Hello again, creatures of Splintertalk!
Today will be a short simple post like last time. Hopefully soon I can move some energy to dress these up nicely and go in depth, but right now my schedule is a bit hectic and my sleeping schedule is bad.
I still need to build some patterns though, so I'll just share some (admittedly rather basic) ruminations on my approach to strategy in Splinterlands.
Recently, I've begun rereading The Art of War by Sun Tzu, and have been applying a lot of my learnings through Splinterlands. Some precepts I found relevant are as follows:
- To ensure taking the objective in an attack, strike positions that are undefended. To be certain of an impregnible defense, secure positions that the enemy will not attack.
The way I apply this is by analyzing my opponent's last played matches, seeing if they reveal a pattern in their picks. For example, many people favor one color heavily, or favor a single strategy (like many magic users or sneak attacks) across all colors. Picking up on these patterns can allow me to focus all my attacks on a spot they never defend (such as using Lyra the Dark and Silent Sha-Vi to rip apart a squishy blue backrow of someone who never plays the Venari Wavesmith), or to set up a defense that is too resistant to their preferred strategies (like sandwiching my team between a Living Lava and Naga Fire Wizard with some phys debuffs against an opponent who prefers powerful physical attacks with sneak).
- In warfare, the strategic configurations of power do not exceed the unorthodox and the orthodox, but the changes of the unorthodox and the orthodox can never be completely exhausted. The unorthodox and the orthdox mutually produce each other, just like an endless cycle.
To me, this speaks to two distinctive ways of setting up teams.
The orthodox refers to meta strategies that are seen very often (in modern SL some examples are green magic with Obsidian, physical red with Tarsa, and ranged white with Sloan).
The unorthdox refers to wildcard strategies that are seen more rarely (in modern SL some examples are heavy physical green with Wizard of Eastwood and usually Grund, and the back attacking white team built on Stitch Leech/Harpy/Cave Slug).
Since each player can see their opponents previous five teams, relying too much on one strategy can become predictable and easily countered. On the other hand, common strategies and comfort picks become entrenched for a good reason; they are often very efficient and powerful. I've been experimenting with this combination approach for the past few days, and I feel it's improved my play dramatically. Previously I might get too comfortable on a single strategy that gets me a winstreak, then get predicted and go on a losing streak.
I would recommend everyone who is able to practice switching up their color and strategy as often as possible, every match if it can be done. As for using orthodox vs unorthodox, my approach is this: if I can sense a pattern in my opponents play, I will go with an unorthodox niche strategy that matches up favorably against that pattern; if I can't sense any kind of pattern or their play seems very balanced, I will simply focus on building the best orthodox team I can to maximize my ability to overpower whatever they pick.
I'm gonna wrap up for now because I've already created a daunting wall of text, but hopefully this adds some value to someone somewhere. Thank you all for making this space what it is, and be well!
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