Post by awall on Dec 17, 2008 1:33:11 GMT -5
What's the best 3-gesture disruption to hit your opponent with when you've got a monster (ogre or larger)?
For a lot of players, the knee-jerk answer to this question is Maladroitness, with good reason. It's pretty handy for forcing through damage, and DS doesn't commit you as badly as DP, SW, or FF. If the other guy is behind on health, you can follow it up DSFWF for some pretty decent damage. Otherwise, DSFFF will probably throw your opponent off balance enough with the dual threat of Paralysis or Disease that you'll likely get a few more damage through. However, it's a bit trickier to use than it might appear at first; if your opponent has WW/xP the turn you hit them, they can both avoid damage and set up a Charm to fight back. The situation still favors you, but it's a tenuous lead that can go wrong if your opponent successfully pulls off some risky plays. Maladroitness likewise isn't so wonderful if your opponent manages to get off Protection the turn it hits.
I've personally had much greater success with Fear. A lot of players feel that Fear is a powerful defensive spell but not that brutal on offense. After all, casting Fear is practically giving your opponent a free opening for Protection; even without it, an opponent gesturing lots of P's and W's seems unlikely to take very much monster damage. I find, however, that in exchange for this brief respite you give them, you put yourself in position to grab a lot of initiative over the next few turns.
The advantage of Fear is that it completely shuts down Charm Monster.
Okay, technically any disruption can stop PSDD if you hit on the P, and Amnesia can also stop it on the S. But Fear breaks it at any point, as well as also preventing them from doing anything else offensive. They're left with no choice but to go on the defensive, while you're free follow up Fear with some other attack on your other hand. With enough pressure you should be able to get off a safe DSF, WFP, or even another Ogre (which is less of a liability if you're using SWD to prevent them from completing PSDD). For an example of this in action, see my December league match with xade.
If your opponent is low enough on health and you've got more than one monster, you can put your opponent in a nasty spot with SWDCDPW. One of your monsters may get offed by WPFD the turn before the Dispel, but anybody else you have is pretty much guaranteed to get through for damage on the last turn. If this drops your opponent to 2 or 3 health, you've likely won the game at this point (the trailing W from Dispel combined with a Charm or similar the turn after the Dispel sets up a likely WFP).
Has anybody else had similar experiences with Fear?
For a lot of players, the knee-jerk answer to this question is Maladroitness, with good reason. It's pretty handy for forcing through damage, and DS doesn't commit you as badly as DP, SW, or FF. If the other guy is behind on health, you can follow it up DSFWF for some pretty decent damage. Otherwise, DSFFF will probably throw your opponent off balance enough with the dual threat of Paralysis or Disease that you'll likely get a few more damage through. However, it's a bit trickier to use than it might appear at first; if your opponent has WW/xP the turn you hit them, they can both avoid damage and set up a Charm to fight back. The situation still favors you, but it's a tenuous lead that can go wrong if your opponent successfully pulls off some risky plays. Maladroitness likewise isn't so wonderful if your opponent manages to get off Protection the turn it hits.
I've personally had much greater success with Fear. A lot of players feel that Fear is a powerful defensive spell but not that brutal on offense. After all, casting Fear is practically giving your opponent a free opening for Protection; even without it, an opponent gesturing lots of P's and W's seems unlikely to take very much monster damage. I find, however, that in exchange for this brief respite you give them, you put yourself in position to grab a lot of initiative over the next few turns.
The advantage of Fear is that it completely shuts down Charm Monster.
Okay, technically any disruption can stop PSDD if you hit on the P, and Amnesia can also stop it on the S. But Fear breaks it at any point, as well as also preventing them from doing anything else offensive. They're left with no choice but to go on the defensive, while you're free follow up Fear with some other attack on your other hand. With enough pressure you should be able to get off a safe DSF, WFP, or even another Ogre (which is less of a liability if you're using SWD to prevent them from completing PSDD). For an example of this in action, see my December league match with xade.
If your opponent is low enough on health and you've got more than one monster, you can put your opponent in a nasty spot with SWDCDPW. One of your monsters may get offed by WPFD the turn before the Dispel, but anybody else you have is pretty much guaranteed to get through for damage on the last turn. If this drops your opponent to 2 or 3 health, you've likely won the game at this point (the trailing W from Dispel combined with a Charm or similar the turn after the Dispel sets up a likely WFP).
Has anybody else had similar experiences with Fear?
