rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad

play to win?

16 messages from 11 participants · 24 September 2006 – 27 September 2006
original thread on Google Groups

talonz

Quote from a finnish tourney report; "Some players seemed to be on the gray area. In a four-player table, 2 players (predator and prey) made a table-splitting deal before the game started, because that othewr was playing CEL GUN rush, and the other mono potence, with mostly close range combat. The deal was that the POT player (the predator) would only rush backwards, while his prey would take 2 vp's and then fold. I do not know whether it would have violated the play-to-win rule, but our prince said it would not. I would have begun raving if I would have been in that table because I think that kind of dealing is unsportsmanlike. " Sounds like a violation of the play to win rule to me. Rather than play to win (and 1 likely would if they could take down the non weenie rush decks) they played to a tie. Thoughts? G

Ben Peal

talonz wrote: > Sounds like a violation of the play to win rule to me. Rather than > play to win (and 1 likely would if they could take down the non weenie > rush decks) they played to a tie. > > Thoughts? Got a link to the report? What were the two other decks? My knee-jerk reaction is that the "play-to-win" part is irrelevant, and what's more relevant is that the two players were morons for not wanting to try to win. It could very well be that given the other decks at the table (and I suppose given their own decks), it might have been a higher percentage play for them to split the table 2-2, but who gives a shit? Take a shot at the win. Nothing says "make the finals" like winning games. It seems that nearly every time someone asks a "play to win" question, it's about a table-splitting deal. Stop trying to split tables! Instead of coming up with some grandiose master plan that will theorically score you the big win in one glorious master stroke, only to be thwarted when the rest of the table rallies against you or when table discussion drags the game into a timeout, take things one VP at a time. It's much more manageable, much more likely to be accepted by another player as a deal, much more flexible, and much less easily thwarted or BACKSTABBED. You wanna make the finals? You wanna win tournaments? Quit worrying about VPs and try to win some games already. - Ben Peal

antero

Ben Peal wrote: > Got a link to the report? What were the two other decks? http://www.thepathofblood.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=33fba04880850b85dcadf0a89e9bdf84 It's not a complete report, but I was hoping that some other local player would write what happened after I left. The players that made the deal were playing: POT rush starring Theo and Beast CEL rush with .44's Oh and what I did not mention in the Path of Blood, was that the deal was made because those dealmakers feared that they would only destroy each others' vampires if they did not make that table-splitting deal (x_x)... The other players were playing: Ayo Igoli vote Jaroslav Pascek wall with melee weapons Ayo got a Haven Uncovered played on her (crosstable, by the POT rush player) on the round she came out. She survived the first rush (made by the same player that played the HU) but ran out of S:CE against the CEL gunners before she could take an action. Jaroslav's was Decapitated by Theo Bell immediately after showing his head. So, the result of the game was decided before the game started, and the game was over after 4 or 5 rounds. snip > You wanna make the finals? You wanna win tournaments? Quit > worrying about VPs and try to win some games already. Amen. -Antero

xcver

Ben Peal schrieb: [ quoted text not captured ] what if methuselah A makes a deal with B so that A gets second and B gets first (for example i a vote that would oust A otherwise)?

Ben Peal

antero wrote: > The players that made the deal were playing: > POT rush starring Theo and Beast > CEL rush with .44's > > Oh and what I did not mention in the Path of Blood, was that the deal > was made because those dealmakers feared that they would only destroy > each others' vampires if they did not make that table-splitting deal > (x_x)... Yeah, that's generally implied in any deal between combat decks. :) > The other players were playing: > Ayo Igoli vote > Jaroslav Pascek wall with melee weapons > > Ayo got a Haven Uncovered played on her (crosstable, by the POT rush > player) on the round she came out. She survived the first rush (made by > the same player that played the HU) but ran out of S:CE against the CEL > gunners before she could take an action. Jaroslav's was Decapitated by > Theo Bell immediately after showing his head. So, the result of the > game was decided before the game started, and the game was over after 4 > or 5 rounds. The deal went according to plan. :) Here's the thing: From the looks of things, the players assessed the situation correctly. It's very likely that they would have destroyed each other had they not made a deal. It appeared as though they had a high-percentage chance of getting 2 VP each if they made a deal. The plan worked exactly the way they had envisioned it. However, you're looking at (I assume) a 3-round tournament. Even with just 13 players, you'll still likely need a game win to make the finals, since there are 9 total tables. A couple of tables will go to time, and one or two people will get 2 GW, but even then, odds are that you need a win. Also, a win in an environment like that is almost assuredly going to get you into the finals, so why even care about 2 VP? - Ben Peal

LSJ

[ quoted text not captured ] It is illegal to make deals before the game starts (well, to honor such deals over PTW, any way). Deals must be made based on game state.

Stefan Ferenci

talonz schrieb: > Quote from a finnish tourney report; > > "Some players seemed to be on the gray area. In a four-player table, 2 > players (predator and prey) made a table-splitting deal before the game > started, because that othewr was playing CEL GUN rush, and the other > mono potence, with mostly close range combat. The deal was that the POT > player (the predator) would only rush backwards, while his prey would > take 2 vp's and then fold. > > Thoughts? > the weenie cel gun guy had either a bad deck (cel gun should own mono pot close range combat) or no knowledge of the game (the mono pot guy would have been forced to first take care of his predator while the cell guy easily could have build up and gain a significant advantage) s.

