I'm a long time forum lurker, and recently I got back into the whole tetris ds thing. I'm starting to run into a cap around 7300 where i can beat all the players lower than me, but stand little chance against 7400+ players. A quick note on my play style, I think I play relatively slow, but I make decent use of t-spin singles and doubles whenever possible. So really this goes out to the high rated players. What are some good ways to improve speed in t-ds (I feel like I'm held back by the clumsiness of the d-pad), and do any of you use t-spin triples in competitive play?
These articles are also good to review thoroughly. Multiplayer Techniques - This article reviews some general techniques necessary for survival and ultimately for winning. TDS Movement Finesse - If you find yourself misdropping a lot, read through this article. This article describes the most efficient movements to get a piece whereever. T-Spin Methods - Perhaps the largest compilation of T-Spins ever. You'll be spending quite a lot of time here absorbing diagrams. Twists - Complicated but priceless when you pull them off in a game in tight spots and proceed to win. As for T-Spin Triples, I use them only in friendly games. For competitive play, it's much better to chain T-Spin Singles, T-Spin Doubles, and Tetrises together. The Back-to-Back bonuses of those other line clears make T-Spin Triples too slow.
For some reason, I can beat most of the players above me, but I can't beat players in the 6,900s. Probably because of that horrible rating-weighted garbage system. Sometimes I'll use TSTs at the beginning of a match, I know how to set them up in the middle of a match, but it's just too slow, so I rarely do. I mostly use TSDs in the middle of a match, don't use TSSs that much.
My play style is odd, and I don't know if anyone else does this, but it REALLY works for me. What I do is use my peripheral vision and focus only on the colors of the pieces(and remember what they stand for). I don't look directly at the next pieces..I just kinda have most of my attention focused on that and at the same time glancing at the play field. Well it works for me at least...The only problem is in 4 player games when someone uses a Boo..it kinda throws me off for a bit but I recover. I just focus on doing tetrises as fast as possible and the occasional t-spin double or single when I see the chance for it. I dont try to set those up intentionally..I just let them come to me when I see them. Haha the only time I do t-spin triples is in friend games or against people in 2 player games that move too slow.
Yes, utilizing peripheral vision to recognize the preview is the key to playing fast. If you don't, having the ghost option will also aid this cause immensely. The Boo also slows me down but my stacking remains relatively stable. You can anticipate upcoming pieces by stacking "flat" enough to accomodate whatever the 7 piece bag throws at you. T-Spins are essential to victory and you'll definitely need to pull them off intentionally sooner or later. There are many situations you can memorize by heart in order to set one up in a flash when the preview allows.
I swear the Boo hurts me more than any other item. But at the same time I'm glad it's included in the game..gives me more chances to get better. And I know I realize I need to use t-spins more often. That might be my biggest problem I need to work on. I think that might be the reason why I could never seem to maintain a rating greater than 7350. It's just gonna take more practice to get used to it I guess. Woo..can't wait to get this game again.
Yeah, the lightning item is very unfair because its duration is too long. The developers could have at least given players an alternative method to deal with the effect other than just by using hold and/or resetting the lock delay by moving left and right. The option of ending the effect by dropping three pieces or so would have been nice.
The lightning only really hurts if you're at the top of the screen or if it's combined with the mushroom. Mushroom is bad luck, being at the top of the screen is bad play on your part. The bananas can be pretty devastating. Especially if you'd stacked high on one side, and not the other, as it'll tend to leave you with around three columns requiring I-pieces. It messes up t-spin setups too. Against good players, the worst item to get it with is the star, because it usually means you'll be hit with about 14 lines of garbage pretty quickly. I find Boo hurts me quite badly, because I don't use the ghost piece. Especially if I have something I want to keep in my hold box. On 2-player, I'd say you're better off just concentrating on speed, t-spin doubles, and then more complicated setups once you've mastered doubles. On 4-player, there's a bit more strategy, most importantly keeping your stack as low as possible, and momentarily checking other players' screens to pick up things. On push there's technique too, but I can't help with that because I don't know it.
Then how does one counteract getting lightning + tetris + tetris + T-Spin double? In push, what works for me is to cover up any holes between your and then make as many L triples as you can.
Use a star before they can use the lightning Generally though, lightnings don't hurt you unless it's 1 vs 1. When there's four players, then there's only actually one player who is free to rotate and to hit you with garbage.
Then how do I get the star before my opponent gets the lightning? Do I have to just out-TPM the other three players? And how do I know what they have? Unless I get the lightning right after a big block of garbage.
It can be quite devastating if someone gets a star while you're stuck in lightning, especially with 3 players or less remaining. A good star user would be able to pull off 3 tetrises on average and even more if they had nicely aligned garbage in the first place. If you're down low, 14 lines of garbage will significantly raise your chances of losing. 9 lines if you're midfield. Once you're up there, even if you survived the lightning, you most likely won't have enough time to get back down before the next tetris puts you back up.
There is also the fact that if you're adequate enough, or the orientations are kind (the hold button also gives you an additional orientation), the lightning doesn't actually have to stop you from putting pieces down and/or clearing lines.
I am wondering why I am unable to increase a rating over 7000.. At 6700, I begin to meet some very resisting players.. Is it because of my very bad knowledge of triple-T-spin? Or am I really bad?? And is it usefull to play the fast we can? I often win in playing VERY slowly..
T-spin triples aren't so useful as t-spin doubles. I find they are the ones that get used most frequently. As for playing slow... on 2-player there's no real advantage to it that I can see. On 4-player there is, as it can be part of a strategy, but that's a bit different. Playing flat-out isn't always the best option. You want to play a speed that is as fast as possible, while ensuring you're playing slow enough to make sure every piece goes where you want it to go and you don't make mistakes.
Perhaps you're stuck with the TGM mindframe of stacking. In TDS, it is extremely vital to not overstack. You have to anticipate garbage and stack accordingly or prepare to switch columns after a line clear. But solely striving to not overstack is not a winning strategy as it's a defensive maneuver. You have to learn to layer T-Spin Singles, T-Spin Doubles, and Tetrises in a way that opens the next column. Basically, you want to keep the Back-to-Back bonus while clearing garbage.