Board Game Arena

In this post I'd like to express my opinion on the openings(first few turns of the game) in leaders, it's dynamics, and balance between the first and the second player in expert mode. By no means am I an experienced player, so it'll be a subjective opinion and I'd be glad to hear other players' thoughts on this matter. The post was inspired by one particular opening, but more on that later.

To avoid consfusion, I'll call the first player(white) the one who makes the first move with his leader. Therefore the game is actually started by a ban from the second player(black)

I'll open all the cards from the start: I think white is at an advantage and that is caused by two particular characters: hermit and bruiser. Protector/jailer have a great impact on the balance as well there.

As of now, my opinion is that hermit is unconditionally strongest character in the game. This means that he needs no other character to enable him, does not have any good counters and is simply strong. Too strong.

Bruiser is conditionally strongest character in the game. With the absense of protector and jailer on opponent's side, this character is insanely difficult to play against.

Also as those character are slow, the best support for them is jailer/protector, ensuring there are no shenanigans from your opponent and leading a game onto a boring "wall against wall" where they overtake.

So why white is at an advantage? Due to a draft/ban order of course! Strengths of both those characters play on white's hand: white is able to pick hermit first unless he's banned. Bruiser shows another dynamic: due to an advantage of second ban and the last pick white have the best chances to sneak bruiser by either voiding other player from counters(jailer/bruiser), or lastpicking if there are no counters(jailer/bruiser) on the table.

Now let's get into specific scenarios, starting from black's first ban. I''ll repeat that I haven't played too many games, so many of those considerations are theoretical and not proven by a lot of practice on my side.
The options for the first ban are:
1) Hermit
2) Jailer/Protector
3) Other character

2) If jailer/protector banned, white bans the other one. Picks bruiser. Now black player can take hermit, but at a cost of letting bruiser and voiding the pool of it's couterpicks. You can pick any combo in response, like illusionist+brewmaster, but was it worth it? I'd play on the white's side there

3) Banning any other character prompts white to take hermit. Banning bruiser is the best here imo, eliminating him soon into the game

Therefore
1) Hermit ban is a popular choice we'll talk about.
After the first ban from black, white player has a great effect on the draft and it's flow. But there is a single particular option making the game super unfun. Which is picking jailer. To make it even more hopeless, banning illusionist is adviced.

Now, why the sequence ban hermit->ban illusionist->pick jailer is so infuriating? It's due to the fact that at this point no matter what is the black's response, they are at a disadvantage!
Our options are:
1. Pick bruiser
2. Pick protector
3. Pick neither.

Picking both has disadvantages of both options 1 and 2, I won't touch that.

1. Consider this - you voluntarily picked bruiser into jailer. With hermit gone and most character having an active ability, you're doomed to pick some other characters to be countered by jailer, and jailer completely counters bruiser as well, making this option favor the white player.

2. This choice is bad as well, and the reason is that protector is way more niche than jailer. Since ilusionist is banned, protector has only three characters to simply do something against - manipulator, claw launcher, and bruiser. Jailer though affects more than a half of playable characters in the game. There is a clear advantage for white.

3, Now you allow white to play bruiser next turn and ban protector, I'd play these odds as white any day.

As of now without a draw rule yet implemented the best solution I see is to take protector and try to force a draw.

To conclude, I have figured first ban hermit leads to an apparent white's advantage and other options are not promisable as well. I'd like to hear an opinion from other players, what is the solution to this? Was I maybe wrong on some of the general draft evaluations?

I find Royal guard + Vizier combo to be much stronger than Hermit and Bruiser.

Player 2 has no other choices than banning hermit, character is way too strong, and you cannot let player 1 take it. Player 1 has a few choices, but usually you ban acrobat or grappling, to not let player 2 build super strong repositioning team, and then take royal guard, because super strong in offense and defense, and you cannot let your Oppo take illu, grappling or even vizir in combinaison with the guard.

Considering bruiser, it is technically the best character so far, but 2 proper counters weaken it. Usually it is left open until ban phase 2, but there is some room to play it earlier depending on situation.

