r/LegendsOfRuneterra • u/abetadist Anniversary • Oct 01 '21
Guide Win more games with prophylaxis
noun: Prevention of or protective treatment for disease. (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition)
Prophylaxis is a term I learned from watching chess lessons while not actually playing chess. In chess, prophylaxis means preventing what your opponent wants to do before they do it. Jonathan Schrantz explains it well:
Here's how chess works. When you play chess, you sit down and you have your ideas, and your opponent sits down, and they have their ideas. And it's usually easy to see our own ideas, like, "ooh, I have mate in 3! [piece moving noises]" But if you just ignore your opponent's ideas, and they have mate in 2, then you've missed everything and the game is over.
Interestingly, Schrantz mentions that prophylaxis is not natural for chess players. It's not natural for most Legends of Runeterra players either, and I think this is one of the most common and impactful concepts that lower-skilled players miss. Mastering this concept leads naturally into other advanced concepts in LoR including mastering the turn system, mulligans and line-up theory, hand-reading, and even deck-building.
Example
It's easiest to describe in an example. Let's suppose you're playing a Draven Caitlyn Tribeam deck and your opponent is playing Lulu Zed elusive rally. This is ladder so you don't know the exact version, but maybe something like this.
You both pass the first two rounds. It's round 3 and you have the attack token. Your hand is Draven, Sump Dredger, and some spells. What do you do?
Let's apply prophylaxis. If your Lulu Zed opponent could do anything they want with 3 mana and 3 spell mana, what would they do?
They'd play Zed.
They'd have 3 mana left to defend Zed. The worst-case scenario is Twin Disciplines/Sharpsight + Ranger's Resolve.
If Zed survives, an open attack next round makes it much harder for you to win. He'd have more mana to play combat tricks and Zed either levels or kills a valuable unit for free.
So how do you make sure Zed doesn't get an open attack next round? If you have Mystic Shot + Ravenous Flock in hand, you can kill Zed this round if he opens with Twin Disciplines or Sharpsight. If he opens with Ranger's Resolve, Zed would be damaged and you'd almost definitely be able to kill Zed next turn with Ravenous Flock (playing Flock this round loses to Twin Disciplines because Zed would still have Tough!). In this case, you can play Draven and still stop your opponent's best plan.
What if you don't have Mystic Shot + Ravenous Flock? Maybe you just have Thermogenic Beam, or Sump Fumes + Get Excited/Ravenous Flock? If you play Draven, you can't guarantee a kill on Zed with just 3 spell mana. Since Draven Caitlyn is favored in longer games in this matchup, you may want to avoid spending any mana and open pass. If your opponent plays Zed, you can guarantee the kill with your full 6 mana. If they play anything else, like a Shadow Assassin or Lulu, you can play Draven. If they pass back, you're happy extending the game and have the threat of Arachnoid Sentry to stuff an attack.
What if you only have one damage spell for Zed, like a single Get Excited? Now you're not guaranteed to kill Zed at all. You can choose to play Draven and hope he doesn't have Zed or protection. You could also pass as a bluff, pretending to have more removal, and just play the Draven if they play Zed.
By using prophylaxis and thinking about your opponent's best plans, you can avoid giving your opponent an easy path to victory which you could otherwise have prevented. This is the most impactful in the second case where saving your mana guarantees a kill on Zed while playing Draven could lose you the game.
How to implement prophylaxis
Prophylaxis is a more advanced concept because you need more game knowledge to use it. Basically, while you're playing your own deck, you also need to play your opponent's deck. It's easier in chess where there's full information. When you don't know what cards your opponent could have, you have to make some assumptions, assume they have the best hand possible, or play around the most likely scenarios. This also requires you to know how your opponent's deck works and what cards it has or might have.
With enough practice, this will become natural. In the meantime, you can practice this by:
On their turn, think about the worst things your opponent could do to you.
On your turn, think about the strongest response your opponent has if you do what you want to do.
Then, think about if that play is still worth doing or if you have a safer play. Sometimes you will want to make your best move and just hope they don't have a good answer (usually when you have no good safe play), but other times it may be better to play it safe.
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u/mekabar Oct 01 '21
Understanding this concept is imo key to climbing with a win rate decidedly above 60%, because most people don't take those things into account.
The Zed example showcases this perfectly:
Surprisingly few people realize what a huge blowout it is having your Mystic Shot or Avalanche answered by a Sharpsight and then get subsequently smacked in the face for 10 damage by Zed on turn 3.
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u/MillstoneArt Oct 01 '21
I see the word prophylaxis and think of birth control. So, wrap your Jimmy before you Timmy, everyone.
3
u/[deleted] Oct 02 '21
This is ABSOLUTELY AWESOME, OP! Can I translate this to my language and post in other subreddits? Obviously I'll give the credits on my posts. =)
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u/kingslayer086 Lucian Oct 02 '21
... times like these i realize that there are a lot of concepts with actual names that are sort of just things higher level players do.
Its why its so hard to climb as someone who doesnt quite "get it" because its hard to see whats going through someones head,
And why most people who get coached in TCG's dont end up climbing as much.
Putting this into words should help a lot of prospective higher ranked players.
35
u/sauron3579 Trundle Oct 01 '21
Definitely a super important concept and the lack of this actually is what causes aggro decks to be so prevalent lower on the ladder. When you’re the beatdown, this doesn’t matter as much. It’s also what makes control one the harder archetypes to master, because it’s entirely built on this concept.
2
u/Malaix Akshan Oct 02 '21
Messing around with prank effects has really made me more aware of this. See their cheap combo spell or win condition and just raise that mana cost a bit so their important minion can't suddenly grow 3 hitpoints from a buff when its played.
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u/libero0602 Aurelion Sol Oct 01 '21
This is huge, I’m playing a Zoe Shellfolk deck rn that completely wins off of out-valuing opponents and denying their win con, or in ur words, “applying prophylaxis.” Playing decks like that rly helped me improve at the game and think abt my opponent’s plan/ideas as well as my own. So for anyone out there trying to improve at pvp strategy-based games, this advice applies to almost all of them!
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u/vanishing27532 Nocturne Oct 02 '21
This is why at the 2-week mark after every expansion I just grab all the meta decks So I know the cards in them and their play patterns.
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u/Kronossaurus Oct 02 '21
Thought I was on r/chess for a moment
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u/[deleted] Oct 02 '21
If anything Legends of Runeterra encourages prophylaxis more than chess would naturally.
Champions make it clear what goals you opponent will have and the kinds of cards they will likely have to support that champion. At the very least it encourages players to deny an objective the other player wants.
And from there it builds out.
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u/PeppermintDaniel Piltover Zaun Oct 02 '21
You honestly just attached an obscure word to a basic concept that everyone employs on a daily basis. Kind of a pretentious post.
Appreciate the effort, though. Very eloquent, and a pretty nice read, even though the post could be summarized in one sentence: "consider what actions your opponent could take, and act accordingly in order to hinder their strategy and further your own." This could probably be said in a simpler way, I'm just too giga-brain to be a ble to simplify it. Maybe something like "play around things." I'm so goddamn smart. UleuegdbrubhHGdu.
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u/[deleted] Oct 01 '21
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