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TTA vs. TTX: The Community   Table of Contents   TTA Fun

King of sexiness himself graces us with two articles encompassing much of his knowledge about Triple Triad and the current players of TTA!

Cardmaster’s Cafe

Right off the bat, I suppose it would only be fair to apologize.

Sadly, I'm not about to impart some kind of magical secret to TT victory. I mean, even if there was a secret, did you really expect that I'd give it away to everyone else? What I'm going to talk about here instead is several things that will help to increase your win percentage by maybe a couple of points, especially if you are a new player. Bear in mind, with all of these tips, I am discussing open games. However, many of them also apply to closed.

1. Know the rules.

This may seem obvious, but it’s very important. Know the rules inside and out. This shouldn't be too hard, since they are relatively simple. Knowing the rules means you have a huge advantage over those who don't know the rules. Obviously, you won't encounter many players who don't know the rules outside of level 1-4, but little quirks, such as that in elemental you take +1 and -1 values into account for combo are less well-known, even amongst some experienced players. By 'know the rules', I also mean KNOW WHICH RULES ARE ON IN EVERY GAME YOU PLAY. One of the most common mistakes made is to assume that (for example) plus is on when it isn't. Going for a plus that isn't there is most likely going to cost you the game. Several tournament games are lost even in key rounds because of this error in play.

2. Use the best cards available.

If your goal is to win in games of Triple Triad (and here at strategy corner that's what it’s all about) there is no point in deliberately using weaker cards. While there is a risk of being called lame, I'm sure you'd rather win your tournament game and be called lame than lose right? The cards are there to use. Use them to their full effect. Having said that, don't take what I've said to be a simple endorsement to use the most powerful cards every time. What 'using the best cards' means is use the best cards for your hand. There's no point in having a hand full of power cards that lacks balance or synergy.

3. Use up the whole time available when deciding your move.

Is it a coincidence that the players who tell me to hurry up in games invariably seem to lose? I think not. Using up as much of the available time as possible gives you the most chance to check as many available moves as possible.

4. Give yourself as much chance to win as possible.

Even if it looks certain that you have lost, play to give yourself the maximum chance of winning. In other words, give your opponent as many chances to make mistakes as possible. Thus, if you have a choice between making a move that leaves a possible win on the table for you and one that doesn't, always take the former option, even if the likelihood of obtaining that win is low. Yes, 99 out of 100 games your opponent will play it right, but by making the less obvious move you give yourself the chance for the win, even if it is just 1%.

I recently played a game against Delial, and I saw that the game was going to be a tie. For his last move, he selected one card, and then picked the other and put it in a strange place. After the game, I asked him why he did it, since it was still a tie. His reply? "You aren't going to make a mistake if I don't give you the chance to."

Playing like this can even turn around a game where you're going to lose. To highlight this, allow me to talk about two games I played in a recent tournament. In the first round, my opponent realized that I had the win after my 2nd move, and simply wanted to get the game over with and so played moves that gave me an easy win. In the third round of the same tournament, I also had the win tied up. This time however, my opponent wanted to make it difficult for me. I imagined he would play a card in a certain place, but his last move was less obvious, and it threw me off. I ended up missing the win, and my opponent stole a game he should have lost simply by never giving up and making if difficult for me.

5. Play it safe.

In other words, don't go for the risky win when you have a certain tie. I know that seems to contradict what I said above, but in reality the two compliment one another. In other words, play unusual moves that you're certain won't cost you the game, but might throw the opponent off and give you that extra chance of winning. However, don't play risky moves that could turn that tie into a loss if your opponent plays right. That brings me to my next point.

6. Play as if your opponent will play flawlessly

This is quite simple: never expect the opponent to make the wrong move. I'm sure we've all done it before, thinking, "well, if I play there, if he plays there, it’s my win", before realizing after you've made your move that he also has a win, thanks to your assumption that he would play wrong. You don't want that to happen right? So never assume that your opponent will play wrong.

7. Know your formations

That means 3 things: Know how to set them up, know WHEN to set them up, and know how to avoid being caught in one. If you don't know, the T, S/Z, and Q formations are formations of cards which are usually hugely advantageous to the first turn player. Thus, it is usually to your advantage to set up one of the formations when playing first, and try to prevent a formation when playing 2nd.

