Control vs Beatdown in FFTCG

One of the things I maximize during tournaments comes from understanding roles in matchups like “who is the beatdown.” For anyone who doesn’t come from an MtG background, it refers back to an old article on the website The Dojo. The summary of the article is that in any given matchup, one player is playing the aggressor and one player is the control deck. The player who misidentifies this role will almost always come up with the loss.  This can be true if both players are playing Mono-Wind Chocobos or both players are playing Sky Pirates.  Who goes first can determine who is the beatdown or what the shape of your opening hand is, but more often than not, it’s a bit more nuanced than that.  

Let’s say you are playing Chocobos (post-Sterne ban because that completely changes the way the deck plays).  Chocobos can play either a very aggressive game or go a control route hinging on getting to five backups and controlling the board with Bismarck plus a bunch of little birds.  If you are on the play, it’s likely that you have the opportunity to deal your opponent damage first and put them under pressure. In many matchups you aren’t just pressuring them because you dealt damage, but because each damage is a card milled. This is an example of when roles can change.  Sometimes knowing when to pump the breaks is also vital.

Ex-Bursts and damage modified cards play a role in these decisions. Let’s say you are playing against Mono-Fire and you’ve seen them in a prior round with 8cp Xande, and 6cp Luso. You are on the play opening with two backups on turn one and a forward on turn two. What do you do?

A. You press the attack because you want them to hit 7 damage and lose the game before they can stabilize with big forwards.

B. Switch to a more controlling route depending on your perceived number of EX Bursts in their deck. Will an EX Burst off the top win them the game?  Is this a matchup where I need to attack at all even? On the play when neither player takes damage or searches, the person on the play has the advantage and is immediately the control deck. The person on the draw MUST hit the first turn player first (or mill them another way) to win the long game.
C. You can attack mono fire to 2 and then play a more controlling game where Rain isn’t as good.
D. You attack them to 4 instead of 6, and try to finish the game the following turn instead putting them from 4 to 7 in the same attack step so you get around Luso’s damage six ability or Xande’s five.

There are easily hundreds of other scenarios to consider with each attack. It’s part of what makes FFTCG such a fun and complex game.  During any of the above attacks multiple things can happen. For example, hitting an Ifrit or Brynhildr to damage when you still have attackers;  if you are the beatdown you might actually stop the attack here because hitting a second EX could put you behind and switch your roles. While if you are the control deck this might be your turn to shift gears into the beatdown role. 

Something else to consider in your decisions during the match is your understanding of how good or experienced your opponent is in relation to yourself. I think this takes a very honest understanding of your own abilities but I think it’s quite important.  A few examples:

Playing against a very good player in an event and the game unfolds like this: I’m playing Verstael and he’s playing Naya Neo Exdeath.  In general I’m definitely the beatdown in this matchup because I can play 2-4 forwards on turn 1. In addition my Verstael plus Rinoa/Fusoya triggers are going to draw me a bunch of cards and for sure make it unlikely I can play the control roll well. Now I know he’s playing some number of Susano and Shantotto so I need to be wary of that.  He has two cards in hand and I have an option to cast Verstael+Sephiroth and force him into top deck mode or go Verstael+Rinoa+Sephiroth if I hit at least 3 cards with the Verstael (which is pretty likely).  I opt for the second one, whiff with the Verstael and end up feeling very lucky that he doesn’t top deck the out. I remember him saying to me that I didn’t have to go for the big play, but here’s the thing; from his perspective this is true, I’m ahead and no reason to put myself in a situation to get blown out.  But I knew he was a better player than I was. Sometimes to beat someone who is better than you, you have to take risks to increase your odds.  I needed to end the game as soon as possible and if I could sneak in a few percentage points, I thought that was necessary.


I see this happen all the time in the other direction as well. Good players taking risks that they don’t need to for the purpose of either being flashy or feeling they had the game more locked up than they actually did.  When I’m playing someone I believe I can outplay, I’ll play much more conservatively on average.  This doesn’t have to be based on skill level alone but opening hands too. If my opening hand is very good, I’ll play two backups and try to curve to five. If the opener is very bad, I may choose to try to become the beatdown in a situation or matchup I wouldn’t normally play that role.  Finally, if I feel that I can dictate the pace of the match, I’ll become the beatdown when I want to and allow my opponent to believe that I’m on the defensive.  

I hope this type of article was useful for you. I’ll likely try to continue to do one a few times a month or so.  Thanks for reading it over and visiting the page. If you want to continue to support this venture, find us on socials like Twitch.tv/gamerscommand, Youtube, Instagram, etc and follow our content. Our goal is to continue to create content that brings you value.