Having a blast at the HQ today with Animal. We just had a big crowd of maniacs shuffle out after a good 3 hours of hanging out and playing golf, MYACH and fu. Most of them had been in the game for a while but one of the guys had scarcely even seen the game before. Didn't seem to matter much since he was an absolute natural when it came to Myachi golf.
While they were here, we ended up playing several games of 5 and 6 person fu. Fu is a mad fun game one on one, but the whole dynamic changes when you bring a bunch of people in and it's an everyone against everyone free-for-all.
During one of our games, I saw what I consider to be the coolest strategy in the history of the game and as I thought about it, I started composing this blog entry in my head.
See, when we first come up with new Myachi games they usually only have a few rules. But as the games grow and evolve we keep finding clever kids that come up with ways of thwarting their opponents that kind of violate the spirit of the competition. That's why at present there are a gazillion rules in MYACH... people kept thinking of weird calls they could make that would be impossible for someone else to match (for example, catching it backwards in one's double jointed elbow).
Fu is no different. Below are some of the coolest and most creative strategies I've seen. Many of these have since been eliminated from the game due to rule changes, but a couple are still perfectly legit... if not exactly sportsmanlike.
#1) Traps
One of the first rules we had to make in the game was a rule against traps. Obviously if everyone just holds the Myachi in a Lotus or Hulk, the game can't end until somebody gets tired and falls asleep. It was Animal who first hit upon this one so it didn't take long at all for us to outlaw this particular move.
#2) Using height as an advantage
Being taller and having a longer reach can be a huge advantage in Fu but only if you use it right. You can't just hold your hand really high because if you do the slightest bump to your balance will cost you a point. In other words, if you have your hand awkwardly held above you, you're not going to have much control of that Myachi.
So how do you properly use height to your advantage? Well, since I'm only 5' 10", I'm tempted not to tell you, but the best method I've seen involves holding your opponent at bay with one hand while trailing the other hand out behind you. This is far from fool proof, but it will win you points here and there.
#3) Faking
A good fake toss can be awesome in a Myachi Fu game. To really get an opponent to bite on this, you have to do an actual throw at least once. You toss the Myachi high, go in for a strike and then go back to the spot of the toss to catch. This is actually a pretty ineffective strategy since it's really clear to your opponent what you're trying to do. They'll just go all defense for a second and hope you miss your catch (which you very often will).
But if you can convince your opponent that you're going to throw and fake it, it can make it all worth while. The reason is that if you throw a good fake toss (by using a vert, for example), they won't know where your Myachi is or which hand it's on for just a second. If you can make your opponent lose track of your Myachi, it's almost always worth a point as long as you act quickly to go on offense.
#4) Low Rolling
Like the trap rule, this strategy has been banned in competition because (a) it violates the spirit of the game, (b) it can be dangerous and (c) you look goofy when you do it. This is the strategy you often see younger kids employ when they first start. It consists of holding your hand less than an inch off the ground so that nobody can get a palm strike on you.
So you shuffle around like a cross between Golem and the Hunchback of Notre Dame for a while and thwart your opponent through sheer silliness. Now, clearly this strategy had to be banned. Not only would it make it impossible for anyone to win the game, but it could result in somebody accidentally getting their hand stepped on and that's never fun.
#5) Hiding
This isn't the coolest way to win a game, but it can be pretty effective. In multi player chaos matches it can sometimes be easy to just hang back and let the other players all knock each other around before stepping up. Now, you obviously can't actually hide, but you can play heavy defense, stay at the fringes of the fight and wait until everyone else has a few drops.
There are a couple of major drawbacks to this method, of course. The first is that if everyone plays like this the game will take a hundred years to finish. The other is that if people realize that you're doing this, they might gang up on you. It's not seen as a very honest way of winning a game, so if you hang back long enough to let all the other people get a drop or two, they're going to figure you out.
Believe me (and I speak from experience) it doesn't matter how good you are at Fu, if three or four people all decide to go after you at once, they are going to get you. If you employ this strategy you have to be so subtle about it that nobody notices. In other words, don't hide altogether. Let everyone see you go in for a strike here or there, but only use measured strikes and only do it when you know nobody can get behind you.
#6) The Tornado
Centrifugal force is your friend in Fu. The most effective method of keeping the Myachi under control is to keep cradling, half-piping and verting the thing throughout the game. The only problem with this is that those actions are predictable so all it takes is somebody stopping your hand mid-Vert to force a drop.
The tornado is another way of using centrifugal force to your advantage. If you spin with your hand out and your fingers leading, you can hold the Myachi on your hand and cover pretty good distances in pretty short periods. Tornadoing your way toward somebody is a great way to catch them by surprise. Of course, there's a disadvantage as well. If you don't knock away their Myachi right away you're going to come out of your spin off balance and dizzy.
In other words, if you're going to use this method, make sure you do it right.
#7) The Lion's Roar
This was the new strategy I saw today that prompted me to write this whole thing. This is one that probably only works once against any opponent and only if they've never read this particular blog entry or seen it used before. I saw it for the first time today and when I saw it, it worked like a charm. I may never see it work again.
So here's the idea: you wait for your opponent to move in for an attack and then you scream like a lunatic.
Yeah, that's the whole strategy. I know it doesn't seem like much, but when this dude did it today he startled his opponent so much that the dude just up and dropped his Myachi as he jumped back. Not only did this earn him a letter against the would-be aggressor, but he also earned a letter against me because I doubled over laughing and also lost control of my Myachi.
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I'm still working on a more definitive strategy guide for Fu so if you have any suggestions or ideas, please share. You can email me at crazyivan@myachi.com or leave them in the comments section below. Thanks!
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