Jellyfish

## Overview

Ahh, Jellyfish. What exactly *is* a Jellyfish? They certainly don't feel good to be stung by. They're also seemingly *everywhere*. But what exactly do they want? I'll tell you a little secret: it's world domination. Jellyfish may appear mostly harmless, but don't let that fool you; they're here, they're multiplying, and they're spreading everywhere. If you leave them alone for too long they'll be even more of a problem. With the Jellyfish deck, your goal will be the same: spread out on as many bases as possible, and use the **Marks** community mechanic to inflict as many stings as you can to other players. Other players have the option of destroying some of your Jellyfish, but not before putting Marks from the Jellyfish onto their minions - and this only gets more dangerous over time. With that all said, only one question remains: Are you ready for the Jellies?

### Details

#### General

* Name: Jellyfish
* Author: Onassi
* Complexity: 4/5
* Version: 0.8 (Work In Progress)
* Last updated: May 15th, 2023

#### Mechanics

* Marks
* Playing cards off the top of your deck
* Controlled power

#### Special details

* Uses a community-created mechanic, Marks.

### Breakdown

Jellyfish have 12 minions and 8 actions. They have 31 total minion power for an average of 2.6 power per minion, slightly lower than average. Among their actions, they have:

* 0 play-on-minion actions.
* 4 play-on-base actions: Bioluminescence, Jelly Jam, Jellyache, Don't Go In The Water
* 4 standard actions, 2 of which directly affect one or minions (in **bold**): 2x Not Ready For This Jelly, **Invertebrate Conquest**, **Go With The Tides**
* 1 action directly increase a minion's power: Go With The Tides

### Minions (12)

* **1x Lion's Mane (5):** Move a minion of printed power 2 or less to another base. Ongoing: At the start of each turn, you may use this minion’s on-play ability.
* **2x Man O'War (4):** Ongoing: At the start of your turn, you may shuffle a card from your discard pile into your deck. Talent: Choose a base. Other players have -1 controlled power on that base for each Mark on their minions there until the start of your turn.
* **3x Narcomedusae (2):** Ongoing: At the start of your turn, either move this minion to another base OR give this minion +1 power until the end of the turn for each base where you have a minion.
* **4x Irukandji (2):** Place a Mark on this minion. Ongoing: At the start of your turn, place a Mark on this minion. On their turn, other players may use an action play and transfer all Marks on this minion to one of their minions here to destroy this minion. Special: Before this base scores, you may reduce the power of another minion here equal to the number of Marks on this minion.
* **2x Atolla (2):** Place a Mark on a minion here. Ongoing: At the start of your turn, you may place a Mark on up to two other minions here. On their turn, other players may use an action play and discard a card to destroy this minion. Special: After this base scores, each other player must discard a card for every 3 Marks on their minions here.

### Actions (8)

* **2x Not Ready For This Jelly:** Choose a base. Play an extra minion of power 2 or less there on it and trigger any number of start of turn abilities on your minions there. Special: You may play this before a base scores and do not play the extra minion. Choose the scoring base.
* **1x Bioluminescent:** Play on a base. Talent: Move a minion with a Mark to this base. Ongoing: After this base scores, you may shuffle this card into its owners’ deck.
* **1x Jelly Jam:** Play on a base. Ongoing: At the start of your turn, you may play an extra minion of power 2 or less off the top of your deck here. If you do, transfer this action to another base.
* **1x Don't Go In The Water:** Play on a base. Talent: Each player with a minion here may draw a card. For each player that does, place a Mark on one of their minions. Ongoing: At the end of each turn where no action was played, you may use this card’s talent.
* **1x Jellyache:** Play on a base. Ongoing: Your minions here of printed power 2 or less are unaffected by other players’ cards. Other players have -1 controlled power on this base for each Mark on their minions here.
* **1x Go With The Tides:** Choose a base. Remove any number of Marks on other players’ minions there. For each one removed, either draw a card OR give a minion there +1 power until the end of the turn. Special: You may play this before a base scores; choose the scoring base.
* **1x Invertebrate Conquest:** If you have minions on at least three different bases, you may move any number of your minions to other bases.

### Bases

* **(18) Deep, Deep Water (311):** On your turn if you have a minion here, you may place a +1 counter on another player's minion here. If you do, play an extra minion of power 2 or less off the top of your deck on another base.
* **(16) Gargantuan Jellyfish (231):** Before this base scores, each player with a minion here may destroy any number of minions here with a total power of 2 or less. After it scores, the winner may play an extra minion on each other base in play.

## Clarifications

* **Man O'War and Jellyache:** "Controlled power" refers to the amount of power controlled by a player, not the total amount of power on a base. For example, if a player has 8 power on a base but -3 controlled power there, the 8 still counts towards the breakpoint of that base, but the player only controls 5 of that power.
* **Lion's Mane:** Lion's Mane may use its ability at the start of **each** turn, not just the controlling player's turn.
* **Don't Go In The Water:** The Jellyfish player may also be targeted by this ability, to draw a card and place a Mark on one of their minions.

