The last Clix 101 article regarding competitive play was aimed at which pieces you needed at the time of writing to be able to elevate your team building. Today, I want to talk about what changes you make to your gameplay.

A lot of players out there want to either make the jump to competitive play or at the very least, want to go from an average Heroclix player to a good Heroclix player. While there’s nothing out there that can magically make you better at the game, I figured I would take a shot at listing some of the big decisions players make or don’t make both in team building and actual decision making that effect their game.

Please note that isn’t a definitive list; instead, treat this as a sort of primer into how you make the next step and elevate yourself as a player. I don’t profess that this article will help you play at the next ROC event near you and take you to victory. After all, I have yet to win a ROC or WKO, but I have come close! I’m hoping that my experience can help you possibly make that jump that you’re uncomfortable about as anyone (yes, including you) can play and compete at larger events.

Pieces Are Important…

Before you even make the jump to more advanced play, you have to understand that there are two fundamental Heroclix players; those that want play teams or pieces that are fun, and those that deconstruct how a piece plays and what it brings to the table.

Which Pieces Do You Purchase?

One aspect that makes a big difference in a competitive Heroclix player from a casual player is the ability to objectively look at a piece and absorb its strengths and weaknesses. There are a good chunk of pieces out there that are played at the competitive level, and these should give you a good starting point as to how you judge a piece. You have to be honest with yourself and judge whether something is worth the points, a different piece does the job better, or if you can essentially get that same value out of another element of your collection. Let’s face it; Heroclix takes a lot of space, so even if you aren’t a player looking to jump into competitive, this is a good place to start moving in your mindset about the game to help ‘trim the fat’.

Maybe you don’t need 5 Wolverines, or 7 Batman’s. Sure, Shifting Focus kind of breaks this a little bit, but take a look at the pieces you have, or more importantly spoilers for new sets, and judge each dial carefully. Take the character out of it and see what the dial does. How many points is this character? What do you get for those points? Does it lose to similar characters of the same value? These are all valid questions.

Support Is Superior

Because this is a game about comic book characters, I see a lot of players focus on running a mix of heavy hitters or middle class characters with almost no support. Take a look at any of the top 8 teams from this year alone and it’s clear that Support figures were key to their victory. Heck, just look at Howard Brock’s team from Worlds. He ran Goblin King at 175 points (pre-errata) and had a bunch of lower-cost characters as a support line. This doesn’t mean you should buy every piece with the ‘Support’ power; it means that you should examine the sub-50 point characters just as carefully if not more so than the tentpoles out there.

Diversify Your Build

This goes hand-in-hand with the last point. How many answers does your team have? If you’re running a single power piece to do all your heavy lifting, you better be sure you have some support powers to back it up. Outwit got a huge overhaul and is back to being one of the top 3 powers in the game in my opinion, so it’s a very good idea to look at what your options are within your collection for this very beastly power.

This isn’t just about power options either. Look and see if you can find characters that can fill multiple roles. Figures like Klarion the Witch-Boy is a fantastic example of this. He brings so many useful options to the table, and he’s two secondary attackers, all for the cost of 70 points. This is referred to as ‘min/maxing’ in the gaming world, and that principle works with Heroclix as well. Try and get the most bang for your point-cost buck.

Money Pieces Do Not Mean You’ll Win

I’m not sure how many of you remember, but there was a Shifting Focus Superman Justice League team that earned a pretty nice spot in an ROC tournament earlier this year, and the whole team came out to under $20 on popular clix online stores. Just because there are pieces out there that cost a ton of freakin’ money doesn’t mean that those figures will win you the game.

Uni-Mind is a fantastic example. He’s currently running for about $25 and is being compared with Jakeem Thunder who is still around $90. This article isn’t about debating the strengths/weaknesses of these two titans, but they’re literally perfect to show that you don’t have to drop tons of money to win events.

Accept That Every Tool Is Valid

I’ve seen arguments that certain tactics like possession, terrain, etc. aren’t valid options because not a lot of players use them. This is not a good way to think about higher-level play. When you prepare for a game that’s higher stakes or you know that a good player will be present, you have to take everything into consideration and be okay with using different aspects. Don’t be afraid to use items just because you think other people aren’t. I had a reader say that possession wasn’t a valid tactic in modern anymore, and then Patrick Yapjoco went ahead and went undefeated at the Fresno ROC with an Eclipso attached to his Jakeem Thunder.

Don’t let anyone tell you something isn’t a valid threat when you know deep down that’s its still out there. This is true for resources as well.

…But Tactics and Critical Thinking Are Key

Read The Rulebook

Seriously, there is no reason for any player that plays this game to not read the rule book. WizKids did a phenomenal job at simplifying the game, and a ton of questions you have will be answered if you just read through the rules. Go through them with a pen and pad and take notes. Highlight key areas that you’re sure to forget. A lot of players defeat themselves when they don’t have a clear understanding of basic rules and a simple miscalculation will cost them the entire game.

Even if you aren’t looking to make this jump, please make sure you read the rulebook.

Develop A Plan

This topic has come up before in my writing, but it bears repeating. A big difference between casual and competitive Heroclix players is that a lot of casual folks will sit down, look at the opposing team, and just shoot from the hip. Basically, they’re playing a reaction based game instead of making decisions and changing the outcome. Before you start a game against someone, look over their team. Read their cards. Figure out how their team works (or take your best guess at it), and then decide what the weakest link is or what the easiest way is to break that team.

Point denial? Aim for the easiest shot of any points, and then run. Tentpole? Destroy their backline if you have no counters so that you can easily out-action them. There are countless examples. Figure out what your goals are in each game and then stick to that plan as best you can.

