Ngozi's Way A periodic column on Sanctum strategy, theory, and fun, by Ian Schreiber, Sanctum player name Gannon. You can reach Ian at ai864@yahoo.com.

Town Layout Strategy: Direct Path
July 13, 2000

This week, we'll look at a somewhat rare town layout where both of your nearest towns are on a direct walking path to the center (but not on the same path, as is the case with some Center Clusters where the towns are in a line).

Since there are two distinct paths to the center town which cross another town on the way, it practically mandates that both players will build a second group and send both the Horde and second group directly to center town.

Lockdown

This is not as bad a layout for Lockdown to face as it might appear. While it will probably be impossible for you to stop the opponent from taking any towns at all, if you concentrate on one group (probably the second group) you stand a chance at holding the enemy to one town only.

Your basic game plan will probably be to prevent the enemy second group from taking its town, either with Monsters or Lockdown spells, starting on turn 3 or 4. On turns 5 and 6 you'll concentrate on the enemy Horde, to prevent it from reaching the center town.

After that you can start throwing heavy-duty Monsters at the enemy groups and start building up a relatively large force of novices in your towns.

From there you'll have the option to attack the opponent's first town, or head for the last neutral towns and push to the enemy Sanctum, depending on what the board position is.

Combat

This is a relatively nice board for a Combat Speed deck to face, since you can pick up a town on the way to the center without slowing yourself down. Your opponent can do so too, of course, but you're probably just a little bit faster.

Combat Protection, in most cases, would also do well to build up its Horde and march straight to the center, relying on its superior combat power to win the center town.

In both cases, it's recommended that you make a relatively large second group and head for the second town. If you can manage to take both nearby towns and the center it will be hard for an opponent to come back against a Combat strategy. If nothing else, the opponent will divert resources to stalling or killing off your second group, which means she isn't stopping your Horde from advancing on the center town (which is your main threat anyway).

If she does take the effort to stall your Horde, you'll probably reach a town with your second group in the meantime, and you could do worse than owning two towns at the start of mid-game.

Powerhouse

Cheap Powerhouse decks can play much like Combat Speed, heading directly for center town and grabbing a town on the way. If your mana structure is sufficiently inexpensive, make a large second group and head to that second town; if not, a token group sent that way to divert your opponent's attention from your Horde is still usually a good idea.

Expensive Powerhouse is probably happy with the town layout too, especially if it includes some spells to protect its second group on the way to a second town. The reason for this is that, with a very real possibility of capturing two towns early on, if you cast at least one mana-gaining spell you may well have 9 mana by turn 6 or 7.

If you get a great opening draw you might be able to play for center town early on; if not, you can at least expect to kill off the enemy Horde as soon as it captures center town, and then launch an assault to take it for yourself.

Attrition

As with Expensive Powerhouse, with Attrition you may stand a decent chance at capturing both of your nearby towns; if they are spread out a little bit, this will make it difficult or impossible for your opponent to attack your Sanctum without first heading near your towns ... and if your town defenses are solid, you can make life very painful for an aggressive opponent.

If you can build Colonies, you may want to build from your towns backward towards your Sanctum, in order to make it even more difficult for the enemy to penetrate your defense; if you can surround your Sanctum with Colonies it will be hard for you to lose!

Early on, make a second group that's capable of capturing the second town, if you can; unless the spells in your hand dictate it, don't even bother attacking the center town, but concentrate on town defense and building up your existing groups instead.

About the time the opponent is leaving center town you should have the mana to start building Colonies, and from there it's simply a matter of playing defensively until the opponent runs out of cards.

Conclusions

The defining feature of a Direct Path game is the intense fighting for both nearby towns in the early game.

Not only is delaying the enemy Horde or second group (or protecting your own) an issue, but which group you send to which nearby town can make a huge difference at the all-important battle for center town.

If your groups reach the towns at a different time than the opponent's, after all, this choice will define who has Initiative until the center town battle ...

The other interesting feature of this layout will be evident in the late mid-game and beyond, when one player is pushing forward from the center town.

Since there are two towns on a direct walking path between the center town and the opponent's Sanctum, the aggressor will likely encounter a powerful defense, which may even come back to recapture the center town!

Of all town layouts, the center town probably changes hands more frequently with Direct Path than any other.

Good luck!

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