Is Serve and Volley still viable in this game today?

I know a lot of tennis fans don't like serve and volley, but I became a tennis fan in the early 2000s thanks to Pat Rafter so any time I pick up a tennis game, I tend to follow his playstyle.

i've seen threads from 4-6 years ago saying that serve and volley was quite OP. I'm wondering if its worth using that style or is it a waste of time and resources investing in that playstyle.

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u/LabRat2329 — 1 month ago

W4W and L4L! 10 min watch! Rewatches welcome!

No Sub4Sub please. Need your help with this 33 min long video. Watch for at least 10 mins and give it a Like if you haven't already. Let me know how long you watched and your Like number, then leave your links so I can return the favor! If you watch the full video, I'll return up to 50 mins of watchtime (even on multiple videos).

Bullseye Strategy Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SziqNdowXA4

u/LabRat2329 — 2 months ago

Tried Donatello vs Elektra

For context, my friend and I set up this 32 fighter elimination tournament brackets and I included Elektra. After trying to beat Elektra (with Chupacabra) and failing my friend almost quit the tournament because of how broken she can be. I convinced him to continue, promising to play whoever lines up against Elektra in the match ups. I tried to beat her with Eredin in the 2nd round and failed. In the quarterfinals, Donatello matched up with her. We feared she would go all the way and win it all.

Thankfully, I think Donatello has the tools for the job. The key is to get and play Electro Grenade early. Electro Grenade allows you to play Thinking Ahead on the Hand Ninja reliably. So my first objective was to get rid of all the Hand Ninja without costing too many resources.

Elektra doesnt have healing and without Hand Ninja, she didnt have enough defenses to soak my buffed attacks. I was also able to get Smoke Bomb early. Being able to deal 2 damage with Party Wagon then attack immediately after felt so good.

Quick Strike, Bo Staff, and Short Circuit all neutralized potential gains from The Fist. Between Party Wagon, Untested Enhancement, and Turtle Power, there wasn't much Elektra could do to survive. Donatello's ability to draw two cards (returning what I didn't need) helped make sure I would get what I needed to execute my gameplan. I think the only problem I'll have with the match up is if Electro Grenade is at or close to the bottom of the deck, but Donatello's ability definitely minimizes that issue. I'm eager to try this match up againm

u/LabRat2329 — 3 months ago

Weekly Discussion: Battling Golden Bat (Tips and Strategies)

Guides on how to play as specific fighters are common, but guides on how to fight against specific fighters are not as common. So, I'm trying out a new weekly topic where we can all chime in to share strategies and tips against some of the best fighters in all of Unmatched! Today, let's talk about Golden Bat!

I'm afraid that I don't have enough experience with Golden Bat. I've been told he melts under constant pressure and I've seen him lose to Raphael and Yennenga. But I've lost twice to him using Raphael and managed to beat up Patroclus and Achilles quite easily my first time using Golden Bat. He's got six really good defenses (two of He Laughs, Imposing Presence, and Skirmish) but he also has ways to recur them. Does going full send to make Golden Bat use his versatiles on defense seem like a good strategy? Share your tips and help us out against this S Tier fighter from Tales to Amaze!

Check out the rest of the Tips and Strategies topics here!

u/LabRat2329 — 3 months ago

Weekly Discussion: Battling She-Hulk (Tips and Strategies)

Guides on how to play as specific fighters are common, but guides on how to fight against specific fighters are not as common. So, I'm trying out a new weekly topic where we can all chime in to share strategies and tips against some of the best fighters in all of Unmatched!

Brains & Brawn was my first Unmatched set and She-Hulk helped me to big victories against the likes of Eredin, Achilles, Yennenga, Leshen, and even Sherlock Holmes! She's only considered A+ Tier but my friend hates playing against her (he's never beaten me playing as She-Hulk). Sadly I've only fought She-Hulk once using a hero who is a great counter (Doctor Strange). So whatever tip I'm going to give is from the perspective of the She-Hulk player and not from someone who beats She-Hulk on a regular basis.

The most important advice I can give to anyone facing She-Hulk is to be careful where you end your turn. You'll want to be in a different zone from her to avoid taking damage from her ability. But most importantly, Savage She-Hulk needs two actions to turn into a 9 Attack. If you don't have means to deal with that card, like a Feint, do not end your turn adjacent to She-Hulk.

She-Hulk has two other set ups for Savage She-Hulk. Leap Toward can move her up to four spaces, and Jennifer Walters, ESQ can move her to any starting space. So, aside from not ending adjacent to her, you'll also want to keep your distance (more than 4 squares away) and also stay away from starting spaces. Or just stay in the starting space so she can't be placed there.

I'll stop there so as not to dominate the conversation. What else can you share about battling She-Hulk?

