INTRODUCTION
Hi, everyone. Before we get started let me introduce myself.
My name is Sane and I'm actually an old time Love Letter and Z-man games fan in general.
I used to play here as @LambdaBG and was able to hit 300 + elo at around 72% winrate. Honestly, i haven't been playing the same since but I hope I can come back to that skill level again. (I don't have access to the email on that account but i will try to login once i remember the password)
I made this guide hoping to improve the tables and make the game more fun, and one day hopefully majority of the players can explore the depths of strategy in this game way beyond card counting and guessing.
Alright so let's talk about lynching.
Lynching is when the table is entirely against you and they want to take you down. There are various reasons for this, it could be that you are dangerously up a point and they're doing everything they can to take you down first, or they just hate you.
Either way, your goal is to surive.
And here's how.
KNOW YOUR TABLE
This goes without saying but knowing your table is the most crucial part of this strategy.
Good players reduces the randomness of the game by being very strategic and cunning.
Bad players tends to be very random and can hamper the skill play in this game (and eventually make it so that anyone can just win)
In actual games, it'll often be a mix of bad and good players. By being observant identifying them will be easy.
Your table will either run multiple guards on you or target you with baron. It's also common to see someone tag you with a Cardinal to the guy next to you so that they will have some space to make the kill.
The better the player is the more this strategy is inherent in their gameplay. And this allows us to either be straightforward or bluff our way through.
During lynches, there will be two types of players that you will be up against.
The attacker and the passive players.
The attackers are often the ones putting in the action and using the cards that they have to knock you out.
The passive players are those who let the others do it for them, often they will hold on to a high value card or wait till they get enough information before actually knocking you out.
Again knowing who it is and what kind of cards they tend to play and their confidence level is important.
Now, let's talk about the two base strategies.
Low-balling
You're on match point, you are almost there. But everyone is now against you.
A common way to reduce the risks is by holding on to low value cards [0,1,2,3,4]
This is a fantastic way to waste all the guard attacks on you.
However be careful when holding a Baron, (as it is hard to discard already) some players might still call Barons with guard especially if they too are in a match point. (They are afraid of you knocking them out)
Handmaid/Sycophants callouts are also a thing, this is something that I've been doing a lot as well. Most of the time the reason why Handmaid call outs happen is because they don't want you to be invincible for a round because their cards will be wasted or it's likely that someone else gets knocked out, increasing the chances of you winning it all.
Priest callout are often due to hail mary KO attempt or if they know that you are the type of person to low ball, there's a good chance for you to be holding a 2.
However be careful, being an obvious low baller. You'd be very vulnerable to Baron/Cardinal/Bishop plays, or even just purely luck not being in your favor, it happens. This game has a ton of luck in it. (I had my previous games in this account with most of the last hands being Princess at the first draw)
Now, let's talk about the alter ego of low balling.
High-balling
This is a bold, and agressive play that grants you a lot of control on the game.
The idea is to hold on to high value cards. This being [5,6,7,8,9]
Note that this is very risky as most guard calls often go with high value callouts.
The idea here is to make the table think that you're low balling. And to have a fast paced play.
However, it's also a good idea to high-ball when you have a safety net. Ie. playing Constable, or Handmaid.
Constable broke this game bruh.
Holding Bishop is also a succesful high balling strategy. Due to early bishop guesses not being very likely.
This is hard to pull off but with good table knowledge and knowing their habit, this is something that you might be able to do.
Remember passive players? surprisingly, if there's more passive players in the game. You'll have a better chance with this strategy.
Now, let's talk about the extension of these two strategies.
Bluffing
BLUFF!
Learn to bluff!
Majority of low to mid elo tables are straightforward players.
You can get away with the slickest hands by pretending to have a different type of hand.
For example, when you get ahold of a Princess on the first draw. You have no choice but to high ball or hope that you get a King or a Cardinal.
Other than praying for god's grace, use the table's tendency to count cards and read hands by pretending that you don't have the Princess or that you are also looking for the Princess.
