Atlantis's Know Your Role Article

[Pudified]

Ok well I was going to wait and put this up on the UFA site, but they are too slow and Im really looking for any excuse not to study right now. Also, this "discussion" forum has gotten to the point where theres nothing really new or worthwhile to read...Im not saying this is worthwhile, but at least its a little different =P Hope you enjoy.

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When looking at the clans of today I see players of basically what I find to be 5 different categories. Choosing these categories and which player fit into which slot was very difficult and Im sure could be debated. Players like Astrok and Nano have been pretty much shafted out of these lists because the clans they are in use a more unique style. With that being said I apologize to everyone who isn't listed in the categories, but the #1 player in my opinion (nano) wasn't either so dont feel too bad =P Anyways enough chit chat, here are the 5 categories:


The Rock
This is generally regarded as the best player in the clan by the majority of the public. They will display very strong 1v1 skill and are often in charge of locking down base. These players will never lose a key 1v1 battle to a lesser player and are generally good at fending off 1v2 situations. Most of these players will be referred to as the guy who "carries" the clan.

Looking at TnT I consider Graktorn to be "the rock" of the clan. He is widely accepted as the best player in the clan and the only reason they can win. The players in TnT can count on grak to take base and feel more confident with him in the game. He not only is the best 1v1 player in the clan, but also creates many rape possibilities and will move around the other players on his team.

In my opinion every clan needs at least one rock to be successful. If for nothing more, the confidence in knowing that base can be secured and that you have someone that can control the middle of the map. This is the type of player who can dominate lower level clans and will almost always display the best kill/death ratio on the team. Putting 4 of these guys on a team would be hell to go against, but overfragging would surely occur making them not the perfect clan combination. These are the most highly acclaimed players in their clan and most everyone on ARC tries to become a rock. This is the most common role I see ARCers taking just to a lesser extent than the very top players.

Examples: Mage, Deadeye, JeLLy, SilverCrow, Graktorn, Techman, Swifty, Elasesino, ManNa


The Dagger
This will generally be a very underrated player and actually the reason for a clans victory. In my opinion a rock can carry a team by keeping them from not losing, while a dagger can win the game for his team. It basically all goes back to the fragger vs flagger debate. The flagger will be someone who always searches for weak links in the opposing clan and who will make cuts to infiltrate their opponents base. This player will simply put be a pain in the a.s.s. In 1v1 situations this player will be much weaker than a rock, but they always seem to get away from straight 1v1s. Most will consider them worse for the fact that in public go they wont display a 30/4 kill ratio like a rock can, but lets face it in league we all know they are crucial to their teams success.

In TnT I consider the dagger to be none other than Joel. Ive heard people say things like how TnT will never go anywhere as long as Joel starts himself. Well I would say that these people could not be more ignorant. Sure Joel's 1v1 is not up to par with graktorn's, but he is every bit as key to the reason they win. Joel makes cuts into the opponents base and has a deep knowledge of the game. He will make key decisions on the fly and often overload offense if the occasion calls. He knows each members capabilities and will often leave base 2v3 if he feels the situation is right. Joel will attempt to keep constant pressure on the opponents base and often pulls out his solo runs. I can see why people would underrate Joel, but only people who play with him in a regular basis can know what kind of impact he has on the clan.

Now the question becomes if you put 4 of this style players in a clan will they win? I would have to say no because opponents could camp in their base and clearing it would take a very long time. From what Ive seen no heavy fragger takes on the role of the dagger, but if one did they would be the best player in the game in my opinion. In my opinion Toshi is the best dagger in the game and he is probably also questioned as to why he starts for CaDF by some in the community. The guy started over Techman in APL who overshadows him 1v1, but the necessity for a player of the dagger type is apparent. So now we see that 4 big time fraggers wont be ideal, 4 big time flaggers wont be ideal, but what is the best mix?? I cant tell you that and I dont think I will ever be able to. Is there a need for "the glue" player that I will mention below or is that just not necessary at the top. Regardless I feel that if every clan had a person always looking to infiltrate and taking some team deaths, they could be a much more deadly opposition.

