Making reads on your opponent: An Introduction

Generally, in Destiny, we want to play efficiently to get the most out of our rounds and quickly claim the battlefield.  Due to this, it's generally best to:

1. activate all characters before ditching cards to reroll or resolve dice, to help action  efficiency and get the most out of  every action.

2. Match up die faces of the symbol and resolve all dice of one symbol in one action, whenever possible, for action efficiency.

3.  Know when to cut your losses when your opponent is close to claiming if you need to  claim faster.  Things like not taking resources when you don't need them, and choosing not to resolve other dice such as disrupt, discard, and sometimes resolving shields when they aren't needed.   

By following these three rules, you will generally stay one step ahead of an opponent who isn't following these rules, just due to how much more efficient it is to play like this.

However, there are times that playing efficiently isn't always the correct play given a particular situation.  Sometimes, it may be best to resolve some damage early before activating all characters, or delay an activation to resolve some other dice in the pool, or to even pass actions and do nothing at all!  These will all vary per situation, and a few reasons to make plays that may seem suboptimal and inefficient include the following:

1. Resolving damage before removal or manipulation.  Sometimes, it's important to resolve some damage before it can get manipulated.  Commonly played dice removal cards can remove some key damage dice and prevent resolution of some modifiers.  This can cause large tempo swings, especially when you need to eliminate dangerous characters as soon as possible.  Resolving damage ASAP in increments as you activate characters can help mitigate any risk of losing a lot of potential damage to cards like block or dodge

2. Forcing a play from the opponent.  Sometimes, a player will simply pass the turn to force their opponent to take the initiative.  Oftentimes, this is generally done by a player who has performed all useful actions on their turn, but is wary of the result of a reroll on their opponent's end that they need to be able to interact with.  Since claiming the battlefield means that a player surrenders all ability to interact with dice, it leaves that player vulnerable to rerolls and getting blown out by a good reroll from their opponent.  You want to limit the times that you become vulnerable to your opponent, and oftentimes, this is worth sacrificing your ability to claim.  Forcing a play from the opponent is a common tactic that some players use to get around Jango Fett's very powerful activation ability. 

3. Characters with low health.  It's normal to expect that some characters will be defeated on both sides during a game of Destiny.  Should you lose a character, you generally want to get as much value out of a character as possible, which includes replacing as non-redeploy upgrades as possible, activating and resolving that character's dice as quickly as possible, or delaying a different character activation and waiting for a character death in order to receive a redeploy upgrade to roll out. 

4. Situational cards.  Sometimes, players may want to hold on to the results of some dice in order to use it for a card that may require a specific dice face to be present.  A common example is holding on to a dice to set up a powerful force misdirection, but other examples may include holding on to some damage dice to resolve a no mercy or a disarm. 

While these reasons are not all-inclusive reasons for a player to make plays that you may find strange, examining certain situations and strange plays more closely can help you make reads on your opponent, allowing you to adjust accordingly.