The Importance of Winning the First Round

[4RM3D]

The Importance of Winning the First Round

In this thread I want to discuss two questions:
1) What is the importance of winning the first round?
2) And how far should you go to achieve victory in the first round?

These questions can be answered differently depending on your faction and tactic. So feel free to go faction-specific tactics.

What is the importance of winning the first round?
The two basic things I can think of is playing spies in the 2nd round (and pass for CA) and putting more pressure on your opponent overall.

And how far should you go to achieve victory in the first round?
This question is basically about how much CA you want to give up to win the round. If your opponent has the same number of cards as you and he passes, but he has more strength on the board than you; how many cards do you still play? 0 (pass), 1, maybe even 2?

You can also look at how many cards you want to play at all in the first round. Do you want to pass ASAP or draw out the round till the end?


Share your experiences.

 

[Northernjester]

Always pass the first round. Always.

 

[NlelithZ44]

It's doesn't only depend on your deck, but your opponent's, too. And I don't always try to win the first round, but rather bait opponent to do something (loose CA, spend most of his specials). If I gain a huge advantage in strength in the first round, and it's unlikely that my opponent may counter it with just one card, then I simply pass, even though there is a risk that your opponent holds a perfect power swing card for the next move.

You can safely push Against NR, since most of the time they will hold on to their medics for later (especially if they don't have anything good to resurrect).

Against first row ST with dwarves, if I have D-bomb in hand, I always push first round so they spend as much buffs as possible, including Aglais and Eithne (it's also more safe to play your spies after she was played).

Also, even if you know you won't win first round right from the start (bad hand), it's often better to still play your deck-thinning cards before you pass.

So the bottomline is: keep up with the tempo if you don't have counters; bait opponent into passing if you can do a power swing; push when you want your opponent to use 'significant' cards in roud 1; pass, if you can't keep up with opponent's strength and it won't affect your performance in the next round.

 

[gofastdieyoung1]

I find that winning first gives you the freedom to pass 2nd round without stress and forces the opponent to go all out, weakening their position for the 3rd round, so i roll a little harder before I give up unless it it obviously hopeless

 

[NatoGreavesy]

I tend to be a bit more freeform with my plays. For me, the first round is all about bluffing my opponent into wasting as many of their dimeritiums, scorches, lacerates, etc. as I can. I save my golds, silvers, and medics for rounds 2/3.

 

[Ingsoc85]

It is if you have card(s) that are buffed and carried to the next round, then you could just pass and hope your couldn't neutralize them with one card (or combo of cards), then you reach to the final round with a CA.

 

[ElectroBlade]

I always try to win first round with power swings like Crones so I can hopefully Avallac'h in round 2. However, if my opponent managed to get to a point where I would have to play at least 3 cards to surpass their score, I'll usually concede.

 

[frbfree]

If I'm playing ST, I'll try to win round one if I can do it within 2 cards of the opponent after he passes. I'll concede round one if my opponent needs has to play to -2 cards to beat me. If neither of those conditions is met, I'll play my entire hand out to get round one. Any other faction, I want that first number to be 1 card.

 

[frbfree]

And why can't I soft delete on this forum?

 

[Greenspindle]

1. Winning the 1st round let you control the game
2. With a Skellige deck on hand, the 1st doesn't matter too much. With my custom Skellige deck I'm with Northernjester, I pass >95% of all 1st rounds
3. With Ciri and the cow, passing the first round mostly gives me a headstart for 2nd round with at least one often two cards ahead and 9 pts on the board.