Level Two - Lesson 27
Studying Strategy
Also available are archives of live broadcasts, where the Program Director goes over the lesson, answers any questions that folks may have and sometimes goes on tangets about other elements of judging. You can find the playlist of broadcasts on youtube.
Click for Translation
While proper translation and localization are among our long-term goals, we are currently offering Google Translate on the page. Please keep in mind that the translation is automatic, which means that specific game terms, names of cards or mechanics, or technical language used to describe the game may not translate well. As with the documents for the game itself, the English page is the authoritative document in case of any confusion or discrepancy.Join the discussion in our Discord and talk with other judges about what you learned, and ask any questions you may have!
Hello there!
Welcome back to the level two lessons for the Star Wars™: Unlimited Judge Program!
As always, I’m your host Jonah, and today, we’re going to talk about something a little bit different. This lesson is going to cover some of the basics of studying strategy for trading card games.
A lot of what I talk about was initially written for other games, but the concepts can be applied directly to Unlimited, because they are so broad and fundamental. If you know of any comparable resources that are specific to Star Wars: Unlimited, please don’t hesitate to let me know, and I can add them to the arsenal.
We’re talking about strategy because it makes you a better judge. We spent several lessons discussing investigations and infractions, and remedies, and a significant amount of time we need to be able to evaluate the impact an action had on the game, without having been present for the rest of the game or the match.
This means that we, as judges, need to be able to have a solid grasp of the strategic fundamentals of the game and how they impact ongoing matches.
This lesson isn’t going to make you a master at the game, not by a long shot, but it is a foundational step, and I encourage you to always play as much as you can, and to even consume content regarding the game, whether it be articles, tournament reports from players, or gameplay videos.
Overview
Of course, before we get into the details, let’s do a brief overview of what we’ll be covering. I’m going to start with a short story from a real event, where strategic game knowledge played a part in resolving the situation, and then move on to the basics of strategy - identifying what information you need and what is being prioritized by the players. From there, we’ll discuss tactics for acquiring that information and validating the information you’ve already gathered.
A Story
Imagine you’re at a premier tournament, watching a player on Quinlan - Tarkintown play against Qi’ra Green. They have begun to play out their last turn. Their opponent has claimed the initiative, with a lethal Avenger in play. They exhaust a resource, Hotshot Blaster from hand, and exhaust another, Hotshot from smuggle. They attack, then resource off the top for the smuggle. Surprise strike, exhausting their last two resources, and they take the game.
Now, presented this way, it is pretty apparent that something has gone wrong. The Active Player should not have been able to play the Surprise Strike. But watching the game, it can be harder to tell, and harder still to suss out advantages and determine how impactful actions are on a game state. However, if you know the format and know what each deck wants to see happen in a match, it can become significantly easier to find problems. Being able to identify that the Avenger is lethal is a relatively easy observation. But what if it was something a bit more subtle, such as playing against a deck that threatens a similar line utilizing cards out of the resource row that aren’t visible? What if it’s not immediately lethal, but instead the Quinlan player doesn’t have an answer to the Avenger and will lose the game to attrition over only a couple of rounds?
Perhaps, instead, we see a player play Aggression and draw a card with a full hand in a situation where that’s not what you would expect them to do - but perhaps they’re digging for a specific card that is their only out. Playing Aggression and drawing a card isn’t an illegal play, but perhaps they just need an attack boost, and they draw a Hot Shot Blaster and pay three for it, and try to pass it off as it being smuggled. Again, this is obviously problematic, but knowing that the first step was strategically strange, despite being legal, is an indicator that the player may be desperate.
Goal and Knowledge
While knowledge of a specific deck that you play, or even several decks in a format can help, it’s not reasonable to expect every judge to have all of the knowledge a tournament player would have. Keeping up with metagame shifts, sideboard strategies and the newest in tournament strategy is a lot to ask, on top of all the skills and knowledge a judge is asked to retain - rules, policy, and logistics, all of which are far more actively tested on the floor of an event than whether or not Command is generally an aggressive aspect or defensive in this limited format and whether that changes if you’re playing draft or sealed.
However, there are many talented and experienced judges who also play Unlimited at a high level - and there is a crossover of skills between the two that help these individuals in both fields. While this module probably won’t push you over the edge to becoming the next Galactic Champion, the goal is to improve your tactical knowledge enough that you can more accurately analyze games you are called over to investigate and more efficiently put yourself in the seat of either player, to analyze their motivations and goals within the game.
