My Great Grandfather was a gambler. I don’t mean a “plan a guys’ trip to Vegas twice a year” gambler; I mean a “local bar, counting cards, brass knuckle (a gambler’s best friend) carrying” gambler. Since I was the only great grandchild to visit him with any regularity, he tried to teach me everything he knows. Now, I will pass his lessons on to you!
Now in the gaming community, counting cards has a bad rap. Mostly because people are counting cards in order to try and win money at a casino with no regard for the safety of their hands. Card game players, however, count cards with breathtaking regularity… even in the deck building phase. As an example: When I start building a deck, I know I’m going to have around 12 Space cards, 24 Ground units, and 14 Events/Upgrades when I make a deck before I tinker with it to try and make it as efficient as possible.
With that as a framework, I can safely say that I’m going to always have the two best ships in each color, the top six units in each color, and a nice mix of events and upgrades to support those choices. Now you’re probably thinking, “So what?”. Well, this means that as long as you know the best cards in each color, or can listen to other people tell you the best cards in each color, you can make meaningful decisions while playing the game.
The best example of this is playing Regional Governor. She has an ability that says, “When Played: Name a card. While this unit is in play, opponents can’t play the named card.” If you’re playing against the Boba deck that’s all over the place, you’re probably going to want to say something like Fett’s Firespray or No Good To Me Dead (as a couple of great examples). If you’re playing against green villains, Superlaser Technician is a great choice as well! The point is, if you know the cards, how many of those cards have been played, and the odds of them having it in their hand based on the cards in deck left, you’re better able to make informed decisions on when to do what.
So there we go! I’ve passed on a bit of knowledge, honored my ancestor, and have hopefully gotten you thinking about how to count cards well enough to make some informed decisions. We’re going to try and make this segment an ongoing thing with fundamental type stuff all card players should know! Until next time, remember to always ask to cut the other person’s deck.
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