O.K. I want to put up a post on the tactical positioning in Chaotic. I think that this is one of the things that makes chaotic so great, and it can make or break a match. I have also played so many matches that I should have lost but won because my opponent, no pun intended, didn’t play their cards right. And this is why I am writing this article,and I think everyone could benefit from this somehow. So first thing is first, I am going to put some works sited, and I’m telling you if my English teacher could see me now, putting the works sited first she’d have a fit. Oh well.
First we have The Book of Five Rings a.k.a. the Go Rin No Sho, translated by Thomas Cleary.
The Art of War by Sun Tzu, translated by Lionel Giles
Alright, we are going to give a little bit of info. on both of these men. Miyamoto Musashi was arguably the best samurai in history. He was a master of the sword and the developer of kenjutsu, the man was so good he could use the wooden training swords and kill his enemies with them, the official name for these swords are bokken, in case you want to look at them. I would like to mention they make a good decoration.
Next we hae Sun Tzu, another one that is arguably the best in his field. While Musashi was an expert at one on one combat Sun Tzu was a master of large scale war. He used psychology, environment, personalities, and sheer commanding expertise to make himself one of the greatest strategists of all time.
Now that I’m done boring you with history, I will get back to Chaotic. I have to say the first thing I am going to talk about is one of the most important things to keep in mind when building an army. My quote is from Sun Tzu, “Rapidity is the essence of war” (Tzu, Giles 19). There is nothing more true, with enough speed on the battle board we can take control of the pivotal points, divide and conquer, assassinate muges and destroy those pesky support conjurers. As I say this I’m sure you know I mean Swift/Range. With this we can do the above, and more. I know that there are a lot of creatures with swift/range, but I think that some times the best thing to do is to saddle up on “ye olde skeletal steed”. With this we can give a super strong front liner and make him the bane of a muge’s existence. Plus with this we make it harder to accomplish the fallowing……
Miyamoto Musashi always says throughout his book that the best way to ensure that you don’t get harmed is to stay out of your opponent’s reach. Musashi’s “safety” zone is about a foot out of reach of your enemy’s weapon. We can apply the same thing in chaotic, because if a creature can’t invade your square there won’t be a battle, on your opponent’s terms. So this leads right into the next arena, making your opponent fight you how you want them to fight. Obviously you and your opponent put locations in your decks to allow your creatures to attack first, but if you don’t let your opponent attack your creatures on their locations it shifts the battle in your favor.
Next is a tactic I use all the time. It is about using a smaller force to defeat a larger force. Now fallowing Sun Tzu, a smaller force cannot defeat a larger force on a flat, even battle field that has no advantage for either side. This is completely true. In order to win you must ensure victory, another one of Sun Tzu’s quotes. If a Chaor attacks you at Underworld City, and you are some regular run of the mill creature like Blugon, or a Lomma, just accept the odds that you most likely won’t win. I won’t say its impossible but still. However if you are on a location like riverlands with a torrent of krinth it is no longer a kamikaze move. And if you take the attacks you would have wasted trying to win you can now put to a full, good use.
The last thing I’m going to tell about here is taking the high ground. Now there isn’t elevation in a chaotic game board but there is in a less literal way. The high ground in any match is what disrupts your opponent’s strategy. It also is best comparable to mirage locations. This makes it harder for your opponent to fight you on their terms and is what makes it so great.
To summarize this whole first part has been about crippling your enemy’s strategy, and also this article, I have to admit has been a little bit (well mostly) ranting from guy that is tired of winning matches against good players that just weren’t thinking, and just because this is the one area that I have seen people abroad in chaotic struggle with. So if you didn’t like sorry, but I just had to write this.
P.S. Let me know if you want a part two, and trust me my feelings won’t be hurt if you don’t.
I do, I think their good ideas and I think the same thing, im tired of winning against good players because they just werent thinking
Thanks man, I was looking at this and thought too, I could give a bit of a break down of do’s and don’t’s in a match, and I could incorperate that into pt 2. I could also give one of my “tactical” decks, I have enough of them……..
I think you should do the second article. There isn’t a lot of those and it gave me some idea. Continue the good work.
Thanks Gobliin, I am starting to work on a second one, but with that one I’m going to make some examples. The only problem with this stuff is that men have dedicated a lifetime to it and I am trying to put it all out there in one article, but I am planning on doing a second one.
The articale is good and intersting you should do a part 2 to this. If these can do it than it good to learn from the past.
Thanks, I am suprised that people want a second one, but I will gladly put it out there. This one just gave me a bad feeling for some reason, but I think it was just me being paranoid.
Yes that was really cool so go for a second.
this is a really good article, and remember that there are a lot of little kids who play chaotic who use a maxxor and a chaor. The better players probably have a set strategy, like a few players, (including me) can make a sick army with a trimdaal, a xis’torq, and ikkatosh. This is an awesome article, and will teach arrogant players that just because you have a good card doesn’t mean you’ll win.
I agree with you baller, even though I use a chaor in my underworld deck I still have a good strategy.
I agree with you baller,even though I use chaor i my underworld deck I still have a good strategy. If this comment appears twice I don’t know how that happened.