Why and how you lose to "lotto players"
Everyone has had to endure this unpleasant experience some time, you get matched up against a player with thousands of games and approximately a 50% win percentage and you know what is coming your way. You start preparing for a game you're not interested in and prepare your setup or load up your favourite "anti lotto/blitz" setup.
Sometimes chance is on your side, your opponent manages to lose the game within the first 30 moves, down a marshal and general, the opponent surrenders (or disconnects as some like to be a prick), you reap your sweet +1.. or +10.. Whatever amount of points it gets you. On the bright side, you can drastically increase this chance by preparing properly.
Now most of the time, this is not how the scenario unfolds. Theoretically, it should about 50% of the time, but since the quick victories mean nothing, there was little thought or investment into it, it just feels like you have won an empty bottle of water. Great.
Often players will feel frustrated if the game did not go their way and they actually lost several games of ranking progress. While I consider the rankings to be useless, the loss of progress does stick, even with me. Climbing back whatever amount of points you just lost due to a "dumb loss" is an annoying grind.
So, what to do? A very complex question, but first we have to look at something else.
What happens when you lose a game to a lottoer/blitzer? Here are some options:
1. "Just dumb luck".
2. "This guy/gal should have bought a lottery ticket instead".
3. "<Random profanity> setup scouter".
4. "I loaded the wrong set up".
5. You use the chat window to remind them of how bad they played and did not deserve this "victory".
6. You immediately start a new game.
7. You rage quit after the game....
7.1 (optional) You return 5 minutes later to go for option #6 anyway.
8. You feel like you have to regain the lost points, immediately.
9. You get so frustrated you would love to punch your monitor.. but you realise it will not be reaching your opponent's face and thus will decide against it.
10. In retrospective, you realise you had rather mowed the lawn you have been "wanting" to do for over 2 months already.
How to deal with these? Well for starters, this differs a lot per person. Some are more likely to get upset, some do not let it get them too much.. and everything in between.
1. It happens. Accept it and move on. Yes, it sucks, it was a shit game and you deserved better.
2. See 1.
3. See 1/2.
4. See 1/2/3.
5. While it may feel like an outlet and seem like a great option, it really achieves little. If anything, you may end up getting reprimanded.
6. Depending on your person, this may be a curious decision. I have often lost two games in a row, guess how it works for me 👎.
7. Good. Call it a day.. or an hour..
7.1. Idiot.
8. Yes, a very logical feeling. You may not exactly be in the best mood/position to achieve this goal right now, though. Chances are, you may even run into the same player again immediately.
9. I am still waiting for that invention. If anyone knows of such device, let me know.
10. You must have really disliked this specific game. See 1/2/3/4.
As you can see, there is only accept & move on.. or call it a day. Anything else is just (mental) torture to yourself.
Stuff that typically happens in one of those games that do not end in your favour within 30 moves:
1. Your opponent attacks with their general, opposite of your marshal and seems to have forgotten about its existence anyway.
2. Your opponent attacks with their marshal, opposite of your spy and seems to have forgotten about its existence anyway.
3. You either walk into a bombed-off side with mediocre pieces or you walk into a heavily fortified center/side.
4. Your opponent appears to have 16 scouts opposed to 8, all on the same side. They scout a piece and immediately gobble it up.
5. They attack your flag side, so even if they lose pieces, they can still win through brute force.
6. They get up a piece or two and retreat.
So, yes, there are those ridiculous situations where your opponent crosses +/- 25 pieces of yours with one of their big pieces, luckily, they do not happen too often. If it does, it probably was their day to win.
Wanting to make up for the lost pieces, you immediately walk into their bombed-off or fortified position. You know better, but still do it because it seems the only option. You feel time is ticking against you, either because they captured too many pieces or are getting too close for comfort to the winning condition; capturing your flag.
Now, I am not going to provide tips or how to's on how to deal with each specific situation thoroughly, if you are interested in coaching, well, shoot me a message for my time, but I will offer a few insights on why you end up losing the game, some of these insights you may not like, but there is no reason to be sugarcoating it.