## Strategy

### General

The Jellyfish deck aims to balance giving negative effects to other players while trying to spread out their minions on different bases. Their Irukandjis and Atollas aim to stick around and inflict Marks onto both themselves and other players, and the longer they stick around the more dangerous they become when the base eventually scores. Irukandji inflict negative power onto minions in the scoring phase, while Atollas force opponents to discard cards afterwards. These 2 power minions can be destroyed by other players on their turn, but for a cost: Irukandjis require an action play and that the Marks on them be transferred to an opponent's minion on the same base, and Atollas require an action play and a discard. Other players are often dissuaded from spending time and resources destroying these minions, but that can be a huge mistake if they plan on winning the base. Not Ready For This Jelly can amplify these start of turn effects even further, making it even more dangerous to leave them around. Man O'Wars provide a recursion engine for these small minions, so even if they're destroyed, they can reappear in the mid to late game (especially if combined with Jelly Jam). Marking other players' minions does nothing on its own, but Man O'War, Jellyache, Bioluminescence, Atollas, and Go With The Tides can all take advantage of those Marks to further the Jellyfish game plan later on - opponents must assess the risk of taking these Marks.

While these "recruit" minions focus on applying negative effects to other players, the rest of the deck focuses on spreading out your minions for an eventual convergence. Narcomedusae gain power at the start of the turn for each base where you have a minion, and can also be amplified by Not Ready For This Jelly. This can result in huge power bursts, especially combined with the movement provided by Lion's Mane or Invertebrate Conquest. It is entirely possible to solo a base with two powered up Narcomedusae alongside Not Ready For This Jelly, as long as you have minion presence elsewhere. Bioluminescent can use its movement ability either internally or antagonistically, as well as shuffle itself into its owners' deck after a score to provide a constant movement threat throughout the entire game.

Once Jellyfish hit their stride, it can feel like they have endless waves of low powered minions entering play. However, stopping them from spreading Marks and keeping their Narcomedusae in check early on can completely shut down their game plan. Factions with antagonistic movement or extra action plays to destroy Atollas and Irukandji will prove to be quite effective at keeping them at bay. Of course, factions that can destroy power 2 minions on their own terms can be successful at shutting them down as well.

### Partner Suggestions

To start, Jellyfish can be quite slow before they get their engines in play. They're also vulnerable to destruction if they're not able to find Jellyache. Factions that not only provide protection for these minions, but extra ways to stall will go a long way for them. Factions with potent start of turn minion abilities that can take advantage of Not Ready For This Jelly will also love them as partners.

#### Published

* **Steampunks:** The Jellyfish have 4 potent and integral play-on-base actions, as well as appreciate the movement that Steampunks bring with Captain Ahab and Zeppelin. Jelly Jam playing Captain Ahab off the top of the deck can allow him to move wherever you'd like, as you get to transfer Jelly Jam to a new base after Captain Ahab is played. Mechanic is able to rescue Jelly Jam, Don't Go In The Water, or Jellyache from the discard pile, and Scrap Diving can recur Jellyfish terminal actions. Rotary Slug Thrower and Aggromotive are amazing as always, but even better when you converge your Jellyfish onto the same base.
* **Killer Plants:** Killer Plants provide access to any of your 2 power Jellyfish minions with Sprout. Not only that, but Sprout can immediately trigger when played alongside Not Ready For This Jelly, giving you access to whatever you need at that moment. There are plenty of targets for Venus Man Trap, and Plants also bring along a few extra minion plays to help Jellyfish establish presence early on. Sleep Spores are a potent way to slow down the game if the Jellyfish need time to set up.
* **Egyptians/Skeletons:** Both burying factions are really powerful with Jellyfish, as uncovering happens in phase 1 (start of the turn). While both combos have been tried, Skeletons are especially powerful as they allow the player to fetch power 3 or less minions from the discard pile. If Lion's Mane is uncovered at the start of the turn, it can use its on-play ability twice, making for a massive swing before any cards are even played.
* **Polynesian Voyagers:** The Jellyfish game plan is very similar to the Polynesian Voyager game plan in that they want to spread out and have presence on as many bases as possible. Unity/Knowledge of the Tribes provide payoff for what Jellyfish already seek to do, and a well-timed Sun Tattoo on an extremely powerful Narcomedusae can set you up for an impressive double score. While there are no power 2 minions in the Voyager deck, sometimes you appreciate the consistency of having access to only Jellyfish minions with Jelly Jam.

#### Custom

* **Enchanters (by Berryl):** As the only two custom factions that focus on using Marks, these two factions ought to play nicely with one another as they are both "have-have" factions. Enchanters have some amazing phase 3 abilities, like Psychic Scream that make the prospect of leaving Atollas alive, or instead deciding to destroy an Irukandji, very scary to an opponent. While Jellyfish don't offer Enchanters any minion modifiers, they do offer more ways to place Marks and slow down the game while Enchanters gather their important cards.

## Author Notes

Jellyfish were a complicated project. It started with the idea that Irukandji should be able to destroy any minions that affected them, sort of like Brownie from the Tricksters. It became apparent that this was going to be an extremely hard idea to work with, and it was suggested that Jellyfish use Marks to execute a style of gameplay that revolved around giving your opponent two negative choices instead. This faction has been slowly worked on for more than a year, going through many versions, revisions, and one brief decision to scrap it entirely. However, it's come out as one of my favorite factions to work on.

Fun fact: Each Jellyfish in this faction is named after a real species of jellyfish.

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