Tips tashkalar

High Form Strategy

1) Hand Management

Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale. Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discarding it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful.

2) Flares

Be wary of flares. A typical beginner's mistake in Tash-Kalar is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying your opponent's pieces as thoroughly as possible, is a good idea. In fact, this approach will usually lose the game, because it gives an opponent the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. If you must exceed that limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The top number of flares ranges from 2 to 5; the bottom from 4 to 6.)

3) Board Management

Keep your piece-count down. If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.

Keep your pieces together. If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.

Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference. Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)

Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you. Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.

4) Tasks

Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends. In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost. Legends are good but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, and can be taken away from you, they should not be a major priority unless they help accomplish a task. You need to claim very easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.

5) Opening Moves

In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces be near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.

6) Patience

Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game "bounce": it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, try to summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.

7) Deeper Play: Getting to Know the Decks

Learn the decks and Legendary Beings. As a beginner, do not worry about memorizing every single card! But to play Tash-Kalar more than casually, you need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful. Be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones to watch out for, like the dreaded Hypnotist, Bomb, Everfrost Sentinel, Blood Shaman, Ritual Master, Forest Ancient, Leviathan and Time Elemental.

Track the cards. If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.

Anticipate cards in your deck. Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.)