Reacting to your opponent

yazichima · August 31, 2011, 09:40:59 PM

Often when I'm battlling hard-core (which isn't very hardcore at all, considering how good I'm not) I don't find a lot of time to figure out what my opponent is doing. And even if I do, I either don't have enough time to change strategies, or I simply don't know what to combat their actions with. So basically just leave an answer telling me what you've found effective against different strategies: Ex: how does your reaction to a hybrid combo differ from your reaction to a 3-wide?

The other component of this is reacting to what skills your opponent has. If you notice that they avoid t-spins, how do you take advantage of them? (Just an example, talk about whatever you like ) Or if they are really fast at down stacking vs. building. Any thoughts are apreciated.

And finally, where do you get time to watch your opponent? I've found just analysing the garbage I get is usefull. You can generally tell if they're comboing, tetrising or what not by looking at the gaps. (In TF at least, different for Nullpominoe I believe) What about you guys? do you steal a glance at their matrix while you're building? Or placing final pieces? comboing? Wait until the next round?

Thanks

cubixcreature · August 31, 2011, 10:02:56 PM

Quote from: yazichima
Often when I'm battlling hard-core (which isn't very hardcore at all, considering how good I'm not) I don't find a lot of time to figure out what my opponent is doing. And even if I do, I either don't have enough time to change strategies, or I simply don't know what to combat their actions with. So basically just leave an answer telling me what you've found effective against different strategies: Ex: how does your reaction to a hybrid combo differ from your reaction to a 3-wide?

The other component of this is reacting to what skills your opponent has. If you notice that they avoid t-spins, how do you take advantage of them? (Just an example, talk about whatever you like ) Or if they are really fast at down stacking vs. building. Any thoughts are apreciated.

And finally, where do you get time to watch your opponent? I've found just analysing the garbage I get is usefull. You can generally tell if they're comboing, tetrising or what not by looking at the gaps. (In TF at least, different for Nullpominoe I believe) What about you guys? do you steal a glance at their matrix while you're building? Or placing final pieces? comboing? Wait until the next round?

Thanks

Personally I never glance at my opponents screen, which might be a set back for me, but I just don't see it as a necessary part of Multiplayer. I just try to keep up my speed and keep the pressure on, Tetris/T-Spin B2B as much as possible. And downstacking garbage efficiently helps a lot, if you are getting a lot of 2-3x combos rather than a 6 - 8 downstack combo, then you are losing a lot of lines that you could be sending to your opponent.

Paradox · August 31, 2011, 10:28:45 PM

I think you can play strategically by looking at your opponents screen. You can make it pretty far without doing so because all you have to do is downstack and have high APM. I think its very useful and can set 2 equal players apart though. Its good to know when to spike or when to not send easy garbage etc.

mippo · September 01, 2011, 01:50:17 AM

I find it usually the most productive to see where my opponent is in relation to me. A good time is usually when I'm all the way at the bottom of the screen, for example after downstacking. If he/she is at the bottom too, it means I don't have to send quick garbage because it will be pointless, but if they are at the top I'll try a quick T-spin double to finish them off. If they are in the middle or have clean garbage, it probably means they are going to be sending me lines soon.

If I'm getting quite high to the top, I check (or try) to see where they are, if they are low I'm just going to downstack, but if they are very high too I might risk a TSD.

At first I never had time to look at the screen and usually it's just a glance, but like everything else, you'll get better at it.

Also it's good to check if they are doing certain openings every time and trying to react appropriately to that.

XaeL · September 01, 2011, 06:54:51 AM

you should spike them if their near the top.

yazichima · September 01, 2011, 10:51:34 AM

Okay, sounds good. Any specifics about strategies though? Like how you fight combos or when you change style?

Paradox · September 01, 2011, 04:38:10 PM

rule of thumb: if they 4-wide just leave and call them noob

I wrote a guide on openers vs openers somewhere... if I find it I'll let you know

ryanunban · September 01, 2011, 04:40:07 PM

Quote from: Paradox
rule of thumb: if they 4-wide just leave and call them noob

I wrote a guide on openers vs openers somewhere... if I find it I'll let you know

You can do that if you want to be a sore loser.

Rosti_LFC · September 01, 2011, 06:42:53 PM

Knowing when to expect a large amount of garbage, or when you can really hurt your opponent by sending a large amount (or even a small amount) is extremely useful. You only need to watch matches to see plenty of times that people could have won if they'd just sent some lines.

And I'd tend to play differently against a player who combos or goes for an elaborate t-spin setup to open than I would against someone who has a more straightforward playstyle, because in those situations it's far more important to send as much as you can as early as you can.

Dagorath · September 02, 2011, 08:48:05 PM

.

dispo_io · September 02, 2011, 11:16:17 PM

For tspinning opponent:
With slower opponents, i try not to do too many b2bs (its pretty easy to start doing a lot with slower opponents), cuz i just get them all sent back to me, often comboed back in bits, giving me terrible garbage.
With faster opponents, i like to build high enough for a tspin and a tetris, wait for first b2b to come in, and then launch an attack. Send whatever i had built, and combo/tetris back the rest.

Tetrising opponents:
as long as they aren't too fast (< 15 tpm differential), tspins help me survive and sometimes beat them. but usually their b2bs give u nice 4-5 rows high single-column gaps to spin over, or combo back, while they are busy building for tetrises!

Against 3 widers, i try to do PC opening.
If i can't get a PC, i just close the PC gap, so I have 1 column in the middle of matrix for a tetris, and then build and do tspins over that middle gap. This way i find that i can survive 12-13 combo easy, but any more than that and its trouble.

if someone starts building 3w in the middle of a game, i concentrate on doing as many tspins as possible while downstacking (Normally, I would just downstack hoping to get nice mini combos)

idk how good these strategies are, i am a mediocre player at best. so u should probably try them, and see what works for you

yazichima · September 05, 2011, 11:24:37 AM

Hmm, I like this advice ^ this is what I was looking for. I'm terrible with pc's, so I'd be a noob and just combo against them But yes, thank you for the reply.
where do you generally play?

larrytetris · September 05, 2011, 12:26:31 PM

A fantastic way to learn about timing and responding to your opponent is King of Stackers!

yazichima · November 27, 2011, 10:24:20 AM

How often do you fools actually look at your opponent's matrix? And when do you do so?

pumpupthejam · November 27, 2011, 11:10:24 AM

Quote from: yazichima
How often do you fools actually look at your opponent's matrix? And when do you do so?

I don't worry about what my opponent is doing....

I tell you what I do, I keep everything as low as possible. If I get garbage I clear it as quickly as possible without thinking about building Tetrises or T-spins. If I see an opportunity for them then I will take it, but I won't go out of my way to do so. This works against any opponent.