The Pre-Game Show

Alright, so I am going to my first local tournament on Wednesday (tomorrow) and I will be playing Royal Paladins. I know how to play and everything but prior to Monday I had not done any type of play testing. Needless to say, I learned a lot.

One thing in particular that I learned was the usefulness of stand triggers. Before I go into this though let me explain a little about how I play RPs. If I still have stand triggers left in the deck (I play 4) I always attack with a rearguard first. That way if I hit a stand when my vanguard attacks I have something to stand. Pretty much just common sense. Also, when I weigh the offensive effectiveness of a card I tend to think about how many cards my opponent will have to waist from their hand in order to block it. Now lets go back to stand triggers. When I first learned how to play the game I thought they were probably the most useless type of trigger. Boy was I wrong! While critical triggers may help you reach the end goal of winning, I view them as more of a "win more" kind of card. Obviously, this doesn't mean I don't run crits or don't like them. They can be very clutch. Stand triggers on the other hand waste more cards from your opponents hand, giving you a better shot at attacking for game on your following turn.

Let me describe an example. For instance, when I attack and my opponent wants to either protect his damage count, or a rearguard because of its effect, he will drop blockers from his hand. Take into account that he will have to block 3 attacks or take damage. He might even plan on taking a point of damage from one of my rearguards. It can be very devastating when I hit a stand trigger, stand my rearguard back up, and give him +5k. If my opponent really wants to make sure I dont retire a particular rearguard or give him a point of damage (this could possibly be the second damage he would have to take), he will again have to drop 1-2 more cards, depending on the original power of my rearguard.

There were some situations where my opponent would have to drop their last two cards, or cards that they needed to play on their next turn in order to block my rearguard and stay in the game. This haves them relying on the luck of the draw and will most likely leave them with a weak follow up turn. Then on your next turn you are in a great position to go for game, without having to hope for a crit, or any triggers, on your drive check. Stands are a great way to draw cards out of your opponents hand in order to set up a game winning scenario on your next turn. Just be sure you are able to capitalize off your opponent's weak position.

If I'm not writing about what you want to read, be sure to leave me a comment and let me know what you want to hear my opinion on! Wish me luck at my tournament. If I do well then I will most likely do a deck check, but you can count on me talking about the tournament in some way, shape, or form regardless of how I do. That's all for now, hope to see you back here at The Fight!!