The rolls were overwhelming leading up the mono. Very lucky in quite a few ways!

I am pretty sure I made this comment but I will need some good variance and a little bit of dev luck go my way. With a good plan of killing the 10 and getting some great devs and rolls, it worked out. If my setup gets shut down early, on the 5 or 4, I believe we struggle in the middle game.

It happens. I am pretty sure he was feeling the heat of playing me and it warped his focused (which happens a lot when people know it’s me).

I appreciate the support and it hypes me up to hear your recent successes in the game! Interesting challenge with sharing blocks with other players! Ideally, you should factor in those blocking spots when choosing your settles. This is why I love the side by side as it can make your blocking spots very difficult for others early on, unless they want to solo block you. There’s no big secret around it though… you need to decide if you (or your blocking spot partner) are able to deal with those blocks with robber control. If you think someone will be perma-blocking your key spots, it might be a better strategy to pick somewhere else.

@@dandydrew Youre videos and feedback are helping a lot :)! Pretty happy with the climb considering only playing for 3 weeks now. Just always love to learn new strategies! Reached 1600 today, so shooting for 1700 now :)

Thanks for the kind words! I don’t know your exact level but this is common when players get out of the beginner tier and start dealing with more strategic players. I would recommend to not worry about these kind of things really as most of the time, those mistakes are opportunities for good players to build momentum. Good example is the previous game (ep11) where the player took the 5410 to 810 - This pick messed up the board and caused some imbalances which really pushed the 5410 player into a sub-optimal and difficult position. Best way to deal with bad players/ plays is to stay solid and not let them throw you off your game. Sounds simplistic but once you start “reacting” to bad plays, it’s very likely you will start to do the same. Pick your setup with a plan in mind and focus on the principles of production, good ports, flexibility, and good hand management. I also would say that if you identify sub-optimal players or people in bad positions, be willing to adjust your blocking spots and trading accordingly. I am willing to give more to a bad player if I think they can’t use it optimally. Just keep going man and experience will pay off. Stay great!

Well, still just up to 6 or 7 cards only with the play then. Also it puts yourself there as a much bigger thread mid-game.

No