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| CarpeGuitarrem |
![]() Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 7:56 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
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Location: Franciscan University of Steubenville
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--- description ---
Mind over matter? Well, not quite...but the way you play LOTR can be just as important as your deck.
--- end description ---
"But it’s so simple. All I have to do is divine it from what I know of you. Are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemies? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you ... But you must have known I was not a great fool; you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me."
"You’ve made your decision then?"
"Not remotely! Because Iocaine comes from Australia. As everyone knNOLINKows, Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not truNOLINKst them, as you are not trusted by me. So, I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you."
"Truly, you have a dizzying intellect." (Wesley and Vezzini, The Princess Bride)
If you’ve made it through the above dialogue, you’ve got my congratulations. If you’re wondering what exactly it has to do with the Lord of the Rings TCG...just a second-I’ll get bNOLINKack to you on that one. Actually, it does have quite a bit to do with our favorite game-but it deals with a facet of play which many people pay no attention to: the psychology of the game. That’s right-it’s time for the shrink treatment!
The basic ways that psychology enters into LOTR are through verbal cues, physical cues, and gameplay cues. Using these, you can try to shape the thoughts of your opponent, resulting in a better game for yourself? This is because LOTR is filled with choices. How do I assign companions? Should I save this event? Is it a good idea to double-move this turn? Should my Ring-bearer put on the One Ring? These choices become even more important when your opponent’s juggling minions and pumps in order to keep their poor Frodo alive. And that, my friend, is when psychology takes center stage. Those three cues are most important in making bluffs...and it’s with bluffs that you win the game. Bluffing plays right into two key psychological games: "Iocaine" situations, and forcing the Free Peoples player to make a deadly mistake. Let’s take a look at how this happens...
1. Bluffing
2. "Iocaine" Situations
3. Forcing the Mistake
1: Bluffing
"You only think he said ’True love’. But in reality, he said ’To blev’, which means ’To bluff’. So he must have been playing at cards, and he was cheating!" (Miracle Max, The Princess Bride)
Well, unlike Miracle Max would have you believe, bluffing is not synonymous with cheating! In fact...it’s one of the most honest things you can do. True, it involves a bit of deception, but that’s pretty much accepted. The real key to bluffing is to mix a little bit of truth into the bluff. Because if it’s all a bluff, it smells fishy. But by mixing a little bit of fact in there, it becomes much stronger. It’s also harder to get callNOLINKed on, since it’s not a total deception.
The big question about bluffing, of course, is how to do it. Let’s go back to our three types of cues: verbal cues, physical cues, and gameplay cues. Through each of these types of cues, we can convey messages that don’t always accurately reflect what we do and don’t have in hand. Mixing two or more of them makes them incredibly strong when melded. Why? Because then there’s more reason for them to be true, from your opponent’s perspective.
Verbal Cues
Verbal cues are the easiest to implement. Basically, this is your typical Poker banter. Simple verbal cues like "Hehee...that’s a lot of twilight...this should be fun." and "Whoa, are you sure about playing that minion?" are fairly simple, and don’t always get the job done right, because they’re too obvious. What you really want to shoot for is subtlety. Phrases like "Oh, sorry about that." and "Wait, I can’t play that yet." are much better for the job. They don’t reveal your intentions directly, but rather indirectly influence your opponent.
Physical Cues
Now, there’s a couple different types of physical cues. The first one is the famous "Poker face"...or, rather, the lack thereof. Facial expressions can really make or break a game, especially if your opponent thinks you’ve missed an opportunity. If, for example, they end a skirmish, and you give an agonized sigh, they might think you had a chance to use that copy of Red Wrath, and forgot. In which case they’ll be a bit more cautious than normal.
The second type of physical cue involves using the cards as props. If you push forward a card, and then jerk it back, you give the impression of wanting to play that card. Tossing the cards down on the table in disgust is also an excellent physical cue. Just make sure you keep the message subtle and subconscious.
Gameplay Cues
There’s a few things you can do with gameplay to bluff. The funnest one is to use those wonderful little things called twilight tokens. During the fellowship phase, the Free Peoples player is constantly adding to the twilight pool. One of the best ways to cause them anxiety is to start arranging the twilight tokens even as the Free Peoples player adds them in. Group them into fours and threes, and it looks like you’re counting out how many minions you can play. Take out a few, and then start grouping, and then it looks like you’re getting ready to set up. Or, in the regroup phase, do the same thing to deter a double move.
Another type of gameplay bluffing is to use game actions, like discarding, to convey a message. If you don’t play any minions, and then discard a weak minion, this sends the message that you didn’t have any strong minions to play...especially if you reinforce this with a verbal cue. This actually happened to me once. My opponent had been playing a  grind, and was just about ready to swarm me. The only problem was, he didn’t quite have enough twilight. So he did just what I described. I was naive enough to follow his lead, and I doubled into a bomb.
