Spending Braincells

Braincells are the economy of a Built Deck, and most games are decided by who runs theirs better. The rules are small. You bank one by playing a Braincell card, and that's your one card for the turn. You spend them to play other cards, which cost anywhere from 0 to 5, and the spent ones go to your discard pile. On your own turn, one Braincell buys thirty seconds of clock. The hard part is timing: when to bank, when to spend, and what to do about the cards that cheat.

Banking is a turn you don't play

Accept first that banking costs something. One card a turn, and a Braincell is a card. Every turn you bank, your opponent's card did something and yours didn't. Early, with nothing in your hand worth playing yet, that's cheap. From the middle of the game on, it's expensive.

So the question each turn isn't "do I have a Braincell to bank?" It's "is banking better than the best card I could play?" Your opening hand tells you how often the answer will be yes. You start with seven cards and are dealt one at the start of each turn while you hold fewer than seven. Count what the seven cost. Two one-cost cards and a three means four banking turns somewhere, and you can see where they should fall. Which card beats banking on a given turn is its own question, covered in A card or a move?.

Save for a card, not a number

The common mistake is banking toward a number. "I'll get to five and then I'll be comfortable." Braincells in a pile aren't doing anything, and a big pile is a target: Brain Drain takes one onto your opponent's pile, Lobotomy takes two, and Brain Freeze makes you lose one for the price of one.

Save for a card instead. If Lightning Strike is in your hand and the piece it should destroy is on the board, four is the goal: bank until you have them, then play it. If nothing in hand is worth saving for, spend on what helps now and bank again when something arrives.

The late game is the exception, because the pile is also your clock. Each side has ten minutes for the whole game. A spare Braincell is thirty seconds you might need, and three of them is a minute and a half. If your hand is empty and your clock is low, a pile is doing its job just by existing.

The cards that bend the economy

Overclock stays in play and makes every Braincell you bank from then on worth two. It costs two, so the question is whether you'll bank enough afterward to pay back the two turns it took. With twenty Braincells in the deck, you almost always will. Get it out early.

Efficiency stays in play and takes one off every other card you play, to a minimum of zero. Your one-cost cards become free, and cost no banking turns at all. It costs three, so play it when your hand is full of cheap cards waiting their turn.

Coupon is Efficiency for one card: the next card you play costs one less. Note that the Coupon is your card for that turn, so you're really spending a turn to save a Braincell. That's a good trade when Braincells are the bottleneck and turns aren't.

Big Brain doubles your pile. It costs four, so on a pile of four it leaves you with four: a turn spent standing still. On a pile of eight it leaves twelve. It's a late card for a fat pile. Run it only if your deck banks hard.

Sugar Rush and Espresso Shot give you three and five Braincells that must be spent this turn, and neither uses your card for the turn. On a Sugar Rush turn you can play it, then a three-cost card with the floating Braincells, and your banked pile is untouched. A quiet turn becomes a big one, once.

Cash In banks every Braincell card in your hand at once, each worth two, and shows your opponent your whole hand until your next turn. Three Braincells in hand become six banked in one turn instead of three. They'll know exactly what you can and can't afford.

Spent Braincells aren't gone. Brainstorm returns every Braincell in your discard to your pile for one. Recollection takes them back into your hand instead, so you bank them again, but it also refills a hand that's running dry. Brainstorm is usually the better card. Hold it until your discard is full; late in a game it can return eight or ten for one.

Attacking theirs

Every Braincell you take is a banking turn they have to repeat. Brain Drain at three costs you more than it takes, so it's only worth it when that one is the one they need. Lobotomy at four takes two, same logic. Brain Freeze at one is the efficient one: a Braincell-for-Braincell trade where you picked the moment.

Mental Block takes nothing. Your opponent can't spend Braincells on their next turn, though they can still bank one. That's worth more than any theft when they're holding the card you're afraid of: play it the turn before you commit to something they could otherwise answer. A delay, not a theft, but timed right it wins games.

The rhythm, then. Bank while you develop, two or three turns depending on what your hand costs. Save for one expensive card at a time, and only when its target is on the board. And read their pile as carefully as your own: four across the board means they're one turn from a five-cost card, so start thinking about what that might be.