Examples: Toshi, Joel, Teck, Eulogy, Drue


The Neutralizer
When your clan heads into battle with an opponent, generally there will be a certain strategy that they favor. Perhaps its blitzing 2 low each time or trying to send solo cutters at every chance. I believe that once you hit a certain skill level of clans you will see a player who will see right through your plans and cut you off at the source. For basically every dagger in the game this player is their worst nightmare. They will generally be the second strongest fragger on the team and they will play a more strategic game than the rock.

In TnT I would have to say this player is psiwar. Psiwar is the kind of player who loves to hang out at mid and bark orders to his team. He will generally position himself in a way to deal with base and is basically a fail safe for us. Generally he will see what the other clan is trying early and tell us what he thinks we should be doing! However, for this one, I believe Korrupt is the best in the game. When we play CB they like to frag the hell out of us and hang around bunkers in our base. Kor is never too deep in base and if we get that outside spawn he can be seen trailing us all the way back to his base. He makes back cuts to kill solo runs and I often see him run way out of his way just to get in the perfect raping position to clear base. He is a very unselfish player and it seems like everytime I pick up the flag kor is right in my face. Simply put kor fills the weak links in his line and is always shutting down runs before they can even get off the ground.

This type of player is key for big fragging clans in my opinion. Without kor in, I believe CB would get into many overfragging situations that would kill them against good teamwork clans. In my opinion this would be a very boring role to take in the clan because you never really get to make an all out assault on the flag, but these guys are the reason clans dont get upset by lesser teams. I believe every clan should have a guy who is always analyzing what the other clan might be scheming and then neutralizing that threat.

Examples: Korrupt, Parrotman, Psiwar, Chronic, Rareops, BigDaddy, Dzaaneez



The Glue
Well I guess I kind of based this role as the type of player I am. This player will work to make the clan win at all costs. At first glance it is very debatable if a player of this type should start for their clan. In public go you will see a mediocre fragging game and one who cannot carry a team to victory. To fully understand whether or not this player should really be starting you need to see them in a big clanwar or a league game.

I'll use myself for an example of this one. In public go I generally change my game completely and become more frag hungry unless of course im playing with my clan on my team. Now if you ever dueled me before you will notice that I appear to suck (dont let that fool you!~). In public go I am an average player, but in league games is where my strength lies. On the outside I will generally have the lowest kill/death ratio. In these games my goal is to leave smokers for my team and just kind of annoy the other clan. I will almost always leave base, I will die early if smoked, and I will always search for rape possibilities. My main goal is to make my teammates have an easier game. Id like to think I do that, but heh they will probably say I dont!

Overall this will be the kind of player who will fight a long battle versus another and end up with both smoking. Rather than trying to finish their opponent off they will run to mid and med another member of the opposing team. This exemplifies the style of play which I consider to be the glue of a team. They will often launch nades long range at the opponent they are not directly facing. This is the player who to understand their full impact you must watch from blue. It is very debatable if this play type is even needed because of their weaker 1v1 skills. Id like to think we are, but once you hit the peak of the best fraggers and flaggers the glue player might become obsolete, with the other players in the clan just playing more team oriented than normal.

Examples: Guess, RonJinTsu, Atlantis, raz0r, Murder


The Agressor
Ill be honest I was originally going to keep this to only 4 different roles, but many of the top players in the game were left out. The agressor is basically based off of the agressive rape style that certain players display. I would argue that this is more of a clans style than an individual players style, but there are obviously going to be some people who excel in the area.

I like to think of E and CB as the main agressive rape clans. These guys like to hit you hard and hit you fast leaving little chance for recovery. They will generally be found advancing quickly in 2v1 situations and isolating a member of the opposing clan to launch all their specials at; thus allowing others to advance. Their game is all about positioning and raw power. If you put 4 of the best agressors on the same team you will see a team that has the potential to be dominant. Thier game relies on speed and intimidation, which will drive their opponents into making mistakes.

