by Matt Woolley
Fear is the mind killer. Fear leads to Anger. Anger leads to Hate. Hate leads inevitably to Monkeys. But more important than this, fear leads to dreadful games of Shadowfist.
You can guarantee that many players will assess the board in terms of what they can lose, rather than what they have to gain. This kind of fearful mentality slows the game down and promotes the kind of waxy build up that generally makes for dull, uninspiring games. The players who pretend to have nothing useful in their hand, play with a one-column site structure, burn for power and leech power off the other players need to be shown the error of their ways! We need champions to dispense with this kind of play. We need heroes with a gun in their hand, a foot on the throat of the nearest Guiding Hand player, and maybe a slight facial tic. We need you!
Obviously different players will be more suited to different play styles. Not everyone can be a winner. Some players might make the claim that it’s the politics that makes the game fun, and they may have a point. Sometimes, though, it’s fun to let your Fist do the talking.
Every game needs a front-runner, and you know what? It might as well be you. It’s for the greater good, after all. The problem is making sure that the rest of those weaklings don’t pull you down to their level.
From the very first, you want to be quick out of the blocks, so as well as discarding heavily and regularly, make sure that you have a slightly higher quantity of feng shui in your deck than you would normally. I tend to favour just under a quarter, though this will vary from deck to deck.
The most obvious strategy is to take down the nearest competition. Going after the guy in second place is generally good practice, but it’s especially important if you are planning to bludgeon your way to victory, rather than finesse it. You can usually rely on one of your opponents getting a bad start or overstretching, and when that happens, you strike. Even a front-runner needs to be opportunistic, but picking a few aggressive sites such as Booby Trapped Tomb can help give you the breathing space to make that early break. Final Brawl is perfect for clearing out the characters that the weak-minded fools that you are playing against have left lying around for defensive purposes.
If you can, it’s worth revealing any feng shui sites left open with your resource generators. Beware any Thousand Sword Mountains or Cave Networks, but aside from that it’s often worth discovering early that your opponent has a Temple of Angry spirits, City Park or Sacred Heart Hospital on his front row. Don’t sit back.
Ideally you’ll always attack to the left, ensuring that there's no easy follow up attack. But the priority is to attack the nearest threat. Even if you weaken the opponent to the right, you have the benefit of generating a bit of early in-fighting between your opponents. Remember, you don’t need to be subtle to divide and conquer.
A range of good characters at different costs are essential, you need to be the first to get out a big character if you can, and then go after your nearest threat’s site. He may well have an Operation Killdeer, or a Temple of Angry Spirits, but someone has to draw these cards out, right? And an early attack means that they will be much less likely to have accumulated a lot of good cards in their hand.
As well as having a range of characters, you want to tap into the cheaper end of the hitter market (4 cost). The Seven might be awesome if you can scrape the power together, but the longer you wait, the harder that breakthrough gets. Generally speaking, you’ll be better served by creating a bit of chaos with a Paradox Beast. You can afford to be short-termist if you’ve already won.
The important thing is to try to make your opponents play their cards on your terms. If you can do that, then you’re halfway to winning already. I find that hysterical laughter works quite well to serve this purpose too, although I find this tactic to be less effective on Gatling.
Most opponents will have a defensive trick up their sleeve. Watch their discards carefully for both faction and content, so you’ll know what to expect. If a Lotus player discards a “You fell into my trap”, it’s a good bet that his front row Feng Shui site is a Cave Network. If an Architect player drops an Imprisoned, you can bet they have another in their hand. If your opponent is an Ascended player, you know they have an Operation Killdeer, regardless of what they drop. Try to plan accordingly. Stage your attacks when opponents are low on power, try to put yourself in a position where even if you aren’t doing something this turn, you have a plan for next turn. Be proactive and not reactive, otherwise you’ll just end up being the person who stops the winning attacks rather than making them.
You know that you’ll be attacking early with a big, cost effective site-taking machine like Sergeant Blightman or Dirk Wisely, and you want to make sure that that first attack goes through. You’ll be stretching every sinew to play that first big character, so you want to make sure that he’s well protected and as cheaply as you can. As most of your cards and power will be devoted to crushing your opponents as fast as possible, you’ll need your Feng Shui to be effective at stopping events as well as follow up attacks by your opponents. Festival Circle and Kinoshita House are always handy, and Whirlpools of Blood can stop your opponent’s defensive Feng Shui tricks. Yes, these Feng Shui sites are small, but only weaklings get attacked! Your opponents will be too busy mopping up each other’s damaged Feng Shui sites, or will be desperately trying to recover. Don’t let them.
Employing cards that gamble on success to generate power, such as Moonlight Raid or Dirk Wisely’s Gambit, are perfectly appropriate for an aggressive deck. You’re planning to attack regularly, and generating a bit of extra power can help you launch that unexpected follow-up attack, or play a larger character than otherwise expected. Try to be unpredictable.
After that first turn, you need to follow up quickly. While the opposition might be indecisive and defensive, there are more of them than there are of you, and they will be generating twice the power and drawing twice the cards. You need to win quickly, because your aggressive tactics will force your opponents to join forces.
The most efficient way of using a character is to have it attack again. Evacuation: 2066 and Back For Seconds are ideal for this purpose. Keep playing those Feng Shui sites, and seize sites where possible. If it looks like you’re stalling, it may be worth to burn for power, but bear in mind that this is likely to slow the game down, and give your opponents a chance to recover.
Even the most brutal and senseless of plans don’t always work, and you may find yourself in a situation where the mad gleam in your piggy eyes just isn’t enough to deter your opponent’s attacks.
Comeback shouldn’t be something that you should bank on needing; after all you’re not planning to lose. But when good play and vindictive threats fail, it’s vital to have a backup plan.
Ideally you want to be playing comeback cards that can work offensively too.
Kiii-YAAAH! is a perfect example of this kind of card, and can often give you the mid-game boost that you need, even when you aren’t actually losing. In addition to that, depriving an opponent of the 1 power he was storing for a Nerve Gas can be crucial.
To be honest, a good aggressive strategy demands many of the same skills and tactics that a normal or defensive strategy calls for. There are some differences, no doubt, but the main difference is mindset. As a wise Abomination once said:
“You have the subtle powers of chi manipulation. I have an entire battalion of slavering, bioengineered ogres, howling for blood. Wonder which of us is going to win, hmmm?”
And he was right.
(The opinions expressed are those of the authors only. They do not represent the views of Shadowfist Games or the Editor. Well, maybe a little. Ok, actually quite a bit. It's way more fun to lose a game where you layed the smack down at least at one point than turtling yourself into defeat. Sure, at first you might get beaten into the mud a lot, but you get much better with experience. - The Ed.)