2: "Iocaine" Situations
Okay, remember that bit of dialogue at the top of the article? If you’ve seen The Princess Bride, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If not, here’s a brief rundown: it involves the dizzying intellectual processes of a man trying to decide between two cups, one of which contains deadly poison. If you look at any LOTR game, you’ll find that this occurs in a very critical situation: skirmish events.
Now, skirmish events are present in a limited quantity. At most, each player can only have eight, and has to spread them out over all of their skirmishes. Most players, however, will usually only have three or four events in hand, depending on their deck. Sometimes, the player will have to pick and choose where they send their events, especially if their deck doesn’t have all of the right events ready at all the right times (which hardly any do).
The way that you can win this one with psychology is by manipulating just when skirmish events are played. Many times, if both sides have skirmish events, you’ll have one side play an event, and then have the other side pass. Then the first side passes, and the second side can choose to play an event. This is essentially an "iocaine" situation in action: the Free Peoples player is asking themselves, "Is the Shadow player trying to win this skirmish or the next one? Can they even win this one? Are they bluffing to make me burn my events?"
Now, this is where your three methods of cues come into play. What you need to do to win an iocaine situation is to trick your opponent either into burning an event on a winning skirmish, or convince them that using an event is futile, since you could counter it easily. They’re both somewhat tricky, and require a bit of convincing to work. Let’s take a couple examples, shall we?
Example 1:
Eomer, Horsemaster, bearing Eomer’s Spear, Trusty Weapon (Strength 9, 11 with hunter bonus) is skirmishing Troll’s Keyward (Strength 8 ). Just as the skirmish starts, you begin to reveal a card from hand. Hopefully, your opponent will make the connection that you’re about to play a skirmish event. Then, you take it back, "remembering" that the Free Peoples player goes first. They play an event or use Eomer’s ability, and you sit back and pass-bingo! They just burned an event that they’ll need to get past the big orc that they forgot about...
There is a caveat to this example: logically, the Free Peoples player can just pass and see if you play an event. The key here is to make them forget about that option, and to pressure them.
Example 2:
Aragorn, Thorongil (Strength 8, no hunter bonus) is skirmishing Sentry Uruk (Strength 10, no hunter bonus). The Free Peoples player might have an event that can boost Aragorn’s strength by three or four, but you’re not sure. As the skirmish begins, you pull a card up and out of your hand. Most likely, your opponent, thinking you’re ready to play Violent Hurl, will pass on their skirmish event, since they konw you can match it with Violent Hurl. And you’ve just won that skirmish, when you could have lost it. Congratulations!
Iocaine situations are one of the trickiest to play through, since they typically involve complete bluffs-but the payoff is certainly sweet.
3: Forcing the Mistake
Now, everyone makes mistakes-nobody’s perfect. And in the LOTR TCG, this is something you need to use to your advantage. You can’t really force anyone to make a mistake, but you can certainly make it very easy for them to make a mistake. The best way to do this is by manipulating their perceptions of your hand. If they’re mistaken in what they think you have, they’re more likely to make a mistake. And if they make a mistake, that translates to a good thing for you. The best way to achieve this manipulation is by combining everything we’ve learned so far about bluffing and misdirection.
The best way to show how this works is to go through examples, of course. I’ll take it step by step, first seperating out some of the bluff types, and then showing you one way to combine them. The important part, however, is to remember that most of this all lies with your own creativity. It’s up to you to formulate your own unique psychological ploys, and it’s your job to use them well. So, without any further delay...the examples!
Intimidation
Okay, so your opponent’s getting a bit cocky, just about ready to perform the big double on you. The one thing is, you’ve got a big twilight pool in front of you, and you could play a bunch of minions to stop him...if only you had the minions in your hand. The problem is...when you reconciled, you only managed to draw one puny minion. And so your opponent’s ready to pull off an audacious double. How do you stop him? A simple bit of intimidation, combined with a little bit of bluffing...
Before he declares that he’s going to double, begin to count out the twilight tokens. Group them together, making it seem like you’re trying to figure out how many minions you can play. Glance up nonchalantly, then look back down and keep counting. Act like you really do have minions to play. If it works, your opponent will think twice about that double move. You might even deter him from it.
Goading
No LOTR player likes to look like a wimp. So what’s the best way to make them commit a mistake? It might just be to play on their pride. If they’re ready to quite after a successful move into a sanctuary, tempt them on to the next site with some choice words. "Is that all you’re going to do?" "Wow...owned my minions and you’re stopping?" Just don’t make it too obvious.
A nice touch to add here is a bit of gameplay. If you discard a weak minion as part of reconciling your hand, you further convince your opponent that you can’t stop him as he rolls down the Site Path. He’ll think you’re just cycling, and he might fall for your trap. You can then laugh up your sleeve as you bust out a deadly bomb at Site 4.
