Philosophy of Grifball - Part 2
According to mathematician and engineer Claude Shannon there are approximately 10^123 possible moves in a game of chess. Chess itself is more than just about memorizing moves however. The grandmasters who make up the top echelon of chess players in the world do much more than remember lines of play. They bait, they anticipate, and they think often 5 or more moves into the future. To win in a game of chess you need to appropriately force your opponent to play the way you want them to. Via gambits or other lines of play every move you make in chess is important as your opponent needs to react to it. So, if you can force them to react a specific way then you are at a great advantage. This is also true for Grifball. Every move you make, each direction you wiggle while dancing. Every step forward promotes a response from the person on the other side of the line. A top player knows their opponent's tendencies. They know how to bait them to swing or push them away. Just like in chess you must anticipate the path your opponent may take and force them to take the path you want them too instead. In the last article we talked to Galvann about tanking and certainly he could tell us a lot about how to bait your opponent in a 1 on 1. however, there is a position on the court that requires even more awareness and prediction of your enemies moves. The runner.
In this article I sat down with everyone's favorite boy, Dcleak to talk a bit about his preferences, running, and of course some play-by-play thought questions.
Dcleak is a Halo 3 stan who loves the creativity it opens up on both offence and defense and he put why very well.
“The game is slower, but the pace can be as fast or as slow as a team allows.”
He typically views Grifball as a “beer league” and doesn’t feel like he needs to warm up, instead he just wants to play. He even prefers mouse and keyboard play but usually is on a controller due to the ease and familiarity he has with it. Likewise, he typically keeps the ease of playing the default FOVs.
When it comes to actually playing the game Cleak, a notorious Negative Nancy on the leaderboards, humorously said the hardest portion of grifball is simply getting kills.
“Killing people consistently. The amount of effort put into killing someone is ridiculous and inconsistent. Some players are just #BuiltDifferent.”
Now he says #BuiltDifferent, but I think a lot of people would call those guys Connection Enhanced*. So how does he feel about the issue of host in our game? “A good amount of the game is determined by host. People do overcome it but it’s an online game and it always will be host dependent to a certain extent”
That’s very true. It's simply the nature of the beast and if I would suggest you get it out of your mind. The game will always be somewhat reliant on connection but there is a lot outside of that you can do to overcome and still be a great player. Just don’t tilt yourself over something you can't control.
In fact, you could say that an intelligent player is always an intelligent player even on a bad host. So, what makes them intelligent? Cleak broke down what it means in his mind for me.
“To me it’s a combination of five things, like Voltron, Captain Planet or the Megazord. Or whichever pop culture reference that fits my them and makes you happy
1. Decision making- Consistently making the right decision/ the correct play. In some cases, just deciding even if it’s the bad option.
2. Positioning- How you place yourself in the different scenarios that routinely happen during the game.
3. Prescence- How you use your positioning to affect the opponents. Are you pulling someone away when they should be passing you off? Are you gaining court position, slowing down an aggressive player or just vibing?
4. Support- Are you capable of playing around people and with people. Can you figure out how not to be an idiot and that limit your team’s potential to win.
5. Heart- Do you have it or are you weak in it?
Like Captain Planet and the Megazord the fifth is wholly necessary. If you can make sense out of my ramblings good for you if you can’t sucks to suck idiot ¯\_(?)_/¯”
Let's start jumping, or should I say launching, our way into why we are here. Running. Why be a runner? Is it just the bomb Jabroni* attitude of weaker tanks are just runners, or is there more to the position than that?
“When running is fun it’s amazingly fun but when it’s tedious and boring it becomes a drag. There is more to running than just holding the ball and landing safe punches”
It would be hard to talk about running without acknowledging the absolute powerhouse of radar running. How often is Cleak using his radar?
“Not as often as I should, maybe 30%. I radar tank/run when I am in a group of people, but I glance more at the radar while looking at the players to keep an idea of who is in front of me. It helps to determine what actions I should take based on who is around me.”
Something that radar running impacts quite a bit is the runner's ability to create routes. the windows may not always be as open in each game like they are in Halo Reach, where a good runner can wrap and win games alone, but the ability for a runner to run routes and identify them is a cornerstone of the position. So, is it all in the runner to make those plays with their speed and punches? Or is it simply just a runner paying attention and taking advantage of a lack of awareness buy their opponents?
“A bit of both. You should be always looking for space to make the play. From there you adjust based on the awareness of the team you are going against. Also, a bit of luck doesn’t hurt.”
Now there is another mechanic introduced in Halo 4 that makes the runner position more open. That is of course passing. Before, anyone could be a runner, now with passing, everyone can be a runner and not lose the ball if they learn to pass back. Does passing ruin the runner position, what does a runner need to do in a game with passing to actually stand out?
“Passing doesn’t ruin the position, it does dumb it down though. You now just need a player who can hold the ball and make a safe throwback whenever they get in trouble. But it can help elevate a runner who is good with their throws be even better. Honestly a runner does not need to do much to “stand out” in H4, a good runner is still the same (good positioning, landing punches, being smart with the ball). But it can help make you become more a weapon for your team with your throws on offense and defense.”
So, with the “anyone can be a runner” attitude, and with games like h4 dumbing down the position to make it more accessible to more players, what's the benefit for specializing in being a runner?
“Having a single runner does have its advantages as you get an understanding of how you are gonna play as a team. You start to know how that specific runner is gonna react and makes the team flow more consistent. While it’s possible to do this with multiple hybrids, it’s easier done with a specific runner.”
