Mariachi

## Overview

"¿Dónde está la biblioteca?" My name is Toño, el Mariachi azteca, and it's my turn to sing at the discoteca.

Mariachi have been around Mexico for ages, instantly spawning wherever a party is held, ready to sing the same five songs every time... and people love it! Mariachi have joined the Smash Up repertoire to bring their guitarras to every base, and all factions are invited to sing along! Bring your own guacamole, though.

Mariachi wants to play Songs on bases to make their strong abilities even stronger. And the Songs themselves have talents that every player can use to their own advantage.

### Details

* Name: Mariachi
* Author: CaptainCosmic
* Complexity: 3.5/5
* Version: 2.5
* Last updated: July 1st, 2023

#### Mechanics

* Subtypes
* Placing into play

### Special Details

Featured in the Crank It Up YouTube channel. Video Here.

## Breakdown

Mariachi has the standard 10 minions and 10 actions. They have a total minion power of 30, or an average minion power of 3. Among their actions they have:

* 0 play-on-minion actions.
* 5 play-on-base actions: De la Sierra Morena, 2x La Cucaracha, La Llorona, Las Mañanitas.
* 5 standard actions (3 of which directly affect one or more minions, in **bold**): Never Stop Dancing, **Power Serenata**, Skeleton Makeup, **2x Where The Party Is At**.
* 2 actions that directly increases a minion's power: 2x Where The Party Is At.

### Minions (10)

* **1x Huarache Loco (5):** You may choose an action that can be played on a base from your hand or discard pile and play it as an extra action. Talent: Choose a base with a Song. All minions there gain +1 power until the end of the turn.
* **2x "Toño" (4):** Ongoing: After another player resolves a non-ongoing ability of a card you own, you may draw a card.
* **3x Charrita (3):** Reveal cards from the top of your deck until a Song is revealed; draw it and shuffle the rest into your deck.
* **4x Cielito Lindo (2):** You may transfer a Song from another base to here. Special: When you play a Song, you may place this minion there. Only use one Cielito Lindo's special ability per Song.

### Actions (10)

* **2x La Cucaracha (Song):** Play on a base. Ongoing: Players with a minion here can use this card's talent. Talent: Place a counter on each La Cucaracha in play OR a minion here gains power equal to the number of counters on this card until the end of the turn.
* **2x Where The Party Is At:** Move one of your minions to a base with another player's minion to give it +2 power until the end of the turn; if that base has a Song, you may give it +3 power instead.
* **1x De La Sierra, Morena (Song):** Play on a base. Ongoing: Players with a minion here can use this card's talent. Talent: Move one of your minions of printed power 3 or less to or from here.
* **1x La Llorona (Song):** Play on a base. Ongoing: Players with a minion here can use this card's talent. Talent: Shuffle a random card from your discard pile into your deck.
* **1x Las Mañanitas (Song):** Play on a base. Ongoing: Players with a minion here can use this card's talent. Talent: If you had a minion here at the start of your turn, draw a card.
* **1x Never Stop Dancing:** Search your deck for a Song and play it as an extra action. You may immediately use the talent on that Song an additional time this turn.
* **1x Power Serenata:** Special: After a base scores, return one of your minions there of power 4 or less to your hand; if that base had a Song, you may play it on another base as an extra minion.
* **1x Skeleton Makeup:** Shuffle up to two cards from your discard pile into your deck, then shuffle a Song from your discard pile into your deck for each card shuffled in.

### Bases

* **(21) Fiesta Mexicana (4 2 1):** Players with a minion here may use the talents on other players' cards here.
* **(19) Guadalajara, Guadalajara (3 1 1):** The winner may shuffle one of their cards here into their owners' deck.

## Clarifications

**La Cucaracha:** Counters on this card do not add power to the base; for the counters to actually add power, the player must use the talent on the card.

**De La Sierra Morena, La Cucaracha, La Llorona, Las Mañanitas:** The Mariachi player can only use these cards' talents if they have a minion there. The Ongoing condition must be met at the time of using the talent.

**Cielito Lindo:** This minion is placed from the hand. Placing a minion means putting it directly into play without resolving it's on-play ability, it doesn't trigger any reactions to playing a minion (Examples: being destroyed by Leprechaun, extra plays granted by Fairy Circle, Drawing a card with Gold Strike, etc.)