In conclusion, the psychological aspect of LOTR can be just as interesting as the regular aspect. It can make or break the game, sometimes even more so than a player’s deck can. The thing to remember with these tips is that it’s all in the execution. You have to be natural, not obvious, and don’t try to do it all at once. One or two ploys should typically be enough to tip the scales in your favor. Just don’t let your opponent catch on! And don’t be afraid to experiment with new tactics. Have fun...
And don’t eat too much iocaine!
Thanks to the CCC for taking the time to proofread an early version of this article. |
| Last edited by CarpeGuitarrem on Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:49 pm; edited 1 time in total"ok, change of plans. the Cobracards christmas party is coming to my house, and we’re gunna teach FM how to hunt." (mm) |
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| sickofpalantirs |
![]() Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 9:45 pm |
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Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 7750
Location: somwhere, over the rainbow way up high. There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.
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beautiful simply beautiful. original funny, useful.
a 5 |
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(mm)"SoP: you will always be the Official CC Spammer in my heart"
"DáinIronfoot"
Spammers really are amazing creatures. You can learn all there is to know about their ways in a month. And yet, after a hundred years, they can still surprise you.  |
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| elf lvr |
![]() Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:31 pm |
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Joined: 13 Jun 2006
Posts: 3065
Location: Rivendell
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Disable smileys in your post, you had a strength 8 showing up as  .
It was a very nice article, funny, unique, inventive... I enjoyed it.
However, it didn’t teach me anything. I’ve played since Realms, and everyone in my area has been playing from the start. They are much too experienced to fall for even the most carefully disguised cup of poison. They’re experienced enough to nearly ignore the other player and simply focus on the other player’s cards... and even more importantly, thier own.
However, this would be a GREAT article to give new players an astounding leg up on fellow beginners, or begin to get on a level playing field with tournament players, where the subtleties of a game can be as tangled as Shelob’s webs.
I liked it very much. 4 or 5 from me. |
Happy Hunting! Elf Lvr
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And behold, EL declared it good. And there was morning, and there was evening, the first (new) day. ~ DainIronfoot |
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| AnxiousChieftain |
![]() Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:21 pm |
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Joined: 15 Jul 2005
Posts: 3947
Location: Maryland
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Cool Article.
Unfortunately, like EL, I can’t see many (if any) of the people I play against falling for these tricks, since basically everyone I know (myself included!) is a LOTR veteran.
Good article for beginners though. Somewhere between a 4 and a 5. |
| MODS RULE. - lem0nhead |
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| Shadows |
![]() Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 1:37 pm |
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Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 136
Location: the underworld
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A nice original article, but as aforementioned (and I shall think will be the case with alot of people on here) I didn’t find it that helpful, as that area of the game is something that wouldn’t work on the people I play with due to their expereince..
awesome article for beginners though.
a 4 from me. |
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| NBarden |
![]() Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 10:45 am |
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Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 5468
Location: I don't know...
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Great against my brother. I tell him, "you don’t wanna move on," and he doesn’t (or at least, never did, he’s getting a little smarter  ). |
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| Cobra |
![]() Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 5:51 pm |
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Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 1202
Location: Austin, TX, USA
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Great article, all the better for being unusual. I particularly like your advice on non-verbal cues like moving twilight tokens around. The subtler, the better -- it’s fun to make opponents think they’re being observant and clever when they’re actually falling for your bluff!
I have to point out that in the first skirmish event example, the Free Peoples player would be totally wrong to play a strength pump when his companion is already winning the skirmish. It’s a simple question of knowing the rules and playing correctly; bluffing doesn’t enter into it. Show me an LOTR TCG player who will fall for that trick, and I’ll show you an LOTR TCG player you should be beating senseless even without bluffing. 
The second skirmish event example is more interesting, and becomes very interesting if you add a bit more information: Aragorn (strength 8, one wound on him) is fighting a Sentry Uruk (strength 10, with some very interesting text). Imagine you’re the Free Peoples player, and that you have a single 3-strength pump in hand. What do you do? |
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| Gagnut |
![]() Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:32 pm |
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Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 846
Location: Ames, Iowa
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| This is the most original article I have ever seen, the only thing is that the other player if he/she has any brains at all, will realize that their opponant is using Psycology/Reverse Psycology, another thing is, if you are playing friends, they won’t like it very much if you lure them into a trap with your goading, especially younger players. I think I will give it a five. |
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| fingolfin |
![]() Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:58 pm |
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Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 321
Location: it's getting hotter in Iowa every day
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| A little strange but I like it. |
Soldier: why'd you do that captain?
John Wayne: Because I hate your guts!!
Exerpt from "Iwo Jima." |
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