Technically, I've since learned that even with "Mods mixed in", you'll still get these booster pick events first. Mod events appear to come with the 2nd-highest priority (Secret ending plotlines have the highest). You don't need to force a MP game to get the boost event to fail (though the RNG to get your targeted event is still the same, though you might get more events per run since it's not MP (where routes are locked by end of week 1)