Flexing for Beginners

First Place – March Article Contest
by: Ken Jenkins

In Monsterpocalypse, there are many techniques and tactics that make a good player into a great player. For those players, just as important as P-die generation, map control, and unit turns is the little discussed topic of Monster Form Flexing.  By this, I mean the practice of moving down to the Alpha form of a monster at the end of a Monster Activation in order to preserve Hyper form health or to promote unit synergy with Alpha form abilities. I personally love this tactic with my favorite of all monsters, Terra Khan, but it is a viable and important strategy for many of the monsters in the game. There are multiple aspects to the question of “To Flex or not to Flex?”

First of all, when should you flex? Well, to answer that question you must first determine if your monster even needs the tactic. For Mega Zor-Maxim, flexing is not a very viable option; at a hyper cost of 6, flexing is non-beneficial, and possibly a negative impact. On the other hand,  Deimos-9 provides his troops with two very different benefits in Alpha and Mega form, each of which is enormous depending on the situation. When passing priority to your opponent after a monster activation, ask yourself: “Will my units be at a benefit or a disadvantage based on my monster’s form?” and “Will my monster survive this turn if he remains in his current form?” These two questions should help determine what times are viable for form flexing.

P-Die should be another part of the “Flexing Question.” When it returns to your monster’s activation, will you be able to ramp back up into hyper form without too much trouble? Factor in enemy monsters’ Power Drain ability, Negative Zone control, and other factors that may affect how many P-Die you have in your power pool during your monster’s Hyper Phase. A serious drain on your power pool to hyper back up may have negative repercussions on that crucial power attack later in the turn! Gorghadra’s riled reaction in Alpha form is a great example of an effect that makes flexing at a hyper cost of 5 not as frightening as it may look on paper. Even 1 hit from an enemy unit or monster puts P-die in your power pool, effectively dropping your Hyper Cost. These types of impacts are crucial to keep in mind, especially when you’re playing against such a tactic.

Finally, contemplate the health on each monster form when determining whether or not to flex. It may (rarely) be productive to power down into Alpha form if your Alpha has only 1 health left. Even if your opponent was planning on a 5-damage Smash, he’s now left with a 1 damage attack that lets you Hyper for free. The psychological effect may cause your opponent to stay his hand for a turn, hoping to get in that high damage attack after all.

As a quick example, let’s examine reasons to power down Terra Khan, and the few reasons to let him stay in Hyper form.

BERSERK!! Berserk grants each of Terra Khan’s units an additional Brawl B-Die, which suddenly makes flanking Raptixes and lumbering Carnidons into very serious issues for the opponent’s monster and units. With a Raptix and Carnidon tag-team, you can (and I have) hit Zor-Raiden’s 7 def. The combined attack benefits from 3 B-Die and Zor Raiden’s defense drops to 6 due to flank. While statistically unlikely, accomplishing this once in a game will make your opponent think twice before leaving himself exposed to any of your units. On the other hand, TK’s Ultra form is a verifiably vicious monster that can deal 2 pts of damage on 2 separate types of attacks, or wipe out a whole platoon of bunched up enemy units while still damaging an enemy monster. Use the psychological advantage of leaving him on the board to force your opponent into compromising positions; like retreating his force from the vicious dino-king. Or, look at Mega TK’s abilities. Terrify is a crucial ability to leave in place against ground based armies during your opponent’s unit activation. If Shinobis can’t get close to TK, they can’t hit him .

This type of tactical contemplation becomes even more imperative with monsters that have different Agenda affecting abilities in different forms. Gorghadra grants Riled or Logistics or Radar depending on Alpha, Ultra, or Mega (respectively) and each ability benefits a different play style or situation. If the opponent is pressing, go to Alpha to make them think twice about hitting anything.  Stay in hyper to boost combined attacks or make your belchers into cross-map cannons! Deimos-9 grants Hit & Run in both Alpha and Ultra form, but when playing Mega form, Low Flyer may be important enough to leave this Martian in Hyper form.

Remember, Flexing is all about implementing or maintaining tactical control, even when it’s not your turn. The right form during your opponent’s turn can turn the tide of the game by forcing him to contemplate what you might do, even if you don’t. Seeing Ultra Rogzor sitting on the map, granting Anti-Air to all of his units, might force an air based army (I’m looking at you MM and Sky Sentinel) to stay on their side of the map. Always weigh the pros and cons, and keep note of when flexing worked and when it didn’t.

Here’s hoping you can flex like Arnold!