Who is the best at 2p Photosynthesis? (Tournament)

[Stuff by Bez]

There's a tournament coming up that looks exciting.

https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=202060

If you like the idea of playing 2p Photosynthesis (whether to learn better strategies or to test all your skills) then hopefully this will be something you'd like.

We only have 2 of the top 20 ELO players in the tournament, so hopefully we can find more of those top level players!

[MRomeo99]

As one of the top 10 players, unfortunately this game has kind of died. It's pretty hard to find a game these days.

At the very top, there's not a lot of skill that separates the top players. And there's no luck in the actual gameplay of the game. It's all skill. However, there is a very large luck component to the game itself and that's in starting player. Given two players at approximately equal skill level the player who plays second will probably win 2/3 to 3/4 of the game.

I'll give an example of how games are played at the highest level.



The second player mirrors in a position that allows them to block the access to the best center spots. So then the start of round 3 looks like this.



And from that point, the first player is playing catchup. Almost all games with the best players play like this. It's not a guarantee that you'll lose if you're first player, but it's a pretty big disadvantage.

I like playing with heavy shadow. It's definitely more of a challenge. The problem is that games are played so rarely this way. That I wouldn't want to play a tournament this way.

[squeegy83]

The tournament just finished.

I found that the 4-round heavy shadow games mitigated the second-player advantage you’re speaking about. There’s longer to “play catch-up” and the heavy shadow helps as well. I definitely still like going second obviously, but I wasn’t dreading going through the motions of the game like I sometimes do against a top player in a regular length game

[Uncle Rick]

Hello, guys!
I LOVE Photosynthesis... it's practically the only game I have been playing online for a while.
I find this thread interesting... and though I completely agree that one of the things that makes Photosynthesis so much fun, is that it's a strategy game... but none-the-less... it still somehow manages to feel "relaxing" when playing it. (I think maybe all may feel the same way).
However, I never gave thought to the idea that with 2 players of equal experience, the 2nd player has the advantage... hmmm... So, I looked into it with some games I've played with other skilled players. I chose 6 games that came to the top, and of the 6 games, 5 of 6 were actually won by the FIRST player. All games were played with standard 3 revolutions and light shadow.
Having said that, even though I don't enjoy the dark shadow too much, and I usually opt to play 3 revs, instead of 4, I do agree with you in that both of these modals may mitigate any slightly perceived difference between 1st or 2nd player (which I'm not sure is really there to begin with).

Great hearing from you guys!

P.S. YeS, we all agree that there don't seem to be too many players now days. My thoughts: We had many more players when the game wasn't a Premium game. BGA, this is one of those games where maybe the cost/benefit may result in deciding to make it a non-Premium game again. Just a thought... to see if we get more players again.

[Stuff by Bez]

I wonder if there should be a 'tournament mode'

Play twice 2p, once as 1st, once as 2nd. Add scores together for your final score.

Having said that, I don't see the moves numbered above to be at all 'obvious' but maybe that's why I'm not in the top 10. :-p