I don't necessarily think we're in quite the zero information situation you describe.

I didn't describe a zero information situation. Note that I said "you are told some of the rules but not all of them."

I think we're in a situation more like a friend ringing up and says, "We're going to play Ticket to Ride tonight; it's like Monopoly only better".

How is this different from knowing some of the rules but not all of them?

Curing poisoning is probably an easier task than reconstructing information destroyed by entropy, so I should adopt the 'cryopreservant' branch of strategy-space".

I would agree that this is probably a good strategy but I would not categorize it as "highly refined."