## Strategy

### General

Song cards are the heart and blood of the Mariachi deck. Each different song provides strategic elements to their player and brings a dynamic to the game itself, as all players can have access to the talent on those cards.

They can set up their songs early in the game with the help of Charritas and Never Stop Dancing, they can also recur them easily with Skeleton Makeup, Huarache Loco and La Llorona (a song itself).

The most prominent song of the bunch is La Cucaracha, as it enables a "betting" dynamic on a base: each player can choose to either place a counter on the card or gain power equal to the number of counters, making the players build together a time bomb on a base. This dynamic is leveled up by having the two copies of La Cucaracha in play, as the counters are added to each copy and not just the one whose talent was used.

Cielito Lindo, the minion of power 2 from the Mariachi faction, can be used in two exclusively different ways: As an extra minion play after a song is played to guarantee instant access to its talent; or as a way to transfer a song from an undesirable base or for simply keeping it in play for longer.

Keeping Cucarachas in play after their base scores is possible by playing Power Serenata to choose a Cielito Lindo and "save" the song from visiting the discard pile, thus keeping whatever number of counters it had already on.

"Toño" can mitigate the other players' use of the talents on the songs, by rewarding the player with a card for every instance. It's a minion that can "draw aggro" towards him: leaving it out for too long can be dangerous to the other players so they might try to spend resources on destroying or disabling it, or break the base where he is faster as well. Mariachi can use this to their advantage.

It's important to note that the songs can backfire on the Mariachi player, as they provide their opponents with free extra abilities throughout the game, so they must be played carefully. Songs encourage the player's knowledge of what the opponents can and cannot do with their combos. Knowing which songs to keep in play, which songs need to go and when to hold on a song until the right moment is vital to the strategy of the Mariachi player.

### Partner suggestions

#### Published

* **Anansi Tales:** Mariachi has easy-to-give cards like Never Stop Dancing and Charrita, as they would do nothing for the opponents due to their abilities caring specifically about Songs in your deck. Toño can react to your cards given away to players. The ability to look at other players' hands help the Mariachi player decide whether or not it is safe to play a Song or use the talents on Las Cucarachas.
* **Polynesian Voyagers:** Having Extra bases gives Mariachi more space to strategically play their Songs and then use Cielito Lindo to move them to their true destination. Moai is excellent for monopolizing De La Sierra Morena. Sun Tattoo can save Huarache Loco to keep their engine going, as well as a possibility for a double score if used along with Power Serenata on another minion. Wayfinders appreciate the extra power Where The Party Is At gives to terminally converge on a base.
* **Shapeshifters:** Replaying Copycats on phase 3 with Power Serenata can make for some very impactful plays. Playing Mitosis on Charritas is a strong early game setup play. Huarache Loco can use both of its abilities, then be Transmogrified into Doppelgänger and be instantly reshuffled into your deck with La Llorona or Skeleton Makeup; if this is used as a terminal play, you can instantly replay Huarache Loco when Doppelgänger goes to the discard pile after scoring a base, saving tempo and giving you a second chance to use Huarache's powerful talent.

## Author notes

* The art for this faction was made with Dream AI, using Mexican paintings as prompts.
* The font used for this faction is  A Avocado Taco.
* Cielito Lindo, La Cucaracha, La Llorona and Las Mañanitas' names are the titles of popular mariachi songs.
	+ "De La Sierra, Morena" and "Guadalajara, Guadalajara" are the first verses of the songs "Cielito Lindo" and "Guadalajara", respectively.
	+ "Huarache Loco" is a wordplay and a reference to "El Mariachi Loco Quiere Bailar", a popular mariachi song.
* "Toño" is a reference to Vicente "Chente" Fernandez, a mariachi singer who was famously known to wear charro suits in his concerts.
* Feedback and ideas for this faction were provided by ludichrisness, The Board Game Bandit, SirErrant and Berryl; many thanks!

The "community talent" is a design space that the published game, at the time of making this custom faction, hasn't explored yet. This was my attempt to make a deck which focused its strategy around that concept. I think it has turned out pretty well and it's a fun deck to both play as and against.

I feel very happy with the consistency of this deck and I think it wouldn't be what it is now if it weren't for the very helpful advice, ideas and feedback of the Smash Up custom channel on the discord. Shout-out to the people there, you're the best!