Card Spotlight by Chris Wagner (Foolkiller)(was: Card of the Day #15)

There are two deck strategies that I am aware of that make excellent use of Top Runners Conference. They are:

1. The Big Dig - This deck focuses on making one titanic run into R&D accompanied by a horde of R&D Moles, Rush Hour, and Promises, Promises. This nearly always ensures victory and since the run is an all-or-nothing ordeal at the end of a long preparation process, Top Runners Conference is the ideal bit gainer, requiring no actions and incurring no penalty.
2. The Bad Publicity From Hell deck - (Actual deck to be posted at another time) This is one of my creations, which could be said to reek of cheese, but which is also very effective. Using Top Runners Conference to generate finances to pay for Faked Hits and Poisoned Water Supply, there is never a need to run, thus allowing Top Runners Conference to function for the whole game.

Both of these decks require some setup time, and the more Top Runners Conferences you have in your deck, the more will make it into play early so they can start to pay off. 5 or 6 of these in play at one time generates a very nice profit with no cost in actions after the initial installation. If the end of the game is drawing near, and a large influx of bits is required, you can always use misc.for-sale to earn even more bits form Top Runners Conference. The zero installation cost means the card is efficient to install and it nets maximum return when sold.

Recycling Top Runners Conferences in a traditional deck, with normal runs, etc.. is far to slow and inefficient to be useful. Dabbling with this card, in the hopes that it will turn up early, is more often adding weight to your deck that should be trimmed. Playing the card late in the game, when you are likely running once every turn or two is obviously not an economic play.

One particularly slow but somewhat effective use for Top Runners Conference is to use it to put Floating Runner BBS into play in large numbers. Then you can sell the Top Runners Conferences and still have an action-free source of income at the beginning of every turn. This setup usually lasts far to long to be competitive, but it can be fun.

Top Runners Conference is a very narrow card, but in its niche it is awesome. If you can't put together a strategy that uses Top Runners Conference effectively, its probably not worth including in your deck. The need to use many of this card makes it application even more narrow and difficult for those without vast resources, but if you have the cards, they make a great engine.

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