Field Scaling
I.e. "Magic Numbers." The point of this game is to deplete your opponent's shield reservoirs so you can deal them their 6th Damage and win. The easiest and most efficient way to do this is by forcing as much shield as possible with each attack. This is where the "Magic Number" Theory comes into play. For example, lets assume the opponent has an 11,000 Power Vanguard. Of the two columns, which one would be best:
or 
If you guessed the column on the right, you are wrong. The powerlines shown are 16,000 (Left) and 14,000 (Right). Against an 11,000 Power Vanguard, a 16,000 Power attack will force 10,000 Shield, whereas a 14,000 Power attack will only force 5,000 Shield. Since you're likely to keep these powerlines, or some similar to them, throughout the game, you'll be attacking with them for multiple turns, and the difference really adds up. Let's compare a field with the above two columns vs. a field of two of the left columns:
Both Columns
The left column forces out 10,000 Shield, and the right column forces out 5,000 Shield. That's a total of 15,000 Shield forced out from your Rear Guards this turn. The next turn, you attack again, having made no changes to your field, and force the same 15,000 Shield. Over the course of 5 turns, you would have forced a total of 75,000 Shield.
Two Left Columns
We already know that the left column forces 10,000 Shield. With two of them, that's a total of 20,000 Shield per turn. Over the course of 5 turns, that comes to a Total of 100,000 Shield forced. That's a 25,000 Shield difference! That puts you an entire turn and a half ahead of the previous scenario. And the longer the game drags on, the larger the gap becomes.
The key here is to remember that there are only 2 shield values in this game (aside from Perfect Guards); 10,000 and 5,000. That means the opponent must guard in increments of 5,000. In this game, if two units of the same power battle, then the attacker wins. That means if your 11,000 Power attacker attacks your opponent's 11,000 Power defender, your attacker will win. In order to prevent this, your opponent will have to guard with a 5,000 Shield to bring their defending power up to 16,000. However, if your 16,000 Power attacking unit attacks their 11,000 Power defending unit, 5,000 Shield will only bring them up to 16,000 Power, and since the power levels are equal, your attack would go through. To stop this, the opponent would have to guard with 10,000 Power, bringing their defending power up to 21,000. Likewise, attacking with 21,000 Power will force them to guard with 15,000 Shield, which is really the epitome of a Rear Guard attack bar any triggers.
Magic Numbers are key to winning. The more capable you are of hitting them and creating powerlines that are capable of reaching them, the higher chance of success you'll have of winning. This applies at even a deck building level of the game. If you have multiple Grade 1's that have 6,000 Power or lower, then you will need Grade 2's and 3's that have 10,000 Power or greater, since that is the only way a 6,000 Power booster will be able to make 16,000 Power columns. The more combinations of units in your deck that can't hit Magic Numbers, the worse off you'll be in-game.
Power Relevancy
Now that you know the numbers to gun for, I want to discuss something that makes me cringe every time I see a new player do it; and they all do it. Take a look at the following unit, and all units like it:
The infamous "CB1, +1000" units. They come in every Trial Deck, they all suck, and they all get used by new players at some point. I can't being to remember all the times I've sat down to play with a new player, they call this guy behind something like the 10,000 Power Vanilla Grade 2 from the Trial Deck, then randomly counterblast 1, or 2, or 3, or all 5, for this card. Going from 17,000 to 18,000 Power (assuming I'm not using a Crossride) is absolutely pointless and is just a waste of resources. Its even more pointless to go from 17,000 to 19,000, as its just as irrelevant of a number, but uses more resources. More power does not mean a better column.
Quiz Time
To demonstrate some of the techniques I've been trying to teach in here, I'll throw this little quiz here at the end. Assume that your opponent has a 10,000 Power Vanguard and your field looks like this:
Now, let's assume this is your hand:
What should your field look like? The correct answer would be:
This is because, against a 10,000 Power Vanguard, the "Magic Numbers" to go for are 15,000 and 20,000. Since 16,000 and 18,000 are essentially the same number in this situation, it doesn't matter what booster you put behind your Criollofall since he's going to swing for the same amount of Shield to block no matter what. However, Savage War Chief can swing for either 18,000 or 20,000 depending on which booster you use, and since 20,000 is a higher Magic Number against 10,000 Power Vanguards, that number should be prioritized.
Now, let's imagine the same scenario, except this time your opponent's Vanguard is a Crossride, so it has 13000 Power. What should your ideal field look like now? The correct answer is this:
Why the change? Because the Magic Numbers changed. Against a 13,000 Power Vanguard, the Magic Numbers are 18,000 and 23,000. When deciding on the booster for Criollofall, you'll remember that the columns he can make are either 16,000 or 18,000. Since 18,000 is the only relevant number against a Crossride, you should prioritize that column. With Savage Warchief, you could either make an 18,000 Power column, or a 20,000 Power column. Since those are essentially the same number against a Crossride, and Savage Warchief is going to force 10,000 Shield no matter what, you should prioritize Criollofall's column, using Sonic Noa as the booster.
No comments:
Post a Comment