Continually Analyze The Gamestate

So you developed a plan. That means you’re good to go and just stick to it right? Nope. A good player will constantly re-evaluate where the game is and look for areas to exploit. This would include your opponent leaving a character open that you hadn’t counted on KO’ing, but it’s free points if you do. Making a plan is great, but don’t make it concrete. You have to have room to expand and adapt to what happens during the game. You can’t simply count on one of your pieces being the single solution against the enemy team because there’s always the possibility of that piece being KO’d and now you’re lost with likely a good chunk of time missing to make up the point difference.

Think About Map Choice And How It Affects You

Many players out there will just play the hand they’re dealt and not worry about map selection, but I’m here to tell you that maps are potentially the total cause to many teams losing or completely misfiring. Think about it this way; a map is a piece of your build that requires 0 points and can potentially ruin the opposing player. If you’re running a melee-heavy team, an indoor map with tons of walls can be the difference between your team working as intended or being destroyed before they have a chance to close the gap.

Maps are highly important, so it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with what’s available in the current age. When you’re placed on a map that doesn’t work for your team, it’s important to figure out how you work around it. What routes do you take to make sure you can still accomplish your goals? While this might go into the build section above a bit more, the actual thought process of how you break a map down shoves it into the thinking area.

Take Your Time And Make Calculated Decisions

This one is pretty easy; don’t be a hothead. Carefully make plays and choose where the best place for your pieces to be are. Make sure that if you attack another character you aren’t too exposed, or the risk that your opponent will open is greater than the reward for the payoff. Don’t take risks yourself if it can end in a terrible tragedy if you miss. This is a lot like constantly analyzing the game, but this is more about decisions in general.

Terrain is a topic that really falls into careful decisions. Hindering is a great ally in that it protects you, but can that same hindering terrain trip you up and prevent you from making an attack the next turn? If so, maybe that +1 to defense isn’t worth it. Maybe a different square on the board is going to give you a little bit less protection, but it will set you up for the following turn. Being on the rim of elevated for a ranged attack can be lethal, but it also opens you up for all kinds of retaliation.

Calculating what move you make is imperative to every step of the game and is important for every single one of your pieces. Also, know the line between taking your time and stalling, as that can get you into trouble, and makes you look like a jerk.

Walls Are Made To Be Broken

Don’t ever think that a wall will completely protect you, and at the same time, never think that a wall is completely stopping you from making an attack. I think a lot of casual or newer players don’t think about using one of their actions to take down a piece of terrain to open up their possibilities and give them the upper hand. I can’t tell you how many games I’ve played where I docked someone behind a wall only to have my opponent blast it out from behind me and KO that piece in a single turn. If you’re looking for terrain to guard you, resort to multiple squares of blocking terrain or elevated terrain.

Don’t Let Frustration Win

Have you ever had two-thirds of your force go down without a single opposing character being KO’d and thrown your hands up? Don’t let that be the deciding factor in the match. I’ve seen plenty of games where an experienced player will be in that same position and then maneuver so well that they take down enough points to earn the victory. Even if you can’t do something as amazing as that, points are always important, and can/will be the decision in whether you make the cut to the top 8 (or whatever the top number is). Remain calm and re-evaluate where you’re at and how you can do the most damage.

Watch Professional Players/Games

More than anything else on this list, I cannot recommend this enough. Story time.

Back in July of 2015, I decided to dive back into Heroclix (which I’ve said many times). It was rough re-learning the game, but eventually I got the hang of it. Then in the second weekend of October (hey, that’s this weekend), the ROC World Cup took place and there were nearly two full days of streaming games being played. I watched almost every game that was shown, and some I even went back and rewatched. I was blown away by just how much this helped my decision making and ability to deconstruct what an opponent was doing and what their plan was. Shortly thereafter, I starting playing at my first LGS, and now I’m the current judge at our venue.

The point I’m making with my story is that watching competitive players did more good for me than practically anything else. Being able to see the best players in the world play the game, seeing the pieces they were playing with the ability to look them up on the fly, and watching the decisions they made was exhilarating, and it did a tremendous job of upping my gameplay.

I’m not saying that watching the ROC World Cup will turn you into a fantastic player overnight; I’m saying that it’s a big help in understanding high-level play and decision making. It also helps that some of the best people in the Heroclix world host it, which are Jason and Amber of Married With Clix. Their analysis is fantastic and will really help you learn a thing or two.

I guess the overall point I’m trying to make with all these aspects is that anyone can be a good player. Sure, it takes some skill and practice, but didn’t we all go through that when we learned to play the game?

I often tell new players when they come to my venue, or are talking about how they start winning games that Heroclix really does take thick skin in order to really grasp the game. You’re going to lose, and you’re going to lose a lot before you start winning games, and the same is true for high-level gameplay. You’re going to lose… a lot. But suddenly, you’ll start winning, and you’ll be amazed at how much you know about the game and understand the mechanics of it.

What are your thoughts about these steps? Is there a major component I’m forgetting? Perhaps there’s something you’d like to see added that helped you get to where you are today. Please let me know and I’ll be sure to revise this.

Before I depart for today, I want to let you all know that things are a little rocky right now in my personal life regarding my job. Our company is going through a lot of changes, and I’m losing much of my free time. I’m going to work hard to try and keep getting articles out to you all on Tuesdays, but I can’t guarantee that will happen. I’m hoping that November will see things start to settle down, but I honestly don’t know. Two Clicks From KO is going to slow down a little bit depending on my time commitments, and I’m going to try hard to keep Clix Fix constant.

I’ll be sure to keep you all up-to-date. I plan on seeing you here next week! 🙂