Deconstructing the Opening

by Slartucker, April 2006 - June 2007

This article is concerned solely with Maladroit, ParaFC openings. It was originally intended as part of an extremely long analysis of all openings, but as that project has proven overly ambitious, I'm publishing several self-contained pieces of it as individual articles, instead.

How the Opening Differs from the Midgame

In the first three turns of the game, both players are guaranteed to be able to enter whatever gestures they want. There is no chance of any disruption affecting a player's gestures. Furthermore, no meaningful spells can be cast at all before the third turn, and until even later for longer spells. And nobody has initiative. These statements are obvious, but worth thinking about. It's a unique situation in Warlocks.

The lack of potential for disruption and for multiple completeable or abortable spells means that there are fewer good options available to each player, and the options that are available are less distinct. The tree of future possibilities two turns ahead is drastically narrower than at most other points in the game.

This is not to say, though, that you can afford to plan ahead without reacting to what your opponent does, and what she might do. In fact, it is even more important to do this than in the midgame. In the midgame, the wide diversity of potential outcomes has a mild mitigating effect on this; with a little luck you can sometimes get away with shoddily incomplete analyses. In the opening, however, if your opponent looks further ahead than you do, you will usually be punished for it.

What Makes a Good Opening?

A good opening needs to be able to deal with several possible turn 3 disruptions: Amnesia, Maladroit, and Fear. Of these, Amnesia is most restrictive since Maladroit and Fear are easier to accept into your spellflow.

What's more, it needs to be able to deal with those disruptions in concert with the turn 4 threat of PSDF or PSFW. The easiest way to do that without losing initiative is with the old standby, Equal or Greater Effects; that's why so many openings include a P to mirror the possibility of a charm.

Finally, it needs to retain the flexibility to deal with further threats down the line, such as dummied Amnesias and DSFW goblins.

This is a grossly simplified explanation, but it should suffice to separate the playable openings from the usually suboptimal ones.

What Makes a Bad Opening?

First and foremost, delayed action. Opening with a clap, or attempting a spell like DWSSSP straight out will obviously hand over initiative. But so will entering gestures that can't handle Amnesia when you might be hit with it. And so will allowing yourself to get on the defensive, by gesturing lots of Ws and resorting to Counter Spells. Defense can be a playable strategy if it is planned out cunningly (as in SW/WS), but typically it's a losing strategy.

In short, if it doesn't exert immediate soft control, it's a mistake. In the opening both players try to exert as much control as they can, and if you let up on control -- whether it's to go on the offensive prematurely, or to counter a move your opponent feigns -- you hand him the initiative.

This means disruptions and FOD are both okay, but other attacks that can be easily disarmed aren't. Going for summons from gesture one, for example, will usually leave you behind on initiative and the summon disarmed in some manner (especially against P). Antispell, similarly, is almost comically easy to ruin.

The General Significance of Individual First Turn Gestures

The following table presents some of the impact each gesture has. It does not attempt to list everything you can do with a gesture, but rather highlight the ways in which a gesture consistently influences the game dynamic across many different analyzed matchups.

P
P is the most robust opening gesture. That shouldn't be surprising; in the midgame its only weakness as a jumping-off point is that, without three-gesture spells, it's slow. In the opening, however, its spellflow is hard to disrupt effectively, particularly as PSDD deals with disruptions, goblins and ogres even in the face of Amnesia. PSDF provides its own offensive threat, while PSFW lurks in the shadows waiting to prey on particuarly foolish opponents. The PSDP and PSDS dummies increase options and threats further.
The versatility and potential power of PSD is unmatched; we don't see this because it's usually defended, and for good reason. P restricts the viability of openings more than anything else, since the only simple way to deal with it is with your own P. Openings without P have to be trickier and more planful.

D
D is the most offensive opener. This is thanks to the combination of Amnesia's pure disruptive power, the possibility of dummying into DPS, and the further option of switching to Maladroit in matchups where Amnesia would be at a disadvantage. In disruption vs disruption matches, D is often at an advantage. Hey batter batter...
Although there are sometimes answers to it, seeing an initial D forces most openings to abandon several otherwise good variations.

S
Just as D leads to DP, S leads to SW. SP is almost always disastrous, and SF falls apart against PSD.
Fear carries somewhat less force as a threat than Amnesia does, due to the fact that it is more easily absorbed (notably into PSFW). Because SW also provides the option of switching to Counter Spell, Fear tends to get dummied a lot. Casting it against anything other than PSF tends to be safe, though, and for that reason it is a useful threat that discourages or outright disrupts other offenses.

F
By far the least common opening gesture, and for good reason. Paralysis can be a good option in some matches, with its ability to defend monsters and spellflow alike. However, its inflexibility is a real liability -- one that renders F useless without both offensive power and flexibility coming from the other hand.

W
The least significant gesture.
In several particular matchups, Counter Spell can be used to good effect on turn 3. However, usually it leaves you behind on initiative, and highly vulnerable to dummying, against a disruption.
Otherwise, W shifts results subtly by allowing WWP instead of xWP, which saves 2 damage on turn 5 in some matchups, but it doesn't actually change anything in spellflow.

P	P is the most robust opening gesture. That shouldn't be surprising; in the midgame its only weakness as a jumping-off point is that, without three-gesture spells, it's slow. In the opening, however, its spellflow is hard to disrupt effectively, particularly as PSDD deals with disruptions, goblins and ogres even in the face of Amnesia. PSDF provides its own offensive threat, while PSFW lurks in the shadows waiting to prey on particuarly foolish opponents. The PSDP and PSDS dummies increase options and threats further. The versatility and potential power of PSD is unmatched; we don't see this because it's usually defended, and for good reason. P restricts the viability of openings more than anything else, since the only simple way to deal with it is with your own P. Openings without P have to be trickier and more planful.
D	D is the most offensive opener. This is thanks to the combination of Amnesia's pure disruptive power, the possibility of dummying into DPS, and the further option of switching to Maladroit in matchups where Amnesia would be at a disadvantage. In disruption vs disruption matches, D is often at an advantage. Hey batter batter... Although there are sometimes answers to it, seeing an initial D forces most openings to abandon several otherwise good variations.
S	Just as D leads to DP, S leads to SW. SP is almost always disastrous, and SF falls apart against PSD. Fear carries somewhat less force as a threat than Amnesia does, due to the fact that it is more easily absorbed (notably into PSFW). Because SW also provides the option of switching to Counter Spell, Fear tends to get dummied a lot. Casting it against anything other than PSF tends to be safe, though, and for that reason it is a useful threat that discourages or outright disrupts other offenses.
F	By far the least common opening gesture, and for good reason. Paralysis can be a good option in some matches, with its ability to defend monsters and spellflow alike. However, its inflexibility is a real liability -- one that renders F useless without both offensive power and flexibility coming from the other hand.
W	The least significant gesture. In several particular matchups, Counter Spell can be used to good effect on turn 3. However, usually it leaves you behind on initiative, and highly vulnerable to dummying, against a disruption. Otherwise, W shifts results subtly by allowing WWP instead of xWP, which saves 2 damage on turn 5 in some matchups, but it doesn't actually change anything in spellflow.