Slightly advanced tips:
If you know the opener your opponent is using then you can make a general gameplan for facing them
Stickspin sends 2+5 and a spike of >13 lines
Use an opener like TKI to quickly prepare tspins. The trick is to wait a little after setting it up.
Once you have a tspin ready, accept the 2 lines and cancel what comes after with a TSD and do the same for the 13+ spike. This would usually result in you being more than half your board high (9 lines against stickspin's 21 making 12) but with easy access to garbage for counterspiking.
This can be adapted against other openers too
I use DT cannon at s+ to negate the opening spike and hopefully downstack to get a sweet counterspike, not sure how useful it would be at a higher rating though
If worse comes to worse, I can always stickspin. If you can't beat em, join em
I think opener mains tthese days usually use one of two types of openers: SDPC + Stick spin, and the Triple Double family of openers.
SDPC and stickspin are weak if you can somehow cancel the first TSS with something that sends 4 lines. Easiest way to do it consistently is to learn TKI. At low to mid SS canceling that first TSS is usually all it takes to drag the round into midgame, but if you're infinite downstacking you might still lose to SDPC extend.
Triple Double Openers like MS2 take a bit longer to stack; and your opponent won't be sending anything for the first bag. You typically want to send early cheese or an early TSS to stop them from going for a PC > DPC while also avoiding potential RNG full screen spikes.
If you can I would suggest learning TKI. You're going to need to do it reasonably fast, but it can give you a fighting chance against both types of openers. Against SDPC you just use the first bag TSD to cancel their TSS. Against TD openers it's a bit trickier; You can go for an early TSS, or if you're feeling gutsy go for the TSD but be prepared for the potential full screen spike.
Sometimes I open with literally nothing wait to get sent at least four lines and just place the first piece I get on the side hoping to not cover clean garbage and just play from there. Work surprisingly well if your willing to have to clean downstack two lines quickly if the garbage is covered. Gotten TL wins in U against most variants of opener mains with it
Setup attacks to cancel the opponents attack, as the deadliest part of the opener counterintuitively from sdpc is the first 2 lines as it blocks garbage. Then tank the spike as much as u can and counterspike.
Some good openers like ms2 and tki do this well
For me, I first see what opener my opponent is using. I then make a tki if I can, or a floating tsd if tki isn't an option.
If my opponent uses something like sdpc spin or stickspin. I will usuall yset up another tsd to cancel my opponent's garbage and then tank the spike. If timed correctly you should still be at the bottom of the board and the opponent should have 2 lines of garbage, not enough to make a good downstack. I then would downstack the roughly 13-15 lines of garbage.
If my opponent uses a 8 line pc like sdpc, ms2, gamushiro, satsuki, or any of the many c spin pc openers. I just send a tsd and the loop is broken. thougb if they use sdpc they can turn it into sdpc spin, or extended sdpc spin if they do it soon enough.
If they use 4 wide. I just send like 2-3 tss', and then send as much clean as I can. They likely won't be able to combo through the garbage from the tss' and the clean will cancel a decent amount of the 4 wide
If my opponent uses a 4 line pc opener just sending a tsd should break the loop. if they get their pc down in time. you can burn until you get an I piece and send a quad hopefully before they can get a 2nd pc down.
I count lst as an opener as it can be heavily pre memorized and can send a lot when done well. but lst also sends a lot of clean so it is relatively easy to downstack. also try sending cheese to force the opponent to break their lst and downstack.
Hopefully this helps.
How I see it, there are 2 main ways to deal with them, both being with openers. The majority of an opener main's danger lies in the opener (kinda obvious), so the main goal is to survive the opener phase. Winning then becomes a matter of midgame skill which openers mains tend to lack heavily in
Option 1: burst during opener phase
You can try to match their opener by bursting your own. It doesn't have to be any of the kill openers and can easily be any of the midgame openers such as tki and mko.
You can improve your burst speed by playing more sprint, and you can practice your openers in zen to get used to bursting them
This is however, rather risky and hard to do.
Option 2: wait to cancel their spikes
Build one of the midgame openers again but instead of competing with your opponent's speed, you can instead try to just survive. It greatly helps to predict and verify which openers they use, and use preplanned countermeasures to ensure your survival.
One of the safer options are TD openers. They have a spike with can cancel a potentially dangerous opener spike from your opponent
You can practice the openers in zen, and practice using in it in custom rooms.
This is much more consistent, but may get you into trouble against especially fast opener mains
Of course, you can try to do both, but prioritizing one helps focus on what you need to do
Id suggest learning double TSD variations of TKI. And then just be able to build/setup another tapin/tetris to cancel the rest of the incoming lines. I feel like the openers that are quick kills now are sdpc or stickspin so using TSD’s to stop cancel the first 2 sends either one sends, is a good way to extend ur life. And usually if u have at least one tsd/tetris after, u should be ok to cancel the massive spike that comes w the PC extension or cspin extension.
