Go: A tandum study
Have any of you ever played or studied Go? It is a very niche game that very few gamers really like to delve into, because, while the rules are incredibly simple, the game itself is such a complex battle of balance and tempo that it takes months to understand and a complete lifetime to even begin to master. But why am I talking about Go on a Mage Wars forum? The answer is simple: there are some very viable concepts that apply both to Go and to Mage Wars. Today, we are going to look at those concepts. In order to do that, let use first explain the very basics of go, and the two concepts that apply to both games.
Go is a game played on a 19x19 grid, on which players take turns placing one black or white stone at a time. It is a game of Area control at it’s very base, with players alternating between attacking and defending their position on the board to score the most territory. This seems like it would not relate to Mage Wars at all, but two concepts, Sente, and Gote, are so inherent to both Go and Mage Wars that both types of players need to understand these concepts to really do well at this game. So, what do these two strange words mean?
Sente means having the initiative, forcing the opponent to respond to a move you just made for fear of further losing board position. This means that you are keeping the tempo on your side. If you are forcing your opponent to react, you can do whatever you want without fear of the opponent counterattacking.
Gote means potentially passing the initiative, allowing the opponent to not respond to a move you just made, and possible perform sente on you during the next hand of play. To relate this to Mage Wars, its when you have the tempo advantage, and you do a subpar move, or heal at the wrong time, or move into the wrong zone, or you place the wall on the wrong side. It allows the opponent to stop reacting to your attacks of advantage, and to start making attacks of advantage on their own. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but you need to be certain that if you play a gote, you can use that move to Sente with your next possible action, or actions.
But how can we, as Mage Wars players, really take advantage of the balance of Sente/Gote? Well, let’s look at this way: Would you give up 50 dollars to have a hundred next week? Or a thousand next month? The answer is it depends on how bad you need that 50 dollars. The example applies to sente this way: How bad do you need to gain tempo? Gain you afford to lose tempo advantage for a round, to make perform gote, in order to perform a powerful sente just a little later?
Now, at first we thought that this may not work all the time, because unlike Go, Mage Wars does have hidden game elements, namely the cards in the spellbooks. This could potentially ruin an attempt at performing Sente to it’s fullest advantage. In order to control how well Sente/Gote will play out for you, you need to read how your opponent will sente your act of gote. Will they play a big creature/attack spell/ expensive enchantment? No, you cannot tell just by looking at them, but you can tell by the way they open the game, and the mage that they are acting as. Are they a solo Warlock deck? Then they may try to battle fury you if they get the best chance. Your gote could be a block on yourself or a jinx on them, with the hopes of baiting them in for your real Sente move, which would be a pumped Archer attack that they were just out of range of. This is just a small example of reading strategies to best utilize the tactics in your spellbook to perform the most effective and efficient Sente and gote.
Prepare! If you are planning on making a game ending sente move, you must prepare that sente well in advance, maybe even at the beginning of the game. This preparation will really help to perform sente easier, and with less resistance. Prepare against opponents sentes as well. There was one game where I used an Iron Golem to force a hellfire trap to be wasted, allowing my mage to take proper position to win the battle.
How can you tell the difference between a sente and gote move? The answer is subjective to every mage, but there are some guidelines one should follow when deciding to react to a potential sente:
1. Does it threaten to kill your mage or your most powerful threat?
2. Does it threaten your board position in a way that would stop you from getting to the opponent?
3. Does it take your tempo or action advantage away from you?
Once you decide, you must now make the decision to either react to the sente or perform a sente of your own. If you can do both, all the better, but a good opponent will never let you take advantage of your advantage, so think carefully before you decide.
The final note I can give you on Sente and gote is that EVERY move in game is either one or the other, no matter how superficial or menial that move may seem, the realization that every move can be reacted to is a major hurdle in advancing your game, and using that to your advantage will only help you in your quest to dominate the arena. Turn 1 mana crystal/mana crystal? Gote. Turn two battle forge? Gote. Turn 3 grizzly bear w/ facedown enchantment? Sente. Even reactive moves are sente and gote. Turn to stone in response to grizzly bear summon? Sente. The key is to keep your opponent performing gote all the time in response to your sente. This is harder to do in practice than in theory, but it can be done, and I highly encourage deeper study of this ebb and flow. As always, thank you all so much for taking the time to read this, and any comments, criticisms, or questions you may, feel free to respond! Cheers!
