Mastering Initiative: Essential Algomancy Strategy Guide

What Is Initiative in Algomancy?

In Algomancy, “Initiative” is a core game mechanic that determines the order in which players or teams must act during the turn. Unlike many other card games where players simply take alternating turns, Algomancy uses one global turn structure that players move through together. During this global turn, the initiative player is designated to make decisions first in all situations. This keeps the game moving and prevents any standoffs where neither player wants to make the first move.

The Initiative token passes between players or teams at the end of each turn, creating a constantly shifting dynamic. When you have initiative, your team must declare attacks first, allowing you to disrupt your opponent before they can counterattack. When you don’t have initiative, you get to see your opponents’ attacks before deciding how to respond and potentially counterattack.

How Initiative Eliminates First Player Advantage

One of Algomancy’s most elegant design features is how it solves the age-old problem of first player advantage that plagues many strategy games. This is accomplished through two interconnected systems:

1. Global Turn Structure: Algomancy uses a global turn system where all players participate in each phase simultaneously. Everyone draws cards, drafts, gathers resources, battles, and deploys units during the same phases.
2. Region Limited Interaction: In Algomancy, each player and all of their units exist in a region that is completely isolated from the other players. The only way for players to interact is by attacking into other regions, bridging this gap. This means that during all of the asymmetric parts of the turn, such as playing resources or deploying units there is no player interaction. The only time when players interact is during the battle phase, after all players have had equal access to build resources and deploy units.

This creates a fascinating strategic depth to the game. Rather than one player being advantaged by going first, Algomancy transforms turn order into a tactical consideration where each position has its own advantages and disadvantages.

With this foundation established, let’s explore how to leverage initiative to your advantage. Understanding the rhythm of initiative—when to be aggressive, when to be defensive, and how to plan for future turns—is a great way to level up your game.

Understanding Initiative: The Game’s Hidden Rhythm

While the initiative simply determines who must act first each turn, it has substantial strategic implications that you need to be aware of if you plan to play this game competitively.

The Power of Having Initiative

When your team holds initiative, you gain several significant advantages:

1. Control of the Battlefield

With initiative, you dictate the flow of combat. You can target problematic units with certainty, knowing exactly what the battlefield looks like when you arrive. This predictability is invaluable for planning precise strikes.

2. Team Coordination

Initiative enables seamless coordination with teammates. Since your entire team attacks simultaneously, you can openly discuss tactics before execution, ensuring your combined forces create maximum impact.

3. Strategic Positioning

Having initiative allows you to distribute your forces thoughtfully across multiple regions. This positioning helps you avoid mass removal effects like Bellowing Boulder and keeps your options open throughout the combat cycle.

4. Preemptive Defense

Sometimes the best defense is a timely offense. With initiative, you can attack an opponent who’s amassing forces, weakening their army before it reaches its target. This is especially important against units with powerful attack triggers, who can be eliminated before they are able to get their attacks off.

The Challenges of Initiative

Despite these benefits, initiative comes with significant responsibilities:

1. Acting Without Information

Your team MUST move first, giving opponents the opportunity to react to your plays. This means you need to anticipate not just what you want to do, but also how opponents might respond.

2. Opponents’ Counter-play Opportunities

• Battle units (like Leaping Lillik) become significantly stronger without initiative, serving as interactive pieces against your attackers and enabling immediate counterattacks.
• The non-initiative team can declare all-out counterattacks with minimal risk when they know they won’t be under threat this round, making their lethal attacks much safer to execute.

Adapting to the Rhythm of Initiative

When You Have Initiative

With initiative, consider these strategic principles:

• Attack triggers become premium assets. Cards like Spewing Mushroom deliver guaranteed value, showing up attacking with their triggers on the stack before they can be removed (though the abilities can still be negated or responded to).
• Targeted removal gains value. You can eliminate threats before they become problems, particularly those loaded with graft triggers. For example, you could remove an opponent’s Spewing Mushroom before it was able to get its trigger.
• Counter magic is situational. Unless coordinating a major offensive, removal spells often provide better value than counterspells that might be stranded in hand if the defending player doesn’t react. Playing two removal spells will have a similar effect as playing one removal spell and negating their counterspell.
• Plan for the next turn. This is crucial: when deploying creatures with initiative, remember they’ll be in play when you DON’T have initiative next turn. This means defensive options like Jollyglop often provide better value than pure offensive units.
• Balanced units shine. Cards like Bubb and Astralith that perform well on both offense and defense help maintain flexibility for the following turn.

When You Don’t Have Initiative

Without initiative, your strategy shifts to reaction and disruption:

• Countermagic becomes essential. You need answers to attack-based graft triggers and powerful effects.
• Surprise elements gain value. Your opponent has planned the turn based on what the expect to happen. Surprise cards like Organic Exchange can create unexpected reversals by stealing your opponent’s resources and using them against them.
• Prepare for multiple attackers. In team games, you might become a target for multiple opponents. Cards that punish wide attacks (like Spiteful Shadow) become extremely valuable, as “each player” effects hit your opponents twice as hard as they hit you.
• Plan for your initiative turn. Deploy units that benefit from attacking, like those with combat or formation triggers, since you’ll have initiative on your next turn.
• Build advantage engines. Card advantage engines deployed now will be easier to protect during your initiative turn, potentially giving you multiple turn cycles of value.

Balancing Immediate Needs vs. Future Positioning

One of the most challenging aspects of Algomancy is weighing the value of interaction now versus development for later turns. During battle, you might face difficult decisions about spending mana on interaction versus saving it for your main phase.

Consider multiple lines of play for different scenarios:

• Have a plan for if you need to use all your mana for interaction
• Have a plan for if you can deploy your primary threat
• Have a plan for a middle ground where you use some mana for interaction and some for development

Sometimes the best move is to forgo interaction entirely and focus on board development, especially if opponents seem overly defensive. I’ve often found success passing on attacks when an opponent has a hand full of removal, instead building my board for a stronger position next turn.

Game Format Considerations

Different Algomancy formats dramatically change how initiative impacts gameplay:

In 1v1 and Team Games

The initiative dance described throughout this article is most relevant in these formats, where the back-and-forth nature of initiative creates the core rhythm of the game. The team with initiative attacks first, then the team without initiative can counterattack.

In Free-for-All

It’s important to note that most of the lessons in this article do not apply to Free-for-All games. Since attacks are declared simultaneously using intent cards, the turn structure is completely different.

FFA strategy becomes more about:

• Anticipation and mind games – trying to predict where your opponents will attack
• Reading the table – understanding when opponents are vulnerable or when they might target you
• Managing perceptions to avoid becoming the primary target
• Using the simultaneous nature of attacks to create strategic ambiguity

Key Takeaways

The rhythm of Algomancy flows through initiative, creating a dynamic cycle between offense and defense in 1v1 and team games. To master it:

• Draft spells for immediate needs, units for future turns
• When you have initiative, focus on guaranteed value and positioning for defense
• Without initiative, prioritize reactive plays and prepare your offensive for next turn
• Always consider how the board state will look on your next turn
• Practice analyzing your past games to identify initiative-related mistakes

Understanding this rhythm separates the novice from the master in Algomancy. Whether you start with initiative or not, adapting your strategy to maximize advantage in each phase of this cycle is the key to consistent victory.

In Free-for-All games, focus instead on developing your ability to read opponents, manage table politics, and make unpredictable yet effective plays with the intent card system.

Want Some Examples?

I’ve been posting gameplay every Tuesday and Thursday on the Algomancy YouTube channel against some veterans of the game. Feel free to watch some games if you want to see this principles in action!