When I came back to Urban rivals, I was looking for a path to follow in order to get better at this game. Unfortunatly, none of the best players were able to express how they became this good.
After playing the game the bit, watching Coach Sebastien's stream and talking to him, I think I now know what it takes to become one of the best at this game.
This article is not a simple tips to implement and immediatly make your level skyrocks. Rather, it what I think are the steps you will have to follow in order to become better.
Deckbuilding
A good player can play good decks, but the best player must play the best decks. When you loose more point for a loss than you win for a win. You cannot afford to loose game because you started on the backfoot. This is why the best players want to play the best decks to begin the game with a head start as much as possible.
Be creative, be curious, test multiple decks. Don't be afraid to netdeck.
Dont just see a card from the perspective of the player playing it, also think about what cards you played against that you had trouble with. If there is a card that you found annoying to play agaisnt. You should also play it because it will also be annoying to play against for your opponents.
Managing energy
Playing urban rivals is a draining task for the brain, especially when you cannot afford to give up stupid losses. Like muscle, brain becomes tired after a time. It is called "ego depletion". It takes Coach Sebastien about 100 games to reach top 1. If you want to reach the same score, you need to be ready for the long run.
-Do not think during the opponent rounds. This advice comes from Sebastien himself, if you take the time during the oponent round to think about your play, you will sometimes overthink your opponent optimal paths when he will take a different path. Avoid unecessary thinking.
-Have a healthy body.
-Eating a bit from time to time help. I would recommend fruit and snacks/cookies the most. Avoid snacks inside single packagings to reduce the amount of plastic waist.
What is urban rivals ?
In order to improve ourself in this game, we need to understand what Urban rivals is : it is a game of paths (you can also say scenarios). If you play card A with B pillz, your opponent can play card C with D, E or F pillz ; or he can play card G with H, I or J pillz. With how round 1 went, then your opponent will have a certain amount of plays available during the second turn, then the third turn...
A game of Urban rivals can follow a very big amount of paths it can take depending on the actions you and your opponent does. The goal is to reach a positive end game (see my article on end games)
Since you cannot control how the opponent plays, you want to play in a way that the game will follow paths that favour you the best.
Recognize what paths are good for you and what paths are bad for you.
Top players have the ability to visualize how the next rounds can happen and what the different paths are. And they only take the good paths. Within the small amount of time available in your round.
Most players will dig themself into a hole by playing in bad scenarios. This is where the best players who consistently play into correct scenarios manage to get a 80% win rate when playing against random players.
It is only once a top player meets another top players that mind games really become a thing. Since both players know what the correct paths are, neither players will missplay (they will not do a play without a good reasoning behind it). You now need to know how your opponent thinks to get an edge : "I know the best play is for me, he knows that this is the best play for me, so he will counter it, since I know that he knows, I will do a bad play that counters his counter" and "I know this type of player likes playing pillz early, so I think he will choose this play"...
So how do you become good at vizualising those paths ?
A : watch the best players videos when they explain their thoughts. Prefer a replay to a live : before he plays, pause and try to do your own analysis. Then play the video, were you correct ? Did you forget something ?
B : save and replay your own games. Try to visualize the paths while you have as much free time as you want.
Do those training exercises until the correct paths come to your mind spontaneously.
“Before I learned the art, a punch was just a punch, and a kick, just a kick. After I learned the art, a punch was no longer a punch, a kick, no longer a kick. Now that I understand the art, a punch is just a punch and a kick is just a kick.” Bruce lee
Thank you to Coach Sebastien for helping me write this article.
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