- Do I have initiative or does my opponent have initiative? Ideally, I want the Rancor to survive so I can attack with it during the next turn. However, there's a chance that even if it survives this turn, it may be removed at the beginning of next turn if my opponent has initiative. This would potentially favor not training it in order to get the offensive value this turn. Don't forget the Take Initiative command card!

Indirect Risks

- If I do not train the Rancor, is some other objective put at risk? Do I need to kill to enemy units this round to prevent my opponent from gaining victory points or winning the game? If so, I likely need to train the Rancor.

Direct Value

- Is it likely that I can remove two or more enemy units using Brutality? If not, I need to be wary of not training the Rancor as the value is in removing an enemy unit and preventing it from attacking my own units.

- If I remove two enemy units, have I reduced the enemy armies' strength to a degree that my remaining units can contest them?

Indirect Value

- Even though the Rancor isn't a traditional support unit - the indirect value it provides is that it is too dangerous to ignore, thus giving your other units freedom to capture objectives and attack enemy units without being targeted. Therefore, the question is whether my units are in a position to capitalize on the incentive of my opponent to attack the Rancor over my other units. If not, the Rancor should be trained so it hopefully facilitates this type of coordination in a subsequent turn.

Conclusion

I wish there was time to do this analysis for every unit, for every move, in every game. That isn't very realistic. However, I'm sure I will have opportunities over the coming months leading up to Worlds 2017 to practice and talk theory with local players. I may not be able to do this analysis during the game, but I can do the abstract version as I did in this post for every unit in my list prior to playing. I can also think about it in terms of popular meta lists I expect to see - a benefit of getting proficient at this is not only being able to prevent my own mistakes, but being able to identify the mistakes of my opponents. Ultimately, practicing this type of analysis will make me a much stronger player.

Let me know what you think. If you want help brainstorming any particular scenarios, feel free to ask me!

- Dietz