OrgPlay

> My knee-jerk reaction is that the "play-to-win" part is irrelevant, > and > what's more relevant is that the two players were morons for not > wanting to try to win. There are currently no rules against being a moron. Oscar Garza Organized Play Coordinator

witness1

OrgPlay wrote: > > My knee-jerk reaction is that the "play-to-win" part is irrelevant, > > and > > what's more relevant is that the two players were morons for not > > wanting to try to win. > > There are currently no rules against being a moron. Indeed, and I hope there never is - I'd have to quite playing. Witness1 -the fuckingest retard that plays this game

Ben Peal

Stefan Ferenci wrote: > the weenie cel gun guy had either a bad deck (cel gun should own mono > pot close range combat) or no knowledge of the game (the mono pot guy > would have been forced to first take care of his predator while the > cell guy easily could have build up and gain a significant advantage) According to the first post, the mono pot deck had mostly ranged combat. - Ben

wumpus

Howdy, [ quoted text not captured ] Errr... Actually, according to the OP, the potence deck had 'close' range combat. So I'd have to agree with Stefan, the guns should have had no incentive at all to deal. Alex

Ben Peal

wumpus wrote: > Errr... Actually, according to the OP, the potence deck had 'close' > range combat. So I'd have to agree with Stefan, the guns should have > had no incentive at all to deal. Oops. I can't read. Yeah, the cel-gun deck shouldn't have bothered dealing. However, my point still stands. Even if the potence deck and cel-gun deck had the potential to kill each other, they still should've gone for the win and not the split, since all that would matter for getting into the finals was a game win. - Ben Peal

islando...@aol.com

> It is illegal to make deals before the game starts (well, to honor such > deals over PTW, any way). > Deals must be made based on game state. If I have reason to infer the game state will change over the next few turns, is that legal? Like, the Ravnos player is kinda scary now, but if he drops a Week of Nightmares, it'll be too late, so let's kill him now? The WoN reasoning isn't based on game state; it's based on the assumption that WoN is in that player's deck, and I think it should be legal. (Maybe it is already.) More important to me is this hypothetical situation: I am playing my stealthy Korah Pander deck. I have tested this deck extensively over the last 3 years and am perfectly confident that it will be unable to oust an Auspex wall, and will likely time out if AUS is its prey. Moreover, I have learned since Nights of Reckoning's release that it will almost always lose when a skilled Imbued player is its predator or prey. In the first round of a tournament, Josh Duffin is my prey. He is all_powerful. (playing imbued). I am familiar with the decklist, and have used it to test against. When the game concludes, he has successfully prevented me from ousting him and has gone on to oust me. In the second round of the same tournament, Josh Duffin is my predator. (It's not a multi-deck tournament.) Josh's predator is a deck which I am confident will be unable to oust Josh without help. (rhetorical question for emphasis): How much more information do I need in order to legally make a deal to oust Josh? The game state appears to be [no information], but I would argue that the cards in my deck and the cards in his deck (as well as the seating order) comprise a lot of information about the state of the game. I can reasonably infer that The Unmasking will hit the table at some point, given he and I survive that long. I can also infer that he will be bleeding me for two with each minion--and I can determine all this before the game has begun without unwarrantedly jumping to conclusions. I believe this would be an example of a time when I could offer my grandpredator "I will help you oust your prey, if you like" before the game has begun without it being illegal play. It certainly seems (to me) to be the most logical thing to do, based on our respective decks' compositions, experience in similar situations, and table positions. So I suppose I'll put forth a syllogism: 1.) Assume ousting Josh seems like the most reasonable course of action to me. 2.) I believe the play-to-win rule does not prohibit players from taking what they think is the most reasonable course of action. Therefore 3.) The play-to-win rule won't stop me from making a deal to oust Josh before the game begins, given that I know a lot about the game state from the contents of the decks involved, the seating order, and the effectiveness record (win/loss ratio etc.) of each deck present against each of the other decks involved. Now, all that being said, I think the "right" thing to do in those circumstances is to just wait 2 or 3 turns to make the deal, since you never know whether your grandprey's Beast will suddenly take offense at some card Josh plays and try to pound the hell out of him. Waiting a few turns, I think, is usually a smarter play, and the one I would make. But I'm not arguing that dealing to oust Josh before the game begins given the above circumstances is the absolute best play, just "sufficiently reasonable" to warrant not being prohibited by the rules. -- Brian Not really trying to oust Josh. ...yet.

islando...@aol.com

> Oops. I can't read. Yeah, the cel-gun deck shouldn't have bothered > dealing. However, my point still stands. Even if the potence deck > and > cel-gun deck had the potential to kill each other, they still > should've > gone for the win and not the split, since all that would matter for > getting > into the finals was a game win. Uh, except that you're not supposed to delve into these out of game considerations. Play the game at hand, not with regard to the finals, but with regard to the current game. I personally don't like that rule but I believe it is a rule nonetheless. -- Brian

Ben Peal

Brian wrote: > > Oops. I can't read. Yeah, the cel-gun deck shouldn't have > > bothered dealing. However, my point still stands. Even if > > the potence deck and cel-gun deck had the potential to kill > > each other, they still should've gone for the win and not the > > split, since all that would matter for getting into the finals was > > a game win. > > Uh, except that you're not supposed to delve into these out of game > considerations. Play the game at hand, not with regard to the finals, > but with regard to the current game. Right, so, instead of trying to win, they should just try to win. Sounds good. - Ben Peal

Fabio 'Sooner' Macedo

[ quoted text not captured ] Which is sad, since being a moron is obviously overpowered, unbalancing and broken. Fabio "Sooner222" Macedo