returns + blur
snek gains 4 energy and plays flowing power
sparking gains 3 energy and plays all uniques except shatter
mentor does anything and plays share secrets + teachings
downpour does anything and plays abundance

fast:

mentor teaches fractured air
mentor gives due a card to impend (3)
sparking lets due gain and impend a minor (4)
downpour abundances snek
snek flowing powers due, due impends their cheapest card (due has 2 energy) (5)
snek flowing powers due (abundance), due impends tremors with 1 energy (due has 2 energy) (6)
fractured slips snek to replay flowing power
snek flowing powers due, due impends seismic energy with 2 energy (due has 1 energy) (7)
fractured slips snek to replay flowing power
snek flowing powers due, due impends resounding footfalls with 2 energy (due has 0 energy) (8)
fractured slips snek to replay flowing power
snek flowing powers due, due impends its last card in hand (9)

all 9 of these impending cards will come into play on turn 2. except that there will only be like 4 quake tokens to use with the right innate.

section 3: other stuff

how much energy can a single spirit get on turn 1?

strategy: get mentor to play 4 cards, then repeatedly play boon of vigor

spirits:

mentor (or any other memory, it doesn't matter)
river
fractured
snek
downpour
might

growth:

mentor gains 9 energy, plays teachings (9)
river does anything, plays boon of vigor
fractured takes sun growth, plays blur + past returns
snek gains 4 energy, plays flowing power
downpour does anything, plays abundance
might gains 2 energy, plays rituals

fast:

downpour gives snek abundance
might uses might innate to play draw, then gift of strengths snek
mentor teaches fractured air
snek lets mentor play share secrets (10)
snek lets mentor play study (abundance) (11)
snek lets mentor play memes (strength) (11)
river vigors mentor (15)
fractured slips river to replay vigor
river vigors mentor (19)
fractured slips river to replay vigor
river vigors mentor (23)
fractured slips river to replay vigor
river vigors mentor (27)

tokens ->