Make plays that makes sense for someone trying to KO a Princess OR... that makes sense to your table.
Try guessing Princess when you have a Princess and watch them waste all their guards in the round.
Low-balling success is also mainly from bluffing as if you have a high value card.
You want to make them scared enough to not use Baron on you but bold enough to guard spam on you.
CARD COUNTING
Never forget to card count. Lynching is only as effective as when the cards in play can still be agressive towards you. Once you know that the game is about to shift in a different direction, change your play.
There's no point in holding to a low value hand when there's no more guards in the deck and when there's only very few cards left. Unless you're hard betting on them taking an assassin (few guards left) or a dowager bait.
SCORE MANIPULATION
This is a general strategy and more than just a lynching strategy.
But the end goal here is to manipulate the scores to lose LESS. That means, if you have no way of winning. You let the lowest guy take it. And you help him out.
Don't go around knocking out players that might help you out. Tables that doesn't do this is a hopeless table, and would in a matter of seconds turn this game from skill based to completely luck based. Winning becomes lottery.
Late Jester plays are also one of the coldest plays that you could make in this game as part of score manipulation.
Knowing who to pick and help out is very important to snatch a W in the brinks of a 1 vs 5.
Constable plays within a match point is the strongest, no let me rephrase that— the most broken play in this game. Absolutely disgusting, nothing will piss off everyone on the table more than seeing that smug dude be played while you're on a match point. Getting a princess means a guaranteed win. Delete constable. I don't like his moustache anyways.
It's just a game
You will lose.
This guide will fail you.
Nothing ever goes as expected.
You get bad draws.
Some guy gets a constable every round.
But still, do your best.
And that's about it.
hopefully this guide can help out newer players understand the game more and the depth that it offers... leave a message if you'd like to see other guides as well, i picked this one as lynching is predominantly the mid to high elo strategy and can be off putting to a lot of players. It feels like bullying, which it totally is. But it's not as bad as that guy that keeps getting constables.
Hi, everyone. Before we get started let me introduce myself.
My name is Sane and I'm actually an old time Love Letter and Z-man games fan in general.
I used to play here as @LambdaBG and was able to hit 300 + elo at around 72% winrate. Honestly, i haven't been playing the same since but I hope I can come back to that skill level again. (I don't have access to the email on that account but i will try to login once i remember the password)
I made this guide hoping to improve the tables and make the game more fun, and one day hopefully majority of the players can explore the depths of strategy in this game way beyond card counting and guessing.
Alright so let's talk about lynching.
Lynching is when the table is entirely against you and they want to take you down. There are various reasons for this, it could be that you are dangerously up a point and they're doing everything they can to take you down first, or they just hate you.
Either way, your goal is to surive.
And here's how.
KNOW YOUR TABLE
This goes without saying but knowing your table is the most crucial part of this strategy.
Good players reduces the randomness of the game by being very strategic and cunning.
Bad players tends to be very random and can hamper the skill play in this game (and eventually make it so that anyone can just win)
In actual games, it'll often be a mix of bad and good players. By being observant identifying them will be easy.
Your table will either run multiple guards on you or target you with baron. It's also common to see someone tag you with a Cardinal to the guy next to you so that they will have some space to make the kill.
The better the player is the more this strategy is inherent in their gameplay. And this allows us to either be straightforward or bluff our way through.
During lynches, there will be two types of players that you will be up against.
The attacker and the passive players.
The attackers are often the ones putting in the action and using the cards that they have to knock you out.
The passive players are those who let the others do it for them, often they will hold on to a high value card or wait till they get enough information before actually knocking you out.
Again knowing who it is and what kind of cards they tend to play and their confidence level is important.
Now, let's talk about the two base strategies.
Low-balling
You're on match point, you are almost there. But everyone is now against you.
A common way to reduce the risks is by holding on to low value cards [0,1,2,3,4]
This is a fantastic way to waste all the guard attacks on you.
