I hate Spy

[Warwick]

It never works for me. I'll spy and all I do is tell my opponent he gets to go twice in a row. Giving that info to my enemy is too great a price to pay for the possibility (slim) of getting to go before him. I can't think of one time in Warlord 2.0 that Spy hasn't bitten me. I'm to the point of ignoring it. I'm sure people have had great success with it, but it's not working for me. It nearly cost me the game.

Judas notices something across the battle. He motions for Vandrian. "Isn't that our spy talking to Khong-To?"

"I'm afraid so, my lord."

"That's twice today! Ride over and kill him!"

"I would, but you forgot to move me last turn and I'm sort of waiting for a hole to make myself useful."

"For the love of - Fine, I'll go kill him!"

"Actually, spy is an ability on your datacard, my lord. I'm not too sure, but that might be suicide."

"DAMN IT!"

[Don Rodolfo Graziani]

Well that's not cool that Spy isn't working well for you.

I guess it will depend in no small part on how many troops you take versus your enemy. My Necropolis almost never use Spy because my opponent usually has twice as many troops. Odds are just too long to help but it still works once in a while.

 

DRG

[Stubbdog]

Spy tends to work better for me in the second half of a turn, rather than trying to use it to try for example and get the first activation of a turn.

[ixminis]

I believe I've spied my own card on rare occasions... when playing defensively and trying to get the opponent to move around and indicate their strategy. Although I'm sleepy and not sure I exist.

[ViciousPanzer]

lol @Warwick, THat's hilarious.

 

Yeah, unless I"m playing Overlords and using the Hunter's Edge ability I tend to ignore spy unless there's a 50/50 chance of one or the other being pulled and my enemy gets pulled. That, or I often use it to spy my own cards so that I can force my opponent to go or give myself 2 activations in a row like ixminis says.

 

Joshua

[shakhak]

Loading the deck works very well with Spy. Try adding in a cheap solo and buy the book of Tactics. That way you're more likely to go next.

 

If your enemy has a several card advantage over you on initiative, it's much better to wait it out or to pass on your own turn. Make them go when they don't want to that way you can setup a charge. Or let the cards run low and try to get two turns in a row that way you can finish off a troop or something similar.

[Gus Landt]

I really like Spy in armies where I have a ton of init cards already. That way when my opponent gets lucky, I can Spy it. If he gets lucky and the next card is his, I Spy that one too.

[Stubbdog]

Gus, the only time that ploy works, is when you are using the Overlords and their ability to drop the card all the way to the bottom of the deck. Otherwise, there is no point in spying the second time cause they first spied card still automatically plays next.

[Gus Landt]

Gus, the only time that ploy works, is when you are using the Overlords and their ability to drop the card all the way to the bottom of the deck. Otherwise, there is no point in spying the second time cause they first spied card still automatically plays next.

We flip over your card, and I spy it. The next card is yours again. I immediately spy that card (with a second Spy model). Now (hopefully) the next card is mine, and I get to activate. You then get the following 2 turns, but at least I got to go.

[Shakandara]

EDIT: I have changed my position on this.

 

~v

Edited March 10, 2010 by Shakandara

[Feanor]

I like the ability but definetly need to time it better.

[ViciousPanzer]

Gus, the only time that ploy works, is when you are using the Overlords and their ability to drop the card all the way to the bottom of the deck. Otherwise, there is no point in spying the second time cause they first spied card still automatically plays next.

We flip over your card, and I spy it. The next card is yours again. I immediately spy that card (with a second Spy model). Now (hopefully) the next card is mine, and I get to activate. You then get the following 2 turns, but at least I got to go.

 

Umm. . mebbe I'm a little off on this, but a card can only be spied once and cannot be delayed more than once. So if an enemy card is spied and the next card is theirs as well, spying that new card pushes the originally spied card to the front. Why? Because it was already spied once before (cannot be spied twice) and thus delayed (cannot be delayed more than once). I should go look this up in the book when I get a chance to be sure. . .

 

Joshua

[Stubbdog]

Josh, that is how I have been playing it since day one... But, Gus made Vince notice and read it more thoroughly, which made me read it more thoroughly.. and in the end, it is yet another SA that we might have meant it one way when we made it, but due to the actual wording we used when we published it, it actually does work slightly different.

 

Spy

A model with this SA allows you to delay one initiative card in the Draw Deck once per game. Only one card may be delayed in this manner for each model that possesses this SA. The delayed initiative card is set aside, and the next card in the Draw Deck is drawn. After the Activation of the initiative card, the delayed card is played. Spy cannot delay cards already delayed by another Spy. If more than one card is delayed (i.e., one card from the Spy SA and another from a spell or other SA), the delayed initiative cards are played in the same order in which they were delayed (i.e., the first card delayed is the first card played).

 

The placement of the words "After the activation of the initiative card" is the key here... What Gus is saying is that since Gus "spied" the card, it never activates. And as long as he continues to have more spies, he can continue to keep spying cards since each time he spies one, it happens before it activates. But, then as soon as he lets one activate, they all play out the way they were drawn.

 

And as much as we did not mean for that to be how they worked, that is indeed how we wrote and published it.

[Gus Landt]

What Gus is saying is that since Gus "spied" the card, it never activates. And as long as he continues to have more spies, he can continue to keep spying cards since each time he spies one, it happens before it activates. But, then as soon as he lets one activate, they all play out the way they were drawn.

Yep! Exactly.

 

And as much as we did not mean for that to be how they worked, that is indeed how we wrote and published it.

Actually, that is 100% exactly how I meant it to work. It is how I've always used it, and how I want it to work.

[Voladilk]

that's how I always thought it would work as well....