It comes down to team familiarity, a team can build an adjust to the runner. If a tank knows what you're doing without having to look at you and can focus on their job while trusting you, you're going to be a well playing team. When I asked Cleak if bomb stops were the runner's job since that stat is often considered a “runner stat” he once again brought the team dynamic into the picture.
“It’s everyone’s job to get the ball back. For how committed they should be is more on how their skill set works. It’s okay to be a runner and get the ball back or not get it back. It’s a team game everyone should be covering for everyone.”
I agree, in my mind operating as a team and not an individual is the single most important thing a group of players can do. Even if it isn't the easiest without years of already built upon chemistry between players. No one can afford to be selfish on the court and expect to be a championship team. However, there is a lot more that impacts what makes a team good or bad outside of the chemistry they have. So, let's talk a little bit about some on court strategy
The Gameplan
Starting of course with the first thing we do in any Grifball game. Tip off.
“I like inside just for the pro run/flowers chance. I like to let everyone do their own thing till it becomes a problem. Then it depends on what we have as a team. After that we start going over what the other team is doing and see what we can change to counteract or take advantage of.”
Based on his tip off preference you can probably already guess what portion of the court Dcleak likes to flock to, and he really has a Dcleak reason for why he goes there too.
“I like the middle of the court. Who doesn’t love the chaos of the people trying to win the tank battle? It also feels like I can make a play to either side and catch someone napping.”
Cleak has mentioned already how passing can make the runner position more of a weapon when you're a skilled runner. I wanted to see how he thought it changed the rest of the game as well, and what he does when transiting between games with and without passing.
“What really changes is that in games with passing mechanics we have more chances to recover a bomb after a mistake than in other games. For example, I’m more willing to go into danger when I know I have a chance to recover/score the ball with a pass. Realistically it changes the type of aggression I’m willing to go for. And by that, I mean it really helps teammates relax more knowing the ball can be thrown back.”
Whether you're an aggressive runner or not you have to be making punches. They can take a lot of pressure off your tanks and help break the stale mate of the 4 v 3 tanking line games like Halo 3 and Reach are known for. Sometimes your runner K/D gets boosted by “safe punches” So what makes a safe punch?
“When they get caught switching and are alone is what I would consider a safe punch. As with taking the 1v1 as the bomb runner. I would almost always go for it if it’s for a score and it favored me. Honestly any punch that favors the bomb runner I would take.”
It seems like the 1v1 is the runners preferred spot. Obviously, an alone tank is an easy target for someone like a runner to stop by and get a free punch. What about when there's two of them? Or three of them? Or even, heaven forbid, four of them?
“First, I allow my lord and savior RNGesus to take the wheel. If that doesn’t work out, I try and set up as many 1v1s or chances for multi-kills as I can. I prioritize the enemies by aggression and my belief in their intelligence. Then we see if I’m still standing at the end of it.”
I really think that harkens back to what Cleak said about intelligent players, because he is one himself, but also fits in rather well with my chess analogy. Cleak recognizes the tendencies of his opponents prioritizes and forces the ones he wants to take his bait so he can potentially stay alive and take a few names with him in multiple tanks versus him situation. Now another skill a runner needs besides routes and punching is being able to recognize when to push and when a good push is starting. DCleak told me what he looks for to recognize when a push is happening.
“Multi-kills on their side or leading to their half. Doesn’t have to be by one person can be multiple players getting a clean kill. Then it becomes a numbers game. I like to start pushes by being aggressive. If I can land a punch that keeps a tank alive and gives us that space as well as number advantage, we are on our way. As a tank it’s pretty much the same can I get a string of kills that puts pressure on the enemy that makes them make mistakes.”
A common theme tonight is forcing a person to make mistakes and make them play the way you want them to. However, it’s a double-bladed weapon. Your opponents will also try and get a mental advantage on you and making sure they don’t is integral to play. Something that tests every good player’s ability to be mentally sound is a sudden change situation. Quickly losing the ball and immediately having to change course to defend from a plant. Or even quickly gaining the ball and adapting into a big push before your opponents can react after being sent reeling.
“First you own the duck* up. After that it’s communication and making sure everyone is playing to get the ball back. Being settled not frazzled. As for when you get the sudden turnover it’s all about pressuring them. People will swing on each other, get nervous etc. You have a finite window for a “pick six” if you will after that it’s back to the slog that is Grifball”
Similarly, I asked Cleak about being both up 4-2 and down 4-2. How it changes his complexion on a game and how he goes about mentally closing it out.
“Remind the team on what we’ve been doing good. Remind them to keep team tanking and helping each other. Then we make sure that we keep communicating so that we don’t allow a cheeky goal. WE keep playing and having fun. And we find out what happens, is it meant to be or not.”
Hopefully everyone enjoyed this look into the mind of a player so feared he got banned from subbing in the Dreamhack Summer of Grifball Series. Hopefully seeing the way Cleak looks at playing and at running makes us all a more informed player base. I certainly hope that my running ability improves by keeping in mind Dcleaks words of wisdom.
Thank you all so much for making it this far but we aren't done quite yet. Galvann extermed the last article cleak got a running riot in this one. Keep an eye out for the next chapter in our Philosoph7y of Grifball series where a very special guest talks me through being a hybrid. I promise you will want to hear what he has to say.