I’m going to talk about explicit methods of determining advantage or figuring out lines of play, but the long and short of it is that having a better understanding of Unlimited as a player will give you a better understanding of Unlimited as a judge.
Who’s the Beatdown
One of, if not the most important TCG strategy articles was written in 1999, by Mike Flores, entitled “Who’s the Beatdown”. While it was written for a different game (and the cards are even wildly out of date for that game), the principles are as relevant as ever, and it’s a very valuable article. It discusses identifying which player should be taking on the role of the aggro deck and which should be the control deck, particularly when they’re similar archetypes - Qi’ra Green vs Iden Green or Sabine ECL vs. Asajj Red.
In some matchups, say, a traditional control deck playing against an aggressive deck, the identification is obvious. However as two decks become more similar to each other in pace of play and style, the question becomes harder and harder to evaluate.
Now, why does this matter to us as judges? For players, it’s important to know whether you should be attacking your opponent or defending your resources - it determines your lines of play. And for judges, we care about it for the same reason.
If a player misplays an event by exhausting incorrect resources for it, and due to that mistake is able to play two units instead of one, that’s clearly concerning. But if we’re able to identify that player as the beatdown, and the second unit they play is a sentinel with low attack, it becomes significantly less concerning.
So how do we identify who is the beatdown? Well, with constructed, you can look at the archetypes and make determinations based on how experience shows the decks play against each other. Furthermore, decks are much more refined in their playstyle - Sabine is a relatively distinct deck and very aggressively inclined. The mid-range decks are often very clearly midrange decks and the control decks are clearly control decks.
Where it becomes a stickier proposition is in limited. How do you determine which of two decks is more aggressive, and which one should play the control role? There are a few simple questions you can ask that can help guide you in the right direction. Which deck can deal more damage? Which deck has more removal, permission, or card advantage?
Generally, the deck with more damage will be the aggressor and the deck with more removal, permission, and card drawing will be the controller, but that’s not always the case - as each game of Unlimited can play out differently. Maybe the more aggressively inclined deck stumbled on early plays, and the control deck hasn’t found any removal events but did find a few Space Units that have been getting through. This changes things.
Identifying a player’s role in a match is important to determining their in-game goals and motivations. Let’s look at an example mirror match between two Sabine decks in premier. Of course, in most match-ups, the Sabine player will be taking on the role of the beatdown.
Now, if our first player, Alex, plays a Sabine Wren - Explosives Artist and is prepared to claim, it puts Nat, their opponent, into a poor position if they do the same. If everything that Nat does is what Alex has already done, but a turn later, Nat is going to lose the game.
The simple fact that Alex has initiative and the first turn, gives them a significant advantage, that Nat can overcome by taking a more controlling role, drawing the game out, and making up that difference over time.
Similarly, a player who has taken a mulligan also likely wants to see the game go longer so that the difference between resources is minimized. While they have the same number of cards, there is a chance that they have a less compelling gameplan, given that they didn’t have a choice about keeping their second hand. The difference between six playable cards and five is substantial. But in round three you’re looking at the difference between twelve cards and eleven. In round seven you’re looking at the difference between nineteen and twenty.
Keep in mind this motivation when handling complex calls. A player who has natural advantages that tend to put them in the role of being the aggressive player, including but not limited to having started with the initiative, their opponent having taken a mulligan, or having the more aggressive deck is disproportionately rewarded by errors that accelerate the game. A player who is being put into a position where they are playing the controlling deck is rewarded by errors that slow down the game.
Inevitability
Sometimes, your expectations of which deck is the beatdown will be off - because one deck has established inevitability. A deck (or player) can be said to have established inevitability if they win assuming the boardstate doesn’t change. If the active player has a 2/2 space unit and a 1/1 ground unit with sentinel while the non-active player has a 6/1 with no abilities, assuming nothing changes and no units or events are played, the active player will win, despite having less damage represented on the board.
This means that it’s the non-active player’s priority to change things, whether by deploying more units or removing one of the active player’s or something else - but they need to change the tide of the game to be able to win. A situation like this can change which player is the beatdown and can cause some odd-looking situations.
A control player at one hit point remaining on their base with a unit in play against an aggro player with no cards in hand and no units in play becomes the beatdown, racing against the aggro player’s opportunity to change the status quo. A deck that is not traditionally beatdown, may, because of the state of the board or the matchup, become the beatdown, and that’s an important element to a judge's evaluation of the board state.
