Match Strategy
You don’t call the match from the corner. Your wrestlers wrestle by a match plan: a set of instructions about how hard to push, what to look for and when to change it. You write the plans, and each wrestler follows the one you give him.
The playbook
- Your playbook holds up to 20 named plans. Build and edit them on the Match Plans screen.
- Each wrestler is assigned one plan, which you choose on the roster. The same plan is used against every opponent.
- Editing a plan changes it for everyone assigned to it. Changes are free and take effect right away.
- The Default plan can’t be deleted, and neither can a plan someone is still assigned to.
- Plans carry over from season to season. New signees start on the plan that matches your culture.
Situations
A plan is an ordered list of situations, each with its own settings. During the match the wrestler uses the first situation that fits the moment. A situation can be limited by:
| Condition | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Score diff | How far ahead or behind he is. Negative is behind. |
| Match left | Seconds left in the whole match |
| Period left | Seconds left in the current period |
The last situation has no conditions. It is the catch-all for every moment the others don’t cover. A typical plan has a few specific situations above it, such as “down late, empty the tank” or “up by three late, sit on it”.
Mat Sense decides how well a plan is followed. A wrestler with good mat sense recognises the situation he is in and wrestles to it. One with poor mat sense often falls back on the catch-all. Your clever late-match instructions are only as good as the wrestler reading them.
The dials
Each situation sets a dial for every choice a wrestler makes, from 0 to 100.
Any position
- Urgency. His pace. Low urgency means more resting and feeling out. High urgency means constant action. A wrestler who needs points stalls less.
- Scramble. How much he keeps close, messy exchanges alive. Both wrestlers’ settings count. This decides how often scrambles happen, not who wins them.
Neutral
- Shoot. His appetite for leg attacks.
- Throw. Upper-body throws: big points, big risk.
- Defense. Squaring up and defending shots. This is one of the most powerful dials in the game. A wrestler who neglects defense gets taken down.
- Bait. Inviting the shot so he can counter it. If the opponent doesn’t take the bait, he is left flat-footed.
Top
- Ride. How hard he works to hold the man underneath him. Riding builds riding time and makes escapes harder.
- Cut loose. Letting the bottom man go: it gives up an escape point to hunt a three-point takedown. It pays off when his takedowns are better than his pinning.
- Pin. Going for the fall.
Bottom
- Escape. Getting out from underneath.
- Reversal. Coming out on top.
Choosing a position
Each plan says which position he chooses when it’s his choice: in period 2, period 3 and the first overtime tiebreaker. After that he reads the match: the score, the riding time, and who is better on the mat. The options are Neutral, Top, Bottom or Defer. Deferring or taking bottom in period 2 is the safe default. Starting neutral or on top there measurably costs wins unless your wrestler is built for it.
The culture plans
Your playbook starts with 15 ready-made plans, one for each combination of wrestling style and aggression in the culture system. Balanced, Time & Place is the Default.
| Style | Character |
|---|---|
| Shot Artists | Leg attacks, and all-in on takedowns when behind late. Choose bottom. |
| Throwers | Throw big when behind late, never when ahead. Hunt falls. |
| Scramble | Keep exchanges alive, bait, hunt reversals. Choose bottom. |
| Defense | Ride hard and defend, especially with a lead. Defer, then take top. |
| Aggression | Character |
|---|---|
| Hard Core | A fast start and a high pace. More attacks, less riding, less defense. |
| Time & Place | Reads the match. The baseline. |
| Laid Back | A patient feel-out start, and fewer attacks unless behind. |
Every culture plan is a reasonable plan. Start from one and adjust it for your wrestlers.
Stalling
The referee watches for a wrestler who isn’t trying to score. One who keeps not attacking while his opponent does gets called. When neither wrestler is doing anything, the one with the lead is more likely to be called. Penalties escalate: a warning, then a point to the opponent, another point, then two points, and a disqualification on the fifth call. Low urgency and heavy defense while ahead is exactly what stalling looks like.