Check out the rest of the Tips and Strategies topics here!

u/LabRat2329 — 3 months ago

Mulligan Mondays: Yennenga (Tips and Strategies)

One aspect of Unmatched strategy involves mulligans - shuffling your starting hand into your deck and drawing five new cards. While there is the general idea of opting for a mulligan if your starting hand does not have any defenses especially if you're going second, different heroes have different mulligan targets. Let's talk about when and what to mulligan for when playing as Yennenga.

Actually, I have yet to play a single game as Yennenga but I've fought her a couple of times already. She's got the reputation of having a flexible deck that can adapt to her opponent's strategy. What should I be looking for in my opening hand when I play her? Do I want to get Pin the Prey or Stallion Charge early? Help me and other folks who want to be good with Yennenga!

u/LabRat2329 — 3 months ago

Did a 32 Hero single elimination tournament and here's the progress

To keep things fresh and force ourselves to play match ups we don't normally consider, I asked my friend to run this single elimination tournament using fighters from our shared collection. I limited it to 32 because we didn't have enough for 64 and I didn't want to deal with byes. I used Karma's latest tier list to determine the seedings.

We're at the quarterfinals now and it looks like Elektra has the best chance to win it all. Nikola Tesla was quite the surprise, taking out Achilles (thanks to map advantage) and Ciri. The mighty Sherlock Holmes got taken out by Sinbad.

We have our elite eight! I feel that Donatello has a decent chance against Elektra. No idea how the other matches are going to play out. What do you guys think? Any match results come up as a surprise to you? Who do you think is going to win at the end?

u/LabRat2329 — 3 months ago

DC Defender Version 2

I'm not a fan of the Snyderverse or the Justice League movie but I couldn't resist getting a set.

u/LabRat2329 — 3 months ago

Mulligan Mondays: Nikola Tesla (Tips and Strategies)

One aspect of Unmatched strategy involves mulligans - shuffling your starting hand into your deck and drawing five new cards. While there is the general idea of opting for a mulligan if your starting hand does not have any defenses especially if you're going second, different heroes have different mulligan targets. Let's talk about when and what to mulligan for when playing as Nikola Tesla.

Recently, I've been enjoying playing as Nikola Tesla, but I've never really thought about what to look for in my opening hand. As long as I've got a good mix of versatile cards, I'm good. Maybe I'm wrong and I should actually be looking to get an early advantage? Looking over Tesla's cards, X-Ray Radiation looks like a good card to have early while my opponent still has a lot of cards in his/her deck. Three early top deck discards can potentially get rid of key cards and deal good damage. Other cards that look like good mulligan targets are: Lightning Storm for getting rid of 1 HP sidekicks early, Repulsion Blast to escape from early pins plus a random discard, and Polyphase Coils for canceling.

What should we be mulliganing for when playing as Nikola Tesla? Do you have more specific mulligan strategies for him? Let's talk about it!

u/LabRat2329 — 3 months ago

Guides on how to play as specific fighters are common, but guides on how to fight against specific fighters are not as common. So, I'm trying out a new weekly topic where we can all chime in to share strategies and tips against some of the best fighters in all of Unmatched!

Today, let's talk about Doctor Strange, the third hero considered as the big three. I've never fought Doctor Strange but I've used him a lot (Brains & Brawn was my first Unmatched set) so I can talk about how I play him. Doctor Strange doesn't have a lot of offense - his printed Attack value tops out at 4 and the two attacks that can go above this require blind boosts (Bolts and Seven Suns) so I'm careful when I use them. With Strange, I treat matches as a war of attrition, not necessarily going for a fatigue win but biding my time until my opponent is starting to run out of resources.

Don't try to beat Strange via exhaustion. He's got two passes and two super passes, his ability to recur cards, and the ability to recycle Rings of Raggadorr (which will heal him). Strange only has one print 3 defense (Seven Suns) so it's easy to deal damage to him. Using his ability to recycle cards and keep his hand count up costs HP, so constant attack pressure really gives me trouble.

I'll stop there so as not to dominate the conversation. What else can you share about battling Doctor Strange?

Check out the rest of the Tips and Strategies topics here!

u/LabRat2329 — 4 months ago

One aspect of Unmatched strategy involves mulligans - shuffling your starting hand into your deck and drawing five new cards. While there is the general idea of opting for a mulligan if your starting hand does not have any defenses especially if you're going second, different heroes have different mulligan targets. Let's talk about when and what to mulligan for when playing as Sinbad.

When I play Sinbad, I'm just hoping to get at least one Voyage in my opening hand and a versatile card or two. I don't mulligan for Voyage Home since Sinbad has a lot of card draw effects and I'm likely to draw into it anyway. However, if my opponent has random discard effects, I'm definitely going to try and protect Voyage Home if I draw it in my starting hand and use a mulligan to send it back to my deck.

Are mulligans this straightforward for Sinbad? Do you have more specific mulligan strategies for him? Let's talk about it!

u/LabRat2329 — 4 months ago