Practice · the ten principles of play
A board, a life total each, the mana on the table and the cards in your hand. One decision — a line to choose, an attack to declare, blocks to assign, a turn to put in order, a race to count. Each position turns on one of the ten principles the guide calls the commandments of good play, and the answer tells you which one it was.
The ten, and how a session runs
- Adjustment — the game changes mode, and the player has to change with it.
- Resourcefulness — when losing is nearly certain, play for their mistake instead of against their best line.
- Initiative — the defender chooses the blocks, so the attack is the risk and the pressure is the reward.
- Concentration of efforts — only their life total ends the game; spend everything on that.
- Reserve — keep the card that answers the problem you have not seen yet.
- Security — act so that being wrong costs you little.
- Intelligence — read what their mana and their hand can be, and play around it.
- Cunning — make the line they take be the one you want them to take.
- Flexibility — play the board in front of you, not the plan you brought.
- Coolness — ignore the trap, the panic and the cost you have already paid.
- They pull against one another on purpose. Which one governs a position is the question the position is asking.
- A session is ten positions, one for each principle: five basic, then five marked advanced. Some positions go on after you answer — the opponent responds and the next decision is yours on the board that produced. Some show you what they were holding once you have decided.
- A line marked playable, but not the best is half a point: it loses nothing you cannot recover, and the best line does better. A principle you miss comes back next session in a position you have not seen.