1. You are playing their game; your opponent is a one-trick pony. You take out the trick of the one-trick pony, they now are just a pony ready to donate their delicious ELO points to you. Identify what they are doing and try to put a stop to it if possible.
2. For whatever reason you still use a regular setup. While I just advocated against playing their game, it does not mean you should not take it into account. A spy/marshal in the back row is pointless against these kind of players.
3. You rush into their bombed/fortified position without thought behind it, only eliminating more pieces from the board.
4. Take a look at the first paragraph again. You only started to want to win the game once you started losing it. You knew a pointless, unpleasant game was coming your way and your motivation only came once you started to lose, at which point the damage most likely had become irreversible.
5. Yes, your opponent may have been the luckiest guy/gal you will come across this month, accept how it is and move on. Next time you will collect his points if it truly was dumb luck exclusively.
6. I would, typically, recommend only in desperate situations, you force your opponent into a 50'50 choice (e.g. offering a piece + spy vs the marshal). You already determined this guy/gal's luck is beyond what is considered reasonable, what outcome do you expect?
7. Keep your cool; some times you can still win near unwinnable games because of your opponent being so incredibly greedy, being up 6 pieces, they still go for that lieutenant, giving you an (accidental) shot at their flag. Not creating such opportunities is basically depriving you from a potential win. Not going for these opportunities when presented means you did not deserve a win.
A different but hard to accept option, would be that your opponent simply was the better player. Their "strategy" deployed may not get your seal of approval, but your delicious points sure get theirs.
Ultimately, as a final reminder, I would strongly recommend not to use the chat function when pissed off. We all have been guilty of it at times. Just message one of your friends if you feel the need to vent. Some of these players will also have the cheek to start chatting about their great victory and all, stating that their mother serves as a supplier of certain activities or wishing them harm (even if you really would love to punch them) does not mean you lost the game, but also that you are an actual loser. I would recommend saying nothing or perhaps slightly sarcastic (my second language) such as "I am surprised you only win about 50% of your games with those awesome skills" and then just leave. If you feel they went too far in their trash talking, just report it. Be the reporter, not the reported.
Sometimes chance is on your side, your opponent manages to lose the game within the first 30 moves, down a marshal and general, the opponent surrenders (or disconnects as some like to be a prick), you reap your sweet +1.. or +10.. Whatever amount of points it gets you. On the bright side, you can drastically increase this chance by preparing properly.
Now most of the time, this is not how the scenario unfolds. Theoretically, it should about 50% of the time, but since the quick victories mean nothing, there was little thought or investment into it, it just feels like you have won an empty bottle of water. Great.
Often players will feel frustrated if the game did not go their way and they actually lost several games of ranking progress. While I consider the rankings to be useless, the loss of progress does stick, even with me. Climbing back whatever amount of points you just lost due to a "dumb loss" is an annoying grind.
So, what to do? A very complex question, but first we have to look at something else.
What happens when you lose a game to a lottoer/blitzer? Here are some options:
1. "Just dumb luck".
2. "This guy/gal should have bought a lottery ticket instead".
3. "<Random profanity> setup scouter".
4. "I loaded the wrong set up".
5. You use the chat window to remind them of how bad they played and did not deserve this "victory".
6. You immediately start a new game.
7. You rage quit after the game....
7.1 (optional) You return 5 minutes later to go for option #6 anyway.
8. You feel like you have to regain the lost points, immediately.
9. You get so frustrated you would love to punch your monitor.. but you realise it will not be reaching your opponent's face and thus will decide against it.
10. In retrospective, you realise you had rather mowed the lawn you have been "wanting" to do for over 2 months already.
How to deal with these? Well for starters, this differs a lot per person. Some are more likely to get upset, some do not let it get them too much.. and everything in between.
1. It happens. Accept it and move on. Yes, it sucks, it was a shit game and you deserved better.
2. See 1.
3. See 1/2.
4. See 1/2/3.
5. While it may feel like an outlet and seem like a great option, it really achieves little. If anything, you may end up getting reprimanded.