Core Resources
Key to both of these philosophies - who’s the beatdown and inevitability - is the understanding that Star Wars: Unlimited is a trading card game in more than just name. Every action a player takes is an exchange of resources. Active player trades their card For a Cause I Believe In, their time, and readied resources, to take away non-active player’s hit points. Every interaction in Unlimited boils down to an exchange of these three fundamental resources - cards, tempo, and hit points.
Important to identify who is the beatdown and who has inevitability is identifying what resources matter in any given match-up.
Let’s begin by defining these terms:
Cards are the most obvious - this is simply cards that a player has access to during the game. Most traditionally, this is cards in hand and or in an arena, but it’s important to remember that of course some decks utilize the discard and it’s also important to account for tokens - while they’re not cards by the game rules, having tokens in play are a resource that allow for the player to have more options.
Every event or resource that they play costs them a card - some are immediately replaced, either by drawing new cards (such as Mission Briefing) or by remaining accessible - a unit in an arena isn’t an expended resource, and some cards can be played from discard under certain conditions.
Tempo is a little bit harder to define, as it is somewhat amorphous. In some ways, this is simply resources and actions - if a player has more resources available to them, they have more options and can do more powerful things. Of course, taking additional actions, utilizing action economy - like with Rebel Assault, allowing two actions for one turn, or undoing your opponent’s turns (such as through Waylay) provide a time advantage.
Most events have a tempo cost directly correlated to their resource cost - a player can’t play multiple two-cost events with only two resources available to them, but some have a cost in time, such Bail Organa - Rebel Councilor from SOR or Leia Organa - Extraordinary from LOF.
The third resource is hit points- unlike cards or tempo, which provide inherent value in having more of them, hit points are binary - either you have them or you don’t, but it is a resource that is incredibly important in some match-ups or games and utterly irrelevant in others. You’ll see games such as the aforementioned aggro mirrors, where both players are very considerate in what damage they take, what unit they try to remove, and which ones they let live. On the other hand, you’ll see games between two control decks where the game ends with both players at effectively full HP.
Hit points are a resource that passively converts into the other two - the more hit points you have, the longer you’ll be in the game, so you’ll draw more cards and have more actions.
Now, the crux of this discussion about resources is determining which are them are relevant in any given game or match-up.
Of course, general knowledge is helpful in understanding Unlimited, but by improving our understanding of which axes are important to a given game, we can better apply resources when beginning investigations.
Here’s a hypothetical scenario.
An aggro player is playing against control. What resource does the game revolve around for the control player?
Hit points are going to be their most precious resource. While time and cards improve their odds, every point of damage matters to them. The difference of being at five hit points and four hitpoints is significant, as are nine and eight when playing against an opponent with a slew of For A Cause I Believe in effects.
If we’re called over to this match because the control player didn’t take damage for the activation of an ability they control, that’s particularly concerning, because that’s their most valuable resource. On the other hand, if the aggro player made the same error, it is significantly less alarming, because that is not where they are feeling the pressure.
On the other hand, cards are important for aggro. Their hit point total isn’t under any pressure - all they need is enough cards to overwhelm the control player’s defenses
Let’s look back at the situation that was laid out at the beginning of this module. A midrange player, playing against a control player made an error that resulted in them gaining time, or tempo, by having more resources. This allowed them to enact their game plan when under pressure - when time was their most valuable asset.
There are many match-ups and line-ups between archetypes, but each match is going to be different. As a general guideline, however, most mirrors (unless they have no interaction) are going to end up being about cards - they play on similar time scale and impact hit point totals in similar ways, so it is difficult to get an advantage through time or hit points. With decks that have little to no interaction with their opponent’s gameplan, the game becomes about time. Finally, decks that have a lot of reach can make the game about time.
Of course, these guidelines aren’t perfect, and the resource that is most important can change during a match - as it goes on, time becomes less relevant and hit points become more relevant, as players have greater amounts of the first, and lower amounts of the second. In a midrange mirror having nine resources vs ten doesn’t really matter, but being at five hit points instead of four can buy a player a turn against the one unit that their opponent wants to keep in play.
