Tetris was described as a peaceful game when it was introduced. Now, it is anything but. Let's face it, after a while, Tetris became fairly boring. You'd sit by your computer, dropping your blocks on autopilot, until the speed had been increased sufficiently for you to die. Then, you would repeat the procedure. There could be only one final result, death.

Now with the introduction of multiplayer Tetris, we can get rid of dying, or at least restrict it to our opponents.

The way to kill is to add too many lines to another player. That's simple, right? Maybe.

More elaborately, the right way to kill is to capitalize on your opponents' mistakes and to keep up a constant physical and psychological pressure.

Putting it another way, the way to kill is to stay alive.

A killing artist is someone who knows how and when to add. There are many examples, some of which will be given here.

The wall kill, where your opponent has made a mistake or a misplacement leaving him with a big tower next to his slide, located on the side. A swift and sufficient add here will leave him incapable of dropping a stick in the slide. This kills instantly.

The forced second mistake kill, where your opponent has produced a bad situation on his field requiring minute work to fix. By adding small amounts of lines to his field in rapid succession, you will make it harder for him to repair the damage, destroy his slides and make it likely that repeated mistakes occur. This behavior will only work with an instant-add client.

The retaliation kill, where you will use your opponent's lines against him in a monster add. This will only work with recursive clients. The key principle is to wait for your opponent's line-add with your setup finished and holding the last piece before the one that will start the chain-reaction. When lines add in sufficient amount, drop the piece, watch the field rise and chop off the field.

The trick add kill, that works by destroying your opponent's upfield and possible also destroying his setup. Also a recursive client speciality, this is achieved by a line-add of a type that will add holes to your opponent's field in uncomfortable places. Examples are the jans adds, the clean canvases, the z-adds and the super-janses. Unfortunately I don't have time to explain these right now. A trick add followed by a retaliation add will do the work 90% of the time.

The anti-downstacking cure kill. This is a regular Tetris speciality, particularily for fast but unskilled players in high-stick ratio games vs experienced but slow players. It consists simply of stacking a 10 to 12 lines stack and wait for two consecutive sticks, then sink the field, preferrably when your opponent isn't all the way down. A risky but sometimes necessary strategy. Downstacking while tetrising for the final kill is a necessity here.

These tricks are not listed here as a "copy this" type of advice, they are included to show the variety of modes you must master in order to be a successful killer. The key is to be unpredictable in your actions. Any player will over time be able to adapt to your particular strategy. This is why, against an equal, your strategy must be constantly changing. When playing a match, try to study your opponent for weaknesses and devise at least two, sometimes three or more modes of play to employ. If possible, do this before the game starts. There are a number of tactics one has to be able to implement to be a successful player. These include the overkill add technique (fairly self-explanatory), the melting field technique (where you play low and not commit yourself to any large stacks) and the trick-add technique (which is basically used to confuse your opponent). 

However, it must be said that knowing these and more ways to destroy will ultimately do you no good without the right mindframe. In essence, a great player kills by his presence. When entering the playing ground, his opponents feel beat already. He will never turn down a challenge. He will never complain about a loss. In defeat he will be unfaced, congratulating his opponent and moving on to the next game. In victory, he will offer a rematch unless his counterpart was badly outclassed, thank his opponent for the contest and show no condescence. This has everything to do with the myth of the player. A person switching nicks every two weeks will never develop this clout. Its power is often underestimated. This is why players in a successful clan win much more, and why adding a tag to your name can improve your play. Simply, you will regard yourself as larger than life, and so will your opponents. Even a fairly bad player will eventually develop a reputation, and his wins will be noted.

spindizzy/HELLFIRE, 08.01

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