That's my experience so far. I built a small app to help banning, considering your opponent choices, still not perfect, but you'll get a good feeling of it. Can share if you are interested.

BatTotoro wrote: ↑14 June 2025, 13:27 Player 2 has no other choices than banning hermit, character is way too strong, and you cannot let player 1 take it. Player 1 has a few choices, but usually you ban acrobat or grappling, to not let player 2 build super strong repositioning team, and then take royal guard, because super strong in offense and defense, and you cannot let your Oppo take illu, grappling or even vizir in combinaison with the guard.

Considering bruiser, it is technically the best character so far, but 2 proper counters weaken it. Usually it is left open until ban phase 2, but there is some room to play it earlier depending on situation.

That's my experience so far. I built a small app to help banning, considering your opponent choices, still not perfect, but you'll get a good feeling of it. Can share if you are interested.

Your analysis is very reasonable, as this is a frequent scenario I meet in the games as well: ban hermit->ban "something"-> recruit royal guard. Royal guard is a very solid choice, he practically moves 4 tiles across the whole map after recruitment and is a very flexible character. However, at least I feel like games against this opening are somewhat playable. What bothers me is the answer to the opening: ban hermit -> ban "something"(likely illusionist) -> recruit jailer. After seeing this I feel in crisis, having no good reaponse against it.

Also, I am interested about an app you made, and would be glad if you share it

I totally agree with your analysis Druha, for me, today, the best opening as player 2 is obviously to ban the hermit, and the best opening as player 1 is to ban illusionist and pick the jailer.

However, this is what I think today, the same way I thought before that the brewmaster was not very strong. What I mean is that we're still discovering the game, and personally, I haven't yet had enough experience with this opening at a high level to be absolutely convinced that there's no relevant response for Player 2. I've already beaten a very good player who had a jailer + bruiser, with hermit and protector banned, so the task may not be impossible

Now, let's not get our hopes up; there will inevitably be a player who will have an advantage, even slightly, as in chess, because of being Player 1 or Player 2. Perhaps it's possible to devise a format that can avoid this kind of asymmetry, but I doubt it

RalzMaw wrote: ↑15 June 2025, 11:17 I totally agree with your analysis Druha, for me, today, the best opening as player 2 is obviously to ban the hermit, and the best opening as player 1 is to ban illusionist and pick the jailer.

However, this is what I think today, the same way I thought before that the brewmaster was not very strong. What I mean is that we're still discovering the game, and personally, I haven't yet had enough experience with this opening at a high level to be absolutely convinced that there's no relevant response for Player 2. I've already beaten a very good player who had a jailer + bruiser, with hermit and protector banned, so the task may not be impossible

Now, let's not get our hopes up; there will inevitably be a player who will have an advantage, even slightly, as in chess, because of being Player 1 or Player 2. Perhaps it's possible to devise a format that can avoid this kind of asymmetry, but I doubt it

It's interesting you mention Brewmaster because that was the character I instinctively underrated too, I suspect because it shines the most in longer, more positional games that don't tend to happen with new players. I rarely see Archer or Assassin picked currently and I wonder if they have potential against blocks.

I pick assassin when facing a Vizir, and Archer when I face a Vizir but assassin isn't open haha

Funny that you see ban illu and pick jailer that strong, I feel there is a lot of room for good pick, especially as second player, where you can pick acrobate and royal guard for a huge start, already putting a lot of pressure to your oponent, and almost not being annoyed by jailer.
I'll try to play against this specific opening to get a better feeling.

Also as requested here the app: still a draft, but you'll get a view of my subjective tier list. I plan to improve it until most of the strongest players agrees on it, so it become a good advice.

https://leaders-board-game-drafter-ccqo ... eamlit.app

(To use it, just click on corresponding buttons beside each characters whenever a player does a ban or pick. It will update the left panel by giving you a dynamic tier list, letting you know which one is the best pick.
Don't hesitate to share your thoughts on it