6. Depending on your person, this may be a curious decision. I have often lost two games in a row, guess how it works for me 👎.
7. Good. Call it a day.. or an hour..
7.1. Idiot.
8. Yes, a very logical feeling. You may not exactly be in the best mood/position to achieve this goal right now, though. Chances are, you may even run into the same player again immediately.
9. I am still waiting for that invention. If anyone knows of such device, let me know.
10. You must have really disliked this specific game. See 1/2/3/4.
 |
| Do not be this person (or one of the two portrayed devices for that matter) |
 |
| Be this instead |
As you can see, there is only accept & move on.. or call it a day. Anything else is just (mental) torture to yourself.
Stuff that typically happens in one of those games that do not end in your favour within 30 moves:
1. Your opponent attacks with their general, opposite of your marshal and seems to have forgotten about its existence anyway.
2. Your opponent attacks with their marshal, opposite of your spy and seems to have forgotten about its existence anyway.
3. You either walk into a bombed-off side with mediocre pieces or you walk into a heavily fortified center/side.
4. Your opponent appears to have 16 scouts opposed to 8, all on the same side. They scout a piece and immediately gobble it up.
5. They attack your flag side, so even if they lose pieces, they can still win through brute force.
6. They get up a piece or two and retreat.
So, yes, there are those ridiculous situations where your opponent crosses +/- 25 pieces of yours with one of their big pieces, luckily, they do not happen too often. If it does, it probably was their day to win.
Wanting to make up for the lost pieces, you immediately walk into their bombed-off or fortified position. You know better, but still do it because it seems the only option. You feel time is ticking against you, either because they captured too many pieces or are getting too close for comfort to the winning condition; capturing your flag.
Now, I am not going to provide tips or how to's on how to deal with each specific situation thoroughly, if you are interested in coaching, well, shoot me a message for my time, but I will offer a few insights on why you end up losing the game, some of these insights you may not like, but there is no reason to be sugarcoating it.
1. You are playing their game; your opponent is a one-trick pony. You take out the trick of the one-trick pony, they now are just a pony ready to donate their delicious ELO points to you. Identify what they are doing and try to put a stop to it if possible.
2. For whatever reason you still use a regular setup. While I just advocated against playing their game, it does not mean you should not take it into account. A spy/marshal in the back row is pointless against these kind of players.
3. You rush into their bombed/fortified position without thought behind it, only eliminating more pieces from the board.
4. Take a look at the first paragraph again. You only started to want to win the game once you started losing it. You knew a pointless, unpleasant game was coming your way and your motivation only came once you started to lose, at which point the damage most likely had become irreversible.
5. Yes, your opponent may have been the luckiest guy/gal you will come across this month, accept how it is and move on. Next time you will collect his points if it truly was dumb luck exclusively.
6. I would, typically, recommend only in desperate situations, you force your opponent into a 50'50 choice (e.g. offering a piece + spy vs the marshal). You already determined this guy/gal's luck is beyond what is considered reasonable, what outcome do you expect?
7. Keep your cool; some times you can still win near unwinnable games because of your opponent being so incredibly greedy, being up 6 pieces, they still go for that lieutenant, giving you an (accidental) shot at their flag. Not creating such opportunities is basically depriving you from a potential win. Not going for these opportunities when presented means you did not deserve a win.
A different but hard to accept option, would be that your opponent simply was the better player. Their "strategy" deployed may not get your seal of approval, but your delicious points sure get theirs.
Ultimately, as a final reminder, I would strongly recommend not to use the chat function when pissed off. We all have been guilty of it at times. Just message one of your friends if you feel the need to vent. Some of these players will also have the cheek to start chatting about their great victory and all, stating that their mother serves as a supplier of certain activities or wishing them harm (even if you really would love to punch them) does not mean you lost the game, but also that you are an actual loser. I would recommend saying nothing or perhaps slightly sarcastic (my second language) such as "I am surprised you only win about 50% of your games with those awesome skills" and then just leave. If you feel they went too far in their trash talking, just report it. Be the reporter, not the reported.
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