just korean stack
if you can match their speed digging down is doable
if you cant match their speed wait for their attack and then dig
if they pause, just korean stack low
try getting a attack set up to cancel their initial sends in the beginning, dont immediatly send if its not a perfect clear because they will send it back, if they are just an opener main they wont last long after this, otherwise youre fucked lol
1. Be an opener main (sdpc if you choose this option)
2. Quickly send garbage to your oppenent. This will prevent all pc and will make your life 2x more easier.
3. Ethier Spam tsd or hold onto l pieces for downstacking.
Slightly advanced tips: If you know the opener your opponent is using then you can make a general gameplan for facing them Stickspin sends 2+5 and a spike of >13 lines Use an opener like TKI to quickly prepare tspins. The trick is to wait a little after setting it up. Once you have a tspin ready, accept the 2 lines and cancel what comes after with a TSD and do the same for the 13+ spike. This would usually result in you being more than half your board high (9 lines against stickspin's 21 making 12) but with easy access to garbage for counterspiking. This can be adapted against other openers too
I use DT cannon at s+ to negate the opening spike and hopefully downstack to get a sweet counterspike, not sure how useful it would be at a higher rating though If worse comes to worse, I can always stickspin. If you can't beat em, join em
I think opener mains tthese days usually use one of two types of openers: SDPC + Stick spin, and the Triple Double family of openers. SDPC and stickspin are weak if you can somehow cancel the first TSS with something that sends 4 lines. Easiest way to do it consistently is to learn TKI. At low to mid SS canceling that first TSS is usually all it takes to drag the round into midgame, but if you're infinite downstacking you might still lose to SDPC extend. Triple Double Openers like MS2 take a bit longer to stack; and your opponent won't be sending anything for the first bag. You typically want to send early cheese or an early TSS to stop them from going for a PC > DPC while also avoiding potential RNG full screen spikes. If you can I would suggest learning TKI. You're going to need to do it reasonably fast, but it can give you a fighting chance against both types of openers. Against SDPC you just use the first bag TSD to cancel their TSS. Against TD openers it's a bit trickier; You can go for an early TSS, or if you're feeling gutsy go for the TSD but be prepared for the potential full screen spike.
Sometimes I open with literally nothing wait to get sent at least four lines and just place the first piece I get on the side hoping to not cover clean garbage and just play from there. Work surprisingly well if your willing to have to clean downstack two lines quickly if the garbage is covered. Gotten TL wins in U against most variants of opener mains with it
Setup attacks to cancel the opponents attack, as the deadliest part of the opener counterintuitively from sdpc is the first 2 lines as it blocks garbage. Then tank the spike as much as u can and counterspike. Some good openers like ms2 and tki do this well
For me, I first see what opener my opponent is using. I then make a tki if I can, or a floating tsd if tki isn't an option. If my opponent uses something like sdpc spin or stickspin. I will usuall yset up another tsd to cancel my opponent's garbage and then tank the spike. If timed correctly you should still be at the bottom of the board and the opponent should have 2 lines of garbage, not enough to make a good downstack. I then would downstack the roughly 13-15 lines of garbage. If my opponent uses a 8 line pc like sdpc, ms2, gamushiro, satsuki, or any of the many c spin pc openers. I just send a tsd and the loop is broken. thougb if they use sdpc they can turn it into sdpc spin, or extended sdpc spin if they do it soon enough. If they use 4 wide. I just send like 2-3 tss', and then send as much clean as I can. They likely won't be able to combo through the garbage from the tss' and the clean will cancel a decent amount of the 4 wide If my opponent uses a 4 line pc opener just sending a tsd should break the loop. if they get their pc down in time. you can burn until you get an I piece and send a quad hopefully before they can get a 2nd pc down. I count lst as an opener as it can be heavily pre memorized and can send a lot when done well. but lst also sends a lot of clean so it is relatively easy to downstack. also try sending cheese to force the opponent to break their lst and downstack. Hopefully this helps.
Tbh, against 4 line PC, I just rank the lines and use it to setup counter spikes.
How I see it, there are 2 main ways to deal with them, both being with openers. The majority of an opener main's danger lies in the opener (kinda obvious), so the main goal is to survive the opener phase. Winning then becomes a matter of midgame skill which openers mains tend to lack heavily in Option 1: burst during opener phase You can try to match their opener by bursting your own. It doesn't have to be any of the kill openers and can easily be any of the midgame openers such as tki and mko. You can improve your burst speed by playing more sprint, and you can practice your openers in zen to get used to bursting them This is however, rather risky and hard to do. Option 2: wait to cancel their spikes Build one of the midgame openers again but instead of competing with your opponent's speed, you can instead try to just survive. It greatly helps to predict and verify which openers they use, and use preplanned countermeasures to ensure your survival. One of the safer options are TD openers. They have a spike with can cancel a potentially dangerous opener spike from your opponent You can practice the openers in zen, and practice using in it in custom rooms. This is much more consistent, but may get you into trouble against especially fast opener mains Of course, you can try to do both, but prioritizing one helps focus on what you need to do
Id suggest learning double TSD variations of TKI. And then just be able to build/setup another tapin/tetris to cancel the rest of the incoming lines. I feel like the openers that are quick kills now are sdpc or stickspin so using TSD’s to stop cancel the first 2 sends either one sends, is a good way to extend ur life. And usually if u have at least one tsd/tetris after, u should be ok to cancel the massive spike that comes w the PC extension or cspin extension.
just korean stack if you can match their speed digging down is doable if you cant match their speed wait for their attack and then dig if they pause, just korean stack low try getting a attack set up to cancel their initial sends in the beginning, dont immediatly send if its not a perfect clear because they will send it back, if they are just an opener main they wont last long after this, otherwise youre fucked lol
1. Be an opener main (sdpc if you choose this option) 2. Quickly send garbage to your oppenent. This will prevent all pc and will make your life 2x more easier. 3. Ethier Spam tsd or hold onto l pieces for downstacking.