However be careful when holding a Baron, (as it is hard to discard already) some players might still call Barons with guard especially if they too are in a match point. (They are afraid of you knocking them out)
Handmaid/Sycophants callouts are also a thing, this is something that I've been doing a lot as well. Most of the time the reason why Handmaid call outs happen is because they don't want you to be invincible for a round because their cards will be wasted or it's likely that someone else gets knocked out, increasing the chances of you winning it all.
Priest callout are often due to hail mary KO attempt or if they know that you are the type of person to low ball, there's a good chance for you to be holding a 2.
However be careful, being an obvious low baller. You'd be very vulnerable to Baron/Cardinal/Bishop plays, or even just purely luck not being in your favor, it happens. This game has a ton of luck in it. (I had my previous games in this account with most of the last hands being Princess at the first draw)
Now, let's talk about the alter ego of low balling.
High-balling
This is a bold, and agressive play that grants you a lot of control on the game.
The idea is to hold on to high value cards. This being [5,6,7,8,9]
Note that this is very risky as most guard calls often go with high value callouts.
The idea here is to make the table think that you're low balling. And to have a fast paced play.
However, it's also a good idea to high-ball when you have a safety net. Ie. playing Constable, or Handmaid.
Constable broke this game bruh.
Holding Bishop is also a succesful high balling strategy. Due to early bishop guesses not being very likely.
This is hard to pull off but with good table knowledge and knowing their habit, this is something that you might be able to do.
Remember passive players? surprisingly, if there's more passive players in the game. You'll have a better chance with this strategy.
Now, let's talk about the extension of these two strategies.
Bluffing
BLUFF!
Learn to bluff!
Majority of low to mid elo tables are straightforward players.
You can get away with the slickest hands by pretending to have a different type of hand.
For example, when you get ahold of a Princess on the first draw. You have no choice but to high ball or hope that you get a King or a Cardinal.
Other than praying for god's grace, use the table's tendency to count cards and read hands by pretending that you don't have the Princess or that you are also looking for the Princess.
Make plays that makes sense for someone trying to KO a Princess OR... that makes sense to your table.
Try guessing Princess when you have a Princess and watch them waste all their guards in the round.
Low-balling success is also mainly from bluffing as if you have a high value card.
You want to make them scared enough to not use Baron on you but bold enough to guard spam on you.
CARD COUNTING
Never forget to card count. Lynching is only as effective as when the cards in play can still be agressive towards you. Once you know that the game is about to shift in a different direction, change your play.
There's no point in holding to a low value hand when there's no more guards in the deck and when there's only very few cards left. Unless you're hard betting on them taking an assassin (few guards left) or a dowager bait.
SCORE MANIPULATION
This is a general strategy and more than just a lynching strategy.
But the end goal here is to manipulate the scores to lose LESS. That means, if you have no way of winning. You let the lowest guy take it. And you help him out.
Don't go around knocking out players that might help you out. Tables that doesn't do this is a hopeless table, and would in a matter of seconds turn this game from skill based to completely luck based. Winning becomes lottery.
Late Jester plays are also one of the coldest plays that you could make in this game as part of score manipulation.
Knowing who to pick and help out is very important to snatch a W in the brinks of a 1 vs 5.
Constable plays within a match point is the strongest, no let me rephrase that— the most broken play in this game. Absolutely disgusting, nothing will piss off everyone on the table more than seeing that smug dude be played while you're on a match point. Getting a princess means a guaranteed win. Delete constable. I don't like his moustache anyways.
It's just a game
You will lose.
This guide will fail you.
Nothing ever goes as expected.
You get bad draws.
Some guy gets a constable every round.
But still, do your best.
And that's about it.
hopefully this guide can help out newer players understand the game more and the depth that it offers... leave a message if you'd like to see other guides as well, i picked this one as lynching is predominantly the mid to high elo strategy and can be off putting to a lot of players. It feels like bullying, which it totally is. But it's not as bad as that guy that keeps getting constables.