I can say that TnT does not have a player like this, nor do we run this style of play very often. The best in the game at this is probably Fordus because of his knowledge of the game/map along with his strong 1v1 ability. When you combine him with people like Ominous and Ratix who know what style he wants to bring to the table, you are going to get one hell of a solid clan. This style of play will always be effective, but I dont believe it is the best possible way for a clan to win. The players I see run this style more than anyone else are WONites and it has proven an effective strategy for them.

Examples: Fordus, Ominous, Ratix, Tsunami, Guru, Embassador


Ok now lets take a look and analyze these 5 positions. Im sure every person reading this is mentally thinking about which spot they most closely fit in. In my opinion 75% of ARC works towards becoming the rock of their clan. This is the glory position, the first name mentioned when you think of a clans success. Look at my list: Mage, Deadeye, Graktorn, SilverCrow, Elasesino, Swifty, ManNa; these guys are generally heralded as the keys to victory in their respective clans. Based off of public go games and even in league games these guys will always be the ones you dread facing. So why not just put 4 of them in the same line and run over opposing clans?

Well thats a very good question and one that can be answered with this: overfragging. These players do not like to die in games. They will stay alive smoked longer than most any players in the game and they will kill more of their opponents than thier teammates do. If you put 4 of them on one team you would probably get a lot of 1-0s because they would force the other team into a 4man defense and it would take forever to cap.

Now we come to the daggers. In my opinion a dagger is necessary in EVERY clan to make them at the peak of their strategic game. TBWA doesn't really have a dagger, they like to flag 2v2 and rape, so while Ive heard nano WAS a dagger and a solo artist back in the day, I dont believe he is now. I believe toshi is a huge piece of the APL championship that CaDF brought home. Mage received all the credit, but without toshi making cuts at the flag I think it would have been a much different series. So now the question becomes, how many daggers do you want on your team? I believe that the ideal line would only have one dagger in it simply because of the weaknesses they show at base.

This brings us to the neutralizer. I think it's pretty obvious that a clan needs one of these players to shutdown the dagger of the opposing clans. This is the guy who can hold his ground versus anyone in the game, but who I believe has to take on the role of the glue as well in the very top line. This player will become all about the team and perhaps show the lowest kill/death every game, but he will always be reliable to stop the opponents assaults short.

Now we come to the agressor, who is a very strong player, but I dont think he is needed in the ideal ARC line. His raping tactics become less important when you have two of the best fraggers and the best infiltrator in the game on your side. The goal of the ideal clan on ARC in my opinion is to seperate their opponents and lock base with the rocks and neutralizer while the dagger wreaks havok in the opponents base.

So with all that being said I will say that the absolute top line you can achieve is two rocks, one dagger, and one neutralizer. It is this journalists opinion that the full strategy of ARC has not been explored because the top clans can simply run over their opponents. Once they start exploiting the other clans weaknesses (other than weaker 1v1) we are all in very big trouble. With that being said I think that the line of Mage, Deadeye, Toshi, and Korrupt would be my pick for a line no current clan could beat. Granted 3/4 of this line is inactive, but I have a feeling by APL all 4 will return to activity. I just feel like this combo is deadly and it would be a constant uphill battle for their opposition to get ANY real chances at flagging.

So what was the point of this article? I guess it was just to show you that you dont all have to strive to be the next mage. I long ago realized I would never be the top fragger in this game so I changed my game in a way that would best suit my clan. You can always argue that the top 4 fraggers would demolish any line and I am just disagreeing because I am not a big name fragger, but I would have to disagree with you =P. There are many of the best players of today and of yesterday left off this list and to them I apologize. I either have not played with you enough or just think you transcend into more than one of the categories (I believe nano is the most complete player in the game because he can fit virtually all of the positions). Id like to hear what you guys think about the various roles and where you consider yourself, if I agree maybe Ill add you to the list~

[Reaper_Charlie]

Excellent article. A very good read, insightful and thoughtful.

[glop]

loved it.