If you want to know more about formations, see the November 2006, April 2007, and September 2007 editions of Occult Fan.

Hopefully these have given you a helping hand if you're a new player looking to improve, and if you're a seasoned veteran, I hope I've at least given you something to think about.
Thanks for reading!

3 Up, 3 Down

A previous fixture of the Occult Fan, the 3 Up, 3 Down makes a return to the newsletter highlighting 3 players who have really surged as players, as well as 3 players who have been in a bit of a slump as of late.

Here are three of TTA’s hottest players as of late in our first category.

Seto

A no-brainer. At the moment, Seto appears to be unstoppable. In addition to both winning and retaining SE-Rinoa (as if that wasn't enough), he has also reached the final of Triad Wars VI, meaning he could be the first person EVER to win 2 Triad Wars crowns, and back-to-back at that! If he does that, Seto must be up for consideration as one of, if not THE finest TT players EVER. Even if he doesn't, Seto must surely have sealed his reputation as one person you never want to see in your side of the bracket.

Kona

Although a major title is still eluding him, Kona is edging ever closer to finally making it. Kona managed to win SE-Rinoa 2, only falling against Seto in the SE Match. This was no mean feat, considering he defeated Delial, himself a former SE winner and Kaus Debonair a former winner of Triad Wars, to make it there. Not only that, but he also made the semi-finals of Triad Wars VI. At this rate, it is surely only a matter of time before Kona wins a major title.

Cife

Although he has been around for a long time, Cife has never appeared to take Triple Triad too seriously. That is, until now. Up until last year, Cife had never made it beyond the 2nd round of a major tournament before. That all changed with SE-Rinoa when he not only made the 3rd round, he went one better by reaching the quarterfinal, knocking out yours truly in the process. He has now followed that up by reaching the semifinals of Triad Wars VI, falling short only to the unstoppable Seto. Although Cife doesn't yet have the tournament pedigree of some other players, I believe that he will keep improving, and that it won't be long before Cife is a player nobody wants to face.

While we have three players who are clearly building a reputation for themselves on TTA, some of TTA’s already established player have found themselves in a bit of a rut.

Grat

Despite having a strong 2007, and being mentioned in the 'who's hot' section of the June 2007 Occult Fan, Grat hasn't done so well so far in 2008. Unfortunately, the tournament win predicted in the aforementioned article hasn't materialized. Instead, it’s been quite the opposite. Out in the 2nd round of SE-Rinoa, out in the 1st round of Triad Wars VI, Grat can't seem to string some tournament results together at the moment. What's going on? Although Grat himself often claims that he isn't the player people believe him to be, both myself and everyone else knows that he has quality. It's my opinion that Grat will be back to his winning ways before long.

Kamikaze

Kaze has been relatively quiet of late. I say relatively quiet, because he DID reach the final of SE Cait Sith last year. Apart from that though, there have been a string of disappointing finishes from someone considered by many, myself included, to be one of the top players around. Has the man often referred to as Laze finally succumbed to a lack of activity? In the past, Kaze could just pick up the game and win, but (and of course this is speculation), maybe this is becoming more difficult, especially with both a full-time job and elysian fields to juggle. Is this the end of a TT great? I don't think so, but it will be interesting to see how Kamikaze copes with his hectic schedule in the future.

Keith_Adkinson

Keith made a splash in TTAC5, beating Delial and Di and only losing out in the final to Suikoden. Since then however he has managed only the third round of SE-Rinoa and was knocked out in round one of Triad Wars 6. A lot was expected of Keith since his breakout performance, but he hasn't delivered, despite his undoubted talents. A lack of activity and an unfortunate habit of being difficult to find, not to mention a sometimes questionable attitude has meant that after his big leap forward, Keith has taken two steps back. Keith is seen around TTA less and less at the moment. Perhaps real life has caught up with him?

Congratulations to those who made the '3 up', and commiserations to those who aren't in a strong run of form at the moment. Here's hoping that you can pick yourselves back up.