There's two sides of considering combat, just like there are two sides to actual combat: when to attack, and with what, and how you should block. I'm going to leave that first bit for another time; maybe I'm feeling a bit defensive today. Regardless, blocking is every bit as important as attacking: it keeps you from dying, which is almost always aces, and it gives you an opportunity to set up the board for your upcoming turn.
So let's get to it, then!
Hey, Look At That!
One thing to consider when attacked is, if you have mask energy and someone brought the card, whether to use, and who to use on, the global for Distraction. Frequently it'll be blindingly obvious - there'll be some big nasty thing that does horrible things if blocked or damaged or something, and you just don't want to deal with it. Other times it won't be clear - how much do you gain retreating a Tsarina, really? In general, if it'd help - either by letting that blocker block somewhere else, preventing some bad ability from going off (remember that "on attack" abilities will trigger anyway), or by letting you shy away from KOing something you'd rather not KO, it's probably worth the energy if you don't need it for something else. Don't be afraid to spend it - it'll be going away at the end of the turn anyway.
YOU CANNOT PASS (Unless It's Strategically Useful To Let Them)
After you've sorted out Distraction, the first question to ask when your opponent attacks is, "is there anything I could block, but don't want to." Usually, the answer is a firm "no" - you only have so much life, and if you let things through willy-nilly, you're going to get to a point where a bum rush from your opponent, or direct damage, will take you down without you being able to stop it. That said, sometimes it pays to let a die through; generally, this will be when you're being attacked by something with relatively low offense, a really annoying ability, and you just don't want to have to deal with it for a few turns. Tsarina getting you (and your dice) down? For two, maybe three, life, you'll have a few turns till she comes out again. Managed to get your opponent's Gem Keeper to attack? One or two life might be a small price to pay for getting to field Storm (or whatever) again.
Just because you might want to let a die through, though, doesn't always mean you should. First off, how does your life situation look? If you're low on life, especially if things like Power Bolt and Human Torch are in play, it may not be wise to drop yourself further. Secondly, How close is my opponent to refilling their bag? If they're getting the die back into the mix next turn, it's that much less worth the sacrifice. Supporting that question - how oriented towards drawing extra dice are they? If they're running some sort of unholy draw engine with Mutate #666, Silver Surfer Sentinel, Gambit Ace in the Hole, and Nova Quasar, it might not matter that they just filled their dice bag; sending a die to the used pile may mean you'll see it again in two turns, or less.
Ultimately, whether to let something through comes down to answering the question of "do I think allowing this die to do its thing for some number of turns will cost me more life than it will if I let it through." Not going to lie, this is a hard question; it includes considering that your opponent might use it as energy if knocked out, which has the dual issue of it doing less potential damage to you through its ability while potentially causing damage in the form of whatever your opponent does with the energy. Overall, I tend to reserve letting enemies through later on for when it either won't get me too low and is reasonably important, or when it'll save me several rounds of dealing with an awful effect - say, Wind Rider when I have nothing that can manage to not knock her out.
A Mix & Match Mix-Up
Once you've decided who to block, the big question is one that should fill you with a sense of immense power and control, as you become the VERY ARBITER OF LIFE AND DEATH UNCONSCIOUSNESS: 'which of my and my opponent's characters do I want to be knocked out.' That's right - the real role of the blocking player is to be the Dictator of Churn. Honestly this is a much more interesting question than 'I don't have enough blockers, which guys do I block;' the answer to that is generally "block first that which hurts the worst," taking into account shenanigans like Spider-Man Wall Crawler's ability. Most things that violate that rule wind up falling into the category of "I'd rather not deal with these at all," like Hulk Jade Giant.
Anyway, getting back to the interesting question - best to tackle each side separately. For your characters, what, if anything, you want to make sure get knocked out will depend on your plans for the next turn. Do you need lots of energy, because you know your TFC6 characters are likely in the next pull? Do you want to go for the brass ring and buy that Cyclops next turn? Consider letting some of your less important characters get KOed so you can roll them as energy. Don't like the levels of your characters? Have lots of awesome "on-fielded" abilities in play? Knock out things for a reroll, or to get the chance to field them again (and honestly, for most "on-fielded" abilities, you goal should be to get that character KOed as often as possible). Opponent have the upper hand numbers-wise, and you're worried about them bum rushing you if you don't roll characters? Try not to get KO'ed, then.
For your opponent's characters, it's usually a little more straightforward - you know who you have to deal with, and you can tell how good, or bad, it will be if your opponent gets to reroll them or not. You're probably not going to want to KO the "on-fielded" crowd, for example, though many of them have such cruddy stats that you may not get a choice. Maybe some guys are annoying but not a good idea to let through; if you can KO them, they may wind up as energy and out of your hair. Otherwise, whether you knock out an opposing character again feeds into your plans for next turn. Would doing so let you knock out something on your end you'd really like to reroll? Would it get the opponent low enough on blockers that you should be able to overrun them on your turn? These are both good times to KO on the block - take advantage of the fact that your opponent won't be able to bolster their numbers before you get the chance to attack, while you do.
Once you know what you want to do, it really comes down to matching numbers - your big number attackers go on opponents that you want knocked out, your little defenders go to things that will knock them out, and so on - the only real wrinkle is if your opponent has a trampler (through Throw Car, or one of the tiny handful of cards with that ability), in which case you will actually need at least as much defense as their attack whether you plan on having your guy get KOed or not. Other factors usually involve card abilities: you'll probably want to block with Mutate #666 as much as possible, for one example; if you're running Phoenix Jeannie, you probably want to block characters she can't KO, but who also can't KO her, to deal some extra damage to your opponent (and KO that die anyway), for another. You also need to make sure you account for globals. If Invulnerability is on the table and your opponent has bolt energy floating around, that guy you were hoping to save from an untimely KO might wind up there anyway...or that Wind Rider you meticulously underblocked to prevent them from getting another round of card rerolling off might wind up back in their prep area anyway. Most of the time, globals will mess with your 'off by one' cases - if you're chump blocking big guys, or wailing on smaller guys, you probably won't need to worry about it, outside of the Smash! global.
Enjoy The Block Party
On its face, blocking isn't that complicated - 'keep the other guy from putting the pointy end into you,' to paraphrase. The nuances to it really come out in figuring out how to churn best to your needs (and giving as little as possible that's useful to your opponent) while also using your characters' abilities to their fullest. There's so many possible combinations - of abilities, of situations, of dice - that it requires some tactical thinking, some on-the-fly plans. At the same time, there's less of the uncertainty of how to allocate dice that comes with attacking, making it more of a concrete problem for you to solve. And, frankly, it's one I like solving.
Great article! I often forget to look at some of this stuff while playing. I always forget to block with the goal of knocking out my own characters for churn.
ReplyDeleteAlso for reusing "When fielded" abilities
DeleteOnce I get Hawkeye Longbow on the field, his mission is to get knocked out ASAP. My opponents know this and he effectively becomes a deterrent for them to attack.
ReplyDelete