Asking the Right Questions
Of course, while you may be able to evaluate which player has inevitability and which player should be playing the beatdown, the players in the game are still human, and can make mistakes. They may incorrectly identify themselves as the control player and make plays based on that line of thinking. If you are making a judgment based on your identification and evaluation of the boardstate, it is important to corroborate that information.
You can separate the players and ask for a player’s strategy - be sure not to guide them - don’t ask “Do you think you should be playing the control role here?” rather ask something more akin to “what’s your strategy for this game?” You can also ask the opponent “What do you think your opponent’s strategy is?” If the analysis of both players matches up with your understanding, that gives you a great foundation to move forward.
Of course, you have other resources available to you - you can look at the board state and begin to put together a picture from that. You can easily see what units and upgrades are in play, how many cards each player has in their hand or otherwise available (by looking at discard piles) and you can check base damage totals.
Looking at the arenas can help you identify which player has inevitability, and which player is looking to disrupt the status quo. While a player may act maliciously to try to guarantee a win, a player who is already behind has more to gain and less to lose by doing so. Take a moment to consider which player is the beatdown, and which player is playing control. Evaluate which resource exchange was damaged by the error, and once you’ve identified that, figure out how much it impacts the game.
This understanding is also important for understanding how impactful fixes made through policy might be. Understanding the fundamental exchanges and which ones are important can help you prioritize whether or not a rewind is a sound decision, or help you figure out if it’s reasonable to simply resolve an effect now.
Learning More
Ideally, this module has given you a foundation from which you can further develop your understanding of strategy and ability to delve into investigations and other aspects of judging. However, one module simply cannot teach you everything you could need to know about Unlimited strategy - for more reading on these topics, consider these external resources: Who’s the Beatdown by Michael Flores, Who’s the Beatdown II by Zvi Mowshowitz, and The Core Resources by Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa. The concepts expressed in this module are influenced by these articles and by similar articles by other authors and despite being derived from other TCGs, are very helpful in their fundamental lessons. Davis Kinglsey wrote a version of Who’s the Beatdown for Star Wars: Unlimited, as did Peter Day on TCGPlayer.
Of course, there are dozens upon dozens of other authors producing TCG strategy content, and reading those articles can also help. While in depth knowledge of particular match ups can be helpful in some circumstances (such as knowing the exact outs a player may have) metagames evolve regularly, so it’s best to focus your attention on articles that cover strategy fundamentals, rather than specific decks.
Beyond that, continue to engage with the game! Play the game yourself - playing both at casual tier and competitive tier allows you to see how easy it is to make mistakes and helps you understand what judge behaviors can be frustrating, and how penalties feel to receive. It’s also much easier to remember combat tricks and what a player needs to play around if you’re playing the format. Knowing that a card exists academically is much different from instinctively seeing the resources open and remembering the time you didn’t play around it and got blown out (or the time when you *did* and managed to eke out a win).
If you’re not able to play Unlimited regularly, or when you’ve gotten your fill, watching Unlimited can help. Streams, coverage, and paper SWU all have their pros and cons. By watching streamers, you get a direct line to a player’s internal monologue and the way they approach strategy. High-level players teach strategy implicitly, while there are other streams that take the time to explicitly cover the streamer’s strategy. There are yet other streams that show weird or janky decks or feature players who are less experienced - these offer value because they will produce lines of play that you might not expect to see, and broaden your knowledge of how people play Unlimited. Not everyone who plays in a tournament is a pro or has hundreds of hours in the game, and may make simple lines of play that don’t make sense amidst the context of the strategies discussed in this module.
Watching coverage lets you see a variety of high-level play, with layers of insight and explanation, where the commentators are more omniscient than a streamer on their own, and so you can see further down the line of dominos of potential lines of plays, which can help you begin to analyze complex scenarios on your own more completely.
Watching paper SWU lets you engage more directly - while you may be able to ask streamers some questions, with friends, you can talk to them or challenge them, and learn from their ideas. You can also share yours with less fear of being judged yourself.
Our next lesson is a dive into feedback, expanding on what we covered in the level one lesson on providing feedback, and will be followed by a lesson giving guidance on writing reviews - both key skills for being an effective leader and helping the community grow. If you’re watching this on YouTube, and you want more level two lessons in your feed, go ahead and subscribe. Join us Tuesdays and Fridays on twitch.tv/swu_judges for live broadcasts covering the content of these lessons as they are released, and join the Star Wars: Unlimited Judge Program Discord to join the community in discussion of this and much, much more.
As always, good luck, and have fun.