Dragon Special

The Dragon Special is a T-Spin build designed for early S/Z and L/J starts. It is an Air T-Spin Double much like the Albatross Special or Pelican. While those builds were created by Japanese players, the Dragon Special was instantiated as an Opener by the western player ZHL.

The Dragon is designed as a T-Spin build for certain piece orders incapable of creating many other T-Spin builds, such as TSZIO. No soft dropping is required for the first bag, unlike the Dodo, making it a viable Anti-Perfect Clear setup.

Standard STSD
The STSD continuation is the most viable option for following up the Dragon Special. Given the following setups, it has a 100% chance of success, and in most cases, a clean board left afterward.

66.67% of all bags can be arranged in any of the two ways shown. This will unblock the gap made from the first bag, which makes it easy to complete the STSD. You simply need a Z piece before S.

S before Z
If S comes before Z and it is not possible to hold the piece (due to already holding the T piece, for example), use the following setup. Actually, this setup covers all bags. A Z-Spin may be required, but it can be placed like so:

To execute the required spins, rotate the Z piece clockwise to place it in the first position, then rotate clockwise two more times.

The next bag is best filled partially before making the T-Spin rather than placing all 7 pieces. Here are some ways you can use:

Standard STSD continuations
If you used the first way of stacking the STSD, you have a lot of options to stack the third bag.

Perfect Clear after TST
You have a lot of ways you can get a Perfect Clear chance after a T-Spin Triple.


 * L → Z → J and O → S (34.84% PC rate, 7 solutions): This is the most ideal way to get a Perfect Clear after the T-Spin Triple.


 * 30.32 % of all bags (20.24% PC rate, 3 solutions): You have 7 ways to stack this one.

STSD + Perfect Clear continuation
Under construction

In this setup, a Perfect Clear can be achieved after the STSD in ten cleared lines. It is a good continuation when possible, although the standard followup has a much better chance of completion. Knowing how to complete the second bag in this manner can be useful for an early J and S.

To complete the S-Spin, rotate counter-clockwise once, then counter-clockwise again.

T-Spin Double
For this setup, Z needs to come before I and J. This one has a 43.10% chance, slightly higher than the TST T-Spin Double continuation.

TST T-Spin Double
This T-Spin Double continuation is less powerful at first and more piece dependent for the third bag, but if executed, it will lead to a 40.00% chance of a Perfect Clear.

T-Spin Triple
A trade-off between Perfect Clear chance and immediate attack. With a more level field, the board also lends itself for more T-Spin opportunities. The Perfect Clear chance is 25.95%.

It can also be arranged like this, which has a 34.84% PC chance.